Jobs admits Apple was wrong (gasp!) [Update]
According to Ars Technica, Steve Jobs sent an e-mail to Apple employees last night admitting that MobileMe was launched too early.
“It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store,” said Jobs.
The article says that Jobs thought MobileMe could have been launched more slowly, piece by piece. They could have started with contact and calendar syncing to the iPhone and iPod Touch. Later, they could have added more features like each online service individually.
In an effort to get things back in shape, all members of the MobileMe team will report to Eddy Cue. Actually, Cue is in charge of all internet related programs, including iTunes, the App Store and MobileMe. Cue is the only step between MobileMe and Steve Jobs, so you can bet that Jobs will be watching.
It’s rare to see Apple admit defeat, but with all the MobileMe problems, it’s nice to see Apple take at least some measure of responsibility. First, they started a MobileMe blog to update the service’s status, and now they are actually admitting they were wrong.
“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.”
Via [Ars Technica] Product [MobileMe]
Update: Here’s the full text from Steve’s email.
Team,
The launch of MobileMe was not our finest hour. There are several things we could have done better:
– MobileMe was simply not up to Apple’s standards – it clearly needed more time and testing.
– Rather than launch MobileMe as a monolithic service, we could have launched over-the-air syncing with iPhone to begin with, followed by the web applications one by one – Mail first, followed 30 days later (if things went well with Mail) by Calendar, then 30 days later by Contacts.
– It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.
We are taking many steps to learn from this experience so that we can grow MobileMe into a service that our customers will love. One step that I can share with you today is that the MobileMe team will now report to Eddy Cue, who will lead all of our internet services – iTunes, the App Store and, starting today, MobileMe. Eddy’s new title will be Vice President, Internet Services and he will now report directly to me.
The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services. 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.
Steve
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It bothers me that apple took almost a month to admit that they were responsible for the “mobile mess” mess. It bothers me that the syncing and email are still screwed up. But the thing that makes me livid is the fact that the (non)support people with a few exceptions really don’t care. They chat with you just like my granddaughters text message their friends. They tell you nothing and blame you for the “mobile mess”. Then they want you to tear apart your computer when there is no logical reason for that to fix the problem. After nine emails back and forth to a “mobile me specialist” all they want to do is chat, suggest how to lose or corrupt your data and blame the mess on your computer that you bought from apple. Did the support people ever know about mobile me and its shortcomings? If not then why? If so then why not convey this information to the customers you are dealing with? I’ve used apples since the “Apple II plus” and this is the worst customer support I have ever experience from apple. And as a pitance, they are going to give us 30 days free of mobile me (cost =$8.41) for all of our time and trouble. It would be nice if apple would support its loyal customers, whom they have mislead,
on August 6, 2008 at 07:56 AM - LINKwith more of a sincere apology.