Apple today won a big victory over PC makers by demolishing them in a customer satisfaction survey. Apple scored an 85 out of 100, outpacing second placed Dell by ten points. In fact, it was an all-time high for the category where other PCs are declining in their favorability ratings. This makes five straight years at the top for the company.

Other good news: the 2.02 software fix for the iPhone 3G is meeting with success in some forums. iPhone Buzz shows a video of a side-by-side comparison of 3G performance with 2.02 vs. 2.01, and it’s not even close. Perhaps a lot of the consternation being leveled at Apple over the 3G will cool off if the reception issues are solved. Although battery complaints still flood in, poor reception and dropped calls seem to be the main complaint, and this seems quite different from the largely positive feedback on the first generation iPhone.

But despite excellent reviews and customer satisfaction, there are some users grumbling about Apple products lately, notably Michael Arrington and Om Malik. Arrington, a big supporter of Apple, reels off a litany of failed Apple products, particularly his torn-up MacBook Air and other MacBooks. Of course, many of the commenters shared his frustration while others reported they’ve never had any problems with Mac.

So where does the truth lie? Has Apple been producing more shoddy equipment lately? Are many of the complaints about the iPhone and Apple service due to the sheer number of iPhones and customer inquiries the company is having to deal with? Is the most telling stat the 85% customer satisfaction rating that appears to be climbing every year?

Honestly, one can discount some of the customer satisfaction with Apple due to the fanboy element. Apple users tend to love their products and even look past some issues that arise. Sort of like what people do when they describe their children.

But Apple has to be very careful here. The iPod introduced millions of new people to Apple’s products, and they just worked. The success and appeal of iPod (combined with some great design and amazing marketing) has helped make Apple hugely profitable. The iPhone takes this to the next level, though: it’s a more complex and complicated relationship that people have with their phones. If Apple stumbles with Android breathing down its neck (Google reported an 86% customer satisfaction rate among search engines), it will damage the whole brand.

But there seems to be little evidence of that happening. People love iPhones, they love Apple, and a few loud geeks aren’t going to spoil the party. And no one can deny that Apple produces innovative products that other companies aren’t willing to risk making. A few detours here and there can be forgiven at this point.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 2:04 pmand is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.