亚马逊加大筹码挑战苹果

    最近，苹果（Apple）与三星（Samsung）展开的“巨头较量”倍受关注。而且，人们普遍认为这背后其实是苹果与谷歌（Google）的交锋。而上周四上午，在加州圣塔莫尼卡市一个巨大的飞机库内，亚马逊（Amazon）召开了新Kindle系列发布会，杰夫•贝佐斯对产品的演示清晰、严谨，显然经过精心设计。他的演示向以消费者为主的听众们传达了一个信息，即亚马逊与苹果的对决同样精彩绝伦，惊心动魄。实际上，贝佐斯在台上的71分钟里只有一次提到了苹果公司，还是引用了一则对比两家公司产品的评论。但寥寥数语却让听众们明白了竞争日益激烈的两家公司之间存在的区别。

    贝佐斯称，亚马逊的重心并不是设备，矛头明显直指苹果，因为苹果公司正是以设备为发展重心。亚马逊关注的是服务。实际上，贝佐斯对于新款Kindle家族产品的描述最令人印象深刻的地方并不是它们的技术参数（当然，它们确实非常时髦），而是亚马逊随之推出的巧妙、甚至有些可爱的服务。比如：

    * Free Time功能，允许家长设置孩子使用Kindle产品的时间。（该功能包括与苹果应用‘Kayak’类似的表盘，家长可以调整许可，比如在不限制孩子阅读时间的前提下，可以将玩游戏或者看电影的时间精确限制在30分钟以内。为了不再为屏幕时间与女儿进行无休止的‘谈判’，我肯定会买一台。而且，我真心希望苹果公司能够通过合法手段，在iPhone和iPad上也增加这项功能。）

    * 浸入式阅读将电子书与有声图书相匹配，有声图书读到的文字将会高亮显示。很明显，这一功能对外语学习者和新读者具有强大的吸引力。

    * X-ray技术是指亚马逊用户在阅读和观看时，无需关闭阅读器或视频播放器应用，便可调出有用的帮助信息。这是我最喜欢的功能。它再次证明，平板设备如何提供优于实体书或宽屏电视的用户体验，也体现了亚马逊的与众不同之处。使用iPad时，我也可以退出电子书应用去搜索网页；而亚马逊则为我提供了一种无需离开阅读界面的全新搜索方式。

    * “Time to read”功能是亚马逊推出的一种新功能，位于电子书的页面底部。该功能将根据读者的阅读习惯，估算出读完一章或整本书所需要的时间。贝佐斯称，有消费者抱怨，在读实体书时，读者通过书签可以知道还剩多少尚未阅读的内容，而电子书却无法复制这种体验。这让我想起贝佐斯曾对我说过的话。他希望能够在电子书中再现图书的味道，所以说，他非常重视读者与实体书之间的情感联系。

    亚马逊已经在多个方面证明，它最有可能在平板市场挑战苹果公司。（贝佐斯称，去年，Kindle Fire平板占美国平板电脑市场的22%，也是Amazon.com上的畅销产品，但他并未透露具体数据。）亚马逊成功的秘诀在于充分发挥自己的优势。苹果是一家合法的图书出版商，这进一步增强了它在电子书阅读器领域的优势。（亚马逊计划重新推出连载图书的概念，通过一款很酷的产品，用户可以分期购买图书，售价仅为1.99美元，图书将以连载形式提供给读者。对于笔者个人来说，这个创意让我很激动。）而亚马逊最新推出的Kindle Papaerwhite采用先进的照明与显示技术，则使亚马逊在早已深受消费者喜爱的电子书阅读器领域更进一步，继续领先苹果。

    此外，亚马逊在价格上也与苹果形成了鲜明对比。新款Kindle Fire HD最高售价为499美元，包括第一年无线服务费用在内，总价为548美元。而iPad的成本则为959美元。毕竟亚马逊一直讲究薄利多销，所以这也是情理之中的事。此外，亚马逊还将最早版本的Kindle降至69美元，这也是亚马逊与苹果的不同之处。苹果经常采取逐步淘汰旧型号的措施。贝佐斯称：“使用亚马逊的产品，用户没有必要一直进行无聊的更新。”

    The business-focused battle-of-the-titans storyline of late has been 'Apple versus Samsung,' widely understood as a proxy for 'Apple versus Google.' If Jeff Bezos accomplished one thing in his clear, solid, and meticulously articulated Kindle presentation in Santa Monica, Calif., Thursday morning, it was to make the case to a consumer-focused audience that 'Amazon versus Apple' is as compelling a narrative. In fact, while mentioning Apple only once in his 71 minutes onstage at a vast airplane hangar—quoting from a product review that compared the two companies' offerings—Bezos made it simple to understand the difference between the two increasingly competitive companies.

    Amazon (AMZN) is not about gadgets, said Bezos, in a clear swipe at Apple (AAPL), which most definitely is about gadgets. Amazon is about services. Indeed, what is most impressive about the bevy of new-and-improved Kindles Bezos demonstrated isn't their technical specifications. (They are snazzy. Enough said.) It's the clever—even cute—services Amazon introduced with them. Some examples:

    * FreeTime allows parents to set time limits on their children's usage of their Kindles. (The feature includes 'Kayak'-like dials so a parent can tweak permission, say, to include unlimited book reading but precisely 30 minutes more of game playing or movie watching. I will buy one simply to end the ceaseless negotiations over screen time with my daughter. What's more, I sincerely hope Apple finds a legal way to copy this feature on the iPhone and iPad.)

    * Immersion Reading marries ebooks with audio books so that a reader sees highlighted words as they are being read by the narrator. The powerful ramifications for foreign-language learners and new readers are obvious.

    * X-ray is Amazon's buzzword for helpful information a reader or watcher can call up without leaving their reader or video player application. This is a feature I've wanted forever. It's a good example of how the tablet experience can be better than the physical book or wide-screen TV experience. It's also a good example of Amazon's differentiation. I can leave my e-reader application on iPad and search the web; Amazon is offering me a way to not leave.

    * "Time to read" is a new feature Amazon will include at the bottom of the page in an ebook. It estimates how long it will take the reader to finish a chapter or the entire book, based on their reading habits. Bezos said customers complain that with a physical book they can see from their bookmark how much of the book they have left, a feeling they couldn't replicate in an ebook. It reminds me of the time Bezos told me he wanted to figure out how to re-create the smell of a book, so mindful is he of the emotional bonds we have with books with bindings.

    In so many ways Amazon has established itself as a credible alternative to Apple in the tablet market. (Bezos said the Kindle Fire had 22% of the U.S. tablet market last year and that it is the top-selling product on Amazon.com, but he didn't break out any numbers.) The way Amazon got there was by playing to its strengths. Apple is a legitimate book publisher, strengthening its e-reader hand. (I am personally excited Amazon intends to try to bring back the concept of serialized books with a cool product that offers customers all installments, delivered serially, for $1.99.) Amazon's new Kindle Paperwhite, with advanced lighting and display technology, seems like a step ahead of Apple, again, in the areas consumers already love about Amazon.

    Amazon also makes for a stark contrast with Apple in terms of price. The new Kindle Fire HD tops out at $499, and including wireless service costs $548 in the first year. A comparable iPad costs $959. This makes sense as Amazon always is about the lowest price. By dropping the price of its oldest Kindle to $69, Amazon also differentiates itself from Apple, which more often phases out its oldest models. Said Bezos: "You don't need to be on the upgrade treadmill with Amazon."