“On July 16, Apple took the very unusual step of sending an apology to all MobileMe members, saying that the launch ‘was a lot rockier than we had hoped.’ Fortunately, the letter went on, ‘we have worked through those problems and the Web apps are now up and running,'” David Pogue reports for The New York Times.
“It also said that Apple would stop using the word ‘push’ in its advertising until Macs and PCs did their syncing nearly instantly. It concluded with an apology, and a free one-month extension to every member’s subscription,” Pogue reports. “Unfortunately, MobileMe’s problems were nowhere near over.”
“People [have] started calling it ‘ImmobileMe’ and “‘MobileMess,'” Pogue reports.
“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,” Pogue writes.
“It’s a little mind-boggling that today, nearly two weeks after MobileMe’s official opening, Apple still hasn’t solved the problem. That’s got to be a record in the short history of cloud computing,” Pogue writes. “But the real problem is how Apple is responding. For a company that’s so brilliant at marketing, it seems to have absolutely no clue about crisis management.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “klapka” and “Citymark” for the heads up.]
Just in case anybody missed our Take from Mossberg’s excoriation of Apple’s MobileMe earlier today, we’ll repeat it here: “Apple screwed the pooch with their MobileMe launch. First impressions mean everything. See: Newton. It’s painfully obvious that heads should roll over this mess. To those responsible: you failed. Miserably. If Jobs hasn’t axed you yet, he should have. He probably wants you to try to fix it first, but, come on Steve: “Bozo Alert!” Get someone on this who knows what the hell they’re doing. Apple MobileMe employees: Don’t worry, it’ll be fine, we hear that Microsoft is looking for people; you’ll fit in just fine up there. In fact, so far, this whole MobileMe thing is positively Microsoftian, and that’s being overly kind.”
We’re pulling all ads for MobileMe until further notice. If we miss some or one of them slips through via third-party ad network, please do not subscribe to MobileMe until Apple gets their act together. We’ll resume running ads for MobileMe when we’re more confident in the service.
Good choice, MDN, for taking down the MobileMe ads. You have to appreciate their honesty with this issue. Apple should have done more to prepare for this. RIM has been doing push e-mails worldwide for years, and even with their vast infrastructure and resources, they still have had some outages that kept e-mails from being delivered on time.
Has anyone that lost their mail been able to get it back with Time Machine?
Why not?
The only complaint I have about MobileMe is the web apps. They don’t work on Linux any more. Shame on you Apple! Also, they barely work on Mac and Windows. But, thankfully, I don’t rely on the web apps that much. Everything else has been fine. I’m sure they’ll get it worked out, but yeah, someone needs to be slapped over this.
meanwhile blackberry servers remain unaffected… LOL
Why DID they roll out so many things on the same day?
Arrogance?
Taking the “wait til you see what we do” thing too far?
Guess it’s a little more complicated running a NOC then Apple thought?
It’s actually too bad as MobileMe will be slick once (if) they can work out the kinks and it has scale as more peopl use it. Push email is no joke and a huge load on your network, add all the Appstore activity and it’s just too much for them.
I guess I’m missing the controversy. What’s wrong with MobileMe. It seems to work fine for me. Admittedly, I’m not a heavy user, and I had .Mac before hand. But the only problem, I had was the one that was there before MobileMe was rolled out—not all of my selected calendars would sync.
I was hoping iPhone 2.0 would clear up the issue. But it didn’t directly. I ended up deleting all stored calendar data on Mobile Me, resetting iPhone. Streamlining my calendars (I had a number which I didn’t use anymore, since they were conference timelines, etc.), then using sync all instead of sync selected. Now it works like a charm. Admittedly it was a lot of work, but the problem was pre-MobleMe and pre-iPhone Software 2.0.
Otherwise, I like the new interface for contacts, mail works well, and now my calendars sync, so I’m happy.
and this little piggy went wah wah wah all the way home…
I will never pay those prices in return for so little, especially if that little doesn’t work reliably.
Apple needs to offer a free version of the MobileMe service with every Mac, and especially iPhone. Not doing so is simply asinine.
Could be Apple, Google or whoever is proposing handdling files over web… i will NEVER trust this “features”. I want my stuff on my disks, period!
No problems here. But I’ve got a Palm Centro and I’m using Missing Sync to sync the phone with my desktop. And I’m using Spanning Sync to sync the desktop (calendar and contacts) with Google’s Mail, Calendar and Contacts.
Way over blown. I’ve not experience any problems. My understanding is that current problems are only affecting 1% of users. Yes, it sucsk to be in the 1%, but this is not the issue that the media is making it out to be.
..Yet, any important world crisis will just cut everybody off the web’s communications and make the net become a gost in our memories…
MobileMe has problems, but who cares what Pogue thinks?
Using my iPhone 2G with 2.0 software update reminds me what it was like to own a Windows licence. What a disapointment…
Apple’s barely good at making computers (all have had problems in their Rev A hardware versions) What would make you think they would be any better at online services?
Now Apple is moving past the faithful who will push any problems they have with Apple gear or services under the rug and pretend that nothing is wrong, to people who have brought into the myth that Apple somehow makes better than average products. They need to start getting better at what they do so the reality matches the hype.
Non fanboys are just not as forgiving and prepared to ignore missteps or explain them away as unexpected manifestations of Steve’s genius. That’s all there is to it.
“Non fanboys are just not as forgiving and prepared to ignore missteps or explain them away as unexpected manifestations of Steve’s genius.”
No, but you sure seem to do it for MicroSoft. Why is that?
“No, but you sure seem to do it for MicroSoft. Why is that?”
It’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t tell it like it is when Microsoft screws up. Microsoft users don’t seem to have their identity and personality tied up in the brand of computer that they use in the same way Apple users do. Therefore they seem to be able to hand out criticism of Microsoft’s products without somehow feeling that they’re diminishing themselves in the process.
Nor do they seem to think that just because someone criticizes a Microsoft product that it’s because they have a brand preference for another product. Being normal enough in your thinking that you’re able to criticize Apple does automatically mean you are pro Microsoft. But Apple fanboys don’t seem to get that. They assume any “Attack” on their beloved Apple came from a supporter of the Great Satan Microsoft. It’s kooks who think about religion like Apple fanboys think about computers that start religious wars.
Not Unexpected,
“Being normal enough in your thinking that you’re able to criticize Apple does automatically mean you are pro Microsoft.”
I assume you meant ‘doesn’t’ instead of “does”.
I can’t speak for anyone else here, but personally, I am way far from ‘normal’. I think if I was truly normal I wouldn’t spend so much time on a computer when I don’t have to.
Heh.
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Maybe the iPwn isn’t quite as ready to destroy RIM in the enterprise as we’d been led to believe.
Apple does a product that is not perfect – out of the box.
Stop the press. Close down Apple. Return all the iPods, Macs, etc. Apple officially sucks at EVERYTHING.!!!!
Er.
Microsoft is spending 300 Million to convince people that Vista is really ………ok. Nuff said.
Hey guys. Sorry if you had some trouble with mobile me. Opps. No one in the world ever has problems with their service. 🙁
Yea, right. OK, Apple bit off more than it could chew this time. Does the iPhone 3G work as advertised??????
Does the Apps store work as advertised?????
Does Mobile me work for most people???????
OK, so give Apple a whole 30 days and lets see where they are at.
Or just go buy shares of Microsoft and a couple of copies of Vista.
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I haven’t read every article on MobileMe; perhaps there is an angle I’m unaware of. But from my perspective, I see a positive in The MobileMe Fiasco. One of the reasons I like my Mac is because Apple doesn’t fool around. You get a Mac, you’ve got a really complete system that works.
But no one is perfect. Apple is branching out into new territory. We all know that Macs in enterprise is a goal Apple is moving toward. The iPhone’s popularity, and the Mac’s competence are in place. A backend to answer the competition must follow. I’m glad this happened now because thank goodness Apple didn’t have this kind of mess in a corporate setting. The enterprise market would distance itself from Apple immediately! We, on the other hand will swear and moan, but we know this will be fixed, and fixed correctly.
Now, just hope that Apple gleans from this enough to go to corporate business with a real winner.
Don’t get me wrong; my Mac’s not going anywhere…yet The MobileMe Fiasco? It cracks me up (hee hee!). Someone certainly dropped the ball.
Hmmmmm,
MobileMe, Company agreement that a problem exists and its full tilt working on a fix. 14 days. Daily status blog in work.
VISTA, Company agreement that a problem exists and its been working, sort of, on a fix. 365 days. PS, now you have to buy Vista for your computer. There, that will teach you to complain.
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Just a thought.
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