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macdude · Jul 11, 2008, 02:56 PM

(I figured I would put this in the lounge, rather than post it in multiple sections, since it deals with different firmwares, phones, activations, applications, web-hosting and mail services, etc.)

Do you think today constitutes an epic fail? The MobileMe rollout, iPhone 3G activations, some stores not telling customers how many iPhones they had, buggy app store, 2.0 firmware buggy and slow, etc. etc. certainly makes me think so.

Discuss.

moep · Jul 11, 2008, 03:02 PM

I'd call it an average launch (relative to the industry) considering how many products were released at the same time. Definitely worse than what we are used to from Apple but no big deal.

ort888 · Jul 11, 2008, 03:15 PM

It will be all but forgotten in a few days. But it does suck for Apple, because now all the news on the launch will be centered around the problems. That and they have a lot of unhappy customers.

They should have put out 2.0 a few days ago to take some strain off the servers.

Dakar the Fourth · Jul 11, 2008, 03:26 PM

Whatever. More free iPhone coverage.

sek929 · Jul 11, 2008, 03:36 PM

Yeah I was supposed to get my stimulus check today and I didn't.

Government FAIL!

Love Calm Quiet · Jul 11, 2008, 04:33 PM

Originally Posted by sek929

Government FAIL!

^ NOT a news item

imitchellg5 · Jul 11, 2008, 04:38 PM

Yeah it was a pretty bad day for Apple. My guess is that the launch of MobileMe, and then the iPhone 2.0 software being found in Apple's XML leading to a kajillion downloads of it seriously messed up Apple's servers more than they could anticipate.

slpdLoad · Jul 11, 2008, 04:59 PM

All they've really done is sell a few phones. MobileMe has not launched, and it's a crapshoot at best at to whether you can get the 2.0 upgrade, which has not even rolled out for iTouches.

So far the App store is the only thing they've gotten right.

Didn't they learn anything about how to setup activation servers after last year's delays?

MacosNerd · Jul 11, 2008, 05:19 PM

In of itself, I'd say no, July 11th was not an epic failure but we're not talking about just the iPhone rollout, mobileme is involved too and since I don't have access to my emails for 2 days, I'd say yes. A definite embarrassment

mdc · Jul 11, 2008, 05:36 PM

I think it sucked what happened to customers, but it will be forgotten soon.
Last year, with the first iPhone, the same thing happened. I remember waiting for my iPhone to activate which took a few hours.

After the first few days the amount of activations calmed down, or Apple fixed the servers, and the issue was forgotten. I'm sure the same thing will happen this time around.

Last year the servers were overloaded and that was just the United States activating. This year there are a lot more countries activating iPhones.

Jawbone54 · Jul 11, 2008, 05:37 PM

For someone who has been through the process ALL...DAY...LONG...

I don't know that I'd call it "epic," but it's definitely disappointing. First of all, this whole MobileMe garbage is screwing up my contacts, Emails, and calendars. If they weren't ready to launch, they shouldn't have launch. Simple.

imitchellg5 · Jul 11, 2008, 05:39 PM

To me it seems like Apple didn't plan ahead at all. They just figured they'd wait to rush everything out at the last minute, and it didn't go down so hot.

BasketofPuppies · Jul 11, 2008, 05:46 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar the Fourth

Whatever. More free iPhone coverage.

Do you work for Apple's public relations firm?

Mrjinglesusa · Jul 11, 2008, 05:55 PM

As much as I like Apple and their products I would have to consider this an epic failure. NOTHING went right today. Not the 3G iPhone launch, not the iPhone Software 2.0 rollout, not the MobileMe launch. Nothing. At least one thing (and in most cases, multiple things) went wrong in everything Apple tried to accomplish today. It was simply too ambitious to try and release all of these things on the same day.

3G Launch: Stores did not have enough stock and activation did not work

iPhone Software 2.0: People were able to upgrade but it bricked their phones until Apple got their iTunes servers back up

MobileMe: It's up, it's down. It's up but slow as hell. It's back down. It appears to be up now but it is still slow.

All in all, not too much for Apple to be proud of today.

BRussell · Jul 11, 2008, 06:12 PM

If things clear up this evening, it will have been no big deal. If there are people still trying to activate (and update) this whole weekend, it will have been pretty bad.

I can just hear some of the worker bees telling Jobs "I don't think we can do it all on July 11" and Jobs responding "WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU MAGGOTS ONLY SCUM DON'T SHIP" and they all just cowered and said "ok steve whatever you say we'll get it all done on July 11."

besson3c · Jul 11, 2008, 06:20 PM

MacosNerd: no access to your email for two days? Wow... *That's* an epic fail on Apple's part. Apple should probably get out of the email providing business, since they clearly suck at it.

MacosNerd · Jul 11, 2008, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

MacosNerd: no access to your email for two days? Wow... *That's* an epic fail on Apple's part. Apple should probably get out of the email providing business, since they clearly suck at it.

Yeah, that's what's pissing me off. They bit off more then they can chew by trying to deploy the mobileme, the 2.0 iphone update and the iphone which needs activation by apple. A staged rollout would have been easier to deal with from our perspective and theirs.

BRussell · Jul 11, 2008, 06:41 PM

Why no access to email at all? .Mac mail hasn't been down, just the web interface to it.

besson3c · Jul 11, 2008, 06:43 PM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

Yeah, that's what's pissing me off. They bit off more then they can chew by trying to deploy the mobileme, the 2.0 iphone update and the iphone which needs activation by apple. A staged rollout would have been easier to deal with from our perspective and theirs.

I don't know what the iPhone and iPhone activation have to do with people not being able to get to their email, but this is pathetic. It illustrates that Apple has no real disaster recovery plan, or that the design of their email system was not built to scale. Usually these sorts of things happen from companies that take short cuts in not building redundancy into their system designs, but for a company like Apple this is inexcusable.

Do you think Google could get away with a downtime for 2 days? I guarantee you, they have *tons* more users than Apple (as do Microsoft and Yahoo), but I don't think I've ever heard of a Google outage of this magnitude. Until Apple offers something so compelling that people are willing to overlook these outages (I can't imagine what that would be), they need to come at least close to standards and expectations.

imitchellg5 · Jul 11, 2008, 07:22 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

I don't know what the iPhone and iPhone activation have to do with people not being able to get to their email, but this is pathetic. It illustrates that Apple has no real disaster recovery plan, or that the design of their email system was not built to scale. Usually these sorts of things happen from companies that take short cuts in not building redundancy into their system designs, but for a company like Apple this is inexcusable.

Do you think Google could get away with a downtime for 2 days? I guarantee you, they have *tons* more users than Apple (as do Microsoft and Yahoo), but I don't think I've ever heard of a Google outage of this magnitude. Until Apple offers something so compelling that people are willing to overlook these outages (I can't imagine what that would be), they need to come at least close to standards and expectations.

That's because Apple used to not have disasters like this. It shows how ill prepared they are. This seems like something that should happen to Microsoft, not Apple.

turtle777 · Jul 11, 2008, 07:23 PM

Originally Posted by sek929

Yeah I was supposed to get my stimulus check today and I didn't.

Government FAIL!

Hardly a fail, just business as usual !

-t

Randman · Jul 11, 2008, 07:31 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

That's because Apple used to not have disasters like this. It shows how ill prepared they are. This seems like something that should happen to Microsoft, not Apple.

This.

Oisín · Jul 11, 2008, 08:05 PM

Ah, splendid! The perfect opportunity to use this:

(Please don’t kill me for being unoriginal, it’s just so rare I get to actually make one of these)

lpkmckenna · Jul 11, 2008, 09:33 PM

If I remember correctly, the original iPhone rollout was also met with very slow activation times. Certainly, rolling out both mobileme and the new iPhone and the old iPhone update at the same time just flattened Apple's servers. It'll blow over soon.

I can't imagine what Apple's comment all this will be. It's not like they couldn't have expected this. Insisting on in-store activation was a ridiculous idea regardless.

Mastrap · Jul 11, 2008, 09:41 PM

Everything works. I had to wait two hours for the data part of my contract to be activated, but that's it.

Mrjinglesusa · Jul 11, 2008, 09:54 PM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

Everything works. I had to wait two hours for the data part of my contract to be activated, but that's it.

Hardly.

As of 10:50 pm EST:

1) www.me.com slowly loads the iDisk page but click on any other app = bubkus. Nothing else will load.

2) OTA syncing (i.e., "push") of calender events and contacts does not work yet. A change made on my iPhone or computer does not reflect in the other device.

3) The MobileMe update for OS X is still MIA.

They may have fixed some of the issues with new phone activations and the 2.0 update, but MobileMe is still non-functional. Thus, "everything" does not in fact "work".

boy8cookie · Jul 11, 2008, 11:09 PM

6:08p HST, All working for me... L2Internet

slpdLoad · Jul 11, 2008, 11:27 PM

Me.com seems to have a link to get an account, but going to apple's main mobileme page STILL says "available soon" and "notify me" when it's ready.

Not even close to done.

subego · Jul 12, 2008, 01:26 AM

People keep mentioning how the software rollout was slow the first time around, but those people hadn't been using their phones for a year, storing phone numbers, notes, etc.

I have an iPhone, and love it, but I never got the hang of being a "cell phone person", so when 2.0 bricked mine this morning it was no big deal. I leave it at home half the time anyways.

I walked into a store and saw the owner's MacBook with an iPhone plugged into it, and said "yours too, huh?"

Seeing that I had a shade of knowledge about what was going on, they guy practically begged me to fix his phone.

"I need this number on my phone."

"Do you know when they're going to fix it?"

"I really need this number."

"Since my iPhone is ****ed I can't even look up Apple's number."

"I really, really need this number."

Eug · Jul 12, 2008, 01:41 AM

I'm almost glad I didn't get my get my iPhone 3G today.

It's supposed to be delivered by UPS next week.

Mastrap · Jul 12, 2008, 06:07 AM

Originally Posted by Mrjinglesusa

Hardly.

As of 10:50 pm EST:

1) www.me.com slowly loads the iDisk page but click on any other app = bubkus. Nothing else will load.

2) OTA syncing (i.e., "push") of calender events and contacts does not work yet. A change made on my iPhone or computer does not reflect in the other device.

3) The MobileMe update for OS X is still MIA.

They may have fixed some of the issues with new phone activations and the 2.0 update, but MobileMe is still non-functional. Thus, "everything" does not in fact "work".

Maybe for you. For me everything has been working since yesterday morning. Remember, I am in Canada.
.me came online late on Thursday and after about an hour or two of wobbliness has been stable ever since. I've just checked and all pages load within seconds.

Push everything works fine, within minutes.

So, no complaints.

The only delay I had was due to Rogers, their network was overwhelmed and my data account took two hours to be active. But that was it. No huge line to get the phone (there were two guys in front of me), no delay in getting my contract, everything worked like clockwork.

MacosNerd · Jul 12, 2008, 06:07 AM

I wonder when they'll re-release the mobileme package, I've yet to see it in SU, hopefully beginning of this week or something.

jokell82 · Jul 12, 2008, 08:16 AM

Originally Posted by MacosNerd

I wonder when they'll re-release the mobileme package, I've yet to see it in SU, hopefully beginning of this week or something.

I'm wondering the same thing.

Ghoser777 · Jul 12, 2008, 08:55 AM

MobileMe seemse snappier™ this morning.

ort888 · Jul 12, 2008, 09:48 AM

The epic fail for me was the day that they announced that the $199 iPhone price was not available to current AT&T customers.

thirsty · Jul 12, 2008, 09:53 AM

I still fail to Understand why AT&T and Apple need iTunes to activate your phones.
The way they lock you in to their contracts would never be allowed here in Australia
I just put my current Vodafone Sim card in and everything is working.

When i connect to iTunes it only wants me to register, but i can register, delay it, or never do it. Either way the iPhone is still working.

besson3c · Jul 12, 2008, 01:52 PM

What attracts you guys to MobileMe anyway? Everything I've been reading and learning about it suggests that it is a great big pile of suck (and will be, even if Apple figures out how to make it scale).

turtle777 · Jul 12, 2008, 01:54 PM

Originally Posted by besson3c

What attracts you guys to MobileMe anyway? Everything I've been reading and learning about it suggests that it is a great big pile of suck (and will be, even if Apple figures out how to make it scale).

Yes, all of that you can do with rsync.

-t

besson3c · Jul 12, 2008, 02:00 PM

Originally Posted by turtle777

Yes, all of that you can do with rsync.

-t

Heh... I guess the file syncing stuff is the most useful if you have more than one Mac and this is really worth the $99, or whatever it costs now...

However, what good is push email when your email is unavailable so often, and what is being accomplished even when it is working? The people that really do need to get their email the second that it is sent still need to deal with the fact that there are no delivery guarantees with email systems, and this especially goes for unreliable ones and/or poor performing ones such as my impression of MobileMe/.Mac thus far.

imitchellg5 · Jul 12, 2008, 03:54 PM

Push email works just fine with Gmail... no need to pay $99 for that.

lpkmckenna · Jul 12, 2008, 04:11 PM

Push GMail? You mean Yahoo?

Wiskedjak · Jul 12, 2008, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by mdc

Last year the servers were overloaded and that was just the United States activating. This year there are a lot more countries activating iPhones.

which means they should've known what to expect, making yesterday even *more* inexcusable.

Wiskedjak · Jul 12, 2008, 04:24 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

That's because Apple used to not have disasters like this. It shows how ill prepared they are. This seems like something that should happen to Microsoft, not Apple.

making it all the worse since nothing like this has ever happened to Microsoft.

jokell82 · Jul 12, 2008, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by imitchellg5

Push email works just fine with Gmail... no need to pay $99 for that.

No push with Gmail.

BasketofPuppies · Jul 12, 2008, 06:20 PM

Originally Posted by Wiskedjak

making it all the worse since nothing like this has ever happened to Microsoft.

Actually, Hotmail went down for several hours once because the hotmail.com domain had expired and Microsoft didn't realize it.

Eug · Jul 12, 2008, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by Mastrap

Maybe for you. For me everything has been working since yesterday morning. Remember, I am in Canada.

The only delay I had was due to Rogers, their network was overwhelmed and my data account took two hours to be active.

I thought that was part Apple's problem. Something wrong with the activation server or something like that.

alligator · Jul 12, 2008, 07:06 PM

I'd love to see Apple take responsibility for this and offer something (even a token apology) to their customers for this mistake. Maybe give us one free application from the Apps store or something. Or better yet, explain to us what happened.