“This week marks the 10th anniversary of MobileMe, Apple’s third attempt at a cloud service designed for consumers,” Stephen Hackett writes for 512 Pixels. “The service has a pretty rough reputation, but to understand why, we need to talk about the product itself and what went wrong.”
“Perhaps most damaging was the headline on Walt Mossberg’s review: ‘Apple’s MobileMe Is Far Too Flawed To Be Reliable,'” Hackett writes. “I mean, damn.”
“According to an article for Fortune by Adam Lashinsky, Jobs had addressed MobileMe’s failures with the team directly: ‘Steve Jobs doesn’t tolerate duds. Shortly after the launch event, he summoned the MobileMe team, gathering them in the Town Hall auditorium in Building 4 of Apple’s campus, the venue the company uses for intimate product unveilings for journalists. According to a participant in the meeting, Jobs walked in, clad in his trademark black mock turtleneck and blue jeans, clasped his hands together, and asked a simple question: ‘Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do?’ Having received a satisfactory answer, he continued, ‘So why the f— doesn’t it do that?”” Hackett writes. “Lashinsky went on: ‘For the next half-hour Jobs berated the group. ‘You’ve tarnished Apple’s reputation,’ he told them. ‘You should hate each other for having let each other down.’ The public humiliation particularly infuriated Jobs. Walt Mossberg, the influential Wall Street Journal gadget columnist, had panned MobileMe. ‘Mossberg, our friend, is no longer writing good things about us,’ Jobs said. Clearly, that headline had grabbed Jobs’ attention.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: MobileMe goes a long way toward helping us appreciate iCloud.
SEE ALSO:
Apple extends complimentary iCloud storage for a full year to former MobileMe members – October 5, 2012
After much recent flakiness, Apple claims MobileMe services restored – September 30, 2011
Apple explains MobileMe to iCloud transition – June 6, 2011
Steve Jobs to those responsible for MobileMess: ‘You should hate each other’ – May 8, 2011
Mossberg retests Apple’s MobileMe: Service now prompt and reliable – April 16, 2009
Full text of Steve Jobs’ memo to MobileMe team – August 06, 2008
Steve Jobs says MobileMe launched too early, not up to Apple’s standards; puts Eddy Cue in charge – August 05, 2008
Apple should have launched MobileMe as ‘beta’ – July 28, 2008
Mossberg: Apple’s MobileMe far too flawed to be reliable – July 24, 2008