That obviously seems like a question that doesn't even need answering.
After all Apple has the iPod, the iPhone, and computer sales sales growth that is the envy of almost everyone.
Still this comment from Business Week raises some interesting questions. The article, A Bruise or Two on Apple's Reputation, has this to say.
Apple Inc. still tops all of the big measures of computer-customer service. But there are signs that it is vulnerable to the service struggles of other big companies. A widely watched study of customer satisfaction, released in August by the University of Michigan, showed Apple slipping 4 points from last year's score, to 79 on a 100-point scale. That still leads the industry, but it's the company's first decline since 2001.
Meanwhile, the vitriol of complaints on some Apple-related blogs and Web sites, such as macintouch.com and tuaw.com (The Unofficial Apple Weblog), is approaching that usually reserved for cable TV.
First I'm glad to not be listed in those who have complaints against Apple which approach the anger reserved for cable TV. I know my own anger against cable companies has reached epic levels at times, see my post Descent into Adelphia-Comcast Migration Hell.
Perhaps the reason I am not on the list of complainers is that I am approaching sixteen months since I have bought any Apple hardware. I have never bought an iPod.
My iPod, an original one which was a gift from the company for winning something or the other, is still chugging along assuming it is plugged into AC power. It served me well in many cross country trips. Initially I was pretty disappointed when I got it since the prior year everyone winning got iMacs. However, with the addition of some Bose noise canceling headsets, I hardly knew I was flying except for the crummy food and interesting seat mates.
There is no intention to buy an IPhone. I have sworn off of all smart phones and that includes the iPhone. I am hoping that I can forestall the need to read my email on the road until Nokia gets a WiMax version of their N810 Internet Tablet.
My MacBook continues to be a reliable performer even though I am now to the point of having to throw away stuff to keep my hard drive from filling up.
I have also figured out that as an Apple desktop hardware customer I fall clearly into that hole between the iMac and the towers. Right now as a hardworking and somewhat successful Realtor® on the Southern Outer Banks, I am pinching my pennies since real estate market recovery appears to be next year at best.
Also keeping me from being a more current Apple customer is the pure economic equation. In spite of my head telling me that Apple products last longer, my wallet says that if I need new hardware, an under $900 HP laptop is a cheaper portable storage vehicle for running Windows than anything I can buy from Apple. A Windows license for a Mac costs far too much.
Admittedly I did play with a new iPod touch on a recent trip to Best Buy, but my enthusiasm cooled when on my next trip when I was trying to show it to my wife I couldn't find the calculator or the the calendar.
So as a not so recent Apple customer who isn't angry (my Aluminum G4 Powerbook with unworkable screen and bad lower memory slot not withstanding), why should I think that Dell has anything to teach Apple?
After all HP is kicking their butt.
Total PC shipments grew 15.5 percent worldwide in the third quarter, IDC said. Separately, researcher Gartner Inc reported a 14.4 percent rise in worldwide PC shipments in the third period and said U.S. shipments grew 4.7 percent, below its earlier forecast of 6.7 percent growth.
HP shipped 19.6 percent of all personal computers in the period, a 33 percent leap from the year-earlier period, IDC said in its quarterly PC market-share survey. The gap between HP and Dell widened to 4.4 percentage points from 3.2 points in the second quarter.
Still there is some hope for Dell in the latest news.
In the U.S., Dell, Round Rock, Texas, maintained its top market share position in the quarter but ceded some ground to HP. Dell now owns 28 percent of U.S. market share, compared to 30.9 percent a year ago, while HP is up to 24.3 percent in the U.S., compared to 21.8 percent a year ago.
Gartner Group, in reporting its numbers, also found good news and bad news for Dell, saying, "Dell achieved its first worldwide shipment increase in four quarters, but its growth rate was well below the worldwide average."
In the U.S., Apple also continued to see strong growth in the PC space. IDC lists Apple in third place in U.S. PC market share, with 6.3 percent of the market; a year ago, Apple shipped 5.7 percent of all the PCs in the U.S.
One of the things that you learn when you are in the technology space or probably any industry is that reporting on the industry is usually well behind what is actually happening in the industry.
What I always look for are changes which often precede bigger changes which take a while to get noticed. The Business Week article on cracks in Apple's image is one of those changes articles.
They actually have another article like that, and it is about Dell. The article, Dell Learns to Listen, has this to say.
Has Dell really gotten the blog religion? I recently visited the company's Round Rock (Tex.) headquarters to find out. Founder Dell, who took back the CEO reins in January, acknowledges its problems—"We screwed up, right?" But then he starts to sound like a blogger himself: "These conversations are going to occur whether you like it or not, O.K.? Well, do you want to be part of that or not? My argument is you absolutely do. You can learn from that. You can improve your reaction time. And you can be a better company by listening and being involved in that conversation."
Now that would be a revolution for Steve Jobs (not his well known alter ego blogger Fake Steve) to attempt to listen to what customers are really saying and respond to them with blogs
I was even more surprised to find that Dell has a Wiki and a community forum for Linux.
It's nice to see someone figure out how to utilize the vast knowledge of user communities. If that relationship can be mutually beneficial to both the company and the user community, I am all for it.
Apple has always had a love hate relationship with its user community, sometimes even taking them to court so I don't expect any quick changes out of Apple. In fact nothing will happen unless something more than cracks in the shiny image show up.
I expect some stellar results from Apple on Monday, but I will be curious to see how many more stellar quarters are there for Apple if they keep stepping on user toes.
In the world of non-Apple news, one of Blackbeard's canons just got raised from Beaufort Inlet and the corn harvest is well underway without very much help from humans. There doesn't appear to an organized party on the water this weekend just a church Lobster dinner, but I am sure we will find something in the area to keep us out of trouble even if it is just fishing for some spots. Certainly it is not a weekend where I feel the need to escape from it all.
My last thought is do Windows users suffer the same kind of angst when considering a Mac as property owners getting ready to list their property? I'll write more on that later.
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