微软收购诺基亚的另一种解读

    但谷歌的新CEO拉里•佩奇选择了不一样的方向。他保留了摩托罗拉被苹果的iPhone赶超的产品。虽然摩托罗拉一直在拖累谷歌的收益，但现在来看他的这一招似乎有先见之明。过去的10年里，软件还未能完全取代硬件，它仍需要硬件作为一项辅助业务。微软出人意料地推出Surface平板电脑正彰显了这一概念。而如今，它与诺基亚的交易使这一概念显得更加确定。

    换言之，许多公司都能够自己生产软件。不过，一旦你的公司规模足够大，你就需要引入硬件，以保持在行业里的顶尖地位。硬件与软件之间的界线越来越模糊，这一陈词滥调已经成为了一条行业准则。软件巨头正在兼饰硬件公司的角色：谷歌在2010年收购摩托罗拉，微软在2012年推出Surface平板电脑、在2013年收购诺基亚。其他单打独斗的公司，如亚马逊（Amazon）和三星，它们不得不适应这一趋势。还有另一些公司，如20世纪80年代初期的苹果，多年前就走上了这条路。

    正处在如今技术创新中心的移动革命可能是千变万化、难以预测。但有一件事是肯定的：以前的界线——如电脑和便携设备之间的界线，或是软件公司和硬件厂商的界线——正在消溶。是的，在这场游戏中，微软和诺基亚可能已经晚了几年，但至少它们现在加入了游戏。

    而这场移动游戏带来的惊喜还远未结束。（财富中文网）

    译者：默默  

    But Larry Page, Google's new CEO, took a different direction. He held onto the Motorola devices that had been outmoded by Apple's iPhone. Although Motorola has been a drag on Google's earnings since then, the move seems prescient now. Software hasn't just supplanted hardware in the past decade. It needs hardware as an ancillary business. Microsoft's unexpected introduction of the Surface underscored that idea. And now its Nokia deal makes it seem that much more inevitable.

    In other words, many companies can produce software on their own, but once you get big enough, you need hardware in the mix to stay on top of the game. The old cliché that the line between hardware and software was blurring has become an industry maxim. Software giants are doubling as hardware companies -- Google 2010 (Motorola), Microsoft 2012 (Surface) and 2013 (Nokia). Others going it alone -- like Amazon (AMZN) and Samsung -- will have to adapt. Still others, like Apple (early 1980s), took this route years ago.

    The mobile revolution at the center of technology innovation today may be protean and hard to predict, but one thing is certain: The old lines -- like what is a PC and what is a portable device, or what is a software company and what is a hardware maker -- are dissolving. Yes, Microsoft and Nokia may be several years late to this game, but at least they're there.

    And this mobile game isn't finished offering up its surprises.