08/05/2008, 9:15am, EDT
Tuesday, August 5th
Jobs: MobileMe launch 'was a mistake'
The launch of MobileMe was deeply flawed, and "not up to Apple's standards," according to an e-mail from Apple CEO Steve Jobs. The message is said to have been circulated amongst Apple employees late Wednesday, and recognizes the serious technical problems subscribers have suffered through. These have ranged from a complete lack of access early on, through missing web applications, and persistent mail problems in spite of an all-clear signal recently sent by MobileMe staff.
"It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store," says Jobs. "We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence."
Instead, Jobs proposes, Apple should have debuted features gradually, beginning for instance with wireless iPhone sync, followed by the sequential addition of web services such as Mail and Calendar. The company has already restructured the MobileMe division as well, with it now falling under the purview of Eddy Cue, who has been assigned to manage all Internet services at Apple, such as iTunes and the App Store.
"The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services," Jobs comments. "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."
Filed under: Apple
Other story tags: Steve Jobs, MobileMe
, 
, 16
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
, 
Top
subscribe to comments
for this article
Well, duh!
Me and a few co-workers guessed that Apple couldn't handle it all at once when the WWDC announcement was made.
Well
Rather than sit here and play monday morning quarterback like somne will, I'd rathre say
"at least there's acknowledgement from the top
and accountability"
As a long time Mac user and supporter of Apple, it's safe to say that it will evolve into a relaible service -
So rather than dwell on what was wrong, I'd rather look forward to what will be corrected and enhnced.
what's done is done.
Coming Clean...
It's absolutely comforting to see a Technology Mogul coming clean in admitting this product lunch batch-up. It's refreshing to see that Steve Jobs did not wait forever to admit that something went very wrong with this...
I am one of those long-time .Mac Subscribers dealing with all the things that went wrong with MobileMe.
Walter Mossberg's "MobileMe is Ragged" comments must have really hit home on this.
I hope they fix this soon.
Well
Rather than sit here and play monday morning quarterback like some will, I'd rather say
"at least there's acknowledgement from the top and accountability"
As a long time Mac user and supporter of Apple, it's safe to say that it will evolve into a reliable service -
So rather than dwell on what was wrong, I'd rather look forward to what will be corrected and enhanced.
what's done is done.
Well...what's done is don
I SECOND that...
it takes a big man...
to do this without going on stage and throwing chairs. innovators will always have more learning curves. ok i still miss "bookmarks anywhere" but they've matched their ambition with humility and effort. it's not like they have an entire 6-version OS that's this buggy and stick their head in the sand over it like some other steves.
accountability
Well, it would have been better if (a) he sent it out to the public, not just the internal staff, and (b) he sent it out weeks ago, not now.
whatever
Jobs sends an internal email that acknowledges the problems associated with the recent rollouts. The email is leaked and we're supposed to feel better? How about stepping up to the microphone and addressing the customers? Now, that would make me feel better about my crappy email service.
Improved health
Well, at least we now have definite confirmation that Steve Jobs is still alive and kicking...
alive and kicking
the internal message was just to "comfort" Apple employees who were wondering where their colleagues who were working on MobileMe went to.
Probably they just came in one day to find them replaced by a whole new crew.
Of course, where they really went to, only Jobs knows...