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Filed under: Enterprise, Wireless, Odds and ends, Surveys and Polls, Apple, iPhone

J.D. Power smartphone study ranks iPhone #1 in customer satisfaction

by Steven Sande (RSS feed) on Oct 9th, 2009

I don't know about you, but when I hear the name "J.D. Power and Associates," I think of customer satisfaction for automobile manufacturers.

The company also does customer satisfaction surveys in a number of other industries, and yesterday they released the 2009 Wireless Consumer Smartphone Satisfaction Survey and the 2009 Wireless Business Smartphone Satisfaction Survey. As you might not expect after all of the commenter griping we see about the iPhone, Apple nabbed the number one spot in customer satisfaction in both the consumer and business surveys.

As you can see in the regretfully fuzzy screenshot above, the iPhone took first-place honors in the consumer smartphone index with a score of 811 out of a possible 1,000. More importantly, the iPhone was the only smartphone to get a five-circle ("Among the best") Power Circle rating. LG was the surprising second-place contestant, with only three circles ("About average") and a 775 overall score.

The iPhone is no slouch in the business world, grabbing the lead in the business smartphone satisfaction ratings (see below) with an 803 index ranking. Businesses surveyed agreed with consumers and gave the iPhone an "Among the best" Power Circle Rating, significantly better than RIM's BlackBerry devices. The J.D. Power and Associates ratings tend to have the respect of many enterprise CIOs, so this should be good news for Apple in terms of increasing enterprise iPhone sales.

Tags: awards, business, consumer, iphone, jd power, JdPower, ranking

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Wireless, iPhone

International iPhone users: bringing your iPhone to the States? Your options are limited.

by Chris Rawson (RSS feed) on Jul 15th, 2009

The iPhone seems like it should be the perfect companion for the international traveler. Not only can it make phone calls in pretty much any country, it can also help keep you entertained on long flights. You can even use it to hold your flight itinerary and other important info like hotel and car reservations. But if you're an international iPhone owner and you were planning on using the device to its fullest potential during your trip to the United States, such as keeping track of e-mail, surfing the Internet, checking weather, getting driving directions, or even making cheap phone calls, then I have some very shocking news for you, delivered courtesy of everyone's favorite telecommunications conglomerate, AT&T.

Before a recent vacation to visit with family in the US, I decided that instead of paying for international roaming rates that are tantamount to armed robbery (US$2.42 a minute for phone calls and up to US$19 per megabyte of data -- totally not kidding), I'd instead perform a trick that savvy international travelers have pulled for years: upon arriving in the States, I'd visit an AT&T store, purchase a SIM and pre-paid plan from them, and reap the benefits of far lower charges for voice calls. Though I'd still suffer exorbitant data rates, I was aware beforehand that the lovely folks at AT&T had already discontinued pre-paid data plans for the iPhone. Still, at least I'd be able to make cheaper calls to my family if necessary; or so I thought.

Continue reading “International iPhone users: bringing your iPhone to the States? Your options are limited.”

Tags: att, caution, charges, consumer, gophone, international, iphone, roaming, SIM, travel

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Apple Financial

Survey: Apple riding high on news of economic woes

by Robert Palmer (RSS feed) on Sep 15th, 2008

A survey by ChangeWave says Apple is looking ahead to record sales for Macs, which smiles in the face of further declines in U.S. consumer spending. The survey polled 4,416 people between August 4 and August 12.

If the poll is any indication, Apple will do well in the next three months, with 34 percent of respondents planning on buying a new Mac laptop, and 30 percent planning on buying a new Mac desktop. It's unclear how many of those overlap (that is, people who want to buy both). That's a modest uptick since last month -- two percent more for laptops and three percent more for desktops.

Compare that to general consumer electronics spending: 15 percent said they'd spend more over the next three months, while 34 percent said they'd spend less. That's almost unchanged since last month, but 13 points lower since August last year.

Also in the survey, 17 percent of the respondents (who own an iPhone 3G) are now more likely to buy a Mac in the future; one percent said they were less likely.

[Via MacsimumNews.]

Tags: changewave, consumer, electronics, market, poll, research, spending, statistics, stats, survey

Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Retail, Rumors, iTunes, Apple

Apple wants to improve online shopping

by Mike Schramm (RSS feed) on Apr 21st, 2008


Here's an interesting idea -- MacNN is reporting that Apple is working on new ways to improve online shopping. Apparently the biggest music seller in the US thinks that online shopping can feel "sterile and isolating." Hmm.

To counteract the isolation, Apple is reportly considering showing customers where other shoppers are in the virtual stores, and maybe even letting customers interact while shopping, via chat or other interfaces. This system would also allow for storewide announcements of special events or sales going down.

It's quite a concept -- online store as virtual space -- but the fact for me as a consumer is that I shop online mostly to avoid exactly those things (chatting with less knowledgeable customers and annoying store loudspeaker systems). Even if this idea makes it through the gauntlet and we see this type of thing in Apple's online shopping environments, I doubt the old methods of clicking and browsing by yourself are going away anytime soon.

[via MacRumors]

Tags: apple-store, atmosphere, consumer, itunes, online-experience, online-store, virtual-space

Filed under: Hardware, iLife, Retail, Software, Apple

Apple to release new in-store brochures, t-shirts

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Apr 30th, 2006

I'm delighted to see ifoAppleStore reporting that Apple will be releasing a new series of brochures and employee t-shirts in their retail stores to advertise the wide range of creative capabilities their Macs and software offer to consumers. The cover of the 12-page brochure (pictured) seems largely focused on advertising all the content-creating doors their award-winning iLife suite opens, while the inside of the brochure features various Apple Store employees wearing t-shirts with help-related slogans such as "I can help you go from shutterbug to photocaster."

Other strong Apple Store advantages that the brochures boast are the various Creative, Genius and Mac Specialist employees staffed at the stores who are trained to accommodate the various interests, hobbies and professions that Mac users have. The brochures advertise many more unique facets of the Apple Store and Mac-buying experience, such as their free workshops and on-line Concierge appointment scheduling service.

While I haven't been in an Apple Store in a while, all I remember from my past experience is advertising that was almost entirely focused on making me buy an iPod. It's great to see Apple putting their best foot forward with a campaign like this.

[Thanks Benjamin Bowles]

Tags: advertising, Apple Store, AppleStore, brochure, consumer, creative, help, iLife, Mac, Macs, OS X, OsX, professional, software, t-shirts

Filed under: Software, Tips and tricks

Help the revolution: submit feedback

by David Chartier (RSS feed) on Apr 4th, 2006


This is more of a public service announcement and reminder than anything, inspired by TUAW reader Jer's comment on my .Mac syncing UI silliness post. Jer asked whether we were submitting feedback to Apple concerning gripes like the one I blogged, and the answer is 'most definitely yes.' This brief dialog inspired me to take the opportunity to urge all Mac users everywhere to do the same.

If you have a complaint, a feature request, or maybe you just found a bug in Mac OS X, or another piece of Apple's software, apple.com/feedback is a great place to go and tell them about it. Most of Apple's apps are categorized there, and it's a simple process for submitting your comment. While I don't believe it's in their policy to reply to anything submitted there, you can rest assured that it's one of the best places Apple uses to collect the information they use to keep tabs on how we like their software, especially when it comes to creating all those official bug reports you'll find sprinkled throughout their support and knowledgebase articles (besides, who wants to take bets that their engineers have TUAW in their newsreader?).

So remember boys and girls, when it comes to feature requests, UI gripes and bug squashing: ask not what Apple can do for you... but submit some feedback so the world's best operating system can get even better.

Tags: Apple, bug, bugs, complaints, consumer, customer, feature requests, FeatureRequests, feedback, gripes, Mac, OS X, OsX, products, reporting, software, squashing, UI

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