Channel Register®

Original URL: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2009/04/20/mac_popularity/

Apple rides fanbois to popularity crown (again)

4,564 Americans can't be wrong?

By Rik Myslewski in San Francisco

Posted in PC Builder, 20th April 2009 18:15 GMT

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Apple trounced all competition in a recent Forrester Research customer-satisfaction survey. And in other news, dog bites man.

The Cupertinians have been rated as most-loved for years - but this time their margin of affection is embarrassing. According to Forrester's survey of 4,564 Americans, Apple scored a full 14 percentage points higher than their closest rival, Gateway (remember them?), at 80 to 66 per cent. Next down the list were HP, that company's sub-brand Compaq, and Dell.

Forrester also discovered that the entire personal-computer industry isn't highly regarded by the American consumer. Apple's 80 per cent rating placed them only in the "good" category, while Gateway's 66 placed them a mere one point into the "okay" category. All PC companies taken together managed to only squeak ahead [1] of such consumer pariahs as ISPs, cable-TV services, and health-insurance cabals.

Even airlines scored better than personal-computer companies. Ponder that one for a moment.

Apple must be doing something right. According to the University of Michigan's annual American Customer Satisfaction Index, Cupertino has led [2] all personal-computer makers in customer satisfaction for the past five years. Last year, J.D. Power pointed out the obvious fact that the iPhone was the most popular [3] smartphone.

It can't just be cute ads [4] and Jonathan Ive [5]'s design smarts that keep Apple's customers happy. Maybe Macs really are more intuitive and pleasurable to use for the average Joe and Jane.

Or maybe it's Vista. ®