The quarterly American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) today released its 2006 second quarter report, saying that Apple continues to lead the PC industry in customer satisfaction with a score of 83, up 3 percent bringing it into the top 15 percent of all companies measured. Google still retains the top spot in its own industry -- which it has held since it was first measured in 2002. Dell also rose to break its downward trend, but Yahoo fell 5 percent to 76 in its worst performance in five years. Google's score dropped 1 percent to 81, but the company continues to satisfy customers even as it expands its business beyond its core search functionality. [updated]

In the past, Apple and Dell have moved in opposite directions in customer satisfaction. When one improved, the other declined and vice versa. Dell was riding high until the year 2000, when its ACSI performance became less consistent, and by 2005 the company had fallen by 8 percent. Apple was struggling until 2003, when its ACSI scores started to move upwards.

This time, both companies advanced. Dell rose by 5 percent to a score of 78, but saw market share erode and earnings fall over the past year. Slipping customer service has historically also proved to be a problem. Dell has acknowledged its shortcomings in service, though, and is taking steps to address the problem.

Dell struggles to improve

Though it is often difficult to combine a cost efficiency strategy with superior customer service, the early results appear to head in the right direction for Dell. The company's rebound should alleviate price pressures some, though the company's stock price is at a five-year low and it recently issued a profit warning. Short-term profits are almost always adversely affected when a company invests heavily in improved customer service, and for Dell, the key will be sales growth rather than short-term profit growth. Dell still trails industry leader Apple by a wide margin, and the more serious challenge may come from the improvement of HP and the smaller PC brands not far behind in customer satisfaction.

Overall satisfaction rises

Overall customer satisfaction with the PC industry is up 4 percent to 77, its highest score since 1994. Each and every PC maker shows improved satisfaction, ranging from the small 1 percent increase for Gateway to 73 to the 8 percent improvement for the Compaq brands of Hewlett-Packard. Compaq brands now stand at 72, but still anchors the bottom of the industry. H-P brands also improved at a smaller pace, up 3 percent to 75.

Even the aggregate of all other brands, led by the Chinese manufacturer Lenovo which acquired IBM's PC brands in 2005, improves this year mirroring the industry's 4 percent increase from 74 to 77. Like autos, improved quality is the major reason for the improvement in customers' eyes. For PCs, however, most improvement is in product quality. Service quality is also improving, but it is almost 10 percent below the average of other consumer durables, according to the report. This is partially due to customer frustrations with PC call-centers, but is also a function of the complex nature of the products - PC owners have more frequent customer service issues than owners of appliances, televisions, or cars.