The most recent results of the American Customer Satisfaction Index puts Apple ahead of all other computer manufacturers with a rating of 85 percent, a new high for the industry. The Cupertino company saw an improvement of 8 percent since the last measurement, putting it 10 full percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor in an industry where the general satisfaction rating has gone down for the second straight time. The report attributes Microsoft's launch of Vista as responsible for at least some of Apple's numbers:

"It's hard not to be impressed with Apple," said Prof. Fornell. "This is product extension at its best where the new products, iPod and iPhone, are helping bring new customers to existing computer products. The fact that Apple is not dependent on the Windows Vista operating system hasn't hurt either."

While the industry saw a 1 percent decline in overall satisfaction, three of the larger players—HP, Gateway, and Compaq—all saw 4 percent dips in their ratings, dropping them to 73, 72, and 70 percent respectively. Apple wasn't the only major manufacturer to see an increase, though, as Dell saw a modest improvement of 1 percent, bringing it to a score of 75 percent.

Despite its recent MobileMe snafus, Apple has been attempting to make things right by offering users free extensions to their service. While this isn't exactly a great way of doing things, it is further proof that Apple is attempting to make customers happy. A brief synopsis of the study is available here as a PDF.