I, like so many loyal users of .Mac (dotmac), watched with disappointment as Apple Computer, Inc. allowed what was supposed to be the launch of a service that they finally “got right” to fall apart at the infrastructure level. A vision of the Vista launch debacle continued to cross my mind during the first week, only to recur with hourly disgust the second week when so many were impacted; professionally, privately, and personally. With every launch of a new Apple product, the company’s fans would jeer at Microsoft, buffeting with great bravado about the gloriousness of what Apple had wrought. Failures, delayed releases, and most public relations faux pas were swept under the rug by so many apologists, consumer and press alike, whenever something didn’t turn out quite the way Apple had intended. Often, with unabashed loyalty, Microsoft was ridiculed in the same breath with comparative statements that Apple could never fail as miserably as Gates’ company had for various product launches. Yet, here we are, facing a debacle that has left so many with such a sour taste that very loyal users are declaring their independence, foregoing a renewal, and opting to utilize Google’s services instead. Forums from around the web have been ablaze with the most satirical and saddened posts, longing for a champion in all the mess. Finally, that champion emerged as a nameless entity providing what appeared to be boiler-plate, legally approved statements, in the form of a MobileMe Status page.  Sadly, many of the most loyal .Mac users have declared this a case of too little, too late. How about 14 days too late? That was the amount of time it took Apple to begin communicating openly with its customers. For some time, I’ve been warning my clients to watch for a product launch that would, at the least, demonstrate Apple had lost sight of the customer in their attempts to gain share in the desktop and portable markets, while dominating other markets. MobileMe is such a product launch. How many more will there be?

I haven’t written in this blog for some time. The cause? Due in part to my openness to speak out on any number of consumer advocacy issues, I have been courted by some very large companies to help reshape their public relations image. I’m unable to go into detail, but my professional life, and some of my private life, has nearly been sacrosanct, leaving very little time for thoughtful responses to consumer related Apple stories. Even as I sit writing this at yet another iMac that is turning brown for no discernible reason, I am on the precipice of a major decision. One that could very well take me either deeper into consumer advocacy or to the farthest point away from the topic. This site receives, on average, 200 readers per day.  That number can jump to well over 800.  Not a large number, but the people those statistics represent are important to me. In this time of transition, I send a query out to the web… Do the consumers of Apple products, and perhaps of consumer electronics in general, want, wish for, or need, a consumer advocate that companies actually listen to? Leave a comment. Let me know. Your comments and e-mails may well steer the next phase of a massive project I’ve been working on.