每家公司可以从苹果身上学到的三件事

    最新一波苹果热一触即发。所有果粉都在翘首企盼第三代平板电脑iPad 3的问世，但同时也因为iPhone 5不能在10月份上市而感到失落。（消费者已抢购了下季度的3,700万台iPhone手机，包括表现依然足够抢眼的iPhone 4S。）在发给媒体的3月7日旧金山新产品发布会邀请函中，苹果又玩了一把故弄玄虚，邀请函上写着：“一款你不得不看，不得不触摸的新产品。”这既意味着新产品可能是改进版的iPod Touch，也可能是某种苹果电视遥控装置。

    不管怎样，这家全球最具价值的公司再次吸引了举世果粉的目光。当然，果粉们向来如此。值得注意的是，没有哪个竞争对手能够参透苹果的玄机，追赶上苹果的步伐。苹果公司的确很特别，但并非所有公司都应该、或者说可以效仿它的成功模式。不过，下文所介绍的苹果取得成功的三个关键因素，绝对值得其他公司借鉴。

    勇于说不。“摇头比点头更困难，也更重要。”这是史蒂夫•乔布斯的一句口头禅。苹果在上世纪九十年代曾经拒绝生产个人数字化辅助工具；它也曾经在很长的时间里拒绝生产手机；抗拒把重心放在企业客户销售上；甚至不愿在最早的iPad产品上设置USB接口。这样的例子还有很多。并不是说所有的公司只要拒绝一些表面上看起来不错的商机就能达到苹果那样的哲学高度。但如果每家公司都能扪心自问：“我们是否有百分之百的把握确定我们有合适的理由点头？”一定会受用不尽。很多公司极力追逐利益，甚至新进员工都清楚公司只是为了挣钱而不是提高消费者满意度。（举例而言，多年以来，乔布斯一直奚落个人计算机行业，他认为那些安装在个人电脑上的软件都是垃圾，只是为赚钱而已。现在这种情况仍然存在。）拒绝需要勇气，但企业高管并不会因为直言敢行而被扣薪水。

    信息传达删繁就简。不论苹果公司将推出何种新产品，可以肯定的是，该产品的宣传语一定简明扼要、短小精悍。iPod是放在你口袋里的一千首歌。iPhone是苹果公司出品的最好的iPod，同时也是一部可上网的手机。当史蒂夫•乔布斯展示iPad 2时，他反复强调，我们生活在一个后个人电脑时代。对于引领平板电脑革命的苹果公司来说，这种表述简直是太有利了。而其他公司却常常将他们想传达的信息搞得既复杂又混乱，选择不同的发言人就是一个例子。苹果公司不仅精心打磨希望传达的信息，还严格限制传达信息的人。最终的结果是消费者能准确复述苹果公司的宣传口号，这是一个完整的信息反馈环路。

    制造产品，而不是赚钱。这一点在商业社会违背了人们的直觉，简直令人难以置信，但是，苹果的理念确实与其他公司的收益最大化信条背道而驰。当然，盈利对苹果公司来说也很重要。（苹果公司上季度利润高达130亿美元。）但问题是，苹果开发新产品的着眼点并不是它能创造多少利润。正相反，他们先思考自己的员工需要什么新产品，然后才开始动手设计制造。接下来，苹果才会采用典型的商业手段，包括产品定价、市场渗透等。这就像年长的智者经常给涉世未深的年轻人传授的职场经验一样：做你爱做的，财富自然随之而来。

    亚当•拉辛斯基所著《苹果解密：美国最受赞赏的公司运营内幕》今年一月已由大中出版社（Grand Central Publishing）出版。

    译者：李玫晓/汪皓

    The latest installment of Applemania debuts this Wednesday, when Apple is expect to unveil another wonders of consumer gadgetry. The Apple-obsessed world expects an iPad 3. But then that same community was crestfallen not to receive an iPhone 5 in October. (Mere consumers, meanwhile, snapped up 37 million iPhones the following quarter, including the clearly-magical-enough iPhone 4S.) Apple's tease to journalists in anticipation of the March 7 event in San Francisco -- "We have something you really have to see. And touch." -- might just as likely signal a revamped iPod Touch. Or perhaps we'll be able to fondle an Apple TV remote-control device.

    Whatever. The fact is that all eyes once again will be focused on the world's most valuable company. Those eyes have watched Apple's (AAPL) every move for years now, of course. Yet what's remarkable is how little the competition catches on, or catches up, to Apple's ways. Yes, Apple is special. And no, not every company can and should be like Apple, at least not in every way. But there are key aspects of the Apple playbook that other companies absolutely should emulate. Here are three:

    Say no more often. Steve Jobs was fond of saying that saying no was harder -- and more important -- than saying yes. Apple said no to making personal digital assistants, in the 90s that is. It said no for years to making a telephone-- until it said yes. Apple refused to focus on selling to businesses. It wouldn't put a USB port on the first iPad. And so on. While not every company can achieve Apple's level of Zen by rejecting seemingly good business opportunities, there isn't a company out there that wouldn't benefit by more rigorously asking itself: "Have we absolutely satisfied ourselves that we have said yes for the right reasons?" How many companies pursue revenue opportunities that any new recruit knows the company is doing to make money rather than delight customers. (An example: Jobs ridiculed the PC industry for years for the margin-boosting "crapware" that comes loaded on a PC. The crap remains.) It takes real courage to say no. But it's not like top executives aren't being compensated for brave action.

    Focus your message better. Whatever Apple unveils this week, you can be sure it will be succinctly explained and that the explanation will be summarized in a short, pithy expression. The iPod was a thousand songs in your pocket. The iPhone was the best iPod Apple had made as well as a phone with a Web browser. When Steve Jobs showed the iPad 2 he stressed repeatedly that we were living in a post-PC world. How convenient for the company leading the tablet computer revolution. Other companies muddle their message, in part by allowing multiple spokespeople to deliver it. Apple sharply limits the messengers of its sharply crafted message. The result is that its customers repeat Apple's lines exactly as Apple crafts them. It's the ultimate feedback loop.

    Make products, not money. It is counterintuitive, and almost unbelievable, but Apple's way is the antithesis of the revenue optimization of the rest of the business world. Of course Apple wants to make money, and of course profits are important. (It registered an astounding $13 billion in profits last quarter.) But Apple doesn't approach a new product from the perspective of how much money it will make. Instead, it dreams up what will be a product its own people want to use, and then its sets about making the product. Only later will Apple apply the typical levers of business -- pricing, market penetration, etc. -- to its product plans. It's similar in tone and spirit to the career advice that wise older people give to inexperienced younger people: Do what you love, and the money will follow.

    Adam Lashinsky's book, Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive---Company Really Works, was published in January by Grand Central Publishing.