Apple: Only good. Dell: Poor and very poor
Apple (AAPL) can take some satisfaction in the fact that it clobbered the Windows PC manufacturers in the customer experience survey released last week by Forrester Research (FORR) — but not too much satisfaction.
The fact is, the computer industry as a whole fared pretty badly compared with, say, retailers and hotel chains. And even high-scoring Apple was ranked 23 out of 113, trailing the likes of eBay, Costco and BJ's Wholesale Club.
The full report, available here (free registration required), is revealing. Some 4,500 U.S. consumers were asked about their interactions with a wide range of companies — from airlines to banks to insurance providers — and rate them according to their usefulness, ease of use and enjoyability.
Barnes & Noble, which scored the highest overall, was consistently rated "excellent," as were Amazon, Target and USAA, which provides financial services for the armed forces and their families.
Apple, in the final tally, was merely "good."
Drilling into the full report, we see that Apple did manage to score an "excellent" in ease of use — although just barely. It scored a solid "good" in usefulness. But in enjoyability, it was only "okay."
Not that any of the other PC manufacturers came close. Where Apple's overall score was 80% — some might call that a B minus — Compaq, HP (HPQ), and Gateway ended up in D territory with between 63% and 66%. Dell (DELL) basically flunked with a “poor” 58% rating overall and a "very poor" 47% in enjoyability.
"I do think Microsoft’s software has a bit to do with it," wrote the study's author, Bruce D. Temkin. As a rule, he says, "consumers don’t distinguish problems with the operating system from problems with the PC manufacturer."
"Bottom line," writes Temkin, "the Windows ecosystem needs an extreme customer experience makeover."
In the case of Dell, however, there was more going wrong than Microsoft's (MSFT) Windows. Temkin's take: "Dell got so focused on operational efficiency that it lost sight of customer experience."
But even Dell, at No. 93 on the list, looks pretty good compared with some of the Cable TV and Internet service providers. The ISPs are particularly well represented at the bottom of the list, with Time Warner Cable's (TWC) Road Runner at No. 99, Comcast (CCS) at No. 105 and Charter Communications at No. 113.
Below the fold: the full list.
USAA is the model for all Customer Experience. They are superior to the competition and they routinely return dividends to their customers as they are non-profit.
All laptop/ notebook users be aware that the OEMs (HP, Dell) poducts are not deisgned by those companies anymore. They are ODM'd (ie orignal design mfr) by their Asian alliance partners. The OEMs specify features, but the ODM designs the product & puts HP or Dell's name on the box. Apple still maintains most design control, but they too mfr in Asia, where all PCs are built these days.
I had a very bad experience with HP yesterday. I bought a Pavilion 6000 laptop in June 2007 and the screen is going black now. When I called the customer service, she told me that it would be $300 for service as I didn't buy a service plan. They suggest me to buy a new one 
Brilliant idea! I told them 'Yes! But definitely not HP this time!!'. No wonder they are rated so low in the survey!
I love how all of these comments report that Mac is more expensive than PC. CNET and other major electronic evaluators have reported that PC is up front cheaper but overall more expensive, I have both PC and Mac. Mac is user friendly and customer support is top notch. I have HP and Dell, more problems with HP and Dell then I care to comment. Mainly with MS OS. When I buy a computer why do I have to buy anti-virus, spam ware, firewall software just to keep it safe, then every year have to pay subscription fees.
Why do they continue to list Compaq in the survey results? Compaq was purchased by Hewlett-Packard over six years ago.
I own a Dell computer, and while the Microsoft software absolutely drives me nuts at times, I've had no problem dealing with Dell customer service. I get someone on the phone within a few minutes (hear me Verizon Fios?)and for a flat fee I receive service that is guaranteed for two weeks. Thanks to Dell support (and, yes, it is in India)I've kept my old computer going.
Apple have it easy, they have tight grip over their rebranded overpriced PCs, tight control over the software available to it and tight control over their customers.
Supporting Macs because of what I said above is clearly much easier than the likes of HP and Dell, who have to deal with thousands of different customers, thousands of software and malware directed at windows because windows is 90% of the market.
BTW according to w3counter, Apple world share is 5.14% only double that of linux.
If someone wants to see the appeal of Apple's products and services, visit the Apple Store in Beijing any night of the week.
Notice the carnival-like atmosphere, notice people walking out with MacBook Pros, watch parents observe their kids expertly using educational programs.
Considering that the Mac is very expensive for Chinese usere compared to a Chinese made wintel machine using pirated OS, Apple must be doing something right.
Makes sense, Apple is about insulating it's customers from the os. When a newbie wants a computer I recommend a mac, same idea as recommending a first motorcycle – a scooter with an automatic transmission. Less opportunity to get in trouble and later as they learn the nuances they can make their own decisions.
One of the things you have to consider here is that, of the 12 industries surveyed, only one, PC Manufacturers, is a "manufacturer." That is, they are the only ones who produce a tangible physical product that you buy, it sits on your desk or you carry it around in a bag, and it has to continue to meet customer expectations long after its purchase (and this does not even take into account whether or not the customer provides the proper maintenance that most manufactured products require).
The standards that a manufacturer must meet are much higher than, say, a hotel. You stay at a hotel a couple days, they treat you well, and you go home. The duration that your "product" is in contact with the customer is only a fraction of that of a manufactured product, especially a durable good like a computer. To say that Apple is "only" good in this type of comparison is not realistic. Barnes and Noble does not write or produce the book. So if the customer does not like it, Barnes doesn't get blamed. All they have to do is provide a pleasing environment, maybe stick a Starbucks in one corner, and smile when they take your money. After that, apart from the incessant follow-up e-mails, they are done with you.
So the focus should definitely be on the distance between Apple and other companies who manufacture PC's. In fact, I don’t believe the flaw is with your analysis of the results of this survey. I believe the flaw is with the fact that Forrester includes a manufacturer in a survey of this type at all. Surveys of companies that make stuff should be taken apart from surveys of companies which provide services.
I just don't get it. The Apple/Dell results are the opposite to my experience. Maybe it depends on the country. I used to buy Apples years ago. However, as time went on I encountered nothing but smugness, arrogance and impatience from Apple people, inside and outside the store. It has turned me off buying Apple products. The last thing I bought was an ibook. It was over priced, slow, had heating problems, and came with a stupid $50 one-click mouse (what waste of money). In contrast, I've had nothing but excellent service from Dell.
Apple has not been a "PC manufacturer" for years…
the major innovations and business is from iPods and iPhones
what was the rating for only their computers?
The survey evaluation was rigged to make everything look bad. If you read the fine print, survey takers rated companies from 1 to 5. To get the score, they subtracted the number of people giving a rating of 1 or 2 from the number giving a rating of 4 or 5. If a company got an average rating of 3, that could give them a score of 0%. That's right, folks. If 75% rate give it 4's and 5's, and 25% give it 1's and 2's, that doesn't sound so bad to me, but that company would only score 50%.
Just one more example of how to mislead with statistics.
If Microsoft drags down the PC manufacturers, I suspect all of the ISPs which are near the bottom of the survey are wrongly blamed due to their customer's incompetence.
In the last 15 years I've had various forms of broadband Internet and have only changed for more bandwidth, not due to dissatisfaction. Whether it was a telecom, a cable company or wireless data provider, the services worked 99.9%+ of the time.
The ISPs get a bad reputation due to people automatically assuming because they can't get on the internet, it's the ISPs fault. I can only imagine how many wasted phone calls the ISPs take due to a complete lack of knowledge and automatic blame from their ignorant customers.
Learn something about your computers and networks before you complain!
The ISP is responsible for providing access to the Internet and not a bit more.
The survey mixes apples and oranges. If they compared Apple Stores, including the Online Store with those others (esp retailers), I bet Apple would be in the top five.
"The Apple stores and web site are too cool for me. After all, I don’t rent an apt in the city paid by dad. I use Fedora linux 8 years now."
and your reason for posting such nothingness?
oh, wait. here it is:
"I drive a ferrari"
have fun with your tooltoy in big forks, big man. you do realize how small you are, right?
Interesting to read from some people here that because Apple faired well, they're not really that good at all.
The insanity continues.
Kevin Hill writes: " What is most interesting is the list of medical insurers at the bottom, including Medicare (#98), Anthem (#99 and the cheap skate of the private medical insurance world) and Medicaid (#112) to name a few. And many people want national health insurance? Good luck with that!"
Here is the list of all health insurers from the report:
98 = Medicare, 99 = Anthem, 102 = Tricare, 104 = United HealthCare, 105= Cigna, 107=Aetna, and 112=Medicaid.
Medicare is national health insurance for senior citizens. Note it beats out all of the for-profit health care systems. Yes, at the bottom is Medicaid, which is for the very poor, and which state governments in particular try to make as cheap and limited as possible, since the very poor don't vote.
Someone wrote:"@Bob Loblaw:
“Apple sales world wide are a fraction of 1% of PC sales. What more proof would one possibly ask for of people peferring PC over Apple.”
So people “prefer” Toyotas to Porsches?"
Yeah. Yeah, they do. Most people hate porsches, and feel much safer and more comfortable in a beat up ford.
People like what they have around them, they are very tribal animals.
I drive a porsche because they are really good cars. The factory is just down the road from me, and anyway they are not so expensive second hand where I live.
But I am not right into cars. I know very little about cars. But I know I love driving the 928. I know it goes like hell on the autobahn, and feels really safe around town. It stops quickly, all the leather is nice. And it looks nice, too.
But most people don't like my car. And they don't think much of me because I drive it. I am always being told that some other car, like a ford, a toyota or a fiat, is much more "sensible" than my porsche.
So it is true, most people are too frightened to like things they perceive as too expensive for them. The little man drags the class system down upon everybody, just so he knows where he stands in the world.
The little man uses a PC.
And Bill Gates drives a porsche.
Even the worst company on that list is better than the best australian company. You don't know how good you have it there till you try dealing with australians that are retarded. They just don't care here about anything but ripping you off.
It isn't clear how useful this report is on PC manufacturers, for two reasons:
1) There's no discussion here, or in the underlying report, of how, if at all, the evaluation was limited to specifically PC's in the survey methodology. In Apple's case, both iPod and iTunes sales exceed those of its PCs.
2) Many large PC vendors were omitted from the list. Lenovo (formerly IBM), ASUS, MSI, Acer, Toshiba, and Sony are all omitted. This is particularly odd since HP and Compaq are rated separately, even though Compaq is simply a different imprint for HP at this point.
Funny! I notice Compaq computer — which hasn't even existed for years — ranks above Time Warner, Comcast, Charter, and Sprint.
When you can't even beat out a dead company — wow!
ex ped: Compaq is not quite dead. It's now an HP brand.
What is most interesting is the list of medical insurers at the bottom, including Medicare (#98), Anthem (#99 and the cheap skate of the private medical insurance world) and Medicaid (#112) to name a few. And many people want national health insurance? Good luck with that!
ChangeWave Survey 2009 Apple Leads in Customer satisfaction.
Changewave surveyed customers who had purchased a computer in the last 90 days,
In Very Satisfied ranking Apple had 81%
Closest PC manufacturer was Asus with 67. Other notable are Dell 55, HP 52.
For OS Apple was tops as well.
Very Satisfied: Leopard 54% and Vista a floor dropping 12%!
In a separate survey iPhone's also topped satisfaction rankings.
I guess the PC apologist are going to say the ChangeWave surveys ALSO don't count!
Guess Apple does make better stuff.
The Apple stores and web site are too cool for me. After all, I don't rent an apt in the city paid by dad. I use Fedora linux 8 years now. I drive a ferrari, hmmm….apple or pc?, none thank you!
Note it's that Apple beat ALL the Pc manufacturers. Surely with as PC fans are so proud to claim with vast number of PC makers there would be ONE that beat Apple. Lol! The only conclusion is this drive to the price bottom has severely compromised quality and service. You really get what you pay for. PC folks are indignant about the poll and try to squirm out of this by saying the poll doesn't mean anything, but Apple keeps topping polls and winning accolades like recently Businessweek most innovative company: 5 years in a row! There is no way of escaping it Apple simply makes better stuff.
Apples make fine products… I'd like to pick up a spare just to play…
But I'll be buying it with money I make on my PC's . I own a small business and couldn't even get started running it with an Apple…
In the future I'll run all of it on the cloud anyway… probably Android Chromera 5.0 or something of the like…
Bob Loblaw said "But hey the fools who buy these polls are the same subset of fools who buy Apples, so it suits Apples sales strategy."
I can't believe anyone would use their name when posting a sweeping generalization like this and not be embarrassed.
After ten years making a good living as a Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and advising large enterprises on their IT infrastructure I switched to Macs for personal use. I used to bash Apple users, privately, the way you do.
But many things have changed. I suspect people who make comments like yours don't know very much about Apple or computers in general.
My Macs are built on UNIX – in many ways far more sophisticated than Windows. NT was in fact a half-baked copy of UNIX.
Regardless of the reason, virus attack is not a legitimate threat to me. Macs require less time to set up and less maintenance. They come with a simple backup solution for casual users. No junk-ware.
My Macs are more responsive than my Windows machines. When something goes wrong I can go to the Apple store. If something goes wrong with a PC — Lenovo blames MS and MS blames Lenovo. Fun.
So, Bob Loblaw of California, I am a 'fool' who buys Macs and suggests to many that they do the same. And they listen. And one of these days MS execs will be left scratching their heads, wondering what happened.
I was anti-Apple just like you. Thught it was for people too lazy to figure out a PC. But I wasn't too stubborn to see what all the fuss was about. And I'm glad I did.
Though dell scored low maily due to optimizing performance at the cost of customer experience, Dell computers are better suited for people like IT perfessionals and the networks they are responsible for because it's very easy to remedy the problem when you are tech savy.
c'mon, fellow cybernauts….we all entitled to have our opinions…
For me the truth is MS software almost generally sucks…been there done that…now I use Linux for the software freedom and virus-free-so-far experience..don't really have money to waste on macs and the truth is that I don't really need macs..
btw…I do believe that big part of the PC problems in the windows world is due to to the OS, not so much due the hardware malfunction or poor design which happened to me only twice so far in 10 years of computing.
@Gary Grossman
by no means apple is a porsche
porsche got the design power quality and so on to make it a perfect product..
apple got the design which is nice simple and clean..but other than that its not better than other pc brands.
Sorry, but this story lost all credibility with me when I saw Gateway ranked higher than Dell. Long story short, but a computer is a tool, not a lifestyle element and Dell has built a very solid and dependable tool for quite a while now. Gateway never has. Perhaps now that Gateway is dead, Acer can do a better job building Gateways than the former management…
One problem with these surveys is that they measure the past. Two years ago I had a similar feeling about Dell and was looking at a MAC. I did a deep dive, and the MAC ultimately didn’t make the cut, but I thought I might come back to them. Then Vista stabilized and Dell turned a corner in their design prowess. I have recently bought two Dells and convinced my brother (who hated Dell for years) to buy one. 6 months later, there is no doubt I made the right decision with Dell (and the wrong one with Gateway 2 years ago).
While Apple continues to make a lifestyle device, Dell has been in the business of making a dependable tool. Dell’s recent adjustments have clearly added some nice design and ergonomics touches and improved usability. They now strike me as a company that is executing better than anyone else in and pretty quietly closing all competitive gaps with other segment leaders. The net impact on me has been interesting. I now feel that a MAC is a frivolous and expensive machine, while a Dell is a dependable, familiar and more powerful appliance. If the MAC wants to maintain mass appeal, I think they are at a point where they need to innovate. Personally I would love to see them finally get the Tablet form factor right. If this stagnation keeps up, and Windows continues to draw away from the PC gaming industry, I think my next machine will be a Dell Linux machine. Can’t beat such a device for flexibility, power and stability.
Buy a Mac and log into Yahoo Messenger. Want to voice chat? You can't. That's Apple. And you pay 4x the price of a PC to get it. If I doled out $$$ for an Apple computer I'd be reluctant to complain, too. Apple is WAY overpriced and way too incompatible with way too much software. Apple is a joke. And don't forget, the hacking contest winner last year was only able to get into Windows through a bug in ADOBE. HE could easily have gotten into Apple's OS the same way, but wanted an overpriced Apple computer for free. What an absurd snobby joke of a company.
I think whether you choose to buy a PC or an Apple depends on what you are using it for (and cost also). I do a lot of gaming and Apples just don't cut it for me whatsoever. I would take a PC over an Apple any day. I also find that Apple is less user friendly than the PC…except Avista. Avista has too many kinks still.
"Why do MAC people keep on patting their back? Do they need that much reassurance? Every single article I read about MAc is Apple columnists trying hard to prove how good Apple is. It does not happen with Linux or Windows uses.. Can’t understand a bit."
———
Yeah, DO you suppose that is? ;^)
Scoring manufacturers on the same basis as service companies amounts to comparing apples and oranges. All but a few of the 113 in the Customer Experience rankings do little more than shift stuff around with a kind smile, which is simply put is the USA's problem. Just a few months back, Madoff would have scored high. The real engines – Caterpillar, 3M and so on do not even figure in the public psyche. Still bully for Apple: research, vision, quality, profitability and if Microsoft is to be believed, also COOL.
@Bob Loblaw:
"Apple sales world wide are a fraction of 1% of PC sales. What more proof would one possibly ask for of people peferring PC over Apple."
So people "prefer" Toyotas to Porsches?
Scoring an "excellent" in ease of use is the most significant fact you pointed out. It's the real reason people switch to Macs. The drop-dead gorgeous industrial design will get you into the store, but using the interface for the first time is what makes you go for your wallet. While that non-cool redheaded chick was installing virus software and trying to get rid of all those annoying pop-ups, I made a hit record on Garage Band. Without reading the directions.
Isn't it ironical that the recent MS attack ads on Mac are based on the hardware manufacturers (not a word on Vista) basically on 'cheap PCs ' and PC fans cheered saying Apple had no quality advantage just a rip off 'Apple Tax' . But I guess the poll shows it you get what you pay for, incredible that PC people will keep buying and using stuff that gives a D minus experience! And they say Apple fans have a 'Reality Distortion Field'! Maybe they polled Lauren as well, that added the negative results , "That PC I got sucks, wish I got that dam Mac.'
"Right, like ’some 4500′ people are representative, Another example how ‘we’ are being fed with massive amounts of useless information wich doesn’t say sh*t."
Go take some statistics, then we'll talk.
Charter once again reigns supreme in the land of crapville. Please, anyone that thinks that Charter is the only option for ISL is wrong. You can switch to Clearwire, or a mobile PC card. I did, and although I still have issues with connectivity from time-to-time, I never have to speak to another Charter customer "service" agent again.
"Why do MAC people keep on patting their back? "
I can only answer this question for me and not the collective 'we' your question implies. I am patting my back as a way to soothe a mild case of poison oak irritation. With my other hand I am scratching my head in an effort to make any sense whatsoever out of your post.
Right, like 'some 4500' people are representative, Another example how 'we' are being fed with massive amounts of useless information wich doesn't say sh*t.
Not the foult of CNN journalists ofcourse, its ours because we apperently want to read this, we do read it, we actually watch commercials to be able to get this kind of information.
People talk a lot, and say very little.
ah, DanL, I think that was the point.
People who have bad (or good) experience with the OS don't attribute it to the OS but rather the 'computer'. Thus, Dell gets dinged for unsatisfactory OS experiences.
Why do MAC people keep on patting their back? Do they need that much reassurance? Every single article I read about MAc is Apple columnists trying hard to prove how good Apple is. It does not happen with Linux or Windows uses.. Can't understand a bit.
I couldn't agree more with the findings, specifically that charter was rated as the worst company on the list. I unfortunately am a subscriber of theirs. I have no choice of ISP because Charter has monopoly power over the area in which I live.
More to the point; they have the absolute worst customer service I've ever encountered from any company in any sector. The operators will blatantly lie to you. If they don't know the answer to the question(s) you ask they will usually just tell you to call back tomorrow. This is because they are lazy, useless imbiciles that are indicative of their hiring choices and overall corporate governance style that is bogged down with inefficient red tape.
Is anyone really fooled by the idiotic polling on Apple vs. PC. Polls by definition are tiny samples of populations used when no other means of measurng that population is at hand. In this case the sales record of hundreds of millions trumps the stupid pollsters fabrication for hire version of reality. Apple sales world wide are a fraction of 1% of PC sales. What more proof would one possibly ask for of people peferring PC over Apple. But hey the fools who buy these polls are the same subset of fools who buy Apples, so it suits Apples sales strategy.
ex ped: If it's well-selected, a sample of 4,500 is by no means "tiny" for a survey like this.
“I do think Microsoft’s software has a bit to do with it,” wrote the study’s author, Bruce D. Temkin. As a rule, he says, “consumers don’t distinguish problems with the operating system from problems with the PC manufacturer.”
Hmmm… If customers don't distinguish between problems with the OS and the manufacturer, how is it one can be so sure that the OS wasn't also factored into the scores customers gave? Seems to be a bit arbitrary to say on the one hand that customers are blind to the difference, and then on the other to say they ignored the software.
It is ironic that Barnes and Noble are ranked so highly. One of my favorite things to do was to mooch around a record store on a Saturday afternoon. Apple have done for that though with stores closing down left, right and center. The bookstores will go the same way. They just haven't noticed that they are dead yet.
Interesting comments but interpretation may not be valid or misinterpeted. How can you compare directly retailers or service provider who does not engineer or manufacture products? Or are they comparing experience in purchasing the products and getting support or the actual products?
Are they rating the experience in Apple stores or purchasing Apples/Dells/HP from retailers like Best Buy?
When ranking the computer group, you need to consider the experience with the web and junk email and similar both of which are beyond the control of the manufacturer. Also, I have used Apple and Microsoft systems and there is a world of difference. It is that difference which drives many of us to buy the Apple even if it is a slittle more expensive. Also with regard to price, Apple traditionally comes with much more loaded then a stripped down PC. Suggest you price a comparable system and see what the real price differences are and gthen consider the length you will have the computer and you will see the is no comparison to the Apple quality, value and experience
As usual the people who for some reason are insecure about their PC ownership slam Apple without knowing anything about them. Poor things. The funniest are the so called IT professionals who so obviously work on a desktop help desk.