In a survey of customer satisfaction, the computer industry as a whole scored pretty badly, with Apple the marginal best out of a not-so-thrilling bunch. The worst sector, however, was ISPs, which seem universally loathed.
Apple, the best-ranked hardware manufacturer, ranked 23rd on the list out of 113, which is fine, but nothing to write home about. HP and Compaq took the 72nd and 74th spots, respectively, and Dell was ranked all the way down at number 93. The study’s author suspects Microsoft may be at fault for the PC manufacturers’ low scores, though to be fair, this seems to be drawn from the “Ease of Use” rubric, which could refer either to hardware or software.
None of the hardware manufacturers came close to the top, however. Even Apple barely made it into the “Good” category, whereas retailers like Amazon and Barnes & Noble easily scored “Excellent.”
Wireless and internet service providers scored painfully low. Charter Communications, an ISP, ranked last out of the whole group, and both Comcast and Verizon ranked in the bottom third. On the wireless side, AT&T and Verizon were crushed by, surprise surprise, Alltel and T-Mobile. But even Alltel only hit number 48. Check out the basic list below. [CNN]
Raymond Willis
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 1:02 AMInteresting, but apples and oranges.
Glenn Howes
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 4:22 AMIt seems as though there is a pretty high correlation between customer satisfaction and how much choice one has to choose or not choose a given vendor. Barnes & Noble has to compete like mad to get people to come in and stay in. Medicaid is what you get when you run out of health choices, and I’m sure most of Charter Communication’s business comes from local monopoly franchises.
Similarly, what choice is there between a Dell, an HP or a Compaq, they are all the same hardware running the “monopoly” OS.
Neil Anderson
Monday, April 20, 2009 at 7:55 AMApple’s ranking seems pretty high considering the general public’s computer awareness.