MobileMe has stunk on ice, so to regain users’ trust Apple will give them two free months of service. Anyone with an account active as of August 19 at 00:00 PDT (note Apple’s correct use of timestamp, PDT) is eligible for the two free months.

Apple is giving away the free months “to express appreciation for [its] members’ patience as [it] continue to improve the service.”

It’s a shame MobileMe has been so buggy, since push for the everyman (because every man needs push) should well be a hit.

Below you’ll find the entire “MobileMe launch wasn’t very good” e-mail Steve Jobs sent to employees. He sent it on Monday, claims Ars.

Team,

The launch of MobileMe was not our finest hour. There are several things we could have done better:

– MobileMe was simply not up to Apple’s standards – it clearly needed more time and testing.

– Rather than launch MobileMe as a monolithic service, we could have launched over-the-air syncing with iPhone to begin with, followed by the web applications one by one – Mail first, followed 30 days later (if things went well with Mail) by Calendar, then 30 days later by Contacts.

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Steve Jobs has admitted that the MobileMe launch was “not up to Apple’s standards.” That’s in reference to all the problems the service has had since it launched last month.

Jobs admitted as much in an internal e-mail sent to Apple employees, which Ars Technica got a hold of. He said MobileMe shouldn’t have been launched on the same day as iPhone 3G, Firmware 2.0 and the App Store. Rather, Apple could have launched it one service at a time—on the first day it could have launched over-the-air; the next week could have been push e-mail; and so on.

Another bit of fallout: the MobileMe development team will now report to the same guy in charge of iTunes and the App Store.

Good to see Apple recognize how poor MobileMe has been, and even better to see that it’s trying to fix it.

Updated sometime yesterday, Apple has given it’s status report regarding the epic failure of MobileMe. Here’s what they had to say.

Steve Jobs has asked me to write a posting every other day or so to let everyone know what’s happening with MobileMe, and I’m working directly with the MobileMe group to ensure that we keep you really up to date. In the 14 days since we launched, it’s been a rocky road and we know the pain some people have been suffering. Be assured people here are working 24-7 to improve matters, and we’re going to favor getting you new info hot off the presses even if we have to post corrections or further updates later.
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Even sheltered by the glow of the iPhone, Apple’s MobileMe fumble isn’t sitting well with the public. MobileMe, Apple’s answer to keeping e-mails, contacts and calendar appointments synced across multiple devices has suffered since it stumbled out of the gate July 10, and now people are calling for bloody vengeance.

And by people, I mean Philip Elmer-DeWitt over at Fortune’s technology blog, who wants to know who’s to blame for Apple’s misrepresented and messed up service. While both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times gave MobileMe negative (and maybe even worse than negative) reviews, calling for someone’s head, so shortly after Bastille day is a touch unnerving.

But Elmer-DeWitt has a point, in that even as Apple fixes one MobileMe glitch, (and apologizes) another glitch pops up right in its place (and another apology hasn’t always). And while hopefully most MobileMe users have at least gotten their money back, if not all their lost emails, a stiff apology and plea to their “loyal customers’ patience” may not be enough for Apple to keep the hounds at bay.

Is the word “Me” responsible for the problems with MobileMe? Labnol points out that that three major “me” initiatives – Windows Me, .me, and MobileMe all angered folks immediately and nearly failed – or did fail.
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As if you didn’t know, MobileMe hasn’t exactly launched without a hitch. Now Walt Mossberg, angel, has jumped atop the dog pile, and is refusing to recommend the service right now.

Mossberg cites too-infrequent-to-be-useful 15 sync times; sluggish performance; weird Outlook glitches; and so on.

Basically, MobileMe is a little buggy, which we’ve known for some time now. But now that Mossberg has said as much, all the more pressure is now on Apple to fix its $100 per year service.

AlleyInsider

Before

Like most Mactards this morning I headed over to me.com to check out the new goodies. As I logged in I was presented with the MobileMe screen with an array of icons and my excitement, needless to say, was palpable and turgid. Sadly, however, my palpability deflated as I was then kicked back to the MobileMe intro page again and again, thwarted from enjoying MobileMe features. Words cannot describe my pain.

There is currently a new version of iTunes out – update your software in OS X and try to update in Windows to get it – and even the Apple TV is currently updating itself to support MobileMe. All of the pieces are there but clearly Apple is waiting for some sort of huge launch to release them. More news once we figure out what that huge launch is.

After

.Mac is reporting:

MobileMe Launch
7/9/2008, 6pm-12am PT

As part of the MobileMe launch, www.mac.com will be taken offline at 6pm PT on Wednesday, July 9th.

Members will be unable to access www.mac.com or any .Mac services during this time with the exception of .Mac Mail accessed via a desktop application, iPhone, or iPod touch.

MobileMe will be available as soon as possible during this maintenance window.

All of your current .Mac functions should work under Mobile Me although it’s not clear what’s happening to iWeb-based pages. You should be able to add your me.com address immediately although the push apps will not be enabled until the official launch.