Apple's MobileMe Mess
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As part of the iPhone 3G launch, Apple also switched its Mac.com to me.com, which it now calls “Mobile Me”. Now it’s clear that the switch has been a fiasco. Walt Mossberg trashed it today, as did David Pogue. Apparently Apple is stonewalling as to the extent of the problems.
In particular, losing (or making inaccessible) e-mail is a big deal: people don’t like to be without e-mail, even briefly. I remember one university CIO telling me that any time e-mail went down, he’d get a call to his desk in less than 5 minutes.
Pogue has it exactly right:
O.K., look: Even big companies screw up. Intel's done it. Microsoft's done it. Google's done it.
Maybe it wasn't such a hot idea for Apple to launch four enormously complex initiatives -- the iPhone 3G, the App Store, the iPhone 2.0 software update and MobileMe -- all on the same day.
I understand why MobileMe is important: Mac.com had a very low penetration among Mac users and none among Windows users, and they hope to create something that every iPhone buyer will subscribe to.
Still, it seems like it would have made sense to launch the MobileMe later, after the other initiatives are out there; the others have a bigger impact on the bottom line, and MobileMe could have waited a few months until it was ready to go.
Steve Jobs has a reputation of suffering fools not at all. I wonder who will lose their job over this — and, more importantly, what lessons the company will learn about hubris.
Disclosure: No positions
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This article has 16 comments:
Goodwin
Yeah - there may be big time problems with .me, but it is a big and complex system, and it may have the problem that way more people are banging on it than expected. Personally I have no doubt that they will work it out.
As for hubris... Her e is the company that has earned more innovation awards than any other 3 companies combined, have grown their earnings some 300+% over the last few years, and YOU have the *%#@ hubris to try to tell them how to run their business?????
You gotta be kidding.
Jimmy said it very well...
Jobs gets on stage and he is excited about his products. They are innovative, incredibly well designed, and easy to use.
Do people think that some 50 million (or however many) people have bought iPods ONLY because of some "reality distortion field" induced by Jobs? Come off it! You gotta be kidding!
And the 40-50% YoY growth in Mac sales each quarter - ALL these people are just dupes of Jobs? Give me a break!
You do not like The Mac? Fine - keep with your Windows machine. Don't like iPod? Buy a Zune if you like. Don't like iPhone? No problem - you are free to choose. Just get out of the #@%# way, quit wining, and let the rest of us choose what WE like the best!
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As for Jimmy...
Past peak?? They have probably already sold 2 - 3 million iPhone 3Gs, by now there are more than 30 MILLION iPhone Apps downloaded, and they have not even started selling in more than half the countries.
Past peak. You ARE joking - yes?
leaders
what a waste of resources both APPL and MSFT are. we are in a tech slowdown.
NOT the hic ups that is happening with the
equipment. Apple will straighten those issues
out, they work around the clock to take care
of them. Is Steve healthy, that my question.
MG Dakis
Grime
They fixed something that was not even broken and will not listen to any feed back as most of it says, please give us back the old not broken My Yahoo