Something is Rotten at Apple
Lots of folks are pissed at Apple this week.
Brian X. Chen of The New York Times:
My MacBook Air's Calendar app completely wiped out all my entries, including those saved in iCloud.
Glenn Fleishman of Macworld:
The Podcasts app is broken.
David Pogue, The New York Times:
In short, Maps is an appalling first release. It may be the most embarrassing, least usable piece of software Apple has ever unleashed.
Marco Arment, creator of Instapaper and co-host of Build and Analyze:
The other day, my grandfather asked me if he could get rid of the who-knows-what PC for good, but he wanted to make sure that he could transfer his stuff to a new iPad in the future if this one ever broke…I told him to bring it to the nearby Apple Store and have them set up “ICLOUD BACKUP” for him…But instead of doing what I assumed would be a non-destructive update, the Genius did a restore…And while Apple Stores have a reputation for great service, there are enough counterexamples happening every day that I’m not sure how much longer that reputation will last.
Now that iCloud is up and running and seemingly holding up under demand, Apple needs to start offering more than 5 GB of storage at the free level. That’s not even enough to back up two iOS devices...
And of course, yours truly:
After a lengthy back and forth with Byword support, they suggested terminal commands to reset iCloud on my Mac. I tried it this weekend, and not only did that not fix the problem, it wiped all of my iCloud documents, including those on my iPad…There is something clearly wrong with how Apple is communicating iCloud to developers.
There's a common thread to all of these quotes: Apple's online services suck.
These are Apple's friends, the "fanboys." If they're pissed, Apple has much bigger problems in store.
Apparently Apple is taking unusual steps to recruit iCloud engineers, but I don't find that reassuring. Shouldn't they have done that over a year ago?