Apple Falls Behind Microsoft, Samsung, and Sony in New Consumer Experience Survey

[Rogifan]

This has to be the most useless survey I have ever seen. We can't quantify things but this is what we believe the customers thinks.

But sites like MR love reporting useless surveys (positive or negative for Apple) because it brings site traffic. I'd be curious to know if any of these companies are paid clients of Forrester. Has Tim Cook ever mentioned this company when he talks about Apple being #1 in "customer sat"?

 

[Bear]

Surveys can be affected by whom you ask and how you ask your questions. Heck, if you ask in the right places, you could get a survey result that says taking a bath in excrement is the greatest experience.

 

[Spreken8]

Battery Life

Battery Life, Battery Life, Battery Life.

Lets get real these things are meant to be cordless devices. After my iOS7 update all my apple devices may as well be land lines. Who cares how thin it is. Make it bigger and give us 2-3 times the battery life. My Family has owned 2 of Every iPhone produced, up until this new round of un-impresive crap. Lets be realistic, if I can only use it while its plugged in, or if I am having to carry a charging cable with me every where I go, what does it matter if its the best OS. Its all about the user experience, and I can tell you I'm tired of mine. Having to ask the hostus to sit me at a table with a 110 outlet is crazy. Extension cords run to the 2 most common seats in my living room, is crazy. Having to carry around a charger every ware I go is crazy. Getting left stranded out of town with my landline of a phone as my only directions, and realizing I forgot my charger (The new one I can't just buy any ware because apple has made it so difficult to produce) is crazy.

None of these problems existed before I updated My OS. When I wasted more then an hour on the phone with apple to address it, there response to me was that I would need to change my charging habits, and to reduce the blow they sent me extra charging cables so I could leave them in different locations and not need to carry them around all the time. WTF Just another land line.

All of this doesn't even address the lack of screen size. I don't care what Apple thinks I need. We want what we want, And I want a larger screen.

My next phone will have Battery Life as its #1 fetcher, and it will have a larger screen. I will wait until the iPhone 6 or whatever, but if it doesn't fit this bill Ill go Android.

 

[dampfnudel]

I remember how pleasant it was to visit any Apple store 4-5 years ago. Now, most stores, even on a weekday, often resemble a zoo. They should have two separate rooms, one for "browsers", mostly teens and others just there to kill time and one for those actually there to buy something or people who have an appointment. It also takes a little longer to get someone on the phone and of course there's the laggy/crashy iOS 7 experience (hoping 7.1 fixes that).

 

[KdParker]

Battery Life, Battery Life, Battery Life.

Lets get real these things are meant to be cordless devices. After my iOS7 update all my apple devices may as well be land lines. Who cares how thin it is. Make it bigger and give us 2-3 times the battery life. My Family has owned 2 of Every iPhone produced, up until this new round of un-impresive crap. Lets be realistic, if I can only use it while its plugged in, or if I am having to carry a charging cable with me every where I go, what does it matter if its the best OS. Its all about the user experience, and I can tell you I'm tired of mine. Having to ask the hostus to sit me at a table with a 110 outlet is crazy. Extension cords run to the 2 most common seats in my living room, is crazy. Having to carry around a charger every ware I go is crazy. Getting left stranded out of town with my landline of a phone as my only directions, and realizing I forgot my charger (The new one I can't just buy any ware because apple has made it so difficult to produce) is crazy.

None of these problems existed before I updated My OS. When I wasted more then an hour on the phone with apple to address it, there response to me was that I would need to change my charging habits, and to reduce the blow they sent me extra charging cables so I could leave them in different locations and not need to carry them around all the time. WTF Just another land line.

All of this doesn't even address the lack of screen size. I don't care what Apple thinks I need. We want what we want, And I want a larger screen.

My next phone will have Battery Life as its #1 fetcher, and it will have a larger screen. I will wait until the iPhone 6 or whatever, but if it doesn't fit this bill Ill go Android.

I just don't have these battery issues I keep hearing about. What version of the iPhone that you have?

 

[Rogifan]

Something is fishy here.

(emphasis added)

If Amazon's score is for a specific product/product family, then it is likely that the entire graph is showing not companies' overall customer experience, but the customer experience of specific product lines.

Of course, the underlying report (and its methods) are behind a $499 paywall, but hey, here's a blog about the release of the report. Let's read, shall we?

(emphasis added)

Well, what do you know? Yep, that's not Amazon's overall rating. It's their rating only for the products they manufacture themselves: Kindles. Oh, and by the way. they just happened to be hotly advertising customer experience at the time Forrester took this survey. Oops.

So what do those lines for Sony, Samsung, and Apple represent? Are those also limited to specific product lines (e.g. Playstation, Galaxy, iPhone) and/or specific categories of business (e.g. retail sales experience, customer support experience)?

We may never know, because hey - the "science" is behind a paywall. We don't even get a key enabling us to properly understand and interpret the graph.

But gosh, isn't it fun to take a graph out of context and talk about it as if it has the weight and significance of holy scripture?

Dear internet media, stop with the innumeracy and the lack of skepticism. You're hurting America.

But your not supposed to be skeptical about the survey. You're supposed to chime in with how bad Apple sucks these days.

 

[roadbloc]

What?

Those are some generalize statements being thrown around.

Some would say that i0S and Mavericks gives all of those charactersistics to the end user, while saying Samsung, Sony and MS dont.

None of Apple's OSs are very backwards compatible. Most users find a lot of their apps broken until they're updated. Apple only releases their software on their hardware and also likes to restrict the software from being massively customisable. Thus, reducing choice. And possibly their overall satisfaction rating.

At the end of the day, it is all personal. I was simply saying why I prefer other products to Apple's nowadays.

 

[639051]

But sites like MR love reporting useless surveys (positive or negative for Apple) because it brings site traffic. I'd be curious to know if any of these companies are paid clients of Forrester. Has Tim Cook ever mentioned this company when he talks about Apple being #1 in "customer sat"?

I would have to imagine Apple is losing out in customer satisfaction for the people that have purchased new devices with the A7 since those have been subject to countless crashes on a daily basis.

I have several friends that were die hard iPhone users who have switched to Android for various reasons, mostly features, but some for stability.

Apple is going to need to start pulling out all the stops if they want to keep their customer base happy. Releasing stuff like iOS 7 which was so not ready for prime time is a huge black mark on a company that was all about stuff "just working".

 

[SusanK]

I am less satisfied with Apple retail experience

The staff has definitely been shifted into sales mode since Cook is CEO. Under Steve the staff was very support oriented. They explained new products, features and did minor troubleshooting on the floor. Everything is referred to the Genius Bar now. The staffers with the iPads scheduling and checking customers in are often standing together socializing while customers are ignored.

Sale staff begins to talk about change adverse customers as soon as someone gets near iToys. I have never commented on iOS 7. It speaks for itself.

My Apple Store relocated June 2012 to a very difficult location. It's not far from the previous location as the crow flys but it's a bear to get there.

They moved the store to a location where the access was designed for residential traffic primarily. There is one lane of traffic in each direction with most making left turns in to ragtag strip shopping areas. This is absolutely impossible during rush traffic.

The location Apple abandoned was extremely accessible from major highways. Six lanes of main drag to the shopping village previously.

The new store is larger and empty. As soon as you walk in the staff tries to persuade you that the store is busy. It's not. This move made no sense for the casual person stopping and and walking out with a white plastic bag with Apple logo.

If you have a repair issue and you must go there than it may be worth it. Just to shop, no way. The traffic is so snarled that I am concerned about a fender bender. I am not willing to risk that just to go to Apple.

I no longer do workshops. They are scheduled at the hours of peak traffic. I am a One to One member but have not scheduled at this location and will not renew because of the location.

The access issues were there when they selected the location. It must be a Tim Cook bean counting I got a dime a year off the rent decision.

I enjoyed visiting Apple for the previous ten years. No I don't go there unless it's a warranty issue.

Stupid, stupid, stupid location for a new store. Staff downing change adverse people as a preemptive strike before anyone can look at an iOS 7 device is silly.

Pushing iPhones is annoying. I don't use one. I have many Apple products that no one "sold" me. If I wanted one I would buy it.


Apple got it all wrong here.

The new MS Store? It's located in the easily accessible area Apple abandoned. I shop there a few time a week. My supermarket is there so I will go there until I stop eating.

 

[nathun]

It would be difficult to do anything other than that. It's unlikely that there are going to be many people who use such a wide range of products - those that do are undoubtedly going to have favourites, so it would be tough to get a balanced view that way.

Either way, it's the same methodology as the last two years and the results have changed.

That's the way I would assume it went as well. Not trying to defend Apple (I'm actually probably more team Amazon since selling there is what I do for a living). If accurate, it's great to see that all of the tech companies are improving (and that more of my customers feel good about Amazon and their products). Just not often you compare apples, oranges, and squares and get similar results.

 

[Stella]

Apple Stores are a nightmare if you want to buy. A victim of their own success.

Long wait times to buy an item from sale staff…

Ugh. I'd rather go to Best Buy or Future Shop.

As for iOS7, you'll probably find that most users are happy with it….

 

[H2SO4]

My take, Apple have three issues.

1. Their image amongst people who are unfamiliar and move to the platform is of a company that makes fantastic and almost perfect products and once they get into it consumers are then thinking, 'Ok quite nice but not the Utopian experience I thought'.

2. Their, 'We know what's right' attitude. That is to say it's immensely frustrating and eventually all the fanboyism in the world has to give way when you're forced to spend significant money upgrading things that really would work adequately but are preveted from doing so by a few plists.

3. Their secrecy. Or more accurately their refusal to comment on almost anything. This only really becomes apparent when you have an issue and want an answer and all you get is '.....declined to comment'.

 

[maplingstorie]

yeah.. stop delaying and release the updated thunderbolt display already!!

 

[KdParker]

None of Apple's OSs are very backwards compatible. Most users find a lot of their apps broken until they're updated. Apple only releases their software on their hardware and also likes to restrict the software from being massively customisable. Thus, reducing choice. And possibly their overall satisfaction rating.

At the end of the day, it is all personal. I was simply saying why I prefer other products to Apple's nowadays.

Next time respond to the whole comment:

Still waiting for the details of 'all kinds of awesomeness'

What?

Those are some generalize statements being thrown around.

Some would say that i0S and Mavericks gives all of those charactersistics to the end user, while saying Samsung, Sony and MS dont.

I was simply looking for a more details about what was released by these companies that could fall under the heading 'all types of awesomeness'.

 

[Rogifan]

I would have to imagine Apple is losing out in customer satisfaction for the people that have purchased new devices with the A7 since those have been subject to countless crashes on a daily basis.

I have several friends that were die hard iPhone users who have switched to Android for various reasons, mostly features, but some for stability.

Apple is going to need to start pulling out all the stops if they want to keep their customer base happy. Releasing stuff like iOS 7 which was so not ready for prime time is a huge black mark on a company that was all about stuff "just working".

I'm not saying it isn't possible (though this survey claims Apple numbers went up, just not as much as others). I'm just skeptical about any of these surveys because the devil is always in the details. And I don't trust some of these companies, especially ones that have companies they're reporting on as paid clients. I don't know if that's the case here, but it wouldn't surprise me.

To me these surveys are like political polls. You always have to look at the details, who was polled, what was the sample size, what was the political breakdown (was one party over sampled compared to recent election results), what questions were asked and how were they worded.

I personally have had nothing but good experiences with Apple the past few years. I had an issue with my iPhone 5 and within 15 minutes I was out of the store with a new iPhone syncing to iCloud. But maybe I'm the exception to the norm.

 

[applesith]

Apple is getting stagnant. Three hasn't been any new devices or software developments worth bragging about.

 

[Boske]

I wonder if some of this was due to the shaky start that iOS 7 had...
Plus the initial shocked reaction to the new OS.

Still they are very close to the 2nd placers.

Hope this is not a trend.

Don' forget the shaky start of Mavericks with iBooks

 

[dlondon]

My experience of Apple last year was let down by their retail experience. Whilst I accept that demand for the iPhone 5S outstripped supply, Apple did nothing to make the experience any easier in my opinion. There was no pre-ordering, no reservations (in the UK), minimal stock on launch and no warning from Apple of stock shortages. Customers in the US were able to reserve and collect (eventually). In the UK we were told to try the store every day as they 'may get a delivery' but stores could never confirm. Scalpers just rubbing salt into the wounds (not exactly Apple's fault but in previous years Apple has offered an email virtual queue - not foolproof but one way to reduce these kind of purchases).

 

[MN7119]

Well, a big thank you for Tim Cook!!!! He is a joke of CEO and Apple is suffering by his inability to innovate and launch "real new products" and not just add an S to existing products. Also, I've seen that the experience at Apple Stores has gone downhill with Genius being less helpful and less knowledgable than they used to be. You get better answers to problems in this forum than by having an appointment at a Genius bar. Last, their constraint in supply chain is killing them. People want to be able to buy new products when they are launched and not have to wait months until they are available. Shame on you Tim Cook!!!!!

 

[brdeveloper]

I wonder what Samsung, Microsoft and Sony did to improve so much?

Samsung: newer features for TouchWiz in the late years, like split-window, popup browser, popup video player. Even TouchWiz is being abandoned for a newer Flipboard-like interface.

Microsoft: nothing at all, but more people are becoming familiar with the WP8 UI, which is, at minimum, interesting.

Sony: don't know, but I'm not familiar with anything mobile from Sony...

 

[Stella]

Apple is getting stagnant. Three hasn't been any new devices or software developments worth bragging about.

What have microsoft released thats worth bragging about? But they've increased their rating by more than Apple.

Certainly not XBox One, which is being beaten by PS4.'

 

[charlitos]

That survey does not make a lot of sense due to the difference in how these companies provide their services. First of all Sony, Microsoft and Samsung have nowhere the retail presence Apple has in the U.S. They also don't get anywhere the amount of customers Apple gets in a daily basis. What this means is that it is easy for a consumer to confuse a semi empty store with good "customer service".

The lack of retail presence from other companies also forces consumers to troubleshoot themselves. When your Samsung Phone, Sony Camera or Windows Laptop has an issue you try to figure sh#t out on your own first, or talk to someone who knows how to figure sh#t out for you. The first impulse Apple customers get when something goes wrong with their device is to call Apple or to go the Apple Store. So i would really love to see a version of the survey when they considered all these variables as opposed to just taking customer service opinion blindly.

 

[RedOrchestra]

"Don' forget the shaky start of Mavericks with iBooks"

iBooks still DOESN'T work on my iMac!

 

[roadbloc]

Next time respond to the whole comment:

Still waiting for the details of 'all kinds of awesomeness'

I explained it for you. For me, awesomeness is the freedom of hardware, software and customisation whilst still retaining stability and usability. What is so hard to understand about that? I painted it out quite clearly I thought.

 

[brdeveloper]

2011 cMBP over heating issues.
2012 rMBP image retention/ghosting.
iPhone 4 Flawless.
iPhone 4S constant sim failure problems.
iPhone 5 unresponsiveness.

The reason I stick with Apple is their unbeatable support and warranty policy. They've always corrected what is wrong, but I sure had a batch of issues.

Amazon has great support, constantly gives you discounts when a problem arises, 2 day prime shipping, over nights a brand new product and pays for return shipping of a defective product. They are expanding around the country, building more hubs and investing a majority of their razor thin profits back into the company.

You forgot 2012, 2013/1, 2013/2 uneven yellowing issues. Also, 15" 2011-Macbooks failing because of GPU overheating. Apple support is not really great when you don't have an Apple Store nearby. Dell, on the other hand, provides support at home no matter where you live. In short, in general big companies provide good support options, better than the others depending on the situation.