A World Without Steve Jobs
沒(méi)有史蒂夫·喬布斯的世界
In a way, Steve Jobs might have saved the best “One Last Thing” for last: The legendary and now former Apple CEO has left his company in fine hands and on a path of prospects as great as his final years at the helm have provided.
某種程度上說(shuō)，史蒂夫·喬布斯可能把最好的“最后一件事”留在了最后：一個(gè)傳奇，蘋(píng)果的前執行總裁在經(jīng)營(yíng)良好的時(shí)候離開(kāi)了他的公司，留下公司如他最后幾年掌舵時(shí)那般繁榮的道路。
There is no question that the Man of the Hour is now Tim Cook — Apple’s man of the future. He and Jony Ive have been Jobs’ two right hands for ages. While Jobs himself is irreplaceable, nobody is indispensable. The lines of succession and responsibility have been carefully crafted and are as sleek as any piece of hardware Apple has ever designed.
毫無(wú)疑問(wèn)，現在的風(fēng)云人物是蒂姆·庫克——蘋(píng)果未來(lái)的主人。很多年，他和喬尼·伊伍是喬布斯的右手。當喬布斯本人無(wú)可替代時(shí)，任何人也不可替代。繼承和責任的工作也是“精工細作”，就像蘋(píng)果曾經(jīng)設計的任何一塊硬件那樣井然有序。
Cook is no showman in the mold of Jobs, but that doesn’t matter. Jobs’ prime days were well behind him before his last two public appearances this year, at the WWDC and, serendipitously, at the Cupertino town council to pitch for Apple’s new headquarters.
庫克并不是喬布斯模具出來(lái)的表演家，不過(guò)也沒(méi)關(guān)系。喬布斯在今年最后的兩次在全球開(kāi)發(fā)者大會(huì )公開(kāi)露面之前的主要時(shí)間是在他的后面，并且意外地是，在庫比蒂諾鎮會(huì )議上定下蘋(píng)果新的總部。
But Apple doesn’t really need a showman anymore, or even a legacy, though Job’s shadow will be long, and his shoes impossibly large to fill. That sort of thing was important when Apple was looking past minuscule market share for some respectability, to make the leap from the small sandbox of extreme loyalists to a beachhead in the mainstream of consumerism.
但是蘋(píng)果真的也不再需要表演家，或者一筆巨大的財富，盡管喬布斯的影響將會(huì )很長(cháng)，他也沒(méi)有足夠強的能力去消除。當蘋(píng)果為了一些社會(huì )尊重，尋找過(guò)去的極小市場(chǎng)份額時(shí)，從極端忠誠的小沙坑跳到主流消費主義的灘頭陣地的那一跳躍這件事很重要。
Apple is now the epitome of mainstream. Can one even call it a computer company anymore? Cook’s biggest strength is moving products from gestation to the hands of over-eager customers. Apple’s biggest problem these days: The company can’t keep up with the demand of its iPads. Tablets of most of its competitors are gathering dust or being sold at fire sale prices, as Hewlett-Packard was forced to do when it exited the business entirely. And for that course, Cook is, you will pardon the expression, an executive chef extraordinaire.
蘋(píng)果現在是主流的縮影?，F在它能再被人稱(chēng)為一個(gè)電腦公司嗎？庫克最大的本事是把產(chǎn)品從醞釀期移到迫不及待的消費者手里。這些天蘋(píng)果最大的問(wèn)題是：公司已經(jīng)趕不上它的iPad的需求了。它大多數競爭者的平板電腦蒙上一層灰塵，或者以超低價(jià)售賣(mài)，就像惠普完全退出業(yè)務(wù)時(shí)被迫做的那樣。因為那個(gè)原因，庫克，你能原諒這個(gè)表達，是一個(gè)杰出的執行主管。
I have already been asked too many times since Wednesday evening to place Jobs in the pantheon of CEOs. The answer is quite simple. Jobs is the single most important figure in high tech’s digital era, and only time will tell if he is considered the greatest overall — bigger than the likes of Gates, Hewlett, Packard and other titans.
自從星期三傍晚喬布斯被置于CEO名流群后，我已經(jīng)被問(wèn)過(guò)很多次。答案相當的簡(jiǎn)單。喬布斯是數字時(shí)代唯一最重要的人物，只有時(shí)間才能告訴我們他是不是最偉大的——比蓋茨、惠普、派克和其他人物更偉大。
But Jobs is more than that. He is perhaps one of the greatest CEOs of any kind, a name which will be remembered generations from now even if the particulars of his achievements and personality are obscure — a Henry Ford of the Internet era, if you will, running the General Motors of the post-war boom.
但是喬布斯并不僅如此。他可能是最偉大的CEO之一，他的名字可能從此被記住，即使他的成就和個(gè)性細節都是模糊的——如果你愿意的話(huà)，他是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)時(shí)代的一個(gè)亨利·福特，他的通用汽車(chē)開(kāi)啟了戰后繁榮。
It is also important to remember that, while it is clear that Jobs’ health is waning and he won’t be part of the daily grind, the notoriously-particular Apple co-founder is chairman of the company and will kibbitz as he sees fit. He will not undermine Cook, in any way, shape or form, but he will be there.
同樣重要的是要記住這一點(diǎn)，很明顯喬布斯的健康堪憂(yōu)，不能再每日工作，蘋(píng)果公司的特別有名共同創(chuàng )始人是公司的主席，如果他覺(jué)得誰(shuí)合適的話(huà)會(huì )亂出主意。他不會(huì )詆毀庫克，但不管何種形式，形狀或者形式，他仍在那里。
At this point, as the dust on yesterday’s inevitable announcement settles, my thoughts turn not to an Apple without Jobs but to a world without him. The morbidity of the death watch is an unseemly subject, but it is the elephant in the room. The criteria he had set for stepping aside cannot mean anything other than he is winding down because he must.
這時(shí)候，正如昨天不可避免的公告拭去的塵埃，我的思考不是轉為沒(méi)有喬布斯的蘋(píng)果而是沒(méi)有他的世界。嚙蟲(chóng)的發(fā)病不是一個(gè)體面的事，但是在室內的話(huà)就比較體面。他為退位設置的條件意味著(zhù)不是別的而是他要放松，因為他不得不。
Jobs’ final thing was to compartmentalize his health and assure shareholders with winks and nods that there would be life after him, even if the tech press wasn’t in on the secret.
喬布斯最后的事是了解他的健康，使眼色使他的股東確信，并點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭知道他還有以后的生活，即使科技出版社并未參與這個(gè)秘密。
In a world where what’s good for Apple is also usually good for America, that is one of Jobs’ most remarkable achievements.
對蘋(píng)果有益的世界通常來(lái)說(shuō)也是美國有益的，那是喬布斯最顯著(zhù)的成就。
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