Filed under: Bad Apple, MobileMe
Ars: Jobs agrees MobileMe not up to Apple's standards
How often does Apple admit a mistake? It's a once-in-a-blue-iMoon occurrence, but now that Ars Technica is reporting the contents of an internal Steve Jobs all-hands email regarding the MobileMe launch challenges we can add one more instance to the tally board. Jobs apparently acknowledges that trying to rush the MobileMe migration while pushing iPhone 3G hardware and iPhone 2.0 software out the door (not to mention the iTunes App Store) may have been too much to bite off at once.The money quote from the letter (yet to be confirmed by TUAW sources) is here:
"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services," Jobs says. "And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year."
Ars also notes that MobileMe management will now be centralized under iTunes exec VP Eddy Cue, who will be leading the charge for all Apple internet services across the board. We've all been through the MobileMe ups and downs during the first weeks of the service; it's nice to know (belatedly) that Apple top brass is clued in.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Big John said 12:45AM on 8-05-2008
Good to see a reorg to try and get things going. I haven't any issues personally but I know some people have, and they're very vocal about it.
I'm sure some folks will say this isn't enough, demanding payback in some form. That's just silly at this point, honestly. The free month is enough for whatever pain and anguish you had. If you lost all your data, the issue is more that you didn't back it up in some fashion.
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Nick said 1:13AM on 8-05-2008
"Payback?" No. But if Jobs wants to maintain a shred of credibility with regard to online services, he'll reclassify MobileMe as a free public beta until the kinks are worked out.
marek said 2:53AM on 8-05-2008
Perhaps you'd see things a bit differently if you'd had as many problems as some of us. It's hard to describe the trouble MM caused me during the switch. It's not a professional product, and caused me a good deal of grief at work. As someone who backs up regularly and doesn't own an iPhone, I can tell you that the problems were far greater than the loss of a few contacts (especially on the iWeb side). Giving me back what essentially equates to less than $10 just doesn't seem like a big "sorry." That's what, Tuesday's lunch money?
Johnny Thrash said 12:50AM on 8-05-2008
I'm not switching over to a Microsoft product over a couple glitches while launching a new service. I will just get over it and know that Apple will fix it. I have faith in the all mighty Apple.
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Snowman said 2:26AM on 8-05-2008
From I saw the title of this post I knew at least one person would some how find a way to bring Microsoft into this.
NM said 4:01AM on 8-05-2008
switching to MS is never an issue for me. No MS ever after I bought my MacBook
Zach said 12:50AM on 8-05-2008
It's a shame many of us are paying for a product that Apple is not proud of now.
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Liam said 3:22AM on 8-05-2008
Any talk of refunds? Just in terms of not leaving those who had downtime/lost mail, for a paid service, with a bitter taste in the mouth, it makes sense.
Shunnabunich said 12:36PM on 8-05-2008
Hey, I'd be willing to pay as much as $20 a year for this stuff once they get it smoothed out. Too bad they're charging $100 a year for services you can get for free anywhere else, plus fast syncing.
Ed Pummelon said 3:24AM on 8-05-2008
Why do we have to hear this unofficially? This is exactly the sort of communication that should have gone to customers in the first week, not to staff 3 weeks later.
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NM said 4:01AM on 8-05-2008
I never used .Mac before and started using it form MobileMe already. Donno what to say, the system is a mess. There is NO push think at all except for email.
There were reports that calendar/contacts synced between PC/Mac and Server in 15 minutes. Yesterday I made a test change to the calendar in www.me.com website and it appeared in my iPhone after I think an hour!
Never expected such service form Apple.
For me, MS is the bug champion but never Apple ... untill now
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murky said 10:24AM on 8-05-2008
Speaking of MobileMe...
Version 2.0 seemed to sync (between the iPhone and the "cloud") within a minute or two. I made updates to my iPhone calendar and my MacBook Pro iCal 30 minutes ago... still hasn't shown up in the other spot yet. "Cloud" is sync'ed with my iCal... did 2.0.1 sacrifice MobileMe sync frequency for battery life?
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Ron Sell said 10:45AM on 8-05-2008
I signed up for MobileMe the day the iPhone 2.0 came out.
I liked the fact that iCal is immediately synced from my work desktop.
I like the OTA (over the air) sync of my contacts and my appointments.
I did have one issue, all my contacts disappeared mysteriously last week, causing some grief.
The thing that I know about Apple is this... They will fix it, and it will kick ass. We just give them time to fix it. They won't leave it broken! And it will be better than anything else in the market place.
All it requires is a little patience on our part.
iPhone 2.0.1 came out yesterday and I have seen real speed improvements. Progress is being made, we all should be pretty happy.
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aaka said 12:01PM on 8-05-2008
Any new major service like MobileMe is not going to get implemented without some glitches. What matters is the overall attitude of the company towards its customers and Apple gets the highest marks in my book.
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mi_sat said 6:03PM on 8-05-2008
You, sir, are a moron. Complete lack of communication about a multi-clusterfuck relating to failed launches is what truly reflects "the overall attitude of the company toward its customers."
artifex said 12:09PM on 8-05-2008
So since Jobs is confident it'll be good by the end of the year... I'll wait to buy it at least that long. :)
A lot more products seem to be coming out of Apple with less pre-testing done on them, now.
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Shawn said 3:23AM on 8-06-2008
Now maybe apple will (hopefully) admit they have a problem with NVIDA's 8600 macbook pro cards. Unless, (somehow) magically it only affected HP and Dell. At least reassure people that there isn't a problem, or come out openly and admit it... don't just let it die away and quietly change the cards.
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tonyprendattcarter said 2:28PM on 8-12-2008
apple/mobileme are putting a serious hurting on all of us with it's absolute failure to deliver while charging $99 for the year. you guys knew this was not working to perfection before the changeover from .mac and you let it out anyway. it's just not good enough to fix the problem after the barn door is open. if you truely care about your customers you'll practice what you preach. i admire you steve jobs but shame on you and your company for sleeping on this...........
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Mike said 9:00PM on 8-12-2008
Well, it's not as bad as it sounds. Mac is a niche computer system and no real critical businesses use their products for enterprise services. So the mickey mouse service went down. Big deal. It will be back up eventually.
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