Surprising, but necessary. Apple kept its mouth shut for a month about the issues. For a whole month some people couldn't get to their e-mail at all, and during the entire time Apple refused to comment to the press. Not to mention that the 6 hour launch turned into a one week ordeal for everyone else (and that the software doesn't even run in IE).
They were getting so much negative attention from that (and the Jobs health issue), it would have been a huge mistake to say nothing. Even the manner in which they did it, though, is evidence of the regard Apple holds for communicating with the public.
Actually, Amazon is the big company that admits its failures so quickly. They're completely upfront about AWS going down, and they post a detailed analysis of the problem and the solution once the situation has been resolved. I think Amazon has set the standard for customer feedback when it comes to web services.
They were getting so much negative attention from that (and the Jobs health issue), it would have been a huge mistake to say nothing. Even the manner in which they did it, though, is evidence of the regard Apple holds for communicating with the public.
Actually, Amazon is the big company that admits its failures so quickly. They're completely upfront about AWS going down, and they post a detailed analysis of the problem and the solution once the situation has been resolved. I think Amazon has set the standard for customer feedback when it comes to web services.