苹果与库克船长接下来怎么走

    本周二，苹果公司（Apple）发布收益报告，显示公司业绩超出市场预期。随后，很多人都对苹果的股票另眼相看。然而，重新审视苹果还有一个更重要的原因。那就是蒂姆•库克懂得了谦逊，并再次引入了苹果公司原本赖以盈利的要素：颠覆性创新。

    库克在企业运营方面一直是位聪明的领导者。他打造了一条可靠的全球供应链，以较低的成本向全世界的消费者交付数以百万计的产品，并因此声名鹊起。他还懂得什么时候该结盟【比如与宏达电（HTC）】，什么时候该选战【比如与三星（Samsung）】，什么时候该道歉【比如他曾分别就苹果地图以及售后服务向中国消费者道歉】。

    库克掌舵后，苹果公司推出了苹果地图、新款（更厚、更重的）iPad以及迷你iPad，同时还进行了各种较小的产品改进。但这家公司在3月份没有推出任何新品。苹果能否扭转这个趋势？

    我们相信苹果公司可以做到这一点，我们也相信蒂姆•库克就是最佳人选。因为同许多从具有小聪明变成拥有大智慧的领袖一样，有证据显示，蒂姆•库克正在改变自己的领导艺术。

    有传言称，苹果将在今年夏天推出三种规格的iPhone。遵循苹果其它产品大、中、小尺寸一应俱全的传统，iPhone或许终于将打破单一尺寸，以满足各个市场不同消费者的不同需求。这个变化或许将有助于苹果同三星等占据了智能手机与平板电脑间市场空白的厂商在价格方面展开竞争。一个类似的例子是迷你版iPad，苹果推出该产品，旨在回应该尺寸Android平板电脑获得的成功。

    苹果持续了十多年的颠覆性设计创新与魅力何在？它们的源泉来自于蒂姆•库克愿意给苹果负责工业设计的高级副总裁乔纳森•伊夫更大的自由空间，后者是苹果许多主打产品背后的天才人物。

    低价、谦虚、颠覆性，这三点将成为苹果赖以成功的基石。随着多位高管近期离开苹果，伊夫的权力和影响力如日中天。只有具有大智慧的领导者，才容得下他人地位攀升，而库克正是这样的智者。

    正如行业分析师贺拉斯•德迪乌所言，颠覆“在字面上意味着不适、取代乃至破坏。但任何经济体要想健康发展都离不开颠覆。假如用生物学做比喻，那就是，死亡是生命中最重要的事情。”

    苹果如何能东山再起？它可能在以下三个领域出奇制胜。

    • iWatch. 虽然网上有关它的预测很多，但真正的iWatch绝不是那样的。它不是戴在我们手上的缩小版iPhone，也不可能是另一种耐克Fuelband或FitBit（两者都是运动设备——译注）。这是一款配备了大量感应装置的独一无二的苹果手环，必将抓住所有人的眼球。有关iWatch的传言带来了一丝希望。不过，和其他人不同，我们认为iWatch将类似一款可佩戴鼠标产品。围绕手臂的感应器能让你更好地与苹果产品互动；忘掉屏幕解锁吧，iWatch的自我感应能完全自动地做到这一点。它能否充当基于iTunes商店的实体采购的媒介？或者是作为其它设备的实体3D鼠标接口？又或者在面谈中充当无线通讯设备？

    In the wake of Apple's (AAPL) better-than-expected earnings report on Tuesday, many are giving the company's cheap stock a second look. There's an even better reason to revisit Apple, however. Tim Cook has been humbled, and now he's reintroducing the company's original profit driver: disruptive innovation.

    Cook has always been a smart leader when it comes to operations. He built his reputation by building a global supply chain that reliably delivers millions of products at managed costs to consumers all over the world. He also knew when to build bridges (like he did with HTC), when to fight (like he is doing with Samsung), and when to apologize (like he did with Apple Maps andservice in China).

    Under Cook's leadership, we've seen Apple Maps, a new (thicker, heavier) iPad, the iPad mini, and many smaller product improvements across the board. But we received no new products in March. Can Apple turn this trend around?

    We believe it can, and we believe Tim Cook is the man to do it. That's because, like many leaders who evolve from being merely smart to wise, he is showing evidence of leadership changes.

    Rumors are circulating that the iPhone will be coming in three different sizes this summer. Following the small-medium-large pattern of Apple's other products, the iPhone may finally break through its singular form factor to appeal to different people for different reasons in different markets. Presumably, this change will help Apple compete on price with Samsung and others that occupy the space between smartphones and tablets. The smaller iPad, the Mini, forged this terrain in a similar way, responding to the success of Android tablets in that format.

    Where is the disruptive design innovation and charisma that Apple sustained for over a decade? They are going to spring from Tim Cook's willingness to give freer rein to Jonathan Ive, Apple's senior vice president of industrial design and the genius behind many of Apple's marquee products.

    Cheap, humbled, and now disruptive. This is the vector along which Apple is going to succeed. With the recent departures in Apple's executive suite, Ive has more power and influence than ever. It takes a wise leader to let another person soar in the power hierarchy, but Cook is doing precisely that.

    To quote industry analyst Horace Dediu, disruption "in the literal sense implies discomfort, displacement, and even destruction. But it's necessary to the health of any economy. The analogy to biology is that death is the most important thing in life."

    How can Apple rise anew? Here are three areas where Apple may surprise us:

    • iWatch. This won't be anything like what we've seen predicted online. This won't be a shrunken iPhone that we strap to our wrists, and it won't be a regurgitated version of the Nike Fuelband or FitBit. It will be a uniquely Apple twist on what you could do with a cluster of sensors on your wrist. And it will be seductive. Glimmers of hope come from the rumors of the iWatch. Unlike others, we imagine that this will be a wearable mouse of sorts. Sensors on your body will make interaction with any Apple product better. It will eliminate the lock screen because it self-identifies. Could this be a vehicle for iTunes store-based brick-and-mortar purchases? A physical 3-D mouse interface for your devices? A Dick Tracy device for face-to-face conversations?