????創(chuàng)新乏力是Twitter長期以來所面臨的一大難題。

????主題標簽功能是用戶提出的。TweetDeck是Twitter從別處收購的。現在又傳聞Twitter正考慮關閉今年早些時候發(fā)布的音樂服務。登錄Twitter.com，大家眼前所見和五年前大同小異。知名商業(yè)雜志《快速公司》（Fast Company）已將Twitter從今年的“最具創(chuàng)新力公司”榜單上除名。

????但就此得出Twitter不思進取顯然有失偏頗。上周四，Twitter公布了IPO細節(jié)，預計每股發(fā)行價為17到20美元，由此計算，市值可達100億美元。這家IPO新貴在研發(fā)上的投入可不含糊。根據IPO文件，今年第三季度，Twitter的研發(fā)開支高達9,000萬美元，相當于公司同期營收的52%。這是Twitter公司最大的一塊開銷，是其市場營銷開支的一倍以上。這個比例遠高于絕大多數競爭對手。以Facebook為例，它在上市前一個季度的研發(fā)開支僅為營收的14%。當然，現在這個比例已經上升至26%。不過，Facebook和Twitter不同，它至少是盈利的。

????谷歌（Google）的研發(fā)開支是營收的15%。而且谷歌還在研發(fā)無人汽車、谷歌眼鏡等高精尖產品，甚至還有太空電梯。

????眼下并沒有跡象顯示Twitter正在研發(fā)什么先鋒產品。事實上，Twitter在IPO文件中對研發(fā)預算的細節(jié)幾乎只字未提，只是用官方語言描述稱，研發(fā)開支被用于“改進我們的產品與服務。”Twitter顯然并未在建設高精尖實驗室，也沒有打造什么超級計算機。Twitter研發(fā)費用的大頭實際上都與人力成本相關。上季度，它研發(fā)開支的相當一部分被用于支付公司股票期權。

????Twitter并未透露從事研發(fā)工作的員工數目。這家公司目前共有2,300名員工。假如都是研發(fā)人員的話，他們的年薪將高達104,000美元，但顯然并非如此。

????從Twitter的收益表中可以看到，它過去一年在研發(fā)方面的總投入將近2.5億美元。從2010年初計算，Twitter已在研發(fā)上投入了4.28億美元。但這顯然不是這家公司在研發(fā)上的全部開支。實際花的錢要更多。

????Twitter和其它科技公司一樣，將一些軟件和其它研發(fā)成本進行了貨幣化。換句話說，Twitter一開始就為這筆研發(fā)開支做了預算，但它不會馬上顯示在收益表中。Twitter會在接下來數年分批將這筆錢花掉。只要公司認為這筆錢能在未來幾年帶來收入增長，這樣做報表也是規(guī)則允許的。所以，除了常規(guī)研發(fā)開支，Twitter從2011年初開始，在貨幣化軟件和研發(fā)成本方面共計開支8，700萬美元。

????一些看過Twitter公司IPO申請文件的分析師表示，這家公司的財務狀況可能比賬面上顯示的更好。若扣除研發(fā)費用，Twitter是盈利的。不過，鑒于研發(fā)費用可能占Twitter人員開支的大頭，這筆費用短期內不大可能下降，除非Twitter打算精簡人員。事實上，Twitter在IPO申請文件中寫道，“在可預見的未來”，研發(fā)開支金額預計將持續(xù)增長。

????券商Wedbush Securities公司跟蹤社交媒體公司的分析師邁克爾?帕切特說：“我猜測Twitter的研發(fā)開支很多是用于使其網站實現無縫銜接、適用于移動設備，同時擴建視頻流媒體服務器。擴建規(guī)模很大。我不知道Twitter正在怎樣進行創(chuàng)新，但我認為現在就批評他們缺乏創(chuàng)意還為時過早。”

????或許Twitter是在超支方面獨出心裁？（財富中文網）

????譯者：項航?

????One of the long-time knocks on Twitter is that it doesn't do a very good job of innovating.

????Users came up with hashtags. TweetDeck was created by another company that Twitter had to buy. Twitter is reportedly considering shutting down a music site that it launched earlier this year. Go to Twitter.com and you will basically see the same thing you did five years ago. FastCompany booted Twitter from its list of most innovative companies this year.

????This is apparently not for lack of trying. Twitter, which priced its IPO Thursday at $17-$20 per share, giving it a valuation of $10 billion, spends a lot on research and development. According to its IPO document, in the third quarter of the year, Twitter shelled out nearly $90 million on R&D. That was equal to more than half, 52%, of the company's revenue in the same period. It is Twitter's largest cost, nearly 50% more than it spent on marketing. And it's far more than most of its rivals spend. Facebook, for instance, spent just 14% of its revenue on R&D in the quarter right before it went public. It has since ramped up that spending to 26%. But Facebook (FB) makes money, unlike Twitter.

????Google (GOOG) spends just 15% of revenue on R&D. And Google is working on a self-driving car, high-tech glasses and, maybe, space elevators.

????There is no sign that Twitter is working on anything that cool. Twitter actually gives very little detail about what it spends its R&D budget on in the offering documents for its IPO. It says that R&D expenses are to "improve our products and services." And it doesn't appear that Twitter is building some kind of high-tech lab or supercomputer. In fact, the bulk of Twitter's R&D expenses go toward personnel-related expenses. And a good portion of that expense, about a quarter, was the cost of handing out stock options.

????Twitter doesn't say how many employees work in its R&D groups. The company has a total of 2,300 employees. That would be $104,000 per employee if all of its employees were in R&D, which they are not.

????In all, Twitter says on its income statement it has spent close to a quarter of a billion dollars on R&D in the past year. Since the beginning of 2010, Twitter has logged a $428 million expense for R&D. But that isn't actually all the money the company has spent on R&D. In reality, it has spent more than that.

????Twitter, like other technology companies, capitalizes some of its software and other development costs. That means that while Twitter pays for those R&D expenses upfront, that cost doesn't actually show up on its income statement. Instead, Twitter expenses the cost in chunks over the next few years. The rules allow that as long as you think the R&D expense will add to your sales over the next few years. In addition to its regular R&D expenses, Twitter spent another $87 million on capitalized software and other development costs since the beginning of 2011.

????Some analysts who have looked at Twitter's IPO filing have said its finances may be better than they appear. Take away the R&D expense and Twitter would be profitable. But considering the R&D expense likely makes up such a large part of what the company spends on employees, it's unlikely to go away any time soon, unless Twitter expects to start downsizing. In fact, in the IPO documents, Twitter says that it expects R&D expenses "will increase in dollar amounts for the foreseeable future."

????"I can only assume a lot of it is on making the site seamless, delivering to mobile, and building out servers that can accommodate video. That's a lot of buildout," says Michael Pachter, an analyst who follows social media companies at brokerage firm Wedbush Securities. "I don't know what they're doing to innovate, but I think it is early to criticize them for lack of creativity."

????Overspending, perhaps?