MobileMe launch debacle prompts management changes
Apple's ambitious attempt to nearly simultaneously 1) rebrand the .Mac service into MobileMe, and 2) debut iPhone 2.0 software, and 3) launch the iPhone 3G, and 4) launch of the App Store on iTunes was, in hindsight, not a very good idea. All four of these things happened within 48 hours of each other, and none of four went very smoothly. The .Mac/MobileMe service was unreachable for some users for days, and despite efforts by Apple to make the transition as smooth as possible, around 1% of users lost several hours worth of e-mails. The day of the iPhone 3G release put an incredible strain on servers and bandwidth provisioned by Apple, as hundreds of thousands of new iPhone customers began attempting to activate their phones. For me, it took several hours to get a completely activated iPhone (and this is after many hours in line), but for a small minority of users, problems with activation and setting up voicemail, persisted for days.
This week in a letter to employees, Steve Jobs put Eddy Cue in charge of the MobileMe service, as well as the rest of Apple's online services. Jobs, who was not very pleased with the launch of the rebranded MobileMe hopes that Cue will bring the same success to MobileMe as he's brought to other online areas of Apple.
