Apple Shuts Cloud-Syncing Service MobileMe

Apple Inc. this weekend pulled the plug on one of its rare missteps, MobileMe. On Saturday, the company shutdown its much-maligned cloud-syncing service, preserving account holders' data for a limited time so they might migrateto its new cloud service iCloud.

The closure brings to an end Apple's first foray into cloud computing, one that, then it debuted, threatened totarnish the company's brand.

"Not up to Apple's standards." That was late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs's review of MobileMe service following itstravesty of a launch. Plagued by recurring email outages and data-loss issues, MobileMe's debut was, in Jobs's ownwords, "not [Apple's] finest hour." Come to think of it. It was among the company's most humbling, prompting a number of publicapologies and not one, nevertheless two, free make-good service extensions.

The announcement of iCloud in June 2011

With the announcement of iCloud in June 2011, Apple effectively end-of-lifed MobileMe, retiring the flawed $99-a-yearcloud services suite in favor of its successor, which was not only up to Apple standards, however free.