????蘋果從不浪費時間，不管是自己的，還是別人的。本周一上午6:23，我掛斷電話時腦子里浮現的就是這個想法。當時我剛剛參加完蘋果的電話會議，主題是討論它新的紅利支付計劃。

????蘋果用了不到23分鐘的時間公開了所有相關數據，回答了部分問題，分析了這個消息對金融市場可能產生的影響，并且進行了總結性發言。所有這些，都是遵照一份事先精心準備好的發言稿進行的，以對蘋果此次支付紅利和股票回購的新聞進行解釋。

????盡管這個電話會議是一天前舉行的，但說到這份發言稿，以及蘋果處理問題的效率之高，一切都值得我們花點時間對發言稿中涉及到的各條因素加以玩味。電話會議一開始，蘋果首席執行官蒂姆?庫克就按照準備好的草稿進行了發言，并做了簡短的說明，推出紅利支付計劃既不意味著蘋果會停止對未來進行投資，也不意味著它已然看不到自身的發展空間。許多IT公司往往以此作為借口，拒絕向股東派發紅利。由于我們了解到庫克發言的內容及順序是提前擬定的，因此我們相信，庫克及其公關團隊已經對發言清單上的所有內容做到了深思熟慮。現在，我們來具體分析一下每項內容。為什么庫克會提及這些內容？他對各項內容輕重緩急的排序情況如何？

????“我們創新的速度之快簡直難以想象”這是庫克的開場白，然后他立刻就開始按事先準備好的順序開始實質性的發言。下面我一一列舉其發言的內容清單并加以簡單的點評。

????1.“依靠應用和內容來打造龐大的生態系統。”現在，蘋果的應用商店生態系統，可謂婦孺皆知。他在這里使用了“內容”這個字眼，有點耐人尋味。據報道，蘋果正在試圖與電影制片廠和電視臺達成內容交易。令人欣喜的是，這二者愿意提供的內容與當年iTunes推出時唱片公司同意提供的內容相比要令人樂觀得多。同時，蘋果也在創建自己的電子圖書業務，而且該業務還成了美國司法部（Justice Department）反托拉斯法的調查對象。庫克提到的這一點值得關注。

????2.“提供iCloud等杰出服務。iCloud在發布僅僅幾個月之后，用戶已經突破破百萬大關。”盡管平時喜愛談論云服務的人對此可能并不茍同，在他們眼里，iCloud還遠遠遠算不上“杰出”；但，不管怎么說，它在蘋果眼中的重要性顯而易見。

????3.“此外，我們還開發了Siri（Speech Interpretation and Recognition Interface，語音翻譯與識別接口）等了不起的軟件，開創了與iPhone交互的全新方式，無疑意義重大。”不管你喜歡還是討厭Siri（我自己反正是不喜歡），iPhone 4S的成功對于那些原本眼巴巴地盼著iPhone 5、結果卻大失所望的蘋果用戶而言簡直是個天大的玩笑。（而且，我也不喜歡把“接口”用作動詞。但是，這些都是題外話。）

????4.“同時，我們也開始投資，繼續擴大蘋果產品在全球的分銷渠道。”哦？這方面，真是多多益善。

????5.“我們將繼續開設蘋果商店，僅本財年就會增設40家。”看來，不管零售巨頭彭尼公司（J.C. Penney）新任首席執行官羅恩?約翰遜（前蘋果零售負責人——譯注）在任與否，蘋果商店的零售快車依然一往無前。

????6.“我們開始與新的運營商以及第三方代理商合作，以擴大用戶數量。”無聊的商業內容。等等，你剛剛說什么，電信合作伙伴數量增加？而且，除了百思買（Best Buy）、沃爾瑪（Walmart）等原有的零售合作伙伴之外，現在又增添了新的零售商？太好了！

????Apple doesn't waste time. Its own, or anyone else's. That's what I thought when I disconnected my phone Monday at 6:23 a.m., at the conclusion of the Apple teleconference to discuss its new dividend-payment plans.

????In 23 minutes, the company got out all its facts, answered some questions, prepared financial markets for its news and wrapped things up -- all while sticking to a carefully prepared script to explain the dividend and share buyback news.

????Speaking of the script, and given how efficient Apple (AAPL) is with time, it's worthwhile to pause a day later to reflect on some of the elements of the message. Near the beginning of the call, in his prepared remarks, Apple CEO Tim Cook gave a short homily on why implementing a dividend does not mean Apple will quit investing in its future or that it doesn't see growth opportunities. These are the reasons many tech companies give for not paying a dividend. Because we know the list is scripted, we know Cook and his communications team thought about each item on the list. So let's consider each item, why Cook mentioned it, and how he rank-ordered them.

????"We are innovating at an incredible pace," Cook began, immediately launching into his list, which I will number and annotate:

????1. "Building a tremendous ecosystem with apps and content." We all know about Apple's App Store ecosystem by now. The choice of the word "content" was interesting. Apple reportedly is discussing content deals with film and TV studios -- who, gloriously, leak more than the record companies did when iTunes was getting started. Apple also is building its e-book business, the subject of a Justice Department anti-trust investigation. It's noteworthy that Cook led here.

????2. "Providing great services such as iCloud, which has already eclipsed over 100 million users within just a few months of its launch." For what it's worth, the people who like to chatter about this sort of thing don't consider iCloud a "great" service yet. It is clearly important to Apple, however.

????3. "And we're delivering incredible developments like Siri, a profound new way to interface with the iPhone." Love it or hate it -- I don't love Siri yet -- the success of the iPhone 4S makes a mockery of those who were disappointed that it wasn't the iPhone 5. (I also don't love the use of "interface" as a verb. But I digress.)

????4. "We are also investing in distribution around the world." Oh? More would have been great about this.

????5. "We continue to open our own stores, including 40 this fiscal year alone." The Apple retail juggernaut continues, with or without Ron Johnson, now CEO at J.C. Penney (JCP).

????6. "We are expanding our footprint with new carrier partners and other third-party resellers." Ho-hum. Boring business stuff. But wowza, more telecom partners than you've already got? And more retailers in addition to the likes of Best Buy (BBY), Walmart (WMT), and so on? Okay, good.