AppleInsider Staff
Apple's overall score of 849 out of 1,000 earned it a five-star "PowerCircle Rating" from the consumer advocacy group, which categorizes the company as "among the best" for customer satisfaction. Apple was the only company in the 2012 Wireless Smartphone Satisfaction Study to earn that distinction.
The 849 score for Apple put the iPhone maker in a class of its own, separated significantly from the rest of the pack. The company finished 59 points ahead of second-place HTC, which earned a customer satisfaction score of 790.
Apple's heated rival Samsung came in third with a score of 782, while Motorola earned 777 and Nokia was given 763 points. At the bottom of the pack were LG, with a score of 742, RIM BlackBerry, with 740, and last-place HP/Palm, with 707.
In all, smartphone makers earned an average score of 783 out of 1,000 in the J.D. Power and Associates Rankings. However, that average is heavily skewed by Apple's market-leading presence, as well as the inclusion of HP and its now-defunct Palm division.
With those outliers removed, the average customer satisfaction score for smartphone makers drops to 768, or 81 points behind Apple.
The study also found that the average smartphone owner who plays games on their device spends $13 more per month for their wireless service than a non-gaming user. Those who use social media applications on their handset also spend an average of $12 more per month on service.
The survey also found that 47 percent of smartphone owners chose their particular handset because of specific features. Selling points for smartphone users include the camera, operating system, social media integration or gaming capabilities.
Just 19 percent of customers in the survey chose their smartphone based on price, though that number is up from 14 percent a year ago.
Finally, the survey also found that nearly two in 10 smartphone owners say they have experienced a software or device malfunction. Those issues are said to have a significant effect on overall user satisfaction — customers who indicated their device's software crashes at least once per week had an average score of just 663, nearly 200 points below the score Apple earned.
Chip Loder
Wesley Hilliard
Thomas Sibilly
Christine McKee
William Gallagher
Malcolm Owen
24 Comments
This is a really poor graph. It makes it look like Apple is 25% better than the competition instead of ~6%. The lead is big, but the graph is skewed.
This is a really poor graph. It makes it look like Apple is 25% better than the competition instead of ~6%. The lead is big, but the graph is skewed.
Not necessarily, because there's probably some statistical baseline or floor to the customer ratings. It's likely that no satisfaction was rated on a score of 0, so the real "0" rating is probably closer to the HP/Palm and RIM/BB ratings.
This is a really poor graph. It makes it look like Apple is 25% better than the competition instead of ~6%. The lead is big, but the graph is skewed.
the whole thing is screwed up. It says it's based on a 1000 point scale, which would mean Apple should have 4.25 stars, the average should be 3.9 stars and the lowest (HP/Palm) should have 3.5 stars.
if 707 of 1000 is two stars, what would 400 of 1000 be?
This is a really poor graph. It makes it look like Apple is 25% better than the competition instead of ~6%. The lead is big, but the graph is skewed.
Only if you see some special privilege in a score of zero. HTC, in second place with three stars, is 48 points higher than the two star leader. Apple's margin, for its five stars, blows HTC away by 59. It has 67% more stars and 23% more separation from the lowest ranking group, exactly as the graph shows.
It is not close.
Not necessarily, because there's probably some statistical baseline or floor to the customer ratings. It's likely that no satisfaction was rated on a score of 0, so the real "0" rating is probably closer to the HP/Palm and RIM/BB ratings.
True, but without knowing that baseline it is very hard to know. I imagine 600 is not the baseline either.
the whole thing is screwed up. It says it's based on a 1000 point scale, which would mean Apple should have 4.25 stars, the average should be 3.9 stars and the lowest (HP/Palm) should have 3.5 stars.
if 707 of 1000 is two stars, what would 400 of 1000 be?
That isn't really my problem. The graph was not done by JD Power (I assume since it has sources listed on the bottom) while JD Powers seems to create a scaling ratings based on how things fall relative to the competition.