In the spirit of my dislike of Apple and everything they stand for, I have decided to compile a list of Apple’s greatest blunders of 2008.
Even though apple enthusiasts want to believe Apple can do no harm, it is not always the case. I know, all the mac users out there are screaming, BLASPHEMY! Apple did mange to make it on Fortune’s 21 Dumbest Moments in Business this year. While a tiny bit embarrassing, it’s nothing that Apple hasn’t been able to brush off and continue to provide us with ipods and iphones in our pockets. Oh iPhone, how magically we love thee.
The first dumb moment is the “I Am Rich” app. This little glowing red gem of joy cost costumers $1000. It scammed about 8 people out of their cash. Unfortunately, we here at Mac|Life pooled our money together and got the app for our mascot Salty. He hasn’t been the same since. Apple quickly pulled the app without the masses getting a chance to experience buyers remorse.
Apple’s next epic FAIL had to do with the untimely passing of CEO and Apple World Leader, Steve Jobs… Oh that’s right, he didn’t. There was the faux obituary posted on Bloomberg’s website, and then some snot-nosed kid decided to publish a story about Steve having a heart attack on CNN’s iReport. And like the media we have grown to love and respect, they didn’t check any sources before posting it. That’s right, CNN went hog wild with this and posted it without confirming the information.
Here are some other blunders Apple made is 2008.
iPhone 3G launch
Apple’s blunders revolve around the launch of Apple’s iPhone 3G. Though it has been wildly successful, surpassing even Apple’s own ambitious sales goals for 2008, the launch in July had serious issues, namely problems with iPhone activation. Since that iPhone 3G is subsidized by most carriers, a contract is required at the time of purchase. This eliminated the straightforward online activation process used with the original iPhone, leading to extremely long lines for weeks after the July 11 launch. To make matters worse, the servers responsible for activations went down early on July 11, and took a couple days to be resolved.
MobileMe launch
In addition to activation woes at launch, Apple’s MobileMe service, the revamped .Mac service which works intimately with the iPhone, suffered service outages, slow access, and syncing problems. Though not everyone was affected (I count myself as one of the lucky ones), Apple eventually offered users as much as 120 days of free access to make up for all the problems. Recent updates have made the service finally stable for most, if not all, users. Still, it was a big letdown for many hoping to rely on the over-the-air data-syncing for their iPhones.
F*CKING NDA
Another iPhone-related blunder was Apple’s initial refusal to lift the non-disclosure agreement attached to the iPhone SDK. This refusal led to difficulty in getting assistance with iPhone programming issues, problems with iPhone-related developer conferences, and the inability to publish books on iPhone programming. Developers made a loud noise (including a certain obscene battle cry), which eventually led to Apple relenting and lifting the NDA. Developers rejoiced, but it still made Apple look pretty bad.
Still…
I can’t wait to see how Apple makes it onto next year’s list, but they won’t, because Apple does no wrong. Right?
The issues about Steve jobs sure were noticeable, but it looks like he made a good decision in passing speaking power on to other people at Macworld. The launch of iPhone 3G sure was somewhat offset, but they have certainly taken the phone market by storm. Even with all the blunders that have shown up, their successes drown them out.
Just because many Wintel machines consider FW somewhat 2nd rate to the point of rarely (if ever) utilizing it in the past to not using it at all now does not justify slowly phasing it out. Look how they caught on to USB in the early days. FW 800 with an adapter (sigh). USB is OK but I want to move things RIGHT NOW as maybe charge things without having to worry about which-plug-is-which. iPhone 3G can’t be charged with it but my 2g nano can! Well at least the iMac has it all covered.
Current Account – Well it doesn’t surprise me that an Apple product works perfectly on a MAC but not on a PC. FW is still used on PC as a Video capture stream from the majority of HandiCams out there although the transfer rate is slower than USB2.0 it still serves its purpose.
The mentality of ‘APPLE LOVERS’ never ceases to amaze me. Getting down on the PC because it does not have instant support for Apple’s latest ‘Must have gadget’ when it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to ensure the compatibility with the most popular OS and hardware configurations.
Well other than a witty worded insult to the iMac I have nothing more to say on this topic. I’ll save the insult for another day seeing as Current Account refrained from insulting the PC directly.
Many seem to have forgotten about push notification for the iPhone. They said it would be available in September, and here we are on the eve of the new year. I would like to be able to use instant messaging clients at some point in my life without having to be logged into the IM app the whole time. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?