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Apple Reorgs Mobile Me, Jobs Says Web Services “Not Up to Apple’s Standards”

10:17 pm, August 4th, 2008, Pete Mortensen

FailmeMan, Apple is really trying to make things right today. First, the company released iPhone OS 2.0.1, which everyone seems to agree fixes virtually everything wrong with the prior release (except cut, copy, and paste, of course), and now, it comes to light via Ars Technica that Steve Jobs himself apparently sent out an e-mail announcing the reorganization of the Mobile Me team, saying the internet services suite is “not up to Apple’s Standards.”

The new leader of a combined internet services team will be Eddy Cue, the current iTunes honcho. Jobs noted that the company intends to make Mobile Me into “a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.” That might be possible, but I’m beginning to wonder if the computer side of the equation will ever offer the true Push syncing that was originally promised. Web and iPhone are there, but not the local client apps.

But it’s good to see that even this high-flying Apple crew can admit its mistakes. It was never a good idea to try to launch Mobile Me, the App Store, iPhone OS 2.0 and the iPhone 3G on basically the same day. Is it any wonder that all four of those major hardware, software and service launches experienced some growing pains? Had Mobile Me merely offered over-the-air iPhone syncing at launch, as Jobs suggests in his e-mail, the rest of the suite could have been saved for a 2009 launch with a Snow Leopard Mail and Calendar combo optimized for Push. Let’s hope Apple really takes this to heart — iPhone software development had a negative impact on the launch of Leopard, and the quadruple launch of July 11, 2008 messed up, well, everything. Let’s get some discipline and make the best technology products in the world even better!

Image via Fail Me is More Like It

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Posted by Pete Mortensen in Software, Steve Jobs | Comment on this article

About the author

Petemortensen

Pete Mortensen is the communications lead for growth strategy firm Jump Associates and the co-author of Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy, a book and blog that are significantly more interesting than you might initially think. Pete's particular Apple avocations are both around design--interface and industrial. Follow him on Twitter!

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4 comments

    Fix the standards compliance in Sproutcore and make it useable on standards compliants browsers like Opera for a big start!

    Using an incomplete set of tools and limiting to a fixed number of browsers is old school 20th century thinking. Make the product fit the standards and all standards compliant browsers should work.

    Mark Rich, on August 5th, 2008 at 1:35 am

    Good for Steve. Mobile Me is certainly a big enough pile of fail to get someone reassigned. Perhaps adding in some QA would be a good idea.

    smallbizmac, on August 5th, 2008 at 5:32 am

    Sounds like Apple is serious about MobileMe.

    Partners in Grime, on August 5th, 2008 at 8:10 am

    “Fail Me”, nice.

    I do find it disconcerting that Apple would try and push out so many new items at once. It doesn’t seam like them; almost like they’re trying to be everything to everyone all at once. They need to re-realize that focus and follow-through are better strategies than rush and stumble. They do much better when they play the game on their turf, with their rules.

    Church of Apple, on August 5th, 2008 at 10:23 am