In 2008 Apple lansa MobileMe, un fel de iCloud care functiona mult mai prost si era ceva mai scump, iar in acea perioada Steve Jobs era indeajuns de puternic pentru a-si mustra sever angajatii. MobileMe a fost criticat de extrem de multa lume, Apple a fost pusa la zid pentru lansarea unui produs care nu trebuia sa ajunga pe piata, iar Steve Jobs si-a varsat frustrarile pe cei care au construit serviciul, concediind intr-o sedinta managerii care au supervizat dezvoltarea MobileMe. Din pacate problema lansarii unui serviciu prost are legatura mai mare cu felul in care Steve Jobs si-a tratat angajatii si mai putin cu o tentativa de a grabi aducerea pe piata a unui serviciu care nu era pregatit.
We had been telling our bosses that we did not feel confident about our launch date for a long time. We gave any number of suggestions of what we could do to launch that wouldn’t be such a giant production, but would totally have worked. Then it fell down launch night. And all the lovely troopers (because everyone who works at Apple is completely kick-ass and does the hell out of their jobs), worked literally around the clock to fix it. Sleeping under desks, shuttling from hotels nearby, tagging in the next coder for their shift, until it was back up.
Intr-un articol publicat astazi, un angajat care a lucrat la dezvoltarea MobileMe a dezvaluit cateva informatii din culisele acelui esec, dar si despre Steve Jobs. Este vorba despre o femeie care nu-l avea la inima pe Jobs si care spune ca angajatii se temeau atat de tare de el, incat le era frica sa ii spuna cand nu puteau indeplini ceva. Acesta a fost si cazul serviciului MobileMe care a ajuns pe piata deoarece angajatilor le-ar fi fost frica sa ii spuna lui Jobs ca ei nu ii pot indeplini cerintele, iar toate detaliile le gasiti in acea pagina.
Once it was up, we (at least a hundred of us) got called into a meeting with Steve Jobs. We all walked over to the building like we were headed to the guillotine. He stood in front of us and yelled at us, told us that we should be mad at each other, said we could have done a staggered launch and complained that we didn’t even try to do all the things that we (those on the ground floor of production that actually make the fucking products of the world) had been begging to do. It was the world’s best de-motivational speech.
