1、When Steve Jobs walked on to the stage at San Franciscos Yerba Buena Center in January, it capped the most remarkable comeback in modern business history.今年 1 月，史蒂夫乔布斯(Steve Jobs)走上旧金山芳草地艺术中心(Yerba Buena Center)的舞台发布 iPad，完成了现代商业史上最引人注目的一次复出。It wasnt simply a matter of the illness that had sidelined
2、 him for half the year before, leaving him severely emaciated and eventually requiring a liver transplant. Little more than a decade earlier, both Mr Jobs career and Apple, the company he had co-founded, were widely considered washed up, their relevance to the future of technology written off both i
3、n Silicon Valley and on Wall Street.这不仅仅关乎半年前迫使他退居幕后的疾病。病魔一度令乔布斯严重消瘦，最终不得不进行肝脏移植手术。而就在十多年前，几乎所有人认为乔布斯的事业及其共同创立的苹果公司(Apple)已经走上绝路。硅谷和华尔街都断定，它们已经与科技的未来无缘。By the start of this year, however, the rebound was complete. The level of anticipation whipped up in advance of the January event was unusual even
4、by Mr Jobs own, impressive standards.然而，到了今年初，苹果已然重生。在1 月份的发布会之前，即使是按照乔布斯自己的苛刻标准衡量，外界对苹果的期望程度也是异乎寻常的。Critics often talk disparagingly of the “reality distortion field” generated by the Apple boss: his ability to convince onlookers that technologies that would seem unformed in other hands have reache
5、d a peak of perfection at Apple. Generating this suspension of disbelief is essential to stirring up demand for gadgets most consumers had no idea they needed, and is an art form of which Mr Jobs has long been the acknowledged master.批评者总是用贬抑的口吻谈论乔布斯创造的“ 现实扭曲场”：他能让观众信服，那些在其他厂商手中似乎尚未成形的技术已经被苹果完美地应用。为
6、了激起消费者购买他们自己也不知道是否真正需要的电子产品的欲望，打消他们的疑虑极其关键，而乔布斯则早就被公认为这种艺术形式的大师。Speculation had been building in the tech world for months about what was rumoured to be Apples latest ground-breaking product. A touch-screen computer without a keyboard, it might even rival the impact of the iPod, introduced in 2001,
7、and the iPhone, in 2007. In the event, the iPad that Mr Jobs carried on to the stage with him that day did not disappoint.在 iPad 发布之前的数月内，科技界对苹果这款最新的突破性产品猜测纷纷。据传它是没有键盘的触摸屏电脑，甚至可以媲美2001 年的 iPod 和 2007 年的 iPhone 带来的影响。在 1 月份的发布会上，乔布斯带上台的 iPad 没有让人们失望。A rebuttal of F. Scott Fitzgeralds much-quoted apho
8、rism that there are no second acts in American life does not come more 对于 F斯科特菲茨杰拉德(F. Scott Fitzgerald)广为流传的名言（美国人的生命中没有第二幕）而言，没有比这更坚决的反decisively than this. When Steven Paul Jobs first hit the headlines, he was younger even than Mark Zuckerberg is now. Long before it was cool to be a nerd, his for
9、mative role in popularising the personal computer, and Apples initial public offering on Wall Street which came when Mr Jobs was still only 25 made him the tech industrys first rock star.驳了。乔布斯首次登上报纸头条时，甚至比现在的马克扎克伯格 (Mark Zuckerberg)还要年轻。早在书呆子备受追捧之前，由于在普及个人电脑(PC)中发挥的关键作用，以及苹果在华尔街的成功上市（当时乔布斯年仅 25 岁），
10、乔布斯就成为了科技界的第一个摇滚明星。Now, three decades on, he has secured his place in the foremost ranks of the West Coast tech titans who have done so much to shape the world around the turn of the millennium. Long-time nemesis Bill Gates may be richer and, at his peak, arguably exerted greater sway, thanks to his
11、 monopoly over the worlds PC software. But the Microsoft co-founder has left the stage to devote his life and fortune to good works. It is Mr Jobs who now holds the spotlight.如今，三十年过去了，乔布斯成为了在塑造世纪之交的世界中居功至伟的美国西海岸的几大科技巨头之一。他的老对手比尔盖茨(Bill Gates)或许更富有，而且在盖茨的事业巅峰时期，凭借其在 PC 软件领域的垄断，可以说盖茨的影响力比乔布斯更大。但盖茨已经离
12、开了舞台，将其余生和财富奉献给慈善事业。如今，乔布斯才是焦点所在。Of all the fingers that Apple has poked into Microsofts eyes over the years, none can have rankled as much as the early success of the iPad. Mr Gates himself championed a tablet computer nearly a decade ago, though the stylus needed to write on its screen and the PC-
13、like interface generated little demand.这些年来，在苹果针对微软的所有打击中，没有一次比得过 iPad 的巨大成功造成的冲击。近十年前，盖茨自己也开发过一款平板电脑，但由于需要用笔在屏幕上写字，并且采用与 PC 一样的界面，该产品并未带动多少需求。The iPad is already turning out to be a different story. Extending the iPhones innovations of a more versatile screen and lightweight “apps” designed for spe
14、cific tasks, it points to a future beyond the computer mouse and a world without Windows. Sales of cheaper notebook computers are already suffering.iPad 则完全不同。 iPad 延续了 iPhone在屏幕多用途以及用于具体任务的轻量级“应用程序”方面的创新，代表着一个没有计算机鼠标和没有 Windows 的未来。廉价上网本的销售已经受到了冲击。It is not a vision that is universally welcomed amo
15、ng the digerati. By deciding which apps are available in its online store, and setting the rules for how those apps are developed, Apple rules this new kingdom more closely than Microsoft ever ruled the PC.不是所有数字专家都欢迎这样的未来。通过操纵在线商店销售的应用程序，以及为开发这些应用制定规则，苹果对这个新王国的控制更胜于微软对 PC 的控制。To critics, this is th
16、e dark side of Mr 对批评者来说，这是乔布斯完美主义的Jobs perfectionism. Dependent on Apples good graces, new ideas could be stifled. Google, once an ally, has positioned itself as the anti-Apple: a company that has drawn on the openness of the web itself as the model for its own smartphone software.阴暗面。依赖苹果善意的新思想很可能
17、会被扼杀。曾经的盟友谷歌(Google)站到了苹果的对立面。谷歌以 web 的开放性为基础，建立了自己的智能手机软件模式。For now, though, those fears are largely hypothetical, and millions of consumers are only too happy to buy a piece of the elegant and elegantly simple digital life that Mr Jobs is selling. His ability to get consumers to line up for produc
18、ts conjured from nothing paying premium prices, and in uncertain economic times draws accolades even from rivals.然而，就目前而言，那些担忧很大程度上仍然是一种假设，众多消费者也非常乐意购买乔布斯销售的设计优雅、简单易用的数字产品。乔布斯能够使消费者在不确定的经济形势下，着魔般地排队溢价购买苹果产品。这种能力甚至赢得了竞争对手的推崇。“Steves the last of the great builders,” says Roger McNamee, a Silicon Valle
19、y financier who led a recent, failed attempt to rebuild Palm in Apples image. “What makes him different is that hes creating jobs and economic activity out of thin air while just about every other CEO in America is working out ways to cut costs and lay people off.”硅谷金融家罗杰麦克纳米(Roger McNamee)表示：“史蒂夫是最
20、后一个伟大的创造者。他的与众不同之处在于，当美国其他首席执行官都在设法削减开支和裁员的时候，他却在凭空创造新的就业和经济活动。”麦克纳米最近曾模仿苹果重建 Palm，但宣告失败。The sophistication of his touch-screen devices is a long way from Mr Jobs rudimentary start in the garage of his adoptive parents in suburban northern California. It was there that the circuit boards were assemb
21、led for the first personal computers designed by co-founder Steve Wozniak. Rough wooden cases to house the boards were an optional extra.苹果触摸屏产品的复杂性，远远超过了乔布斯在车库中鼓捣出的初级产品。当时乔布斯在其位于加州北部郊区的养父母家中，与史蒂夫沃兹尼亚克 (Steve Wozniak)用电路板组装出第一台个人电脑。外面套着一个做工粗糙的木盒这是可选配件。There was little in Mr Jobs beginnings that gave
22、 a hint of what was to come. A college drop-out with no formal engineering background, he had just returned from a trip to India when he and Mr Wozniak found a way to turn their electronics hobby into a fledgling business.创业之初，没有任何迹象表明乔布斯能取得今日的成就。他从大学退了学，没有任何正式的工程背景，刚刚从印度旅行回来。他不过是与沃兹尼亚克一起找到了一种方法，将他们
23、对电子产品的爱好转化为了初创企业。As told by journalist-turned-venture capitalist Michael Moritz in Return to the Little Kingdom, Mr Jobs spiritual aspirations 风险投资家迈克尔莫里茨(Michael Moritz)在重返小王国(Return to the Little Kingdom)一书中写道，乔布斯对性灵left him with little use for either shoes or soap for long periods to the distress
24、 of co-workers. A spirituality guided by his training in Zen Buddhism has played a central part in his life, even prompting him to eschew formal medical treatment for a period during his battle with pancreatic cancer.的追求导致在很长一段时间里，鞋子或者肥皂对他来说都毫无用处这令与他共事的人十分痛苦。禅宗佛教教义在他的生活里扮演着中心角色，以致于在患上胰脏癌之后，他有一段时间拒绝接
25、受常规治疗，试图通过佛教提倡的“精神力”克服病患。Mr Jobs first stint at Apple was to last less than a decade. At the age of 30, after a power struggle with a more experienced executive who had been hired to run the upstart company, he was out. But in 1997, a floundering Apple acquired Mr Jobs second company, Next, and with
26、in the year he was back in control.不到 10 年后，苹果聘用了一位更富有经验的经理人来管理这家迅速成长的企业，在一场权力斗争之后，30 岁的乔布斯选择了离开他一手创办的公司。但在 1997 年，陷入困境的苹果收购了乔布斯开办的第二家公司 NeXT，这一年还没过去，乔布斯便再度掌控苹果。The iPad is the culmination of an approach that he has seemingly been perfecting for his entire career. Those who have laboured under him d
27、escribe him as a stern taskmaster who understands the art of the possible, rather than a long-range visionary. That means pushing relentlessly forward rather than milking old successes even ones as significant as the iPod.iPad 是乔布斯日臻完美的职业生涯的巅峰之作。曾在他手底下做事的人将他描述为一个严厉的工头，只理解无限可能的艺术，而不是长期远景。这意味着坚持不懈地向前迈
28、进，而不是依靠往日的成功获利即使是 iPod 这样的明星产品。“Other companies might try to stretch out the life of the iPod, but they were willing to say, No theres better technology, ” says Carl Bass, chief executive of Autodesk, a design software company that has developed apps for the iPad. “I dont often think about CEOs bein
29、g brave and courageous, but Steve is.”软件设计商欧特克(Autodesk)首席执行官卡尔巴斯 (Carl Bass)说：“其他公司可能会试图延长 iPod 产品线的寿命，但苹果会说， 不，还有更好的技术。 首席执行官们并不都是勇敢无畏的，但史蒂夫绝对是这样的人。” 欧特克是 iPad 的应用开发商之一。Inside Apple, it is clear who calls the shots on design and development. “You have to make one guy like what youre doing,” said o
30、ne recently departed executive, who spoke only on the condition he not be named. “Hes the customer, and hes the marketing department too.”在苹果公司内部，乔布斯在设计和开发方面拥有最终决策权。一名不愿透露姓名的苹果前高管说：“你必须让一个人喜欢你的产品。他既是用户，也是营销部门。”That famed attention to detail can be obsessive. A lieutenant who left this year describes
31、 how the Apple boss can become 乔布斯对细节的关注几近痴迷。一名今年离职的乔布斯助手称，这位苹果公司的老板会对某个程序图标的外观缺陷念念不忘，more fixated in finding flaws in an icon on a screen than in the programme it represents. “You can go into a meeting with the most wonderful product in the world, and he will stare at the icon for the entire meetin
32、g,” this person says.甚至超过对程序 bug 的关注程度。“大家开会讨论全世界最为奇妙的产品，他却会在整个会议期间目不转睛地盯着那个图标。”这名人士说。The same perfectionism is brought to his hotly anticipated public appearances. Before the lights go on, he practises every phrase. An executive at another company who was due to share the stage for an Apple announc
33、ement recalls that when he was brought onstage during rehearsal, breaking Mr Jobs concentration, he and the staffers leading him were treated to a hailstorm of invective.这种完美主义情结也在乔布斯每次广受期待的公开亮相中表现得淋漓尽致。每次上场前，他会对每一环节进行演练。一名其他公司的首席执行官曾与乔布斯共同登台发布苹果产品。他回忆道，他在乔布斯排练中途被带上台，扰乱了乔布斯的注意力，结果他和带他上台的工作人员都被乔布斯痛骂了
34、一顿。That makes Apples slips, when they occur, noteworthy. A wrap-around antenna on this years iPhone 4 made the device more susceptible to dropped calls. Mr Jobs, who had boasted of the elegance and technical mastery of the steel band, lashed out defensively, pointing to similar reception issues with
35、 rival smartphones before offering Apples style-conscious customers ungainly plastic “bumpers” to cover the metal. The engineer in charge of the project later quietly left Apple.这导致苹果的每一次失误都尤为引人关注。今年发布的 iPhone 4 由于环形天线存在缺陷，更容易掉线。令长期鼓吹这款产品的精致和技术含量的乔布斯大为火光，并大力为之辩护，声称其他智能手机也存在类似问题。但最后，苹果还是向时尚意识很强的用户们免费
36、提供缓冲手机套，暂时解决了这一问题；负责该项目的工程师稍后也悄然离职。As Apples business has grown, Mr Jobs style has changed, according to people who have worked with him. “There is a lot more pragmatism,” says a veteran who left this year. With sales of more than $50bn, Apple has had to look to the mass market.据一名与其共事的人士称，随着苹果业务的增长
37、，乔布斯的风格也发生了变化。一名苹果前雇员称：“实用主义的成分越来越多。”随着销售额超过 500 亿美元，苹果已经将目光投向大众市场。Compromise seems too strong a word, but the greater sense of expediency reflects Apples new place in the world. Its iPads are now on sale at mass-market retailers a world away from the high style of Apples own retail stores.“妥协”一词也许过
38、于强烈，但这种更强烈的利害意识代表了苹果在全世界的重新定位。如今，大众市场零售商也开始销售iPad，而这些零售商与苹果专卖店的高端形象格格不入。In this new phase of his life, Mr Jobs is no longer the underdog. Buoyed by the iPad, 在人生的新阶段，乔布斯不再是一个失败者。5 月，在 iPad 热销的推动下，苹果市Apples shares finally surpassed Microsoft in May to make it the worlds most valuable technology conce
39、rn. Others now have Apple in their sights, forcing Mr Jobs into the competitive moves that would once have seemed out of character. Apple has acknowledged its rivalry with Facebook, for instance, by releasing Ping, a me-too social network for iTunes users that a prouder Steve Jobs would not have let
40、 out the door.值终于超越微软，成为全球最具价值的科技公司。而其他公司也都在盯着苹果，迫使乔布斯采取了一些以往看起来不符合其风格的竞争手段。例如，在意识到 Facebook 的威胁后，苹果面向 iTunes 用户推出了类似的社交平台 Ping。换作当年那个傲气十足的史蒂夫 乔布斯，这是万万不可能的。And he has adopted a dismissive tone towards Google, a former ally. He called the smaller, 7in tablets running Google software “useless unless y
41、ou include sandpaper so users can sand their fingers down” though some speculate that Apple will counter with a similar gadget of its own.此外，面对曾经的盟友谷歌，乔布斯表现出一种轻蔑的态度。他将搭载谷歌Android 操作系统和 7 英寸显示屏的平板电脑称为“毫无用处，除非附送砂纸，好让用户磨细手指”。尽管有人猜测，苹果有可能也推出一款类似尺寸的平板电脑与之抗衡。The attention of regulators is also new. After
42、antitrust authorities took an interest this year, Mr Jobs backed off a requirement that forced developers to use Apples software tools to create apps, barring rival Adobes technology though the reversal also seemed calculated to appease developers who might otherwise turn more attention to creating
43、apps for phones running Googles software. “They have to be less arrogant than they have been,” says one former executive.监管机构的关注也是乔布斯没有遭遇过的。今年，在反垄断机构表达关切后，乔布斯作出了让步，不再强制要求开发人员使用苹果软件开发各种应用，或禁止使用竞争对手 Adobe 公司的技术。不过此举似乎另有所图防止开发人员转而为使用 Android 操作平台的手机开发应用。一名业界高管称：“他们不得不比之前稍微谦逊些。”For all that, Mr Jobs has
44、 set a daunting standard for rivals. “They have no predators at this point,” says Mr McNamee. “I think they could bring out a dishwasher and people would buy it.”尽管如此，乔布斯仍然为对手设立了一个令人生畏的标准。麦克纳米说：“目前，他们没有天敌。苹果就算推出一款洗碗机，人们也会去购买的。”In his autobiography, John Sculley, the former PepsiCo executive who once
45、 ran Apple, said this of the ambitions of the man he had pushed out: “Apple was supposed to become a wonderful consumer products company. This was a lunatic plan. High-tech could not be designed and sold as a consumer product.” How wrong can you be.曾担任苹果首席执行官的前百事可乐(PepsiCo) CEO 约翰斯卡利(John Sculley)在自传中如此评价曾被他赶走的乔布斯的野心：“乔布斯认为，苹果的目标是成为一家极为出色的消费品公司。这是一个狂热的计划。高科技不可能被当作消费产品进行设计和销售。”如今的一切已经表明，斯卡利你大错特错了。译者/何黎
