If it hadn’t been for the success of the iPod, Apple might not be around today. They’ve sold far more iPods in 7 years than computers sold in all of Apple’s 32-year history. About half of all their revenue comes from iPod/iTunes.

So, from purely a sales perspective, it’s really not a stretch to say that the iPod is the only thing that Apple has done right. Certainly since the Apple II. Many believe that Apple would have been bankrupt by now without it (though it could be argued that it was the first iMac that set Apple on the right path).

With all the problems that Apple’s having, you’d think that MobileMe was a fledgling offering that launched a little before it was ready. It’s not. MobileMe is essentially a rebranded .Mac, so most of the plumbing should have been there already. That’s not to say that everything should have gone perfectly, but it the re-launch should have gone a lot better.

The real problem is the track that they’re on. Apple’s decided to charge $99/year for what Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and many others give away for free. When you’ve got a free web service that’s in perpetual beta, you can get away with lackluster performance. When you officially product-ize it, promote it, and put a dollar amount on it, people will rightfully expect that it will work. Not only should it work, but it should present a value to the customer, an experience beyond what they can otherwise get for free. MobileMe customers certainly haven’t been getting their dollar’s worth so far.

Apple should have launched MobileMe as a free beta to all .Mac subscribers three months ago. They could have had time to work out the bugs, and then went ahead with the public launch when it was ready. Unfortunately, because they like to keep everything a secret until the day it goes on sale, MobileMe crashed, burned, and put off a lot of potential customers.

Between the MobileMe problems and the incredibly buggy iPhone 2.0 firmware, Apple has done themselves a horrible disservice. Apple has always marketed the idea that their stuff “just works”. Recently, they’ve been coming up really short.

.Mac has been around for a very long time with minor glitches. The feature set was and continues to be well worth the $100 per year. Yes other services out there are free but they are a subset.

What is up with this whole elitist thing? I have been hearing the inflammatory “Macs SUCK!” thrown in my face since 1989! And one “right” product? Yeah whatever.

Agreed on the “me” thing. Anything marketed that has me and my in it is somewhat childish.

Agreed that as Apple gets larger they need to learn to write scalable software better. And they will unfortunately rush stuff out the door quicker. MobileMe is version one and relative to the rest of the industry, the bugs are on par.

MobileMe is riddled with bugs. Unfortunately it is acceptable for any software company to release software before it is time. And since Apple has gone from underdog to goldenchild any glitch is vehemently attacked.