Apple Fans Get a Taste of Corporate Realities

You’ve probably noticed, but in case you haven’t: there’s been a string of negative press regarding Apple these days.  Of course, reporting anything negative about Apple is always risky as you’re bound to incite the Apple faithful and face a bombardment of backlash.  However, even Apple fans can’t rally to the company’s defense as easily this time. 

First, there was Mozilla CEO John Lilly saying that the inclusion—and by default, automatic installation—of Apple’s Safari browser in its Software Update for Windows violates consumer trust relationships.  After igniting the ire of Apple fans, he defended his position and even said that Apple “undermines the Internet."  Then we have the Consumer Reports study showing that Mac users are just as likely as PC users to fall prey to online fraud.  And because Mac users’ browser of choice, Safari, does not include phishing protection, Consumer Reports warns against using it. (Earlier this year, PayPal’s Chief Information Security Officer, Michael Barrett, also advised its customers to avoid using the browser due to its lack of phishing protection.)

And now we have Steve Jobs taking one for the team and publicly apologizing for its troubled MobileMe service.  But before we get to MobileMe, I want to jump back to the issues with Safari.  Even Apple fans can’t argue that Apple wasn’t shamelessly trying to push its browser to users through its software update.  We already established that Safari poses phishing risks, so Apple fans can’t put any sort of philanthropic spin on the situation by saying that Apple was helping users by giving them a better browser or anything like that.  Besides, have you used Safari on Windows?  By no means is it a better browser than Internet Explorer or Firefox.  The bottom line is, Apple’s product management saw an opportunity to leverage update software as a distribution vehicle and they ran with it.  Welcome to corporate reality #1.  Was it ethical?  Enough has been written about that, so I'll let you be the judge.

More than the ethics question, what bothers me is that at times like this, we see the good ‘ol Apple fan double-standard rear its ugly little head.  Had it been Microsoft pulling a stunt like that, the outcry would have been deafening.  The tech press—especially the Apple press—would’ve been all over Microsoft for using one of its monopolies to force a different product down users’ throats.  There would be references back to the IE vs. Netscape anti-trust days as well as public denouncements from consumer advocacy groups.  But in the case of Apple and Safari, it takes a public statement from a CEO to get people’s attention?  Come on, Apple fans.  It’s great that you’re so loyal to the brand, but if you want to be taken seriously, you’ve got to show some objectivity. 

Now let’s talk about MobileMe.  I don’t have an iPhone and haven’t used the service, but by most accounts, it seems to be pretty crappy—great idea, but just not ready for primetime.  So where were all the chants of “Apple sucks” from disgruntled MobileMe users?  Sure, there were reports of downtime and transition problems, but it’s as if the Apple fans agreed to remain collectively silent on the issue until their fearless leader came out and apologized.  Now that Steve Jobs said something, it’s OK to criticize MobileMe and agree that it shouldn’t have been released at the same time as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and App Store.  But you need to read between the lines here: don’t misinterpret Jobs’ statement to mean that Apple just totally forgot to consider the impact of releasing all those products at the same time.  No, it was not just a big oversight on Apple’s part: the simultaneous release was intentional. 

Nobody wants to be responsible for releasing a bad product, so I guarantee the MobileMe team was under tons of pressure to have the service ready by the iPhone3G and App Store launches.  The team most likely knew the service wasn’t ready, but feared the backlash from Jobs’—MobileMe had to be ready, period.  So, they crossed their fingers and launched it, hoping they would be able to continue working on it and fixing it in the background before anybody really noticed the problems.  Businesses have to set priorities and make decisions, and sometimes in retrospect, they make the wrong ones.  That’s corporate reality #2.  I just hope that, after eating a little humble pie, Apple fans can show Microsoft some of the same mercy when it releases a product that is short of perfect.

Now, I’ve saved my favorite part for last.  Not more than 3 days after reporting that Jobs declared the MobileMe launch a mistake, MacNN publishes another story about how Eddy Cue, the new guy managing MobileMe, is perfecting for resolving the service’s troubles.  You’ve gotta love Apple fans’ unthwarted optimism!  “Yeah, we know the service has problems now, but just wait—the new guy in charge of it will fix everything!”  Apple should cut Guy Kawasaki another check for cultivating so many Apple evangelists: they’re the best form of damage control money can buy Apple could ever want!