Apple's MobileMe Rollout

[j. white]

Leica is not the only company facing PR challenges these days.

Here's a link to an article by the NY Times Tech Columnist, David Pogue outlining the troubles with Apple's rollout of their web-services .Mac replacement, MobileMe.

Apple's lack of response sounds eerily familiar to Leica's when the M8's initial issues were discovered and much publicized here and across the web. I am curious to see how this plays out for so large a player as compared to a small-sized camera manufacturer.


Circuits: Apple’s MobileMess

[sdai]

You should read how Mossberg panned it out ... LOL

Apple’s MobileMe Is Far Too Flawed To Be Reliable | Walt Mossberg | Personal Technology | AllThingsD

Apparently, the company was so convinced that they could simply run away because the Apple shills will swallow whatever is in the plate.

The media has been all too polite to Apple and they all stayed mum on the disaster for more than week betting there would be a quick fix. Now they can't wrap up the fire in paper.

[spylaw4]

Although I am a Mac fan and have been for quite a few years - I have to say that Apple seem to me to have absolutely zero PR skills and display an astonishing degree of arrogance to theri customers.

Touchwood, MobileMe for me has been ok so far, but then I don't need or use many of the services that seem to be problematic.

[rsh]

I have used Apple Computers and products for 5 years now and compared to PCs, I have encountered few problems.

Apple will work out the Mobile Me problems.

[leicapages]

Am not sure I understand the comparison. Apple launches products with lots of hype and PR (don't get me wrong, I do use Apples since the very beginning), it is part of Steve Jobs' aura. One never gets a personalized answer back in case something goes wrong. Contrary to that, in my experience Leica does deliver. With less hype for sure, but I have been extremely satisfied about their handling of problems. Others' mileage may vary, but mine certainly is what I wrote above.

[rick_dykstra]

I don't have an iPhone but since the conversion of my .mac account to mobileme my MacPro 8 core 'supercomputer' locks up each time I access iDisk to update my kids' band website. I have to kill the power to restart it! Yikes! In case you haven't seen it ...

http://web.mac.com/theberrysband

But, they did give me an extra month subscription for free. An extra month of faulty service! Go figure.

Still, I wouldn't use a PC if you paid me. I only use them at work because they do.

[photobike]

When apple changed from .mac to me I lost the ability to send Icards. That was the feature that I used the most because I could customize a card. I think after my subscription runs out I will not renew. I have been a loyal .mac member but they have taken the feature that I used the most without a replacement. Shame on .mac!

[treeplanter]

Originally Posted by j. white

Leica is not the only company facing PR challenges these days.

Here's a link to an article by the NY Times Tech Columnist, David Pogue outlining the troubles with Apple's rollout of their web-services .Mac replacement, MobileMe.

Apple's lack of response sounds eerily familiar to Leica's when the M8's initial issues were discovered and much publicized here and across the web. I am curious to see how this plays out for so large a player as compared to a small-sized camera manufacturer.

Well, I'm not going to defend the MobileMe rollout, it was a disaster, but Apple did acknowledge the problem (we all got an e-mail) and gave uses an extra 30 days of service free of charge.

Jim B.

[j. white]

Originally Posted by leicapages

Am not sure I understand the comparison. Apple launches products with lots of hype and PR (don't get me wrong, I do use Apples since the very beginning), it is part of Steve Jobs' aura. One never gets a personalized answer back in case something goes wrong. Contrary to that, in my experience Leica does deliver. With less hype for sure, but I have been extremely satisfied about their handling of problems. Others' mileage may vary, but mine certainly is what I wrote above.

Originally Posted by treeplanter

Well, I'm not going to defend the MobileMe rollout, it was a disaster, but Apple did acknowledge the problem (we all got an e-mail) and gave uses an extra 30 days of service free of charge.

My point of comparison is that Leica's response was, in internet age terms, rather sluggish and the camera got a bad rap that it may not have had Leica's management acknowledged and acted on fixing the IR, banding, and SDS issues sooner. Like Apple's free month of service, they wrote a nice letter to every purchaser of the M8, and offered free IR Cut filters as well as a 30% lens discount to the very early adopters.

Pogue's article points to a similar response by Apple in regard to MobileMe - By not acknowledging the issues for up to a full week, while the internet is buzzing with the horror stories he mentions is the making of a PR firefight, not a victory. No company wants this when rolling out a flaship product or service.

-J.