Amazon tops customer satisfaction survey for eighth straight year

A new report from ForeSee reveals that Amazon is once again the most popular online destination with regards to customer satisfaction. The store that claims to have everything from A to Z is no stranger to being in first place in the online shopping survey as they have earned the honor for eight straight years.

Amazon was awarded a score of 88 out of a possible 100; the same score they earned in 2011. The survey company noted that Amazon has done so well due to their general appeal and the overwhelming variety of products they offer customers. In fact, ForeSee president and CEO Larry Freed said they have been dominate for so long and have such a history of focusing on the customer that it’s hard to imagine anyone else coming close.

That of course isn’t to say that others didn’t fare well in the survey. LLBean.com earned a score of 85, QVC.com and Vitacost both tallied 84 points and Esteelauder.com scored a respectable 83. Other well-known companies that have scored high in previous surveys didn’t rank as well this year, however.

Apple.com dropped four points with an overall satisfaction score of 80, good for their worst showing in four years. Dell also lost four points over last year’s score, coming up with only 77 points for 2012. But it was JCPenny.com that suffered the largest drop with six points, finishing 2012 with a score of 78.

Data in the ForeSee survey was collected from more than 24,000 customer satisfaction surveys taken between Thanksgiving and Christmas and included more than 100 different vendors.

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By: Dilusha On 10:57 AM

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Number of e-book readers increasing in United States: survey

NEW YORK | Thu Dec 27, 2012 6:25pm EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The popularity of electronic books is increasing in the United States, with nearly one-quarter of American bibliophiles reading e-books, according to a survey released on Thursday.

The number of e-readers aged 16 years and older jumped from 16 percent in 2011 to 23 percent this year, while print readers fell from 72 to 67 percent in 2012, in a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.

"The move toward e-book reading coincides with an increase in ownership of electronic book reading devices," the organization said. Its report analyzed reading trends among the 75 percent of Americans who read at least one book in the last year.

"In all, the number of owners of either a tablet computer or e-book reading device ... grew from 18 percent in late 2011 to 33 percent in 2012."

E-book owners increased from 4 percent in May 2010 to 19 percent in November 2012, while people with tablets jumped from 3 percent to 25 percent during the same period, according to the report.

People most likely to read e-books are well-educated, 30- to 49-year-olds who live in households earning $75,000 or more.

More women, 81 percent, read books, compared to 70 percent of men, and the number of readers declines as people age. The trend toward e-books impacted libraries, which stocked and loaned more e-books.

"The share of recent library users who have borrowed an e-book from a library has increased from 3 percent last year to 5 percent this year," according to Pew.

Even awareness that library stock e-books has grown, from 24 percent late last year to 31 percent now.

The findings were based on a telephone survey of 2,252 people, aged 16 years and older, across the United States and a similar poll the year before. It had a 2.7 percent margin of error.

(Reporting by Patricia Reaney; Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Cynthia Osterman)

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By: Dilusha On 10:45 AM

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Survey: 25% of computer users debating on going tablet-only

Although some reports of the so-called "post-PC era" have been greatly exaggerated, there's no denying that we're amidst a shift where many people are ditching their desktops and laptops for less capable, but more mobile solutions. For a certain chunk of users -- around a quarter of them according to a new survey -- devices such as smartphones and tablets are functional enough to meet their daily computing needs.

Conducted by the Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz, the survey asked folks how likely they are to replace their PC after it stops working, given the features offered by today's mobile devices. In reply, 4% said they definitely won't buy a new computer when theirs fails, 6% said they're unlikely to replace their PC and 15% said they might not replace it -- a total of 25% who are at on the fence about future PC purchases.

A little over half of the people who plan to drop PCs said they'll do so for the mobility offered by tablets, 38% say tablets let them do almost everything they did on a PC, 34% say tablets are easier to use than PCs, 26% find tablets more comfortable to use, 22% think tablets are cheaper, 19% are interested in mobile apps and say tablets are more functional (this isn't explained), while 15% say they're cooler or more stylish.

On the flip side, three-quarters of respondents said they plan to replace their current computer with another PC when the time comes. Among these users, 66% say PCs are more comfortable to use than a tablet, 58% require a bigger screen than tablets offer, 56% need the extra performance of a full-fledged computer or a mouse and keyboard, 43% rely on PC software and 25% worry about the security of other devices.

Center for the Digital Future director Jeffrey Cole has predicted that tablets will become the primary computing device in the US over the next few years, but he notes that they aren't yet as established as PCs when it comes to productivity. "The tablet has yet to prove its full functionality," Cole said.  "As more ambitious work on a tablet becomes possible as software choices grow, more users will move to tablets."

Of note, this report coincides with a PC Gamer article that highlights the growth of the enthusiast PC market. The write-up includes a quote from Nvidia spokesman Ben Berraondo, who notes that sales of  desktop GTX graphics cards are growing -- "massively" so when it comes to the GTX 660 and higher models. However, Berraondo also acknowledged that tablets are replacing sales of entry-level computers.

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By: Dilusha On 9:08 AM

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