August 19th, 2008
Apple's MobileMe: Why don't we just call it a beta
Apple announced another 60-day freebie extension for MobileMe customer
s. MobileMe is the synchronization service that launched along with the iPhone 3G and App Store and you could argue that going 2-for-3 with a strikeout isn’t bad. But this isn’t baseball. MobileMe has been a black eye for Apple and the company is struggling to make the service reliable on the fly.
Apple said on Tuesday (Techmeme reaction, Apple letter to subscribers via Jason O’Grady):
The transition from .Mac to MobileMe was rockier than we had hoped. While we are making a lot of improvements, the MobileMe service is still not up to our standards. We are extending subscriptions 60-days free of charge to express appreciation for our members’ patience as we continue to improve the service.
Give credit to Apple for offering the freebie–it could have offered just a discount. But frankly Apple has little choice here. Apple will be lucky to keep what MobileMe customers it has. And good luck getting new ones.
Here’s a humble suggestion: Why doesn’t Apple just come clean and say MobileMe is really a beta? It’ll never happen, but Apple would be more transparent. Perhaps Apple could start a trend. Consider:
- Would Vista have had such a tough time if Microsoft was upfront with the fact that its latest version of Windows was really a beta until SP1?
- Glitchy chips? Ooops it’s a beta.
- Any product that’s not up to snuff? Beta.
In an ideal world customers would be able to vote and put products back into the beta bin. Thoughts?
Larry Dignan is Editor in Chief of ZDNet and Editorial Director of ZDNet sister site TechRepublic. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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