为什么说苹果应该与微软结盟

    据报道，在不久前的Dreamforce科技大会上，微软公司首席执行官萨蒂亚·纳德拉先是用一部iPhone演示了Outlook的移动应用，然后才换成用Windows手机演示。考虑到苹果与微软曾一度是冤家对头，这番举动颇令人吃惊。而本月早些时候，在苹果的新品发布会上，它请了一位微软代表上台演示，也让所有人大跌眼镜。

    尽管说我们对此不应该过度解读，但这两场活动也提示出：这两家公司携手合作对彼此都有好处。

    苹果是一家消费品公司，销售额的60%以上都来自旗舰产品iPhone。然而，尽管苹果在全球市场的占有率持续攀升，但智能手机的销量增速已经开始显露颓势，与安卓设备的激烈竞争也可能持续下去。这意味着该公司需要在利润颇高的企业级市场增强影响力，以补充其消费品业务。毕竟，企业级市场今年的规模预计高达6200亿美元。

    科技网站AppleInsider引用弗雷斯特研究公司的数据称，如iPad等平板电脑市场的增长主要得益于企业用户的使用率提高。此外，这家研究机构认为，苹果的优势地位将使其可以从整个平板电脑市场的增长中获利，尤其是通过与IBM的合作。而与微软结盟对苹果来说可以巩固其在重要的企业市场的地位，有利无害。

    微软Office套件目前拥有12亿用户，它囊括了通用的Excel、Word和PowerPoint软件。尽管谷歌和其他公司的产品造成了一定的竞争，但由于用户的长期使用习惯，以及PC机仍是办公主流，微软Office依然是商业软件的黄金标准。所以，对苹果来说，尽管适用于iPad和iPhone的Office移动版已经被下载了8000万次，但瞄准Office忠实用户这一群体，苹果仍有庞大的市场潜力可挖。

    与此同时，Mac台式机和PC的销量差距逐渐缩小，这非常有利于苹果改善自身平台上的微软产品性能。换句话说，借助自身硬件销量的提升以及微软云服务Office 365的高人气这两大利好，苹果可以大赚一笔。根据美国产业工业联合会的数据，Office 365的使用率已经超过了Google Apps和Salesforce。

    微软Office 365的火爆人气，一方面可能源于可靠性和熟悉的操作界面，另一方面还免去了企业转向云环境时耗费重金培训员工适应新平台的人力物力。此外，微软也在推广上下了大力气，这才让它重夺王位。与此同时，苹果推出了12.9英寸的新款iPad Pro。根据投资者研究网站Motley Fool和其他机构的预计，它将帮助苹果进一步扩大企业市场的份额。值得一提的是，根据IDC的数据，即便平板电脑市场有萎缩之虞，2合1混合型笔记本市场依旧在今年增长了86.5%。

    巧合的是，在企业级市场，微软的Surface是iPad的直接竞争对手。但正因如此，提高微软Office在苹果平台上的性能才尤为重要。否则，苹果就失去了一个对Surface和其他设备的优势。这就产生了一个有趣的问题：如果微软与苹果合作可能会影响自身设备的销量，为什么他们要同意这样做呢？

    这个问题需要从两个层面来回答。分析师们认为，尽管微软的Surface业务正在健康发展，但iPad Pro似乎拥有更好的前景。这就意味着对微软而言，如果想要让Office接触到尽可能多的用户，携手苹果不仅是一个不错的选择，而且是一个必然选择。苹果产品系统高度关联而且粘性很大。要么加入，要么与其彻底绝缘。

    微软需要苹果的另一个理由在于公司正从软件供应商转型为云服务公司，尤其是在移动设备领域。在移动市场，苹果iOS系统的占有率几乎是微软的7倍，微软需要苹果用户来扩大公司的影响力。

    这一切都指向一个事实：苹果与微软这一次迅速发酵的合作关系，是明智且必然之举，而且早就该这么做了。（财富中文网）

    译者：严匡正

    审校：任文科

    During a presentation at Dreamforce last week, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly demonstrated the Outlook mobile app on the iPhone first before switching to a Windows phone. This is surprising, given that Apple and Microsoft were bitter rivals at one time. And earlier this month, Apple surprised everyone when itinvited a Microsoft representative to present at the event unveiling its new iPhone and other products.

    Not that we should read too much into both events, but the instances remind me how much both companies could benefit by forming a partnership.

    Apple is a consumer company. More than 60% of its sales come from its flagship iPhone. But even though Apple’s global market share continues to climb, the sales growth for smartphones is declining and competition from Android devices is likely to remain fierce. That means the company needs supplement its consumer business by expanding its presence in the lucrative enterprise market, which is estimated to reach $620 billion this year.

    The growth in tablets (like the iPad) is being driven by business adoption, according to research from Forrester cited by AppleInsider. In addition, Forrester also sees Apple as being strongly positioned to reap the benefits of this growth, especially through itspartnership with IBM . An alliance with Microsoft will only help this process and strengthen Apple’s position in the important enterprise market.

    Microsoft’s Office suite, which includes popular programs like Excel, Word and PowerPoint, are used by 1.2 billion people, according to the company. Products from Google and others offer some competition but Microsoft Office remains the gold standard of business software due its long history with users and the ubiquity of PCs in the workplace. So while the Office for iPad and Office for iPhone apps have been downloaded 80 million times, that still leaves a large market of loyal Office users for Apple to target.

    Moreover, as the gap between PC sales versus those of Macs narrows over time, Apple is in an ideal position to take advantage of this trend by improving the performance of Microsoft products on its platform. In other words, Apple could get a double hit due to increasing sales of its own hardware and surging popularity of Microsoft Office 365, its cloud service, which is now beating both Google Apps and Salesforce in terms of usage, according to CIO.

    Likely reasons for Microsoft Office 365’s popularity include reliability and familiarity, the cost and difficulty of re-training employees on new platforms as companies migrate to the cloud, and a push by Microsoft to retake the crown. At the same time, Apple has introduced its new 12.9 inch iPad Pro, which is expected to help the company expand further into the enterprise market, according to investor research siteMotley Fool and others. It’s worth noting that even though the tablet market is projected to decline, the 2-1 hybrid device market (of which the iPad Pro is a part) is slated to grow by 86.5% this year, according to IDC.

    Ironically, Microsoft’s Surface line competes head on with iPads in the business segment. But then that’s all the more reason why improved performance of Microsoft’s Office products on the Apple platform is critical. Without it, Apple could lose competitive ground to Surface and other devices. This does, of course, bring up an interesting question: why would Microsoft agree to cooperate with Apple if it could potentially hurt its own hardware sales?

    The answer is two-fold. While Microsoft’s Surface business is healthy, the iPad Pro seems to have far brighter prospects, according to analysts. That means cooperation with Apple is not only desirable for Microsoft, but necessary, in its own bid to reach the widest possible audience for Office. Apple’s products exist in a highly inter-connected and sticky ecosystem; you’re either part of it or not.

    Another reason that Microsoft needs Apple is because the company is morphing from being a software provider to a cloud-based services company, especially over mobile devices. With Apple iOS’ market share in the mobile arena nearly 7 times that of Microsoft, the latter needs Apple’s users to maximize its reach.

    All of this points to the fact that a burgeoning partnership between Apple and Microsoft is sensible, inevitable and overdue.