MobileMea Culpa

“Not up to Apple’s standards.” Typically those words, when they’re uttered within Apple (AAPL), refer to Microsoft (MSFT) or another of the company’s rivals. But not today. Today, they refer to Apple’s MobileMe service. In an all-hands memo clearly designed to be leaked to the media, Apple CEO Steve Jobs admitted what anyone who has followed MobileMe’s travesty of a launch already knows: It was a “mistake” to roll out MobileMe at the same time as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0 software and the App Store. “We all had more than enough to do, and MobileMe could have been delayed without consequence,” Jobs wrote. “The MobileMe launch clearly demonstrates that we have more to learn about Internet services. And learn we will. The vision of MobileMe is both exciting and ambitious, and we will press on to make it a service we are all proud of by the end of this year.”

With that in mind, Jobs has tasked Eddy Cue, formerly Apple’s vice president of iTunes, with bringing MobileMe up to Apple’s standards. Cue will now oversee not just iTunes and MobileMe, but Apple’s newly opened App Store, as well.