Slash LaneIn an email to employees on the matter Monday, seen by ArsTechnica, Jobs fessed up to launching MobileMe without adequate testing and offered suggestions on what could have been done differently. Instead of launching the "monolithic service" all at once, Apple could have rolled it out in pieces, first launching over-the-air iPhone syncing and then introducing each new web app one at a time, he said.
"It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store," Jobs said. "We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence."
The Apple co-founder also announced changes to the company's management structure that will see Eddy Cue, formally vice president of iTunes, oversee all Internet-related services, including the iTunes, the App Store, and Mobile Me. Cue will now report directly to Jobs.
"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services," Jobs told employees. "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."
MobileMe has been plagued by a variety of issues since launching on the eve of July 10th. Even after axing some planned features, Apple struggled for days to get its new suite of Web apps up in working order.
Those issues were later compounded by intermittent line problems, syncing bugs that remotely cleared the contact lists on iPhones, and a mail server crash that left some subscribers locked out of their email accounts for over a week.
On July 16, Apple apologized for its MobileMe missteps by offering subscribers a free 30-day extension on their yearly subscriptions to the service.
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75 Comments
Staggered launches are always smoother.
In my view the sign of a great company (or other kind of organization or person) is not in the always perfect execution but in how they respond when things go poorly.
This memo is an example of a company handling things well and trying to determine how to avoid such troubles again in the future.
Ironically, this screw up is likely to make Apple stronger in the future rather than weaker.
The service has sucked since it's inception with iTools 8 years ago.
This is what happens when Steve is not passionate about one of Apple's products. He should have hired someone passionate about web services and let them run with it.
I keep paying for it like an idiot because he keeps saying how wonderful it's going to be.
And this is why Apple is a better computer company; when they know they effed something up they say so. There are big men running that modest company. I'm still waiting for the apology letter from a certain software company over a certain operating system that didn't even meet their own iffy standards for quality.
*goes to stand by the mailbox*
The service has sucked since it's inception with iTools 8 years ago.
This is what happens when Steve is not passionate about one of Apple's products. He should have hired someone passionate about web services and let them run with it.
I keep paying for it like an idiot because he keeps saying how wonderful it's going to be.
I agree. Although I never paid for it. I never understood how people were using such a tiny amount of space for backup. The services are good for a certain kind of user who doesn't want to know how ANYTHING works --- like one-click publishing with iWeb.
I steer some people toward hosts like Bluehost - but then you face a different set of problems. Like they decide what disk use is acceptable. Putting all your music on their server? Probably not acceptable. It makes their claims of inlimited storage space and bandwidth far less useful.
But I think you nailed it on the head, Apple has never seemed passionate about .Mac. And Mobile Me doesn't get me any more excited. If they had partnered with Google on something I'd be paying more attention.