Apple tops PC manufacturers in customer satisfaction, according to new data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Dell, Acer and Hewlett-Packard also reported rises in satisfaction.
Customers are generally happier than ever with the quality
of their PCs, according to the newest yearly update of the American Customer
Satisfaction Index. The Index relies on customer interviews, with the
resulting data inputted into a model originally developed by the University of
Michigan's Ross School of Business.
The Index evaluates customer satisfaction with PCs alongside
other manufacturing/durable goods such as major household appliances and
consumer electronics.
Of the various PC manufacturers listed on the Index, Apple
scored highest with 86 points out of a possible 100, a 2-point rise from 2009.
Acer, Dell and Hewlett-Packard each scored 77 points, while Compaq (which
merged with Hewlett-Packard in 2002) placed lower with 74 points. An "All
Others" category, featuring a handful of smaller brands, scored 77 points.
Except for HP-owned Compaq, which also posted a 74 on the Index in 2009, all
manufacturers experienced a rise in consumer satisfaction. Overall, customer
satisfaction in PCs has risen 4 percent since 2009, to 78 points.
"Lower prices, better service, and an emphasis on new,
smaller systems and a variety of portable PCs helped drive the improvement,"
Claes Fornell, director of the National Quality Research Center at the
University of Michigan,
wrote
in a Sept. 21 research note accompanying the data. "Windows-based
manufacturers made large gains in the second year of Microsoft's release of
Windows 7, marking a recovery from the problems associated with the Windows
Vista software."
However, Fornell added, "customer
service for personal computers continues to lag far behind other durables.
Owners who had reason to contact customer care or technical help lines were 8
[percent] less satisfied than those who had no post-purchase contract with the
manufacturer or retailer."
ACSI, founded at the University of Michigan's Ross School of
Business before being spun off as a private company, measures customer
satisfaction scores for more than 200 companies in 44 industries, as well as
government agencies. In addition to hardware,
the
Index also evaluates software companies such as Microsoft.
Recent data from surveys and analysts indicates that both
consumers and businesses are beginning to spend again in the wake of the global
recession.
A
Sept. 20 research note by Gartner suggested that worldwide enterprise-software
spending will increase over the next few years, eventually reaching $297
billion by 2014. At the same time, however, Gartner predicted that spending in
North America would slow in the latter half of 2010, indicating that the
economic recovery in this country will be a somewhat drawn-out affair.
Customer spending on PCs and hardware has experienced an
uptick, as evidenced by recent sales numbers by Apple. Microsoft has also
reported sales of more than 175 million Windows 7 licenses, indicating a
substantial tech refresh by customers and businesses is indeed underway.
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