Steve Jobs calls out MobileMe failed launch in email to employees [updated]

Quincy Pince-Nez
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August 04, 2008
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According to Ars, Steve Jobs sent out a letter to Apple employees detailing the failure of the MobileMe(ss) launch.   Earlier Apple took the extraordinary step of Blogging the MobileMe situation.  Hindsight being 20/20, Jobs noted that the launch could have been delayed and didn't need to happen alongside the iPhone 2.0/App Store launch.  Jobs also mentioned that the push updates could have been rolled out service by service...i.e. calender, email, etc..

Makes sense...so why was there a rush?

To help with Apple's very ambitious service plans, Apple also announced that Eddy Cue will now lead all Internet-related services at Apple including iTunes, the App Store, and now MobileMe.  Cue will report directly to Steve Jobs which makes him a pretty big cog at 1 Infinite Loop.  No Bio on the exec page yet though....

According to Ars, Jobs said:

"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."

As of now all things mobile me are running smoothly.

Update: We found a picture of the email - not much more to see....

Comments (7)

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 04, 2008 - 10:47pm

Our Steve Jobs becomes more and more the wise Yode. Now he also speaks like Yoda: "And learn we will."

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 05, 2008 - 12:34am

What they should have done was close off membership registration to .Mac when they announced MobileMe and converted all existing customers over in mid to late June. Then about a week later start allowing new registrations so that MM is running fully by July 1.

They then needed to drop iTunes 7.7 on about July 2-3, then iPhone 2.0 on July 5-6, with iPod touch 2.0 about a day or two afterwards.

Then when July 11 came around and 22 countries were all launching the 3G they wouldn't have had such a complete mess on their hands.

t0mat0 (not verified) | August 05, 2008 - 1:35am

If you're having problems, it ain't running "smoothly". And there are still problems with contacts, calendars etc, e.g. with the Inconsistent data error.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 05, 2008 - 5:17am

Much to learn you still have, my old apprentice.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 05, 2008 - 6:32am

Open iChat and go through the steps of creating an account. Once the account is created you get a "password is incorrect" error when trying to log in. Changing or resetting your password does not work.

I just got off the phone with Apple support who acknowledged the issue but gave no timeframe for when it will be fixed. They are telling customers to create AIM accounts in the interim.

9to5Mac Noob (not verified) | August 05, 2008 - 9:17pm

because the new title is VP, Internet Services. All the bios on the exec page are at least Senior VP.