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Steve Jobs Acknowledges MobileMe Missteps

I sit here in amazement how this "internal" document has people so entranced about MobileMe potential...

Steve needs to commence a seminar on how to make apologists. :rolleyes:

I never considered MM because my friends with .Mac couldnt stand behind it. Now they arrogantly say that MM is better than activestink and is a huge improvement over .Mac. It still sucks and people are still willing to give it a couple more months. I can find better to do with 99 bucks
 
andrewxps said:
Sounds like a polite yet firm way of saying "heads will roll if this isn't fixed."
Click to expand...

I think when the boss says the launch was poorly executed AND a new management structure is announced, it's reasonable to conclude that's not a bowling ball rolling down the hallway in Cupertino.

Sure, the buck eventually stops with S Jobs, but if he's delegating authority as he should, someone else was in charge of the launch and recommendations surrounding it. Given concerns about SJ's health in recent years, I hope he's delegating properly. I haven't seen or heard anything to the contrary.

It's exciting to hear MM described as a product that won't achieve its potential for another five months. If that's not RDF, it bodes well for the service.
 
Its okay

It is very rare that a corporate CEO will admit a mistake. And perhaps I made a mistake yesterday when I bashed Apple's corporate machine for being faceless and forgetting its roots.

Maybe waiting until December for the iphone isn't such a bad thing after all.
 
Since they hope to have it working by December 31, I wonder if they will extend the Free Trial, or charge for something that isn't fully working.
 
"reorganization of management structure"

In other words, replacing the people that Jobs has brutally murdered and partially eaten.
 
My account is due for renewal in a couple of weeks. Anyone know when the free 30 day extension is supposed to kick in?
 
Supposedly those up for renew will not be charged until the 30 day extension kicks in.

However, I'm not Apple and Apple's MobileMe support team is painfully incompetent. Lets just say they're comcastic.
 
Macsterguy said:
I distinctly remember Steve Jobs saying (during his keynote, regarding MobileMe): "This time, I think we got it right"...

This, in and of itself, was admission that Apple knew .Mac never really "Got it right". They got it very wrong. Any former .Mac user knows that... Yet they still charged full price for that service.

And now, once again, Steve Jobs himself admits that they really didn't get MobileMe right... Yet they still charge full price for this service.

• Are we supposed to feel better because Apple keeps admitting that they can't "Get it Right"?

• Are we supposed to be impressed because Steve wrote a letter and is now involved?

• Are we supposed to be happy with a one-month extension for this half baked, under tested service?

• Now, we are supposed to wait until the end of the year before they "Get it right"?

The end of the year is 5 months away...

I don't really care "who's heads roll" or "who reports to who"... That is Apple's problem, not mine.

I don't want or need anything free... I just want Apple to deliver on what it promises, on time. If Apple wants to play with the big boys they just need to "GET IT RIGHT".
Click to expand...

i totally agree. apple should refund everybody's money until it works.

1% mail outage is not true! - this service isn't working right for anyone i know. my iDisk has been unusable since the mobileme launch. i've called applecare, but they've hired people who are unqualified to answer these calls.

we can't let apple get away with this. let's insist they keep their promises.
 
Scooterman1 said:
Since they hope to have it working by December 31, I wonder if they will extend the Free Trial, or charge for something that isn't fully working.
Click to expand...

Please dont use the word 'fixed' in this context. I believe Apple has already fixed the service as much as they wanted it to be fixed (the status also gleefuly mentions this).

What SJ has said is "hope to turn the service into something we're proud of''.
It simply means new features and improved server bandwidths are on their way beginning with the missing 'iDisk File share' and Mac/PC Push!
 
Huh?

Macsterguy said:
I distinctly remember Steve Jobs saying (during his keynote, regarding MobileMe): "This time, I think we got it right"...

This, in and of itself, was admission that Apple knew .Mac never really "Got it right". They got it very wrong. Any former .Mac user knows that... Yet they still charged full price for that service.

And now, once again, Steve Jobs himself admits that they really didn't get MobileMe right... Yet they still charge full price for this service.

• Are we supposed to feel better because Apple keeps admitting that they can't "Get it Right"?

• Are we supposed to be impressed because Steve wrote a letter and is now involved?

• Are we supposed to be happy with a one-month extension for this half baked, under tested service?

• Now, we are supposed to wait until the end of the year before they "Get it right"?

The end of the year is 5 months away...

I don't really care "who's heads roll" or "who reports to who"... That is Apple's problem, not mine.

I don't want or need anything free... I just want Apple to deliver on what it promises, on time. If Apple wants to play with the big boys they just need to "GET IT RIGHT".
Click to expand...

So what are you asking for?

A visit and personal apology?

Apple to their time machine to go back and prevent this from ever happening?

Free MobileMe for life?

What would make it better for you?
 
I subscribed to dotMac for years even though the services were sparse. The ability to hit that "Publish" button and have a webpage available for my friends and family to see my pictures made the service worth paying for. On top of that, I got an email address (which I didn't really need) and some free software. Later, I was able to share my calendars and upload my photo and movie galleries, which I liked. So it wasn't great, but it was worth the $70 a year - purchased on eBay or Amazon). Now, finally, there are more services and a great web interface with MobileMe. Aside from a week or two of really really bad service at launch, MM is working fine for me now. I love the push(ish) calendar and contact sync between my iPhone and my desktop. I'm happy that dotMac gave way to MobileMe and is on it's way to becoming something great.

If at any point, I had felt that dotMac/MM was not worth the price, I wouldn't have subscribed to it. I am an Apple fan, but I am not dumb. There have always been workarounds to the dotMac benefits, many for free; just not as easy as hitting the "Publish" button. I have noticed a lot of people on these boards who complain vehemently about Apple products, yet keep on purchasing them. What gives? I think we all have a high expectation about Apple, and many have valid complaints about lost data, etc, but others just need to calm down or find another company to buy from.
 
TLewis said:
Uh, given the features and pricing, Apple has no real competition right now. Try finding any other activesync provider with a 20GB mailbox allowance for $8.34/month.


The big danger from this MM debacle is not lost MM customers, but damage to the Apple brand name, which could translate into lost Mac sales, etc.
Click to expand...

Thank you for saying this, yes Mobileme needs help and now will get the attention it deserves but it really pains me how people complain that it's expensive when it's really not. It's because we have to pay the entire year upfront which makes it appear to be expensive.

$8.34/month is pretty darn good for everything you get especially if you have a Mac with iLife you get even more. The majority of people that waste money on Starbucks spend more than 5 times that amount per month.
 
Mistakes

Personally I think it was also a mistake to launch the iPhone 2.0 software and iPhone 3G on the same day. Making all your existing customers and all your new customer activate online the same day is a recipe for disaster. They could have easily launched the 2.0 software a few days earlier and there would have been zero activation problems.
 
motulist said:
Hah, apparently you don't know much Apple/Jobs history.

If you wanna talk about big Apple product failures, none was bigger than the Cube. And that was Jobs' personal project (iirc). And for business decision failures, Jobs hired the guy who eventually took Jobs' Job as Apple CEO! And that guy he hired also started Apple's decline toward near-death before Jobs was rehired.
Click to expand...

:eek: I LOVED the cube. i really don't understand why it wasn't successful - i think it looked awesome. If they re-released it today I think it would kill.
 
Macsterguy said:
This, in and of itself, was admission that Apple knew .Mac never really "Got it right". They got it very wrong. Any former .Mac user knows that... Yet they still charged full price for that service.
Click to expand...
There is a big difference between a poor product implementation like AppleWorks or .MAC and a great implementation like, say, Numbers or MobileMe. Both are off to a marvelous start but need some fine-tuning to be fully dependable. Fine tuning comes easily, but remaking a garbage product does not. Apple's mistake with MobileMe will be easily corrected without us having to wait for some incredible new product to replace it.

You are, as they say, comparing apples and oranges. :D
 
dotmac was hardly horrible. It was ignored for a good year there at the end (probably because they were working on mobileme). The stuff that mobileme is attempting to do wasn't even possible at the launch of dotmac. Looking at services we have now and comparing them to something years ago is silly in the technological world. Everything is out of date in a couple years.

Hopefully mobileme will be all they advertised by the end of the year.
 
Oh?

danielwsmithee said:
Personally I think it was also a mistake to launch the iPhone 2.0 software and iPhone 3G on the same day. Making all your existing customers and all your new customer activate online the same day is a recipe for disaster. They could have easily launched the 2.0 software a few days earlier and there would have been zero activation problems.
Click to expand...

Um, yeah, duh. We all agree with this. Thanks for posting your opinion as an argument when there is NO ONE on the other side.

Good to have you aboard. Do you think Macs are better than PCs too?
 
cube *not* an epic fail

motulist said:
Hah, apparently you don't know much Apple/Jobs history.

If you wanna talk about big Apple product failures, none was bigger than the Cube. And that was Jobs' personal project (iirc). And for business decision failures, Jobs hired the guy who eventually took Jobs' Job as Apple CEO! And that guy he hired also started Apple's decline toward near-death before Jobs was rehired.
Click to expand...
I htink you are seriously overstating the size of the "failure" of the Cube.

The way I remember it, it was a very, very popular product and sold like crazy. Everyone wanted one, but it's performance was virtually the same as the cheaper G4 tower, and it had build and heat problems that meant many of the early units ended up being sent back.

Certainly not a roaring success, and it was outclassed by other products before it was retired, (more or less un-updated), but certainly not the "epic fail" that people try to paint it as today either.

It would be more fair to say it was a popular but troubled product with build quality issues.
 
CasinoOwl said:
I subscribed to dotMac for years even though the services were sparse. The ability to hit that "Publish" button and have a webpage available for my friends and family to see my pictures made the service worth paying for. On top of that, I got an email address (which I didn't really need) and some free software. Later, I was able to share my calendars and upload my photo and movie galleries, which I liked. So it wasn't great, but it was worth the $70 a year - purchased on eBay or Amazon). Now, finally, there are more services and a great web interface with MobileMe. Aside from a week or two of really really bad service at launch, MM is working fine for me now. I love the push(ish) calendar and contact sync between my iPhone and my desktop. I'm happy that dotMac gave way to MobileMe and is on it's way to becoming something great.

If at any point, I had felt that dotMac/MM was not worth the price, I wouldn't have subscribed to it. I am an Apple fan, but I am not dumb. There have always been workarounds to the dotMac benefits, many for free; just not as easy as hitting the "Publish" button. I have noticed a lot of people on these boards who complain vehemently about Apple products, yet keep on purchasing them. What gives? I think we all have a high expectation about Apple, and many have valid complaints about lost data, etc, but others just need to calm down or find another company to buy from.
Click to expand...

I absolutely agree. It is unreasonable to expect 100% error-free operation the instant the switch is flipped; that rarely occurs. Anyway, everything is working fine for me so I can say that. :rolleyes: I did have a minor problem with getting my contacts to sync correctly, but after two sessions with an Apple support rep on the chat line that seems to be working correctly now.
 
Honest as always

There are no false pretenses with Apple. Make a mistake? Admit it. Fix it!
 
You don't use it, but still know it sucks.

seedster2 said:
:confused:
I never considered MM because my friends with .Mac couldnt stand behind it. Now they arrogantly say that MM is better than activestink and is a huge improvement over .Mac. It still sucks and people are still willing to give it a couple more months. :confused:
Click to expand...

If you don't use MobileMe you cannot know it sucks. You cannot know from the reports of others. That's Dan Rather reporting. Taking the word of someone else. Not checking it out yourself. Or only checking it out superficially. I have been using the service since it was the free iTools product. Now that the major problems are over, MobileMe is actually pretty cool. Life is about relationships, not efficiency. Apple admits their problems and fixes them. As companies go, they generally have good customer relationships. Not perfect, but good.
 
One can't help wondering if one of the (several) reasons this was sent out was because it would inevitably wind up being publicly circulated.

Press release by proxy, if you will.
 
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