译言网 | 乔布斯如何改变世界

How Steve Jobs Changed The World

史蒂夫·乔布斯怎样改变世界

Apple's former CEO made the products he himself wanted.

前苹果CEO设计他自己想要的产品

By ANDY KESSLER

If you want to know the secret of Steve Jobs, recall his advice to inventor Dean Kamen upon seeing the original version of the Segway scooter: "I think it sucks," he said. "Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, it doesn't feel anthropomorphic . . . There are design firms out there that could come up with things we've never thought of, things that would make you s*** in your pants."

　　如果你想知道史蒂夫·乔布斯的秘密，回忆一下他看到Segway scooter的原始版本时给发明家迪恩·卡门的建议：“我觉得它很糟糕，”他说道。“样式不创新，也不优雅，也不让人感觉人性化……有很多设计公司能想出我们想不到的东西，而那正是我们梦寐以求的。”

At the end of the day, hardware is just a bunch of cold transistors and software code is just a bunch of bits to control them. But clever code can change the world and make us productive in ways we never imagined. Yet even that's not enough. As Hewlett-Packard and Nokia painfully know, everyone eventually has access to the same transistors, the same memory and displays and processors. All you can hope for is maybe a 12-18 month lead. Steve Jobs's magic was to marry clever code with a fanatical devotion to aesthetics, rare in the tech world. It worked, in spades. Now we pay huge premiums for Apple products made up of commonly available components.

　　到头来，硬件只是一堆晶体管，软件只是用来控制它们的一堆数位。但是好的代码能够改变世界，并能以我们意想不到的方式使我们卓有成效。那还不够。正如惠普和诺基亚痛苦地知道，每个人最终以不同的方式得到相同的晶体管、相同的存储器、显示器和处理器。所有你能希望的只是12到18个月的领先。史蒂夫·乔布斯的神奇在于将好代码和狂热虔诚的审美相结合，这在技术界罕见。那不言而喻是有用的。现在我们耗巨资购买用普通有用的组件制成的苹果产品。

That's right, we shell out $600 for $200 worth of sand. And here's the neat parlor trick. We actually feel good about it! In techland, there's no rest for the weary, better processors and storage and networks are daily creations. Mr. Jobs looked over the horizon and figured out not only what's next, but how to shape it into devices that all at once stirred a cognitive soup of psychology, behavior science, philosophy and for many, a spiritual awakening—an iPhone as a cortexial extension of ourselves. Weird, but true.

　　没错，我们花费600美元却只得了价值200美元的沙子。这就是利落漂亮的招待把戏。实际上我们感觉不错。在技术界，疲倦而好的处理器没有休息，存储和网络也是每日换新。乔布斯先生有高人的眼界，明白不仅是下一个，而且要把它塑造到装置里去，能马上激起心理、行为科学、哲学和许多精神觉醒的认知波动——一个iPhone 就像我们大脑皮层的延伸。不可思议，但确实是。

Associated Press

Apple CEO Steve Jobs

苹果CEO史蒂夫·乔布斯

How did he pull this off? By figuring out what he wanted and controlling the whole process until he got it. Very few buttons, like Mr. Jobs's clothing. But more importantly, don't just touch your computer, feel it. Let the graphics and icons simplify life's complexities. Let your fingers flow over the glass instead of peck at it. Speak to it. Use your body and motion to sway your computer until it moves you. Until you are one. OK, I got a little carried away, but admit it, it's hard to unplug.

　　他是如何办到的？弄明白他想要的和控制整个过程，直到他得到了他想要的东西。按钮很少，就像乔布斯的衣服。但是更重要的，不用触摸你的电脑，只用感觉它。图形和图标简化生活的复杂性，你的手指滑过玻璃而不是轻叩。你的身体和运动去影响你的电脑直到它移动到你一个。好的，我有点情不自禁，但是我承认，很难改掉。

But of course, Mr. Jobs isn't selling just fashion. He's selling form and function, a platform for us to conduct our business and personal lives on, removing an expensive layer of magazine designers (Mac), disk jockeys (iPod), secretaries and postal workers (iPhone) and cable guys (iPad). Mr. Jobs and his legion of 50,000 coders and designers became the most valuable company in the world.

　　但是当然，乔布斯先生并不只是卖时尚。他也卖形式和功能，一个供我们管理生意和个人生活的平台，可以让我们不再用昂贵的杂志设计师（Mac）、唱片节目选播员（iPod）、秘书、邮差（iPhone）和电缆之类的（iPad）。乔布斯先生和他500位程序员、设计师成为世界上最有价值的公司。

And his control drove Apple's business model. No screws to open up his devices. Those (patent protected) high margins from aesthetics allow Apple to break a lot of rules. Both the personal-computer industry and the Internet evolved as horizontal industries, layers of companies, each with a sliver of expertise (operating systems, processors, computers), that upended slow moving and formerly ridiculously profitable giants IBM and AT&T. Steve Jobs went horizontal just owning the online delivery layer to transform the music industry. He's trying to do it again to book publishing and TVs and games, and movies.

　　他的管理促成了苹果商业模式。没有螺丝去打开他的装置。那些（专利保护）从美学获得的高额利润允许苹果打破许多规则。个人电脑产业和因特网都发展成为横向产业，层级公司，每个都有一系列专门知识（操作系统、处理器、电脑），形成了缓慢移动和以前可笑而有利可图的巨头IBM和AT&T。史蒂夫·乔布斯的水平只是将在线交付层改成音乐产业，后来他又在图书出版、电视、游戏和电影尝试

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Editorial board members Mary Kissel, Mary O'Grady and Bret Stephens discuss how Steve Jobs contributed to American prosperity.

编委会成员马利·凯塞尔、马利·O·格雷迪和布雷特·史蒂芬讨论史蒂芬·乔布斯如何促成了美国的繁荣。）

About my only criticism of Steve Jobs is that Apple itself is quite vertical. You want to run an app on his iPhone, you play by his rules and pay him 30% of the action. And then there's those Apple stores, with their goofy T-shirt clad "geniuses," each resonating a Jobsian smugness. But darn it, they do know what they are doing and always end up helping. Also, by being tightly controlled and vertical, Apple has solved a major problem in the computer industry: customer support. Another brilliant move. So far, being vertical has been a virtue. Mr. Jobs leaves Apple hugely profitable and shareholders thrilled.

　　我关于史蒂夫·乔布斯的唯一苛求就是，苹果本身是完全垂直的。你想要在他的iPhone上运行一个应用程序，就得按照他的规则来办，还得为这一行为付费30%。然后就是苹果的供应，与他们愚笨的T恤穿衣的“苹果天才”，每个人都有共通的Jobsian矜持。但是该死的，他们确实知道他们在做什么，总是以帮助告终。同样，即时被严格控制和垂直的，苹果还解决了电脑行业的一个大难题：用户支持。这真是一个伟大的举措。目前为止，垂直也是一个优点。乔布斯先生给苹果带来巨额利润，让股东兴奋不已。

Is Steve Jobs irreplaceable? No. Apple fans will eventually move on to something else. It would have happened if he stayed. Twenty-somethings come along and invent entire new platforms like Facebook that change the world in different ways, learning the lessons from Steve Jobs and adding their own twists. The world catches up.

　　史蒂夫·乔布斯无可替代吗？不。苹果迷最后会转向其他的事物。如果他继续保持的话就无可替代。20多岁的人追随，学习史蒂夫·乔布斯的经验，再加上他们自己的智慧，创造了像Facebook 的新平台，用不同的方式改变了世界。世界紧追不舍。

Aesthetics only gets you so far. At some point, maybe even the vertical control structure starts to unwind. It always does, as high margins are a super-conducting magnet for well-funded competition. Heck, Google just shelled out $12.5 billion for Motorola Mobility to go a little vertical themselves to compete.

　　美学只能带你走那么远。某个时刻，垂直控制结构可能开始展开。巨额利润就像能吸引充足资金支持竞争的超导电的磁铁。真见鬼，谷歌只花了125亿亿购买了摩托罗拉移动，走垂直路线竞争。

New Apple CEO Tim Cook has his work cut out continuing the Jobs legacy, refreshing Apple products at the same torrid pace, creating new category-creating devices, fighting off copycats, and keeping the stock price going up while at the same time figuring out which parts of the Jobs model to dismantle. Meanwhile, we all are a little better off because of Steve Jobs. I hope he applies his energy to other world- (and pants-) changing things.

　　新的苹果总裁蒂姆·库克停止了继续的乔布斯遗产，以快速的步调更新了苹果的产品，创造了新的类型装置，抵抗模仿者，保持股票价格上涨，同时找出乔布斯模型可去掉的部分。与此同时，因为史蒂夫·乔布斯我们都好富裕一点了，我希望他把他的精力花在其他改变世界（裤子）的东西上。

Mr. Kessler, a former hedge-fund manager, is the author most recently of "Eat People" (Portfolio, 2011).

　　凯塞尔先生，以前为对冲基金经理，是最近《吃人》（作品集，2011）的作者。