Apple tops customer satisfaction survey

The figures comes from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a survey that's been run by the University of Michigan since the mid-1990s. Its latest numbers are based on data collected in Q2.

• Apple has been named the computer maker that most satisfies its customers after it scored a personal best of 85 out of 100 - ten points above its nearest rival, Dell - in a key US customer satisfaction index.

• Dell's score of 75 was a small increase over the 74 points it achieved in 2007 but enough to put it into second place ahead of last year's number two, HP. It also put it just ahead of the industry average of 74 points.

• HP scored 73, Gateway 72, and HP's Compaq business 70. The Others category rated 72.

This is product extension at its best, where the new products, iPod and iPhone, are helping bring new customers to existing computer products wrote in the latest ACSI report.

The ACSI scores take into account how punters feel about a company, its products and service, good or bad. The organization monitors a wide array of business sectors. The ACSI for each company is based on a sample of 250 customer interviews, conducted by telephone, with more than 65,000 interviews conducted annually, the organisation said.

We have to see whether iPhone 3G can sustain this position for Apple in the coming months.....