????最新一波蘋果熱一觸即發。所有果粉都在翹首企盼第三代平板電腦iPad 3的問世，但同時也因為iPhone 5不能在10月份上市而感到失落。（消費者已搶購了下季度的3,700萬臺iPhone手機，包括表現依然足夠搶眼的iPhone 4S。）在發給媒體的3月7日舊金山新產品發布會邀請函中，蘋果又玩了一把故弄玄虛，邀請函上寫著：“一款你不得不看，不得不觸摸的新產品。”這既意味著新產品可能是改進版的iPod Touch，也可能是某種蘋果電視遙控裝置。

????不管怎樣，這家全球最具價值的公司再次吸引了舉世果粉的目光。當然，果粉們向來如此。值得注意的是，沒有哪個競爭對手能夠參透蘋果的玄機，追趕上蘋果的步伐。蘋果公司的確很特別，但并非所有公司都應該、或者說可以效仿它的成功模式。不過，下文所介紹的蘋果取得成功的三個關鍵因素，絕對值得其他公司借鑒。

????勇于說不。“搖頭比點頭更困難，也更重要。”這是史蒂夫?喬布斯的一句口頭禪。蘋果在上世紀九十年代曾經拒絕生產個人數字化輔助工具；它也曾經在很長的時間里拒絕生產手機；抗拒把重心放在企業客戶銷售上；甚至不愿在最早的iPad產品上設置USB接口。這樣的例子還有很多。并不是說所有的公司只要拒絕一些表面上看起來不錯的商機就能達到蘋果那樣的哲學高度。但如果每家公司都能捫心自問：“我們是否有百分之百的把握確定我們有合適的理由點頭？”一定會受用不盡。很多公司極力追逐利益，甚至新進員工都清楚公司只是為了掙錢而不是提高消費者滿意度。（舉例而言，多年以來，喬布斯一直奚落個人計算機行業，他認為那些安裝在個人電腦上的軟件都是垃圾，只是為賺錢而已。現在這種情況仍然存在。）拒絕需要勇氣，但企業高管并不會因為直言敢行而被扣薪水。

????信息傳達刪繁就簡。不論蘋果公司將推出何種新產品，可以肯定的是，該產品的宣傳語一定簡明扼要、短小精悍。iPod是放在你口袋里的一千首歌。iPhone是蘋果公司出品的最好的iPod，同時也是一部可上網的手機。當史蒂夫?喬布斯展示iPad 2時，他反復強調，我們生活在一個后個人電腦時代。對于引領平板電腦革命的蘋果公司來說，這種表述簡直是太有利了。而其他公司卻常常將他們想傳達的信息搞得既復雜又混亂，選擇不同的發言人就是一個例子。蘋果公司不僅精心打磨希望傳達的信息，還嚴格限制傳達信息的人。最終的結果是消費者能準確復述蘋果公司的宣傳口號，這是一個完整的信息反饋環路。

????制造產品，而不是賺錢。這一點在商業社會違背了人們的直覺，簡直令人難以置信，但是，蘋果的理念確實與其他公司的收益最大化信條背道而馳。當然，盈利對蘋果公司來說也很重要。（蘋果公司上季度利潤高達130億美元。）但問題是，蘋果開發新產品的著眼點并不是它能創造多少利潤。正相反，他們先思考自己的員工需要什么新產品，然后才開始動手設計制造。接下來，蘋果才會采用典型的商業手段，包括產品定價、市場滲透等。這就像年長的智者經常給涉世未深的年輕人傳授的職場經驗一樣：做你愛做的，財富自然隨之而來。

????亞當?拉辛斯基所著《蘋果解密：美國最受贊賞的公司運營內幕》今年一月已由大中出版社（Grand Central Publishing）出版。

????譯者：李玫曉/汪皓

????The latest installment of Applemania debuts this Wednesday, when Apple is expect to unveil another wonders of consumer gadgetry. The Apple-obsessed world expects an iPad 3. But then that same community was crestfallen not to receive an iPhone 5 in October. (Mere consumers, meanwhile, snapped up 37 million iPhones the following quarter, including the clearly-magical-enough iPhone 4S.) Apple's tease to journalists in anticipation of the March 7 event in San Francisco -- "We have something you really have to see. And touch." -- might just as likely signal a revamped iPod Touch. Or perhaps we'll be able to fondle an Apple TV remote-control device.

????Whatever. The fact is that all eyes once again will be focused on the world's most valuable company. Those eyes have watched Apple's (AAPL) every move for years now, of course. Yet what's remarkable is how little the competition catches on, or catches up, to Apple's ways. Yes, Apple is special. And no, not every company can and should be like Apple, at least not in every way. But there are key aspects of the Apple playbook that other companies absolutely should emulate. Here are three:

????Say no more often. Steve Jobs was fond of saying that saying no was harder -- and more important -- than saying yes. Apple said no to making personal digital assistants, in the 90s that is. It said no for years to making a telephone-- until it said yes. Apple refused to focus on selling to businesses. It wouldn't put a USB port on the first iPad. And so on. While not every company can achieve Apple's level of Zen by rejecting seemingly good business opportunities, there isn't a company out there that wouldn't benefit by more rigorously asking itself: "Have we absolutely satisfied ourselves that we have said yes for the right reasons?" How many companies pursue revenue opportunities that any new recruit knows the company is doing to make money rather than delight customers. (An example: Jobs ridiculed the PC industry for years for the margin-boosting "crapware" that comes loaded on a PC. The crap remains.) It takes real courage to say no. But it's not like top executives aren't being compensated for brave action.

????Focus your message better. Whatever Apple unveils this week, you can be sure it will be succinctly explained and that the explanation will be summarized in a short, pithy expression. The iPod was a thousand songs in your pocket. The iPhone was the best iPod Apple had made as well as a phone with a Web browser. When Steve Jobs showed the iPad 2 he stressed repeatedly that we were living in a post-PC world. How convenient for the company leading the tablet computer revolution. Other companies muddle their message, in part by allowing multiple spokespeople to deliver it. Apple sharply limits the messengers of its sharply crafted message. The result is that its customers repeat Apple's lines exactly as Apple crafts them. It's the ultimate feedback loop.

????Make products, not money. It is counterintuitive, and almost unbelievable, but Apple's way is the antithesis of the revenue optimization of the rest of the business world. Of course Apple wants to make money, and of course profits are important. (It registered an astounding $13 billion in profits last quarter.) But Apple doesn't approach a new product from the perspective of how much money it will make. Instead, it dreams up what will be a product its own people want to use, and then its sets about making the product. Only later will Apple apply the typical levers of business -- pricing, market penetration, etc. -- to its product plans. It's similar in tone and spirit to the career advice that wise older people give to inexperienced younger people: Do what you love, and the money will follow.

????Adam Lashinsky's book, Inside Apple: How America's Most Admired--and Secretive---Company Really Works, was published in January by Grand Central Publishing.