Apple iPhone tops JD Power customer satisfaction poll

Fifth consecutive win for Apple

The Apple iPhone has once again been named the top smartphone in terms of customer satisfaction.

Consumer research firm JD Power and Associates said that the iPhone claimed the top spot in its survey of US consumers. This is the fifth consecutive survey in which Apple has placed first.

The iPhone maker logged an overall customer satisfaction score of 795 on a 1,000-point scale.

Second on the survey was Motorola, which logged a score of 763. HTC was a near third with 762. Among traditional handset vendors, Sanyo topped the satisfaction ratings. LG was second, followed by LG and Samsung.

JD Power noted that social networking services played a major role in custumer opinions. People who accessed social networking services on their handsets returned satisfaction scores that were on average 22 points higher than those who did not.

"It's clear that the gap in satisfaction between customers who use social media applications on their device and those who don't is driven by several factors, but the critical ingredient is whether the user has a positive experience with the wireless device itself," said JD Power senior director of wireless services Kirk Parsons.

"Providing features that facilitate social networking activity and make it easy to communicate and share information between various social media sites may be an effective way for service providers to further engage customers and increase loyalty."

Additionally, the study found that social networking increases overall handset use. Those who used social networking services tended to rack up more voice minutes, text messages and data loads, and were more likely to purchase other wireless services.