SiliconBeat

(updated below)

My colleague John Boudreau is feverishly writing a story about Apple’s earnings. But here’s my quick take:

1. Very good quarter for the Mac. Apple sold 2.6 million Macs in the quarter, coming within spitting distance of the most the company has ever sold in a quarter. Unit sales were up 4 percent from the same quarter last year.

That may not sound like much, but given the terrible economic environment in general and the slumping PC market in particular, the Mac results are solid. Read the rest of this entry »

In the battle over image, Mac once again out-cools PC.

In a new Forrester consumer satisfaction report, the Cupertino company outscores its PC rivals – by a long shot.
In an analysis by Forrester Vice President Bruce Temkin, Apple came out on top in a survey of  five computer brands – Apple, Compaq, Dell, Gateway and Hewlett-Packard. The Forrester customer experience index gathered responses from more than 4,500 U.S. consumers about their experiences with major companies.

Apple had a  “good” rating of 80 percent. Compaq, HP, and Gateway, on the other hand,  garnered good ratings between 63 percent and 66 percent. Dell, meanwhile, came in with an image-bashing  “poor” 58 percent rating.

Ouch!

Dell landed with a thud in the most un-fun-to-use category. Maybe that’s why companies love to outfit their employees with Dells so much – the bosses sleep better at night knowing their workers aren’t enjoying themselves.
Apple led the pack when it came to ease of use – 17 percent better than the PCs. And consumers apparently would rather while away their time with a Macintosh computer. Apple garnered a 15 percent higher score than the others when it came to being enjoyable.
Temkin summed things up this way: “The Windows ecosystem needs an extreme customer experience makeover.”