Hey, Apple -- it turns out the world does love you. RIM? Not so much.
The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) released its latest report on Tuesday, revealing customer satisfaction ratings for cellphone manufacturers and wireless carriers. The survey says cellphone users are most satisfied with Apple's line of iPhones, and least satisfied with Research in Motion's (RIM) Blackberry smartphones.
As for wireless carriers, Sprint took the crown, though not by much.
ACSI collects data from some 70,000 customers each year. With that data, it measures customer satisfaction for more than 225 companies in 47 industries and 10 economic sectors, including e-commerce, finance, consumer goods and information technology.
ACSI's May 2012 report includes its yearly data on customer satisfaction with cellphone manufacturers. This is the first year ACSI has included Apple, RIM, HTC and LG in this particular survey. Apple topped the heap of cellphone manufacturers with 83 points, out of 100 total. This is slightly lower than the customer satisfaction for Apple's personal computers, which include Mac and iPad products (yes, ACSI considers the iPad a PC). Mac computers were awarded 87 points by ACSI in September 2011.
Still, in the cellphone space, Apple ranks 9 points higher than the industry average of 74, and 8 points more than runner-ups HTC, LG and Nokia. And if Apple's eight-year run as ACSI's top-rated PC manufacturer is any indication, you can expect the iPhone maker to maintain its top spot in cellphone customer satisfaction too.
Despite Nokia's recent pitfalls and falling share prices, the company's customer satisfaction rating of 75 points is actually two points higher than its 2011 ranking. And Nokia scored higher in the ACSI report than three of its competitors -- Motorola, Samsung and RIM.
It's surprising that Nokia ranked above Samsung, which had the second-lowest score at 71 points, given the latter company's success with its Galaxy smartphone line. Part of the reason is that the ACSI report includes both feature phones and smartphones, and it appears that customers are still more satisfied with Nokia's feature phone options. Another explanation: The ACSI report doesn't reflect the punches Nokia took this past month.
RIM's downfall, however, is definitely a developing story. With a 70 percent drop in share price over the last year, RIM made its ACSI debut at the bottom of the list. The company scored only 69 points, 14 points behind Apple and five points below the industry average.
As for wireless carriers, customers are generally less satisfied with their service than they are with their hardware. Sprint received the highest score with 71 points, but was closely trailed by Verizon at 70, AT&T at 69, and T-Mobile at 69. Overall, wireless carriers saw a drop in customer satisfaction from last year, with the exception of AT&T, which actually enjoyed a four-point boost compared to its 2011 ranking.
In other words, people are loving their iPhones, hating their Blackberries, and having a generally mediocre relationship with their wireless carriers. These aren't the most most surprising report results, but at least we now have some official data points.
