Apple’s new CEO is reviving a Steve Jobs strategy from 25 years ago

苹果新任 CEO 正在重拾 25 年前史蒂夫·乔布斯的战略

Apple CEO John Ternus wants you to know that the iPhone isn’t going anywhere. Ternus threw his weight behind the venerable device on Wednesday during his first keynote as CEO, placing it firmly at the center of Apple’s product strategy for the AI era. “There’s no product in the world better designed to be your intelligent personal hub than iPhone,” he said.

苹果公司 CEO 约翰·特努斯（John Ternus）想让你知道，iPhone 不会消失。周三，特努斯在担任 CEO 后的首次主题演讲中，力挺这款久负盛名的设备，将其牢牢置于苹果人工智能时代产品战略的核心位置。他说：“世界上没有任何产品比 iPhone 更适合作为你的智能个人中心。”

This contrasts with the approach taken by former CEO Tim Cook, who tried time and again to convince Wall Street that Apple was more than just the iPhone. Ternus’ pitch is also a rebuttal to pundits who have recently cast doubt on the iPhone. “The smartphone’s days are numbered,” said one headline. “The Tim Cook era is coming to a close with an existential challenge for Apple: figuring out what comes after the iPhone,” said another article.

这与前任 CEO 蒂姆·库克（Tim Cook）的做法形成了鲜明对比，库克曾多次试图向华尔街证明，苹果不仅仅只有 iPhone。特努斯的论调也是对近期质疑 iPhone 的评论家们的回击。一篇头条文章写道：“智能手机的日子屈指可数了。”另一篇文章则称：“蒂姆·库克时代即将结束，苹果面临着一个生存挑战：找出 iPhone 之后的下一个产品是什么。”

But it’s not just about the hardware. Ternus has put the iPhone at the center of his “intelligent personal assistant” strategy, a vision that could define the company for years to come. Steve Jobs did something similar in 2001 with the Mac, less than 10 months before he announced the iPod. At the time, many observers thought the PC’s days were numbered.

但这不仅仅关乎硬件。特努斯将 iPhone 置于其“智能个人助理”战略的核心，这一愿景可能会在未来多年定义这家公司。史蒂夫·乔布斯（Steve Jobs）在 2001 年也做过类似的事情，当时他以 Mac 为核心，不到 10 个月后就发布了 iPod。在那时，许多观察家认为个人电脑（PC）的日子已经不多了。

At a Macworld New York keynote, Jobs called out bearish quotes from industry wonks like Walt Mossberg and the leaders of Compaq and Gateway. “This is what everyone else is telling us. That our PC is waning if not the hole being dug,” Jobs said at the time, pointing at a tombstone for the “Beloved PC” on the screen behind him. “We don’t think the PC is dying at all. We don’t think the PC is moving away from the center at all. We think it’s evolving, just like it has since it was invented.”

在纽约 Macworld 大会上，乔布斯点名批评了沃尔特·莫斯伯格（Walt Mossberg）等行业专家以及康柏（Compaq）和捷威（Gateway）领导人看跌的言论。乔布斯当时指着身后屏幕上为“挚爱的 PC”立的墓碑说道：“这就是其他人告诉我们的。说我们的 PC 正在衰落，甚至已经在挖坟墓了。我们根本不认为 PC 正在消亡。我们也不认为 PC 正在远离中心。我们认为它正在进化，就像它自发明以来所做的那样。”

“We think the PC is on the threshold of entering its third great age,” Jobs added, a prediction driven by the proliferation of digital devices at the time, including camcorders, digital cameras, and DVD players. The Mac would form the center of a “digital hub” that would connect these disparate devices and, in Jobs’ words, “add value” to all of them.

“我们认为 PC 即将进入其第三个伟大时代，”乔布斯补充道。这一预测源于当时数字设备的激增，包括摄像机、数码相机和 DVD 播放器。Mac 将成为“数字中心”的核心，连接这些不同的设备，并用乔布斯的话说，为所有这些设备“增加价值”。

Later that year, Jobs pulled the iPod out of his pocket, a device seemingly developed to answer the question, “Why do you still need a PC?” The device turned out to be an enormous hit, driving Apple’s profits quarter after quarter and ultimately helping lead to the development of the iPhone.

那年晚些时候，乔布斯从口袋里掏出了 iPod，这款设备似乎是为了回答“为什么你还需要一台 PC？”这个问题而开发的。事实证明，这款设备取得了巨大的成功，推动了苹果公司季度又季度的利润增长，并最终促成了 iPhone 的诞生。

Today, with the iPhone on the cusp of its 20th anniversary, Ternus is facing a version of the same question Jobs took on in 2001. We don’t know if Ternus is quietly sitting on an iPod-like product, one that will secure the iPhone’s position as Apple’s hub for years to come. But he is firmly rebutting the idea that the iPhone is past its prime.

今天，随着 iPhone 即将迎来 20 周年纪念，特努斯正面临着乔布斯在 2001 年所面对的类似问题。我们不知道特努斯是否正在秘密研发一款类似 iPod 的产品，一款能确保 iPhone 在未来多年作为苹果核心地位的产品。但他坚定地反驳了 iPhone 已经过时的观点。

“If you were designing the ideal version of this hub from scratch, how would you do it?” Ternus asked, before listing the ingredients: a powerful processor, high-resolution cameras, persistent networking, and on-device AI. It helps that the iPhone is one of the most powerful personal computing devices around, giving it an edge in the compute-hungry AI era.

“如果你要从零开始设计这个中心的理想版本，你会怎么做？”特努斯问道，随后列出了要素：强大的处理器、高分辨率摄像头、持续的网络连接以及端侧人工智能。iPhone 是目前最强大的个人计算设备之一，这让它在对算力需求极高的人工智能时代占据了优势。

Its portability and adaptability make it, for many people, the only computing device they need. Even among those who own laptops and iPads, the iPhone is often the one device they can’t live without. Plenty of people leave home without their laptops. Almost no one leaves without their phones. That combination of power and portability has given Apple a privileged position in the AI world.

它的便携性和适应性使它成为许多人唯一需要的计算设备。即使是那些拥有笔记本电脑和 iPad 的人，iPhone 通常也是他们离不开的设备。很多人出门不带笔记本电脑，但几乎没有人出门不带手机。这种性能与便携性的结合，使苹果在人工智能领域占据了得天独厚的地位。

Other companies have attempted to unseat the iPhone with all manner of wearable devices, but none have succeeded. Instead of sidelining the iPhone in favor of the next flashy thing, Ternus is leaning into it instead. In a way, he’s bringing Apple around to what the rest of us already know: The iPhone is pretty great, and maybe we don’t need to replace it with something else. Yet.

其他公司曾试图用各种可穿戴设备取代 iPhone，但无一成功。特努斯没有为了追求下一个时髦玩意儿而边缘化 iPhone，反而更加倚重它。在某种程度上，他让苹果回归到了我们其他人早已意识到的事实：iPhone 非常棒，也许我们并不需要用其他东西来取代它。至少目前不需要。