Tech support is hard. It burdens big companies and brings down even the heartiest of market warriors (Gateway in the '90s, anyone?). These are the thoughts that run through my head every year as I read our annual (also known as Service and Reliability) report. Year after year, companies like HP, Dell, and Lenovo are, to a certain extent, savaged by their own devoted customers. And like the swallows returning to Capistrano, Apple swoops in annually to collect a passel of prizes.

Some might say that Apple, with its far smaller system market share has an unfair advantage. Perhaps, but the company's customer base is not in the hundreds. Apple has millions of system customers (it sold over 3 million Macs in the first quarter of this year alone). Depending on whom you ask, Windows PCs own anywhere from 89%-to-95% of the systems market. However, unlike the Mac OS PC market, the Windows PC market is split up among at least dozen or so manufacturers. Individually, each one might sell only slightly more PCs on a quarter-by-quarter basis.

Companies like HP, however, also sell other vast numbers of productslike and . Apple, of course, does tooit has hundreds of millions of iPhone and iPod customers. It also sells routers. In virtually every category, Apple beat the competition when it comes to overall satisfaction. There are those who will say Apple and Steve Jobs' reality distortion field has obviously taken hold. Nobody's customers can be that happy.

But they are.

Look, it's not as if we simply asked consumers if they are "Happy" or "Unhappy" with a given company. PCMag's survey rated companies like Apple, HP, Lenovo, Dell, Asus, Acer on a variety of metrics, including Reliability of Products, Tech Support, Quality of Repairs, the Percentage of Products that Needed Repairs, and How Likely They Would Be to Recommend the company's products. While the Overall rating is key, these sub-ratings tell a richer story.

In almost every category measured, Apple rated well above the average for tech support, reliability and repairs. For and , HP and Dell were , by contrast, almost consistently below the average or just average. Interestingly, Dell, HP and Apple all share about the same percentage (15%, which is a fairly high number) in the category of Laptops Needing Repair. On the other hand, laptops are still pretty complex technology, especially once you start to load them with files and applications, and often have to suffer the bumps and bruises of travel. Something is bound to go wrong. Consumers likely expect to call tech support at some point in the life of a laptop, or for that matter, any technology product. Now imagine what happens when you combine a relatively high propensity for needing repairs with below average tech support. It's a recipe for disaster.

In my house, we don't own any Apple computers. Instead, we have three iPods and a new iPad. So far, none have needed tech support. I did, however have to call Apple customer service for a different reason. While testing an iPhone 4, I decided to sign up for the trial version of Mobile Me. I could use it for 30 days and, if I did nothing, Apple would begin charging my credit card. It turned out that I never used the service and decided at the last minutejust 24 hours before the deadlineto cancel.

Apple's Website was supposed to guide me to ending the trial, but it turned out to be useless. I could not remember the username and password I'd created on sign-up, and the Website failed to help me remember, despite a reminder question. The next option was working with online customer support to try and terminate the account before it was too late.

What follows below is the full transcript of my support conversation with Apple (I've removed any personal information you could use against me)

Lance Ulanoff: hello

Michael: I can see from the information that you provided that you would like to cancel your account. Is that correct?

Lance Ulanoff: Yes, it was a trial account

Lance Ulanoff: I have an apple ID and password

Michael: Before we begin, have you contacted Apple about this issue before?

Lance Ulanoff: but have no idea what the Me ID is

Lance Ulanoff: No

Michael: Okay. I'd be glad to help you out with your account today!

Michael: I will have to ask you a few questions to verify you own the account and then I can cancel it for you. Would that be okay?

Lance Ulanoff: yes

Michael: First question, What is your birthday? I only need the day and month for verification purposes.

Lance Ulanoff: X/XX/XXXX

Michael: Thank you - What are the last 4 digits of the credit card (or complete activation key) that was used to pay for your account?

Lance Ulanoff: one sec

Lance Ulanoff: XXXX

Michael: Thank you

Michael: Last question: Can I get the answer to your password question? If you do not know your password question off hand, I can provide it to you, though I still will need to know what the answer is.

Lance Ulanoff: XXX XXXX

Michael: Just as a heads up, I would highly recommend backing up your data prior to canceling your account. Upon canceling your MobileMe account all previous data that was synced to our server will be removed, which will remove the content from any location you have your MobileMe account set up (iphone, computer, iPad, iPod touch, etc). This includes your @me.com email

Lance Ulanoff: I didn't use it, so that should not be a problem

Lance Ulanoff: This will not impact my iTunes account, right?

Michael: Correct.

Lance Ulanoff: cool

Michael: Please allow me a few moments to review your information

Lance Ulanoff: k

Michael: Okay the account is cancelled, you won't see any charges appear on your credit card statement.

Michael: Would you like a copy of our chat transcript? You can refer back to it, if necessary.

Lance Ulanoff: Excellent. Thank you!

Lance Ulanoff: yes, please

Michael: Thank you for chatting with us. We value your feedback. Please click the blue "Close" button at top left to answer a few questions about your experience with us today.

Michael: You'll receive the option to get a transcript of this chat for your records when you press the blue "Close" button to end our session, instead of the normal X. Please make sure to check YES and enter your email address.

Michael: Have a wonderful evening.

Lance Ulanoff: thanks!



Obviously, my issue wasn't technical in nature, but I was impressed with how easy it was to end this account. The support rep was purpose-drivenand not by his purpose, but by my own stated goal: to end the account before I was charged. Notice how he never asked me if I was sure I wanted to end it, or if I'd like to try any other Apple services. No hard sell. No soft sell. Just satisfaction.

When I've talked to other people about Apple's support, they're typically complimentary. If they do not find satisfaction on the phone, many will take the product into the store and talk to one of Apple's Geniuses. Often times, Apple will simply replace the broken technology.

By the way, have you ever walked around an Apple store? I have, and every location I visit is the same, with the exact same vibe. There are always a lot of people, but zero tension. Some people are trying out gadgets, others are, perhaps, sitting in a mini auditorium setting, learning about how to get things done with their Macs, while still others are lined up at the checkout kiosks or, more likely the Genius bar. The last time I was in an Apple store, I couldn't tell the difference between the two. People standing waiting for Genius help had the same happy, or at least calm, look on their faces as those waiting to buy cool new stuff.

Owing to its market share and the fact that it controls its hardware and, to a certain extent, software ecosystem in ways no other system manufacturer can match, Apple may in fact have an advantage. On the other hand, that can't be all of it. Sometimes doing things different really does make sense.