by , 10:00 AM EDT, August 20th, 2002
Apple Computer finished second behind Dell Computer Corporation in a recent study published by ACSI, the American Customer Satisfaction Index.
On a scale from 0-100, Dell scored highest with 76 and was followed by Apple at 73, Gateway at 72 and Hewlett-Packard at 71. Apple remained unchanged from last year's results and was the only company that didn't see its rating slip.
Commentary provided by Professor Claes Fornell, from the University of Michigan Business School, draws special attention to Apple's performance. From the commentary portion of the ACSI Web site:
Though the score is unchanged from a year ago, Apple has increased customer satisfaction since its low points in 1997 and 1998. It also enjoys a fairly high level of customer loyalty. For the first quarter of 2002, Apple posted a revenue increase of 4% and a net income of $40 million. The lower scoring ACSI PC-makers Compaq (68, down 1%) and Gateway (72, down 1%) had difficulties. During the first quarter, Gateway's shipments fell 30% and Compaq's 13%.
The index, according to the Web site, is designed to be an "independent measure of household consumption experience" and is compiled through a partnership with the University of Michigan Business School, the American Society for Quality (ASQ), and the international consulting firm, CFI Group.
The ACSI scores are based on econometric modeling of data obtained from actual telephone interviews with more than 70,000 consumers.
What's more telling is what both sets of data do support. Apple is the only major computer manufacturer that hasn't seen a decrease in consumer satisfaction.