After a small uptick last quarter, the ACSI slips 0.1 percent to 75.1 on a 100-point scale. The ACSI second quarter report, released today from the University of Michigan’s National Quality Research Center, forecasts consumer spending will remain weak with growth of no more than 2.3 percent in the third quarter.

“The American consumer has long been the single biggest force propping up the U.S. and the global economy,” says Professor Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI at the University of Michigan. “But declining customer satisfaction combined with weaker demand for U.S. exports may make it difficult for American households to shoulder the burden of being the locomotive for world economic growth.”

The personal computer industry suffers a second consecutive drop in satisfaction, falling one percent to 74 and losing all gains made since 2005. Apple defies the industry by moving in the opposite direction and posting its largest gain ever to 85, a new all-time high for the industry. The eight percent leap puts 10 points between Apple and its nearest rival, one of the largest gaps between first and second in any industry measured by ACSI. As Apple’s satisfaction improves, so too have its sales, market share, net income, and stock price.

“It’s hard not to be impressed with Apple,” says 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.”

The industry aggregate decline is largely for Windows-based machines -- Hewlett-Packard (73), Gateway (72), and Compaq (70) each sink four percent. The exception is Dell -- up one percent to 75.

Every second quarter, ACSI features the annual measurement of the manufacturing durable goods sector and e-business category of websites, including automobiles, personal computers, major appliances, portals & search engines, and news & information web sites.

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