APPLE prides itself on constantly re-imagining the future, but even the worlds leading gadget-maker likes to dwell on the past too. Thirty years ago Steve Jobs commanded the stage at the Flint Centre for the Performing Arts near Apples headquarters in Cupertino to show off the new Macintosh computer. On September 9th Mr Jobss successor, Tim Cook, held a similar performance in the same location to thunderous applause. Those invited were given a chance to play with the gadgets presented on stage: two new iPhones and a wearable device, called the Apple Watch. “This is the next chapter in Apples story, ” he said, sounding much like the young Mr Jobs in 1984.苹果公司以需要大大勾画未来蓝图而自豪，但即使作为世界上最顶尖的小型设备制造商，苹果也不免沉溺于过去。三十年前，史蒂芬·乔布斯在弗林特演艺中心（坐落于库比蒂诺的苹果公司总部附近）展出Macintosh电脑；今年9月，乔布斯的继任者，蒂姆·库克，在同一个舞台面临千万热情观众举办了一个类似于的产品展出活动。被邀到的人有机会试用展台上的设备：两台新款iPhone和一款叫作Apple Watch可配戴手表。像当年的乔布斯一样，库克说道：“这是苹果的下一篇章！”It may well be true—but not for the reasons most people might think. Consumers, analysts and investors have been howling for proof that Apple can still do the magic tricks of the Jobs era; iPad sales have weakened in recent quarters and the iPhone, launched a tech aeon ago in 2007, still generates more than half of the firms revenues. Yet lost in the maelstrom of snazzy new gadgets, applause and photos was an important shift: this weeks announcements showed that Apples future will be less about hardware and more about its “ecosystem”—a combination of software, services, data and a plethora of partners.这有可能是知道——但原因并非大多数人想的那样。

消费者、市场分析员、投资者仍然都在极力企图证明苹果可以缔造乔布斯时代的传奇；然而，iPad近几季的销量已有所上升，于2007年公布的iPhone引发了一段科技狂潮，它至今依然占有苹果公司收益的半壁江山。然而，在弥漫着时髦的新产品、掌声、美图的狂潮中，被人忽视的是苹果的根本性转型：本周发布会回应苹果未来的焦点将从硬件移往到“生态系统”——一个集软件、服务、数据、众多合作伙伴于一体的有机系统。

If Apple were simply a hardware-maker, there would be reason to worry. It is losing market share to rivals such as Samsung of South Korea and Xiaomi of China, which make cheaper devices, and to Googles Android operating system, which runs on 71% of the worlds smartphones. Apples average selling price is $609, compared with $249 for smartphones worldwide, according to IDC, a market-research firm. That is good for profits, but it makes Apple increasingly a niche player, somewhat like a luxury-goods firm, says Colin Gillis of BGC, a stockbroker.如果苹果只是一家非常简单的硬件制造商，那么情况是让人忧虑的。苹果的市场份额正在增大，忽略的韩国的三星和中国的小米因为价格低廉而占有着更加多的市场份额，并且谷歌的安卓操作系统攻占了全球70%的不能手机。据市场调研公司IDC的数据，苹果手机的平均值售价为609美元，而全球智能手机均价为249美元。

一名来自BGC的股票经纪人科林.吉利斯指出：这样利润固然客观，但是这使得苹果市场更加沦为一种缝隙市场，有点类似于奢侈品企业。As with Apples existing products, much effort went into the watchs design. Its backplate contains sensors that measure the users vital signs; and people can send their heartbeat to other watch-wearers—as a new sort of expressive message. But starting at $349, and only usable in conjunction with an iPhone, it looks unlikely to be a serious competitor to other expensive watches (see article).与现有的产品一样，苹果为设计这款手表作出了相当大希望。它的后板装有感应器，可以测量出有佩带者的生命特征；作为一种新的信息表达方式，人们可以将心率数据发送给其他的手表用户。

但是它的售价为349美元起，而且不能与iphone牵头用于，这使得它无法敌对其他名贵手表。Still, many are likely to stick with their iPhones and even plunk down the money for an Apple Watch, because of the firms ecosystem. Apple is considered a laggard in online offerings, especially since it bungled the launch of its map service. Its services and apps can be maddening. But iTunes, Apples media store, now boasts more than 800m active users, three times as many as Amazons. Apples software and services category, which includes iTunes, its Apps Store, revenue from warranties and other businesses, brought in sales of more than $16 billion in 2013 and is growing steadily.但是许多人依然不愿固守苹果阵营，之后用于iPhone,甚至是为了苹果的“生态系统”而大手笔地花钱出售Apple Watch。

在线服务方面，苹果被指出是落后者，特别是在是它粗制滥造的地图服务。它的服务和应用于有时候让人心碎。但是，苹果的媒体商店iTunes，它的活跃用户现在早已攀升多达了8亿，是亚马逊的三倍之多。

苹果的软件和服务，还包括iTunes、应用于Store，来自许可和其他业务的收益等，2013年多达160亿美元，并仍然在稳定增长。Apples watch is supposed to help the firm expand into new areas. One example is a mobile wallet. It aims to replace swiping credit cards with the tap of an Apple watch (or an iPhone) on a device connected to a retailers cash register. Apples new health and fitness applications help people monitor their workouts. The firms new operating systems, due out soon, will allow its devices to work together seamlessly: an e-mail started on an iPhone can be finished on an iMac.苹果企图通过智能手表扩展到新领域，移动钱包就是一个例子，它的目标是用苹果手表（或手机）触摸屏与收款机连接的设备来代替划出信用卡。苹果新的健美应用于可以协助人们监控自己的运动过程。

另外，新的操作系统将要发售，它将构建设备的无缝操作者：如在iPhone上开始写出的电子邮件可以在iMac电脑上之后写完。For Ben Wood of CCS Insight, another market-research firm, Apples plan is to be even more like the Hotel California (as in the Eagles song), “where you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”. The more Apple-gadget owners store their data in them, from photos to health information, the more they are locked in, and must stick with Apple.另一家市场调研公司CCS Insight 的本.伍德指出，苹果的计划更加看起来“加州旅馆”（老鹰乐队的歌）：“你可以随时退房，但却总有一天会离开了。

”苹果用户在系统中储存的数据就越多，从照片到身体健康信息，他们就就越倚赖苹果。At the same time, Apple is trying to become more open to partners—a big change for the firm. “There has always been a huge tension between keeping control and opening up” at Apple, explains Michael Cusumano of MITs Sloan School of Management. Mr Jobs saw Apple products as complete works of art and never wanted them unbundled. Only after the executive team rebelled, for instance, did he relent and in 2003 let iTunes become available on Windows—a move that dramatically increased sales of the iPod.与此同时，苹果于是以尝试向合作伙伴们更加对外开放——这对苹果是个好机会。

麻省理工斯隆管理学院的迈克尔.库森曼诺说明说道，就对外开放程度问题，苹果内部仍然不存在相当大分歧。在乔布斯显然，苹果的产品是一个原始的艺术作品，决不期望它被合并。

直到管理团队经常出现叛变之后，他才在2003年做到了倒退，让iTune可以通过Windows采访——这一措施大大地提高了iPod的销量。Three years after Mr Jobss death, Apple seems to be ready to go further, hoping to entice other firms to contribute to its ecosystem and make it more attractive. Earlier this year Apple announced a partnership with IBM, as well as changes that make it easier for outside developers to design apps for the iPhone. And Apples watch will have third-party apps from the start. The iPhone launched without the app store; it opened only a year later, after many outside developers had hacked the device, allowing them to write apps for it.乔布斯去世了三年，苹果或许要采行更进一步行动，期望通过与其他公司合作来建构苹果的“生态系统”，使其极具吸引力。今年早些时候，苹果就宣告与IBM合作，同时不作了些转变以便利外部开发者为iPhone设计应用于。

并且苹果手表一开始就不会有第三方应用于。iPhone刚发售的时候并没应用于商店，直到一年后许多外界开发商白入了手机，苹果才只得容许他们对外开放应用于。The new openness does not only apply to technology. Mr Cook has let outsiders join his inner circle, hiring executives from retail and other industries to expand Apples expertise. He has also overseen the largest acquisition in Apples history, the $3 billion purchase in May of Beats, a headphones and music-streaming company. For its new payment system it teamed up with big retailers, such as Whole Foods and Walgreens, and credit-card firms, including MasterCard and Visa.这种新的对外开放制度不仅限于于技术层面，库克早已容许外界人士参予它的内部圈子，并且聘用零售和其他行业的管理者来拓展苹果公司的业务面。

库克亲眼了苹果史上仅次于的一起并购案：苹果于今年5月耗资30亿美元并购了Beats(一家生产耳机和音乐流媒体公司）。至于其新的研发的缴纳体系，苹果将与各大零售商展开合作，如有机食品连锁店Whole Foods 和沃尔格林，以及信用卡公司，还包括万事达卡和Visa卡。This opening-up may need to go further, to keep up with Googles ecosystem. The internet giants services still beat Apples. And it not only lets device-makers modify Android, but also gives it away (albeit with conditions, such as the requirement to carry Googles services). “Apple v Android” could still end up a repeat of “Apple v Windows”: in personal computers Apple lost the battle against Microsoft because it refused to license its operating system to other hardware-makers.为了跟上谷歌的生态系统，苹果的对外开放制度必须更进一步。

目前苹果的服务仍远逊这家互联网巨头。谷歌不仅容许制造商们改建安卓系统，而且可以几乎撒手不管（虽然这是有条件的，比如必需加装谷歌的某些服务）。

“苹果VS安卓”的结局可能会和“苹果VS Windows”一样：在个人电脑市场，苹果因为拒绝接受向其他硬件制造商证书其操作系统，所以不敌微软公司。Umberto Eco, an Italian novelist, once compared Apples platform to Catholicism and Microsofts to Protestantism. The Macintosh, he wrote, “tells the faithful how they must proceed, step by step”. By contrast, Windows “allows free interpretation of scripture...and takes for granted the idea that not all can achieve salvation.” This still rings true today, but Apple is clearly going through a Reformation.一名意大利小说家恩贝托.艾克曾多次将苹果比作天主教，而将微软公司比作新教。他这样写到：Mac电脑“告诉他信徒必需沿着一个方向，一步一步忠诚地回头下去。”忽略的，Windows则“容许对教义展开权利的说明，并且指出不是所有的点子都可以最后解决问题。

”这些道理至今依然不求，但是很似乎，苹果早已开始转变并且将更进一步改革。

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