changewave

Apple may be in for some short-term pain when it comes to the Mac, but it can take comfort in the fact that recent buyers seem very satisfied with their purchases.

ChangeWave released another one of its surveys Wednesday, which chart the likelihood of respondents to buy a personal computer over the next 90 days from one manufacturer as opposed to another. As we pointed out earlier this week, Apple appears to have finally run into the economic storm that is hurting the tech industry, although the more interesting number was the various customer satisfaction ratings assembled by ChangeWave.

Apple customers over the past 90 days reported by far the highest level of satisfaction in ChangeWave's survey, with 81 percent of Apple customers saying they were "highly satisfied." Asus customers were the second-most satisfied group, with 67 percent reporting they were highly satisfied with their purchase, while 61 percent of Acer customers fell into that category. Lenovo was last, with only 50 percent reporting such levels of satisfaction.… Read more

Apple's Mac division was able to withstand recessionary pressures last quarter by neutralizing a decline in desktop sales with a sharp rise in notebook sales. Will it continue?

A new survey released by ChangeWave Wednesday makes it clear that despite a relatively strong first quarter, Apple is not out of the woods yet. Of respondents planning to buy a notebook in the next 90 days, the percentage of those planning to buy an Apple notebook fell six percentage points to 28 percent, as compared with November's survey.

The overall percentage of respondents planning to buy a notebook fell from 8 percent in November to 6 percent, so it's not just Apple that's feeling the pinch. And consumer electronics spending is on the wane as well, with the percentage of those planning to spend more on consumer tech over the next 90 days falling to a two-and-a-half-year low.

But Changewave says that decline is being partially offset by an increase in demand for Netbooks, a category where Apple is taking a wait-and-see approach. The research firm concludes its report by opining that Apple could be in trouble without a Netbook, because the PC market is growing increasingly price-sensitive as the recession takes hold.… Read more

Perhaps no one has benefited as much from the downfall of the Treo than Apple.

On Thursday, ChangeWave released the results of an otherwise dismal survey predicting a tough time ahead for anyone who relies on corporate IT spending for their livelihood. But the news was good for those in the smartphone business not named Palm; smartphone shipments to U.S. corporations are expected to grow even as overall IT spending falls.

And Apple's iPhone is seeing the bulk of the growth, according to ChangeWave. Companies still love Research in Motion's BlackBerry, as we covered earlier this month, … Read more

Apple's MacBook, shown on the left, and Dell's Studio 15, at right, are vying for consumer attention this holiday season.

Two-thirds of prospective PC buyers in the U.S. plan to buy either a MacBook or a Dell laptop this holiday season, according to a study released Monday by ChangeWave.

ChangeWave's survey of 3,699 consumers found that of those looking to buy a laptop over the next 90 days, 33 percent indicated a preference for the Mac, and another 33 percent said they would buy a Dell. The survey cited Apple's recent MacBook redesign and … Read more