Apple is known as one of the most secretive tech companies in the world. They rarely disclose product plans and never let the public know just what’s going on inside the Cupertino headquarters’ buildings. That is, until the MobileMe launch-fiasco drew the ire of email-less customers and Apple shills David Pogue and Walt Mossberg.
In a rare acceptance of accountability for their blundered MobileMe launch, Apple launched a MobileMe status blog that outlined exactly what was causing the email outages and what Apple was doing to correct the problems. And, that was just the tip of the culpability-iceberg.
Apple-leader Steve Jobs has gone on record as saying that his company had taken on too large a task in simultaneously launching both the iPhone 3G and MobileMe push data service worldwide on July 11. The combination of iPhone 3G activations, iPhone 2.0 OS update downloads, AppStore downloads and MobileMe usage was apparently too much for Apple to handle. The pressure caused Apple’s MobileMe servers to crash, dumping some users’ emails in the process.
Jobs’s confessed to a botched MobileMe launch that was “not up to Apple’s standards” in an internal email sent out to employees on Monday. He states that Apple was not prepared for the MobileMe launch and that adequate testing had not been performed.
“It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store,” Jobs said in the email. “We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence.”
“The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services,” Jobs told employees. “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.”
Steve Jobs isn’t exactly known as the most forthcoming tech-CEO, and doesn’t ever make apologies for his products. But, with the flood of bad-press surrounding the MobileMe launch, it’s understandable that Stevie bite the bullet and own up to his mistakes.
[Via: ArsTechnica]