Apple Watch绝对不是个没用的东西

When people say Apple has built things people didn't know they need, it's not really true. Apple has built things that meet the needs people have always had. More than any other consumer company, Apple gets what people really, fundamentally need. That's why announcements like last week's Apple Watch tend to have the cultural impact they do.

当人们谈及苹果品牌，常常说，它制造了一些人们不知道自己需要的产品，其实并非如此。苹果早已制造了人们日常所需的产品。甚至比其他的产品公司，苹果从人们根本所需的基础上制造产品，正如不久前Apple Watch首发时所标榜的，它正产生着深刻的文化影响力。

When we think of needs and products we often go right to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, the ubiquitous theory that human needs manifest in a specific sequence, from base survival to the pinnacle of self-actualization. Marketers have spent decades figuring out at what level of Maslow's hierarchy their customers are stuck, and then offering products and marketing for that need. Think of Campbell's "Mmm-mmm Good" campaign at one end and Lexus's "Relentless Pursuit of Perfection" at the other. If Maslow was right, brands needed to target a single need, satisfy it well, and be done.

当谈及到人们的生活所需，我们常常都会想到马斯洛需求层次理论，也就是人类在每个阶段的不同需求，从底部最基本的生存需求到顶端的自我实现需求。市场营销人员多年来不断进行研究，消费者的需求处于哪个层次，并相应地为人们提供生活所需品。试思考，以"嗯…不错"为口号的坎贝尔罐头公司的市场战役和以"不懈地追求完美"为目标的凌志汽车公司是如何不断追求满足消费者需求的。如果马斯洛的理论是符合现实的，那么那些著名的品牌就需要重新定位，把目标从人们的基本需求方面制定，做到尽善尽美。

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs：马斯洛需求层次理论，也称为基本需求层次理论。分别是生理上的需要，安全上的需要，情感和归属的需要，尊重的需要，自我实现的需要和自我超越的需求。

ubiquitous,adj.：普遍存在的；无所不在的。此处指的是马斯洛所提出的六大需求层次理论，就是人类所普遍存在的需求。

pinnacle n. :高峰，顶尖，极点。

Campbell:坎贝尔罐头公司

Lexus:雷克萨斯（凌志汽车）,日本丰田汽车公司旗下豪华车品牌。

But it turns out that Maslow wasn't entirely right. My own research at Forrester Research has focused on synthesizing a much more complete and empirical description of people's fundamental needs based on research in psychology, economics, and neuroscience. When we talk about human needs, we use four categories:

然而，研究发现马斯洛理论似乎不太符合当今的社会状况。笔者在福雷斯特研究公司进行了一项研究，其关注于建立一个关于人们需求的更完整更有说服力的理论描述，其中涵盖了心理学，经济学和神经学科方面的知识。当我们谈论到人类需求，有四个方面是需要考虑的：

Connection

关联性

Comfort

舒适性

Uniqueness

个性化

Variety

多样化

Crucially, we've learned that these needs are not hierarchical. Think of yourself: You don't wake up in the morning and only think about food, then worry about making money, then think about loftier pursuits. Neither your day nor your life unfolds like that. It's messier, because of our adaptive and clever biology. Our hormones, our neurotransmitters, even our gut bacteria cause us to think about base needs like survival and loftier ones like personal fulfillment simultaneously. In fact, they compete with one another for our attention, and we prioritize and re-prioritize them on the fly, as context changes.

要注意的是，我们早已明白这些需求并不是最重要的。请考虑一下自身情况：早上起床的时候，我们并不会担心没有食物或者无法赚钱养家，那么我们就思考更高层次的需求。我们每天的生活都不会以这样的担忧而开始，还有比这更复杂的，因为我们拥有人类天生拥有的适应性和智慧。我们的荷尔蒙，神经传递介质，甚至是肠道细菌都会让我们同时思考自身的基本需求，如生存需求和实现自身满足感的更高层次的需求。实际上，它们正利用我们的注意力彼此互相抗衡，正如不同的情境变换，我们把它们多次不断更改优先的位置。

lofty adj.：崇高的，高级的。此处loftier pursuits,更高层次的需求，指的是精神层面的追求。

neurotransmitter ['nʊrotrænzmɪtɚ], n.：神经递质

Apple's understanding of this is what sets it apart when it comes to launching market-changing products, including the newly announced Apple Watch. Apple doesn't lock into one need on the hierarchy (soup that satisfies hunger, or perfect luxury car), but instead builds and markets products that connect on all four of the human needs that we're grappling with constantly. Let's use the Apple Watch as an example:

苹果公司根据其对于人类需求的理解，在市场变动的情况下推广产品的时候，包括Apple Watch，把这两个概念分离开来。苹果公司并不局限优先满足某一个需求（生理需求还是精神需求），相反地，它制造和推广符合人们不断挣扎的四大需求的新产品，下面就以Apple Watch为例，给大家分析苹果公司是如何的独领风骚。

Connection

关联性

Texts, finger-drawn emoticons, even the feature some consider hopelessly gimmicky, heartbeat sharing, are all central to the device keeping you connected.

文本信息，手写表情符号，甚至是任何逗趣狡猾的元素，情感分享，都是你和外界联系的媒介。

Comfort:

舒适性

Connections to loved ones is part of comfort, and so is the built-in health and fitness tracking, which makes the device something of a coach in your quest to improve yourself.

与所爱的人产生联系能够让你感到安逸舒适，那么机带的健康追踪功能也能满足这一需求，它能够适时贴心地给你提供健身的提醒。

Uniqueness

个性化

An easy box for Apple to check. Though many were surprised by the Apple Watch's conventional look (which pundits immediately declared savvy), Apple actually took the traditional winding crown of a watch and with it created a unique UI and UX, making it a tool for zooming in and out of maps or menus. The same is true in Apple's creation of an original touch interface which distinguishes between a tap and a press, giving the small screen twice as much utility as it would otherwise have.

很简单，以小见大。尽管很多人都惊讶于苹果手表的传统造型（智者所标榜的悟性），设计师在设计的过程中，采用了传统的环形皇冠造型，并设计了独特的用户界面和用户体验，使之能够帮助用户放大和缩小观看地图和菜单选项。同样的，苹果独创的传统识别点击和长按的触屏，提供了比屏幕大两倍的增缩功能。

UI: user interface 用户界面

UX：user experience 用户体验

Variety

多样化

Design plays a big role here through interchangeable watch bands. We've seen recently examples even in Apple's own marketing of customers celebrating uniqueness even though the products are remarkably uniform. Think of the commercial that flashes through the lids of dozens of MacBooks, each been dressed up with its own clever stickers, literally wrapped around the company's brand mark. Variety can of course also come from the suite of apps available to put on your watch.

设计，是手表品牌可以不断变化的皇牌。我们可以从最近的手表发布会，包括苹果手表的发布会庆祝其个性化的场合中发现，不同品牌的手表都有其独特的设计标志。想想从中的商业链是怎样连接起来的，从Macbooks的滑盖，每一件产品都有其独特的智能贴纸，也就是把公司商标直接地展示在产品上。当然，多种手机应用也能适应不同品牌的客户端。

But couldn't other smart watch entrants do the same thing? Forrester survey data shows that interest in wearing a wrist-based computing or sensoring device had grown from an already-high 28% in 2013 to an impressive 42% in 2017, all before the Apple Watch was a thing. But ask an average person if they know about the Pebble, the Samsung Gear products, or the new Moto 360 and you'll get blank stares in return. They may know the Nike Fuel Band or Fit Bit.

那么，其他新兴的智能手表制造商不就可以照样宣传了吗？福雷斯特研究公司的数据显示，人们对于携带智能腕表的兴趣从2013年的28%上升到2017年的42%，这全都归功于苹果手表的出现。不过，通过采访路人，问及他们是否认识一款名为Pebble的三星智能手表，或者最新的摩托罗拉360手表，得到的答复都是不知道。也许他们只知道耐克的运动腕带或者是Fit Bit智能腕带。

I'd argue that none of those devices delivers on our four needs as fully or as conveniently as Apple. For example, even though Pebble is aiming for all four needs, it has used less-convenient technology to deliver on those needs — admirable as the early entrant but insufficient at this stage in the market. Samsung, on the other hand, has created a device that promises to meet these four needs fully, but as a company it doesn't have the market power to draw other app makers into the environment as quickly as Apple can, giving Apple an app variety advantage from its first day on sale — as the mobile payment system announcement demonstrates. And in the mind of the potential buyer, Samsung and the others suffer vis-a-vis Apple because none can offer the reassurance — itself a form of comfort — that the company behind it has delivered on this before.[/en

笔者敢断言，任何一个类似的电子产品销售商都无法像苹果公司那样满足消费者的四大需求。比如，即使Pebble旨在满足人们的四大需求，它所采用的技术相对复杂——初次发行时还能吸引消费者，但是无法长久符合市场需求。至于三星，创造了一个标榜能够满足四大需求的设备，但是三星公司却无法像苹果公司一样创立属于自己品牌独有的应用市场，这就给苹果公司足够的空间出售本公司的应用产品，作为一个手机支付系统而运营。同时，在潜在的消费者心目中，三星和其他品牌与苹果品牌正面交锋，只会惨败，因为它们都无法保证其产品的舒适性，这也是公司之前所提倡的理念。

That's another secret to Apple's dominance. Once it established itself as a company that could meet these needs, people tend to trust the brand more — maybe more than it deserves, but certainly more than other entrants — giving it an advantage that other brands need to fight just to get people to listen; that's why so many competing companies literally use Apple in their marketing, comparing their own products and features to the one's that seem to hog all the attention: Apple's. Apple seems to own the conversation. Other, highly-regarded smartwatches already exist, but now people are talking about Apple's proposed definition of a smartwatch.

另外，苹果能够独领风骚的原因还有一个。当公司建立了自己的品牌形象后，人们就会相信这个品牌——也许品牌效应在实际上并不那么重要，但是这就是与其他新兴同行相比的优势。品牌优势能够使消费者愿意关注它的动态，这就是为什么那么多竞争公司把苹果公司当做市场模范，不断比较和检测自己公司的产品能否吸引到"果粉"。似乎苹果公司在此期间有其发言权。另一方面，倍受关注的智能手表早已面世，不过人们如今正在谈论的就只有苹果的智能手表了。

This was precisely the strategy that Apple used to sell the iPad, showing dialogue-free commercials that merely depicted the magical things the iPad could do for you. This made some people buy an iPad, and others know what they would want when they finally got a tablet from another manufacturer. Either way, Apple dominated by controlling the expectations the user had about what needs the iPad would fulfill.

这正是苹果公司用于销售iPad的销售策略，无对话商业模式，让iPad给你提供意想不到的帮助。这样使得很多人都想拥有iPad，其他人就会想他们从其他制造商中获得什么。不管怎样，苹果公司之所以引领风尚，就是因为它能够满足用户所需。

The watch experience will be harder to illustrate than the iPad's, to be sure, but I suspect Apple's not done creating this experience. The smartwatch is the spearhead to a broader wearable experience, populated with a phone, a watch, an earpiece, health monitors, and more things that, deep down, you know you need.

手表的销售历程将会比iPad的销售历程更难以概括，说真的，笔者对苹果公司是否完成这一历程存在疑问。而智能手表则是衡量其耐用性的标准，它能充当手机，手表，耳机，健康监测，还有更多功能，你所需要的功能。