Apple customer satisfaction scores gain
Apple blew away its PC industry peers in this year's American Customer Satisfaction Index, perhaps because it was the only company that didn't release a Windows Vista PC.
The University of Michigan released its annual ACSI scores Tuesday for the PC industry, and Apple took top honors for the fifth straight year. Apple was the only company in the PC industry other than Dell to post an increase in customer satisfaction in 2008 compared to last year, said Claes Fornell, a professor at the university and head of the ACSI.
The ACSI scores measure a consumer's overall satisfaction with a company, which includes product quality, value, customer service, and essentially anything else that impresses or annoys a customer of a particular company. Apple scored an 85 on the index, its highest score ever and a full ten points higher than second place finisher Dell.
Fornell attributed Apple's score to the clear success the Mac has had among the U.S. public, but also pointed out that dissatisfaction with Windows Vista might have hurt the scores for the other companies, such as Hewlett-Packard and Gateway. HP, the market leader in PCs, is measured by its two PC brands--HP and Compaq--and both brands saw about 4 percent drops in satisfaction compared to last year.
The scores were assembled during the second quarter through thousands of interviews, and so therefore don't reflect the launch of the iPhone 3G and MobileMe, two black eyes for Apple's customer service this year. Fornell said he would expect Apple's score to level off next year in any event, as "we have never seen a gap between the leader and the rest of the pack this big. If we are correct in that it has something to do with the launch of Vista, the other guys will of course correct that and come back a little bit."
Tom Krazit writes about the ever-expanding world of Internet search, including Google, Yahoo, online advertising, and portals, as well as the evolution of mobile computing. He has written about traditional PC companies, chip manufacturers, and mobile computers, spending the last three years covering Apple. E-mail Tom. 
Vista is the Edsel of operating systems says IT.
The funny thing is people take this abuse and say how wonderful it is... truly pathetic.
Nothing Dell/HP/Lenovo can do about that issue so I think there is every chance that Apple will increase the margin of their competitors.
And yes Windows CAN do it all. It just does everything awkwardly, painfully and often badly. As every person in the growing army of Mac switchers regularly attests to...
iTunes isn't Point of Sale software.
Nice try, though.
And it took you 10 minutes to show her how to use finder and applications? I hope that included the start up time....
It really is the best out there...
If you want to build your own, go to ebay and purchase Mac parts and put it in your own case.
I do like Dell because it they do offer less bloatware then some. Apple hands down wins in the fact it has no bloatware added (unless you count Office 2008 demo) But at least thats not going to slow your computer. I really would not mind the extra software if it came as a DVD disc or something. Just don't install it on the computer.
Iphone 3g is taking a beating- fanboys don't care if they can't receive their email or send messages. It looks pretty.
Apple has much smaller share of the market, and most people in that market self-selected into that market. (For reference, people who self-select into a market will say that market is good even if that market shoots them in the face)
I would guess a very small portion of PC users self-select into that market. They get computers that are cheap (which may be part of their satisfaction problem, since this study seems very vague about what it's measuring satisfaction with). Many are people who are getting a first computer, and don't know how to use them (probably leading to general dissatisfaction).
I wish this company would stop wasting money performing this test.
They also sell mp3 players, Phones & music in which they have a large share of their respective markets.
But it is worth 3 times Dell ...
Apple is an innovator. Dell, HP, and others are ... just clone makers.
In addition, I'm not sure why the fact that some folks choose Apple computers invalidates the results. For a long time, Dell ruled the customer satisfaction scores, and then for a period HP.
The main reason for this, I believe is HP and Dell's continued use of off-shored call centers that have customer service employees that read from scripts rather than take the time to understand your problem. A lot of people hate having to deal with these call centers at first level support. Apple used to be middle-of-the-road with their service, but, they've made great strides with AppleCare and service at the Apple Store.
"But it is worth 3 times Dell ..."
Good point! Now remove all iTunes, iPod, and all non-computer related sales from their figures. Now are they bigger than Dell? You have to compare Apples to Apples, you know. Dell doesn't sell music, music players, or phones at this time. They sell only computers and far, far, far more than Apple can dream of. When you make a fair comparison, Apple is indeed a niche company.
- by Sabroson August 19, 2008 9:39 PM PDT
- The Apple vs. Windows issue...
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(28 Comments)Most Apple users have used Windows ... and know how crappy it is.
Most Windows users, have not used anything else.
Here is the experience of a Windows frustrated user:
A friend of mine, is running vista on his Gateway laptop. The other day his
computer malfunctioned (he claims it was a virus)... and erased portions of
his hard disk.
He goes and pulls out the Restore CD with Windows Vista and re-installed it.
To his surprise, the internet would not work. When he starts checking in the
control panel, the drivers were missing... He goes to the store (Circuit City)
and the "expert" there tells him that he voided the warranty by re-instaling
the software .. and therefore he was on his own.
He decides to hunt down the drivers on the Internet with very little luck. And to
top things off, every time he does something on Vista, there is a pop-up window
saying "So and so wants your permission to do this and that" .. EXTREMELY
ANNOYING !!!
So... you windows user out there .. Is this supposed to be the great Windows
experience???
I am sorry ... but I am sticking with Macs for now.