And the MobileMe fiasco continues.
Apple just can’t seem to find their way out of the MobileMe push data services-hole that they’ve dug for themselves. In fact, they’re digging themselves deeper and deeper.
The latest blunder in Apple’s MobileMe launch hits the UK in the form of gross over-charges to MobileMe trial users. You see, trial users are required to input credit or debit card information in order to gain access to the MobileMe trial. Apple was supposed to charge a 50p (the equivalent of 50 cents to those across the pond) authorization charge to said credit or debit cards, but some sort of mis-management led to trial users’ plastics being charged £121.
The £121 charge is quite easily reversed for those that used credit cards, but debit cards are an entirely different story – the funds were taken out of unsuspecting Brits’ accounts and could take longer to refund.
And, the problem seems to be affecting MobileMe trial users in Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Canada. Not exactly an isolated case, and most definitely another huge blunder on Apple’s part.
For their part, Apple is offering their unfortunately MobileMe trial user-base an extra month of service. Apple apparently thinks that they can make up for all of their MobileMe mis-steps with a measly 30-day extension of a service that has proven to be a bane on Apple’s iPhone 3G launch festivities. How about a 6-month extension, Apple? Now, that might get some of your hardest critics off your back.