Macs take reliability, support prize

October 29, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Apple Inc.'s computers are the most reliable and its support the most dependable of five top vendors, a national chain of computer service shops said today.

Macs beat machines built and sold by Lenovo Group Ltd., Hewlett-Packard Co., Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc., according to Rescuecom Corp.'s second annual reliability report. Apple, which took the second spot last year, blew away the competition this year by posting a score 51% higher than the next-best, Lenovo.

To come up with its scores, Rescuecom compared the percentage of each company's support calls with its market share, said David Milman, Rescuecom's CEO. The greater the difference, the higher the score, and the better the hardware and follow-up OEM support. Apple, for example, received the highest score because Macs made up only 1.4% of all calls to Rescuecom, even though its estimated market share was 5% for the year. Dell machines, on the other hand, accounted for 34.5% of all Rescuecom's incoming calls, which was higher than the company's 32.3% market share.

"It takes into account not just the quality and reliability of the equipment," said Milman, "but also the quality of service." The two are equally important, he said. "If a user is calling Rescuecom, that means they've abandoned the manufacturer's own support."

Apple led the five vendors with a score of 347, followed by Lenovo/IBM (236), HP (126), Gateway (103) and Dell (94).

"Apple's score tells me that it has both great quality control and great support in place," said Milman. "And that Apple is taking care of its customers though its internal support channel." Unlike the other four vendors, Apple has its own retail chain, whose stores are manned with customer support personnel, dubbed Apple Geniuses.

Dell, on the other hand, is now at the bottom of Rescuecom's scoring system, having slipped from last year's fourth place to fifth this year. "Dell faces some challenges to deliver quality products and quality services," said Milman. "The probability is certainly higher that a customer will have problems with a Dell than with an HP or a Lenovo [computer]."

The Round Rock, Tex. computer maker's has had problems meeting customer demand for some laptops, and has seen its once high-flying service and support reputation drop. In August, for instance, the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI), a barometer of customer satisfaction produced at the University of Michigan, pegged Dell's score as down four points from the previous year.

"Dell isn't going anywhere," said Milman. "They still have good machines. But over the long run, you're more likely to have a problem with Dell."

In the same ASCI of August, Apple scored 79, the highest among the seven makers and/or computer lines, but like Dell, also down four points from 2006.

Apple limits iPhone purchases to credit cards

October 29, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- People looking to walk into an Apple retailer and buy an iPhone with cash will be out of luck. The company is now accepting only credit or debit card payments for the devices so they can track who purchases the phone, according to an employee at the Apple Store in New York's SoHo neighborhood.

The new policy is Apple's attempt to prevent people from purchasing and then unlocking and reselling iPhones, a situation that has been a problem for the company. Apple won't let anyone without a credit card or debit card in their name purchase iPhones, according to an unidentified Apple Store employee in a phone interview.

"We need to track the purchases of the iPhone [because] we have people buying the phones, unlocking the phones and selling them," she said.

A report by the Associated Press last week said Apple was limiting the purchases to two devices and allowing users to purchase them only with credit or debit cards. According to store employees, the two-device limit has always been in place, but the noncash policy is new.

Apple's public relations team did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the new policy. However, it's no secret the company is trying to stem the tide of unlocked and resold phones, now totaling about 250,000.

Apple Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook mentioned that number last week in a quarterly results conference call as the difference between the number of handsets sold -- approximately 1.4 million -- and those actually connecting via AT&T Wireless, the iPhone's exclusive U.S. carrier.

If one analyst's estimate is correct, those unlocked phones are costing Apple millions of dollars. Piper Jaffrey analyst Gene Munster said that he believes Apple receives $18 per iPhone per month from AT&T Wireless, based on iPhone-related revenue Apple reported in its latest quarterly earnings, totaling more than $4.5 million in lost revenue.