Apple's online store got crappy marks from Keynote Systems, an e-business outfit, in what is claimed to be the first major survey of hardware makers' websites.
Dell and Amazon came tops: "The manufacturers excel in providing strong product comparison tools, and in online help and customer support. Apple was the lone exception, with four in ten (40%) users complaining about the site's product comparison functionality and information," the survey said.
Keynote compared Apple, Amazon.com, Best Buy, CompUSA, Dell, Gateway, HP, IBM, PC Connection and Sony.
Meanwhile, Apple's PR department also got poor marks from tech reporters. The Press Club of California presented awards to the best companies in high tech to work with, and chastised three companies that "need most improvement."
Best PR:
1. Intel
2. Sun Microsystems
3. Cisco
Needs most improvement:
1. Apple
2. HP
3. Yahoo!
