三星打败苹果缺的是什么

    三星的崛起非比寻常。要知道，就在十来年前，这家公司还默默无闻。三星过去也对抗过索尼（Sony）等曾经的电子巨头。后者上世纪八、九十年代在消费电子领域可谓风光无限。与索尼等日本公司不同，三星明显斗志旺盛、野心勃勃，三星董事长曾当着2,000名工人的面，烧毁了所有有瑕疵的手机。

    三星从廉价空调和低端电视机起家，随后扩张至芯片制造业，如今它已成为世界最大的内存芯片供应商，在闪存芯片领域，它也是主要的标准制定者。过去十年，三星大肆扩张，挺进大屏幕电视、液晶显示器和手机等多个领域。三星在这些领域就算现在还不是领导者，也正在成长为领导者。

    三星的企业DNA无疑是“深耕技术”。即便Android手机生产厂商众多，但三星非凡的技术功底使它在智能手机市场独占鳌头。当然，三星在工业设计领域同样出色，它在美国市场的品牌效应要比日本竞争者高出不少。

    今天，三星在消费电子领域面对的竞争者不再是日本公司，而是苹果。最近一段时间，一系列负面消息让苹果的光环效应蒙尘不少。例如苹果地图问题不断、iCloud业务发展不畅、向来稳定的高管团队出现改组，拳头产品iPhone的竞争力有所减弱。而股价不断下跌、净利润率下滑、投资者对股息等问题怨声载道，苹果的公众形象这段时间褪色不少。

    而三星正在抓住这个机会，利用苹果的低潮期来巩固自身实力。三星已然将自己定位成苹果的替代者，在GalaxyS3手机的宣传片中，它尽情嘲笑苹果死忠们。这些人过去一直招人烦。凭借异乎寻常的嗅觉，三星能准确预测苹果的下一步计划：苹果不是在搞智能手表吗？三星也在搞。苹果不是在研发低价iPhone和平板吗？三星当然也有。

    现在的苹果颇有些手忙脚乱。这家公司向来以言语刻薄著称，经常将竞争对手驳得体无完肤。但面对三星最新产品GalaxyS4，苹果只在官网上放了一篇吹捧iPhone品牌的文章，而苹果高管在点评GalaxyS4的缺陷时，还出现错误。这不禁让我们想到了前苹果高管吉恩-路易斯•卡西的评论，“苹果失去了话语权，别的公司开始成为领导者。”

    在消费者忠诚度方面，三星仍然难以媲美苹果。目前，苹果与三星相比有一个巨大的优势，就是它数十年来逐渐建立的独特品牌。虽然最近有些麻烦，但苹果的品牌仍然要比三星成熟得多。品牌管理顾问公司Interbrand对三星品牌的全球排名是第9名，较之三年前的第19名有大幅上升，但苹果仍然稳居亚军宝座，仅次于可口可乐（Coca-Cola）。

    三星标榜自己叫板苹果这一招没多久就会失灵。三星需要的不仅仅是被视为设计最佳的Android手机的制造厂商。一个品牌最强大的时后，人们会对它产生依恋，把它看成对自己身份的表达。而就三星GalaxyS4发布会拙劣的超现实主义效果（跳踢踏舞的小孩！歌剧手套！一辆Mini Cooper横在台上！）来看，三星仍然在苦苦探索自己的品牌形象。

    不光是科技媒体，众多消费者也乐于坐山观虎斗，特别是因为，他们觉得谁输谁赢自己说了算。但威胁苹果领先地位的新对手——三星的本质到底是什么？回答这个问题将是三星的下一个挑战。（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    Samsung's ascent is remarkable given its humble image even a dozen years ago. The company struggled against onetime electronics giants like Sony (SNE), the premier brand in consumer electronics in the '80s and '90s. In contrast to Sony, Samsung had a distinctly un-Japanese spirit of scrappy gumption -- its Chairman once burned an entire inventory of defective cell phones in front of the 2,000 factory workers who built them.

    Starting off as a maker of cheap air conditioners and low-end TVs, Samsung expanded into chip production until it became the largest maker in DRAM chips as well as an innovator in flash memory chips. Overt the past decade, the company has pushed aggressively into large-screen TVs, flat-panel displays and cell phones -- becoming a leading if not the leading manufacturer in each market.

    Samsung's DNA has always been deep in engineering. In a market where there are multiple companies making Android devices, it was that engineering prowess that pushed its smartphones to the head of the pack. In the past decade, Samsung has put an equally strong emphasis on design, which has made it a more prominent brand in the U.S. than any Japanese competitor.

    Today, it's not Japanese companies but Apple that is the consumer electronics brand to beat. In recent months, a number of things have taken some of the shine off Apple's brand: Mishaps like the Apple Maps brouhaha, growing frustration with iCloud, reshuffling of longtime top execs, and the erosion of the iPhone's competitive edge. A flagging stock price, sagging profit margins, and investor grumpiness around dividends have added to Apple's public-image troubles.

    Not missing its chance, Samsung is stepping in to make Apple's moment of weakness its own strength. Samsung has shrewdly positioned itself as the Apple alternative, with Galaxy S3 commercials that mock the cultish Apple fanboys who have annoyed so many people over the years. Samsung is nimbly anticipating Apple's moves: Apple is working on a smart watch? So is Samsung. Apple is producing lower-priced phones and tablets? Get in line, right behind Samsung.

    Apple isn't helping its case either. The company used to hurl snide rebuffs at competitors that stung. But its reply to Samsung's new rivalry is a page touting the allure of the iPhone brand, and inaccurate comments from a top executive about flaws in the Galaxy S4. That error prompted former Apple exec Jean-Louis Gassée to declare, "Apple has lost control of the narrative; the company has let others define its story."

    Samsung still has its challenges in trying to beat Apple for consumers' loyalty. Apple has, for now, one strong advantage over Samsung -- its distinct brand, which it has built up for decades. Even with its recent troubles, Apple's brand is substantially more developed than Samsung's. Interbrand ranked Samsung the No. 9 brand in the world, up from No. 19 three years earlier, but Apple is still ranked No. 2, behind only Coca-Cola (KO).

    Being the anti-Apple won't work for Samsung much longer. The company needs to be seen as more than the maker of the best-engineered Android phone. When brands are most powerful, people attach to them as an expression of their own identities. Judging from the ham-fisted, surreal press event (Tap-dancing kids! Opera gloves! Sideways Mini Coopers!) to introduce the Galaxy S4, Samsung is still struggling to define that image.

    It's not just us in the tech press, consumers in general enjoy a good horserace, especially when they can feel like they've picked the winning horse. But what exactly defines this new rival that is threatening to take the lead from Apple? Answering that question is Samsung's next challenge.