紐約訊：當約翰·特恩斯於本月初接任蘋果公司首席執行官，對公司超過16萬名員工而言，他不需要自我介紹。對於公眾而言，情況就不同，多數人會在本週三（9月9日）首次與這位新任最高主管見面，並評估他推介價值至少2000美元的iPhone的能力。
特恩斯如何呈現這場講解，將定下他任期的基調。回顧蒂姆·庫克在2011年10月首次以CEO身份公開演說，與他的前任史蒂夫·賈伯斯相比，立刻顯出鮮明對照。庫克穿著黑色襯衫和深色牛仔褲，嚴格依照台詞，從舞台的一邊穩步走到另一邊，是一位受過良好公眾演說訓練的人。庫克較為樸素的打扮和克制的風格，預示著蘋果將變得不再那麼大膽、更加穩健—當然，這家公司仍然能創造巨額利潤。
我應該指出的是，賈伯斯當時身患嚴重疾病，並在庫克演講的次日去世。庫克顯然清楚賈伯斯的脆弱，或許不應過於嚴苛地評判這次演說。不過多年來，庫克的發布會變得越來越嚴格——光鮮的、預先錄製的鏡頭，在蘋果園區及其周邊拍攝。隨著每次發布會的重要性日益提高，容錯空間變得越來越小。自庫克首次以CEO身份發表演說至今，他為蘋果的市值增長超過4萬億美元。
COMPETITION IN THE FOLDABLES MARKET
With Ternus taking the stage, many Apple watchers hope for a return to the presentational style of Jobs, who could carry a crowd effortlessly, like a preacher, through sheer enthusiasm for his products. This was in no small part due to his deep knowledge in what it took to make those products a reality. Ternus, formerly Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering, is a return to this “product guy” heritage that many will welcome.
Because of Cook’s credentials as a businessman rather than a product guy, there was a lag in credit for the devices that came out under his tenure. It wasn’t until the iPhone 6 in 2014, three years after he took the helm, that Cook was acknowledged as having overseen its development from start to finish rather than picking up from where Jobs left off.
This archive clip of Bloomberg’s Tom Giles discussing that 2014 iPhone, and Cook’s role in making it, brings to mind a journalism adage that there are no new stories, only new ways of telling them. Discussed that day was whether Apple was simply catching up with Samsung Electronics. Apple’s South Korean competitor had come out with a “phablet”, as we were unfortunately calling them back then, long before Apple got its act together.
在摺疊式手機市場方面，與更大型的智慧型手機一樣，三星早早就已行動，自2019年起就推出可摺疊的 Galaxy。中國的蘋果競爭對手也有自家口碑良好的產品。在這段時間裡，這些公司在改進技術方面取得了顯著進展，致力於解決摺疊屏中央出現的折痕這一主要且長久的問題。蘋果是否已解決這個問題？或至少大幅將其降至最低？預計這將成為發布後大量實機上手影片的焦點。
與庫克不同，特恩斯在產品開發方面有切身參與的25年經驗，涵蓋蘋果所有主要產品線，因此他能真實地把這些產品稱為自己的。這次他如何推介這些產品，可能與2011年庫克首秀時一樣，透露出蘋果未來的走向，以及他作為領導者的風格。
有觀察者把MacBook Neo——這款針對入門級Windows筆電市場的筆電，看作特恩斯推出策略的一個暗示。Neo 不僅是近年來蘋果最大膽的產品之一，還是由特恩斯本人在舞台上親自揭幕。科技評論名人 Marques Brownlee 指出，特恩斯在產品細節方面更為自如，這點在他自宣布成為CEO以來接受的多場訪談中亦有體現。
HIGH STAKES FOR APPLE
What makes this launch so interesting is that, for arguably the first time since the first iPhone launch in 2007, Apple – perhaps the first time, Apple – will need to spend a great deal of energy explaining the “why” of this new device.
I recently had a vigorous debate with a friend over breakfast who argued there was no compelling need for a foldout smartphone screen, at least not one that warranted the extra bulk and, more to the point, the extra cost – the phone will be around double the average selling price of the current iPhone range. Beyond larger video (though not much larger than my current iPhone turned to landscape) and more space for reading, or multitasking, I admit I came up a little blank.
Ternus needs to convince people like my friend – and me, I guess – for whom the utility of a larger screen isn’t as instantly appealing. This is borne out in the numbers: For all the acclaim from gadget reviewers for the foldables already on the market, sales make up just 2.2 per cent of the global smartphone market, according to IDC.
The stakes for Apple are high. IDC estimates the foldable can sell 10 million units in its first 12 months of release. With Apple’s AI efforts still lagging, the company’s fortunes for the rest of this year and into the next rest heavily on whether the foldable iPhone breathes new life into the iPhone segment’s slowed revenue growth when consumers might be turned off by the rising cost of devices because of inflated component costs. Apple has already increased prices on a number of its products.
Whipping up Apple superfans into a frenzy around a foldable iPhone will be the surest way to navigate these headwinds. Somehow I feel Jobs would know just what to say to ignite excitement around this new (to Apple) form factor. We’ll see whether Ternus has the same flair for salesmanship.
