苹果需要新谈资

    去年，苹果公司（Apple）CEO蒂姆•库克出席D10科技大会时，我忽然想到，他所从事的可能是美国商界难度最高的一份工作：至少在科技界肯定是难度最高的工作，因为他时刻处在史蒂夫•乔布斯的阴影之下。到了今年的D11科技大会，很明显可以看出，库克足以胜任这份工作；但他应该说点有新意的事，谈谈怎么能将苹果稳步带入后乔布斯时代。

    苹果上一次公共活动是2012年9月推出iPhone 5，如今已经过去很长时间。从那之后，科技界最具舞台魅力的公司却一直非常低调，只是偶尔回应一下令人讨厌的税务问题，或者向网络电视观众满怀诗意地描述苹果的魔力。这样的话题可不能保证未来六、七年苹果的活动和公开露面还能继续吸引公众的眼球。

    虽然库克尽了最大努力阐释自己对苹果公司表现的看法，但上周二晚上在洛杉矶近郊的特拉尼亚度假村，库克所讲的只是一些老掉牙的话题：

    • 库克不担心安卓（Android）的市场份额。但是，对于显示iOS用户的设备使用率高于安卓用户的统计数据，他倒是念念不忘。

    • 库克对苹果税务问题的调查并不担心。因为苹果驾驭荒谬的美国税务制度的方式和其他任何跨国公司并无二致。

    • 库克不担心电视体验。他说：“我们许多人都认为，电视体验可以做得更好。”但不论你相信与否，他根本没有谈到好的电视体验应该是什么样的。

    • 库克不担心谷歌眼镜。“我想说的是，目前市场上的‘可穿戴计算设备’大多数都只能做一件事情，并没有出现令我惊艳的产品。如果一个年轻人原本就不戴眼镜，不扎腰带或者不戴腕表，目前的可穿戴设备没有任何理由能说服他去佩戴。”苹果是否也在开发可穿戴计算设备？或许吧……“现在，展开研究的时机已经成熟。”

    • 库克不担心生产低成本iPhone。苹果曾生产过一批不同类型的iPod，但“那些产品都是针对不同人群。而说到手机，问题就来了：现在是不是已经有足够多的客户来支撑我们生产低成本手机？”

    情况就是这样。连续两年出席科技界最令人瞩目的高管大会，但对于苹果，库克总是拿不出相对较新的或者激动人心的话题。很明显，这些身居高位的CEO们不可能在D11这样的活动上提前宣布一款消费类电子产品。但在日新月异的科技行业，苹果的拳头产品已经算是老前辈了：到今年夏天，iPhone就满六岁了，而iPad也已经三岁了。iPhone之前的六年，个人数字助理仍然代表着移动计算的先进技术。

    我们都知道这些产品的故事。它们仍保持强劲增长，出货量大得惊人，它们依然是手机软件开发商的最爱，依然（在很大程度上）在设立其他移动设备必须遵守的标准。

    库克代表苹果公司上台时，谈到了成熟的产品和成熟的业务。苹果一直对自己的“非主流”引以为豪，而且他们的做法也一直与主流不搭。因此，这样一家公司讨论起成熟的产品与业务就会显得非常怪异。科技行业一直在不断寻找下一个奇迹，而苹果一直都被看作是最有可能诞生奇迹的地方。

    Last year when Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at D10, it occurred to me that he had probably the hardest job in American business: certainly the hardest job in technology, following in Steve Jobs’ shadow. This year at D11, it’s clear Cook is up to the job; but he needs something new to talk about to move Apple firmly into the post-Jobs era.

    It’s been ages since the last Apple public event in September 2012 to introduce the iPhone 5. Since then, one of the premier sources of showmanship in the tech industry has kept a very low profile, surfacing only to deflect pesky questions about taxes and wax poetic about the magic of Apple for a network television audience. Those aren’t exactly the kinds of topics that have made Apple events and appearances must-see theater for going on six or seven years.

    And despite Cook’s best efforts to explain his thinking about how Apple works, he covered well-trodden ground Tuesday evening at the exclusive Terranea Resort just outside Los Angeles:

    • Cook isn’t worried about Android’s market share. He’s more fixated on stats that show iOS users actually seem to use their devices way more than Android users.

    • Cook isn’t worried about the scrutiny over Apple’s taxes. The U.S. tax system is ridiculous, and Apple navigates it the same way any multinational corporation does.

    • Cook isn’t worried about TV. “Many of us agree there are things about the TV experience that could be better,” he said, but believe it or not, he didn’t have a TV to talk about.

    • Cook isn’t worried about Google Glass. “I would say that the (wearable computers) that are doing more than one thing, that there’s nothing … great out there that I’ve seen. There’s nothing that’s going to convince a kid that’s never worn glasses or a band or a watch to wear one.” Is Apple making a wearable computer? Maybe … “It’s ripe for exploration.”

    • Cook isn’t worried about making a lower-cost iPhone. Apple once made a bunch of different kinds of iPods, but “those products all serve a different person. And so on the phone, that is the question: are we now at a point to serve enough people that we need to do that?”

    You get the picture. For two straight years at the highest profile executive conference in the tech industry, Cook has been unable to talk about anything relatively new or exciting for Apple. Obviously no CEO worth a damn is going to preannounce a consumer electronics product at a show like D11. But Apple’s crown jewels are old news in a tech industry that moves at light speed: the iPhone will be six years old this summer, and the iPad just turned three. Six years before the iPhone was introduced, the personal digital assistant represented the vanguard of mobile computing.

    We know the story of those products. They’re still growing strongly despite shipping in immense volumes, they’re still the favorite of mobile software developers, and they still (for the most part) set the standard by which all other mobile devices are measured.

    Cook is talking about mature products and mature businesses when he takes the stage on behalf of Apple. That’s a weird place for a companythat has always prided itself on being outside the mainstream to be, and it shows. Ours is an industry that is always searching for that next big thing, and for many years, Apple has been a reliable source for that item.