At the Worldwide Developers Conference in June, Apple unveiled plans to , emphasizing the ability to sync calendars, contacts, and e-mail between Macs, PCs, and mobile devices like the iPhone. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for starters, Apple attempted to raise the curtain on the rejiggered service at the same time as the iPhone 3G, iPhone 2.0, and App Store launches. The result was a mistake-marred launch that extended into a summer of snags and service outages. Even ,” and the company wound up offering free extensions to aggrieved subscribers. For a company that usually enjoys the Midas touch with product rollouts, MobileMe was an uncharacteristic pratfall.

6. Software goes online

Apple wasn’t the only company to see that the future of software includes Web-based services. A number of companies—from Intuit to Adobe to, of course, Google—have touted Web-based services that augment, and sometimes replace, traditional desktop-based offerings. Even Microsoft plans on getting into the act, announcing that the next version of Office will . And yes, Mac users, that .

5. Apple’s ongoing financial success

Even as the economy was beginning to crumble, Apple continued to enjoy strong sales and profits. In its fiscal fourth quarter ending in September, for example, . Can Apple keep it up now that the recession is in full swing? Steve Jobs outlined the company’s plan for weathering an economic downturn during . We’ll see how well that plan is going in January, when Apple unveils its fiscal first quarter numbers.