Steve Jobs' Reaction to MobileMe Launch, Life at Apple After Jobs and Other Anecdotes

[BaldiMac]

It seemed condescending and since I've been attacked left and right I'm just beat.

You are absolutely 100% right, and I am wrong. I hold myself accountable. I'll never express an opinion on here again (and I'm sure that will be great for some to read).

Have a good night.

Just trying to have a conversation. It wouldn't be very interesting on here if we all agreed. I, for one, believe your opinions are welcome.

 

[Compile 'em all]

Talking to employees like that is a good way for them to leave. A company that treats employees badly get a reputation, unfortunately, larger companies get a way with it. For example, EA. But they can still hire because who they are.

Perhaps the MobileMe problems were further up the chain?

Sounds like Apple has a culture of blame. A kind of company any employee wants to avoid like the plague.

You don't get it.

This attitude of Steve Jobs is EXACTLY why Apple is what it is today. Steve Jobs simply gets the best of his employees and raises the bar so high that an engineer would think twice before proposing something mediocre to Jobs.

Think about it.

 

[mdriftmeyer]

Almost by definition, you can't demonstrate a service like MobileMe until it's under full load. It wasn't under full load until everyone jumped on. Then it crashed hard and stayed that way for a few days. It was a huge embarrassment to the Apple brand.

The screw-ups I've seen before all have the engineers saying everything's cool until it isn't. What if Jobs was an engineer? Would he have gone through miles of code? He lets engineers he thinks are competent run things. If they screw up, they're gone. Note, this does not happen in cases like the Apple guy who left the iPhone 4 in the bar. But engineers said it was cool, and then it turned into an embarrassing mess.

Having a massive data center run scalability tests using random and heavily requested traffic will give you excellent results on where the weak areas need to be addressed.

If it was an issue about testing it falls squarely on SQA whose job is to test before it ever hits pre-release.

From the article:







Since Jobs makes it a point in being directly involved in every project, he is micromanaging. If the .Mac relaunch to MobileMe was such an important project, where is Jobs' accountability?

[Removed comment as it seems to have offended many and I meant to disrespect, I was merely attempting to add some light hearted commentary to lessen the tension of the thread, my apologies]

Enough of this crap. I've worked for the man twice. Steve sets the stage for every strategic phase in the corporation and then passes it off to his management to execute. He's hands off until Engineering tells him to get his hands in and rattle the cage with Management.

You've never worked there so please back off the extrapolating on what is or is not reality within Apple.

 

[kas23]

Apple University sounds like a warm n fuzzy name for a reeducation camp.

 

[*LTD*]

You don't get it.

This attitude of Steve Jobs is EXACTLY why Apple is what it is today. Steve Jobs simply gets the best of his employees and raises the bar so high that an engineer would think twice before proposing something mediocre to Jobs.

Think about it.

This.

Who really cares what it's like at Apple. It's irrelevant. They have no shortage of people who want to work there, and who stay there. Apple is the the most valuable company in tech today and they command unheard-of mindshare. If people don't like it, they can leave.

It would appear that over the last decade, Apple has absolutely no problems in terms of providing attractive employment and sporting highly effective management.

If I was in the criticizing mood I'd look at also-rans like Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft and Palm WAY BEFORE I'd ever even consider looking at Apple. Apple happens to be a case study in how to run an organization. There is no point in trying like mad to find cracks and weaknesses in their corporate structure. It smacks of desperation.

 

[Glideslope]

It's been three years and MobileMe isn't much better. I still miss being able to access bookmarks remotely, a feature that was dropped when MobileMe was introduced.

Be Patient. Just a little while longer.........

 

[Glideslope]

Apple University sounds like a warm n fuzzy name for a reeducation camp.

You definitely would not enjoy working for me.

 

[Glideslope]

I also preferred people that were upfront. I've always hated the sandwich talk. And I have no doubt SJ is a great CEO. According to glassdoor, 97% approve. Only 49% approve of Riccitiello.

It tells you something when employees like their boss and the direction the company is headed.

Respect is more productive.

 

[*LTD*]

Clearly you didn't get the memo: in the past 10 years Apple as been kicking azz introducing game changing products like the iPod, iPhone and the iPad, while increasing their user base at the same time.

To illustrate this point, Apple stock on May 8th, 2001 was worth $12.28, fast forward ten years later and it's now worth $346.66 as of 5/8/2011. You don't appreciate a company's net worth & value like that by "stunting growth" as you're irrationally claiming SJ of doing.

(FYI, here's a link to see all of AAPL's historical stock prices since 1984.)

This deserves restating.

 

[Xtremehkr]

Here's a clue for the MobileMe team:

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mesh?os=other&wa=wsignin1.0

Windows Live Mesh.

I use MS word out of convenience, I think that's why most people use it.

I write documents and often need to access them from other computers, this is easy if I remember to place those documents into iDisk. Then I've got them anywhere, decent feature if you remember to sync every new Doc.

Windows Live Mesh gives me 5GB of cloud space to replicate my entire Documents folder online. Even if I forget to sync it doesn't matter because Windows Live Mesh keeps my entire Documents folder sync'd online. I am never without a document, even if it's one from a while ago that I didn't intent to use but remembered as it was relevant to the situation.

Here's what I want from MobileMe:

When I first save a Document I want MobileMe to ask me whether or not I want that Document sync'd to MobileMe. Every time that Document is modified from there on out I want it sync'd with the MobileMe version so that it is always available to me.

Like Windows Live Mesh I would like Apple to provide at least 5GB of cloud space for 'whatever I want.' If I want that cloud space syncing my documents folder, so be it. If someone has a folder with 5GB of pictures they want on permanent then so be it. Hell, it could be a folder with 5GB of anything as long as it reliable syncs and would be available anywhere.

I would like MobileMe to provide seamless integration between my iMac, my MacBook Pro, and my iPhone. Anything changed in the Sync folder will be immediately updated on the devices I am not using at the time.

The key being 'seamless.'

 

[Xtremehkr]

iDisk; Internet-Disk should be exactly that.

 

[mbrannon47]

I would like MobileMe to provide seamless integration between my iMac, my MacBook Pro, and my iPhone. Anything changed in the Sync folder will be immediately updated on the devices I am not using at the time.

The key being 'seamless.'

Amen to this. I'd pay $99 a MONTH for this.

 

[Roller]

I love MobileMe and it works just fine. People are idiots.

So every time MobileMe doesn't work the way it's supposed to, the problem is that the user is an idiot? Great generalization.

I've been a subscriber since day 1 and love the service when it works, which is most of the time. But when I have to spend a couple of hours troubleshooting why changes to my calendar on one device aren't being propagated to all the other registered devices, as I did today, then something's wrong, and it's not me.

 

[BaldiMac]

Here's a clue for the MobileMe team:

http://explore.live.com/windows-live-mesh?os=other&wa=wsignin1.0

Windows Live Mesh.

I use MS word out of convenience, I think that's why most people use it.

I write documents and often need to access them from other computers, this is easy if I remember to place those documents into iDisk. Then I've got them anywhere, decent feature if you remember to sync every new Doc.

Windows Live Mesh gives me 5GB of cloud space to replicate my entire Documents folder online. Even if I forget to sync it doesn't matter because Windows Live Mesh keeps my entire Documents folder sync'd online. I am never without a document, even if it's one from a while ago that I didn't intent to use but remembered as it was relevant to the situation.

Here's what I want from MobileMe:

When I first save a Document I want MobileMe to ask me whether or not I want that Document sync'd to MobileMe. Every time that Document is modified from there on out I want it sync'd with the MobileMe version so that it is always available to me.

Like Windows Live Mesh I would like Apple to provide at least 5GB of cloud space for 'whatever I want.' If I want that cloud space syncing my documents folder, so be it. If someone has a folder with 5GB of pictures they want on permanent then so be it. Hell, it could be a folder with 5GB of anything as long as it reliable syncs and would be available anywhere.

I would like MobileMe to provide seamless integration between my iMac, my MacBook Pro, and my iPhone. Anything changed in the Sync folder will be immediately updated on the devices I am not using at the time.

The key being 'seamless.'

iDisk; Internet-Disk should be exactly that.

Amen to this. I'd pay $99 a MONTH for this.

What am I missing here? I already use iDisk exactly like this.

 

[Hastings101]

[url=http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b337/whozown/th_e09c889d.png]Image[/URL]

thumbs down, because there was a swastika on his armband instead of a little black apple

 

[skellener]

Amen to this. I'd pay $99 a MONTH for this.

>cough<...Dropbox....>cough<...2GB Free...>cough<

 

[revelated]

Like Windows Live Mesh I would like Apple to provide at least 5GB of cloud space for 'whatever I want.' If I want that cloud space syncing my documents folder, so be it. If someone has a folder with 5GB of pictures they want on permanent then so be it. Hell, it could be a folder with 5GB of anything as long as it reliable syncs and would be available anywhere.

I would like MobileMe to provide seamless integration between my iMac, my MacBook Pro, and my iPhone. Anything changed in the Sync folder will be immediately updated on the devices I am not using at the time.

The key being 'seamless.'

In other words, you want DropBox. Since, you know, it provides exactly what you describe AND doesn't require an iOS or Mac OS device to work. $99/year is $99/year too much.

Anyway, I wonder if Steve also said "I REINVENTED THE PHONE! So why don't you sit the ***** down before I reinvent your FACE??"

 

[reden]

Steve Jobs created a billion dollar company. I doubt he's going to change his personality and management style. He knows what he needs to do to be successful, even if that means a few people won't like him.

That's why he has billions of dollars and you don't.

Business.

This man, this man deserves my up-vote, stay classy.

 

[reden]

Respect is more productive.

You have way too many ****ing Apples all over your ****.

 

[*LTD*]

Steve Jobs created a billion dollar company. I doubt he's going to change his personality and management style. He knows what he needs to do to be successful, even if that means a few people won't like him.

That's why he has billions of dollars and you don't.

Business.

And we have a winner. Thank you for your sanity.

 

[Slix]

The original article is not talking about the MobileMe of today, its talking about the MobileMe of 2008 and when it was first released. If you weren't around then, here is a flashback:


https://www.macrumors.com/2008/07/10/mobileme-finally-online/

This behavior of Ups and Downs continued for several weeks.

Other Headlines from 2008
MobileMe: “Push” not so instant after all?
Apple Sends Another MobileMe Apology E-mail and Extension
Extended MobileMe Email Outage Due To Server Issue

I was around on MobileMe then, but I don't remember it being that bad. I know it was offline for a while.

 

[twoodcc]

sometimes its hard for me to visualize steve being that way, but i shouldn't be surprised by it anymore. either way, clearly he's doing something right

 

[rockosmodurnlif]

Another particularly interesting piece was the fact that Apple is actively planning and teaching its employees for "life at Apple after Jobs."[/url]

They should roll that class out for the investors and the fanbois too

 

[Rodimus Prime]

>cough<...Dropbox....>cough<...2GB Free...>cough<

and it is not tricky to get it up even hire. I am pushing 5 gigs free and instill increase. You will cap out I think 8 gigs or 16 gigs as a student.

I just look threw mobileme stuff since I do not see anything worth the money.

Email -- Yahoo, Gmail are both free offer more space and you can use them with push

Calender - Google Calendars again free and you can link it in with multiple other programs all for free.
Contacts -- Oh look yet again another Google that can store and link up your contacts
Pictures -- I believe Picasa from google does that as well. Never tested it but seen it pop up multiple times.
iDisk -- Well lets see You have Dropbox gives you 2 gigs for free and it is still cheaper to buy 50+ gigs from them than it is to pay for mobile me

Find My iPhone is about the only service that there is not a free one for an iPhone out there but for all the other OS there are multiple free services out there that will do it.

So for 99 a year what do you get slightly larger iDisk that you can get cheaper elsewhere and FindMyiPhone just because of Apple's lock down.

Mobile Me and .Mac were both crap in when Mobile Me came out. .Mac was not upgraded and no very good any how and Mobile Me brought nothing to the table that you could not get for cheaper or free elsewhere.

Of that list above I use Dropbox, and Google for Email, contact, and calendar.

 

[johnnymg]

They should roll that class out for the investors and the fanbois too

From my perspective as a long term Apple investor: It's not the "investors" that have a problem with SJ retiring, it's the nefarious folks looking to whack the stock and make a buck off of the news.

cheers
JohnG