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Jobs in 'Apple not perfect' shock

MobileMe could have been better, admits Steve

An internal email sent by Steve Jobs admits that MobileMe was "not up to Apple's standards" and that the company tried to do too much too quickly.

The shock missive, which tips the world upside down for Mactopians, goes on to admit that they've still got a lot to learn about internet services.

The details are being reported by Ars Technica, who have seen the mail that was sent to Apple employees last night.

Jobs admits in the mail: "It was a mistake to launch MobileMe at the same time as iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store." He went on to say that MobileMe could have been delayed without any significant consequences.

Given the way iTunes melted down for the first few days following the launch, it could be argued that attempting the 3G iPhone and App Store on the same day was too much, without even considering MobileMe.

Jobs appears to agree that a phased approach would have been better, breaking MobileMe down into segments and launching each one separately - perhaps by rolling out over-the-air synching first, then linking the web applications one at a time. That's obviously how any developer would prefer to see their software deployed, but it wouldn't have provided the "One more thing" shock that Apple addicts have come to expect from the company.

The mail also talks about some structural changes, with Eddy Cue taking over all internet services - though it appears no one is taking a fall for deciding to launch everything at the same time.

Steve does admit that the company still has much to learn about internet services and how to run them, but promises they'll have all that down pat by the end of 2008. "The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious," he says, "and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year." So only another five months of chaos, then. ®

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