How Apple works.docVIP

/2011/08/25/how-apple-works-inside-the-worlds-biggest-startup/ Link How Apple works: Inside the worlds biggest startup By Adam Lashinsky, Sr. Editor at Large August 25, 2011: 10:59 AM ET From Steve Jobs down to the janitor: How Americas most successful - and most secretive - big company really operates. Editors note: This article appeared in the May 23, 2011 issue of Fortune magazine. A shorter version of it originally appeared on F on May 9, 2011. FORTUNE -- Apple doesnt often fail, and when it does, it isnt a pretty sight at 1 Infinite Loop. In the summer of 2008, when Apple launched the first version of its iPhone that worked on third-generation mobile networks, it also debuted MobileMe, an e-mail system that was supposed to provide the seamless synchronization features that corporate users love about their BlackBerry smartphones. MobileMe was a dud. Users complained about lost e-mails, and syncing was spotty at best. Though reviewers gushed over the new iPhone, they panned the MobileMe service. Steve Jobs doesnt tolerate duds. Shortly after the launch event, he summoned the MobileMe team, gathering them in the Town Hall auditorium in Building 4 of Apples campus, the venue the company uses for intimate product unveilings for journalists. According to a participant in the meeting, Jobs walked in, clad in his trademark black mock turtleneck and blue jeans, clasped his hands together, and asked a simple question: Can anyone tell me what MobileMe is supposed to do? Having received a satisfactory answer, he continued, So why the fuck doesnt it do that? For the next half-hour Jobs berated the group. Youve tarnished Apples reputation, he told them. You should hate each other for having let each other down. The public humiliation particularly infuriated Jobs. Walt Mossberg, the influential Wall Street Journal gadget columnist, had panned MobileMe. Mossberg, our friend, is no longer writing good things about us, Jobs said. On the spot, Jobs named a new executive to run th