Some of the greatest gadgets start with a flash of inspiration by a designer. Others are the result of a technological breakthrough. Apple’s iPhone, which went on sale 10 years ago this week, began with a grudge.
一些最伟大的产品始于设计师一闪而过的灵感。其他则是技术突破的结果。在10年前的本周开始销售的苹果(Apple) iPhone始于怨恨。
“It began because Steve hated this guy at Microsoft,” said Scott Forstall, Apple’s former software chief and one of the top deputies to the company’s late co-founder Steve Jobs.已故联合创始人史蒂夫?乔布斯(Steve Jobs)的高级副手之一、苹果前首席软件师斯科特?福斯托(Scott Forstall)表示：“之所以开始设计iPhone，是因为史蒂夫讨厌微软(Microsoft)的这个家伙”。The touchscreen era began 10 years ago on June 29, 2007, when the iPhone first went on sale, and Mr Forstall recounted the animosity behind its creation at an event at the Computer History Museum in Silicon Valley last week, his first such interview since leaving Apple in 2012.触摸屏时代开始于10年前的2007年6月29日，当时苹果刚刚开始销售iPhone。福斯托上周在硅谷“计算机历史博物馆”(Computer History Museum)举行的一场活动中，谈到了iPhone问世背后的这种敌意，这是他自2012年离开苹果后首次接受此类采访。Before the iPhone was a phone, it was a tablet and the touchscreen technology that would later find its way into the iPad began as a secret research project commissioned by Jobs, Mr Forstall recalled.福斯托回忆道，iPhone在成为电话之前是被作为平板电脑研究的，后来运用于iPad的触摸屏技术最初是乔布斯授权的秘密研究项目。The offending Microsoft employee, who was a friend of a friend of Jobs, had been bragging about the software company’s new tablet computer, which used a stylus for input. “Anytime Steve had any social interaction with that guy, he came back just pissed off,” he said.冒犯乔布斯的微软员工是乔布斯的朋友的朋友，他一直吹嘘微软开发的利用手写笔输入的新的平板电脑。福斯托说：“乔布斯每次在社交场合与这个人接触之后，回来都是怒气冲冲。”After one such weekend encounter, Jobs arrived at Apple on a Monday morning fuming: “Let’s show them how it’s really done.”在某个周末会面之后，乔布斯周一早上赶到苹果公司时气急败坏地说道：“让我们做给他看，这些产品应该是怎样的。”Microsoft were “idiots”, Mr Forstall recalled Jobs saying. “You don’t use a stylus?.?.?.?You are born with 10 styluses.”福斯托回忆道，乔布斯说，微软是“白痴”，“你不用使用手写笔……我们天生就有10支手写笔。”Apple went on to sell more than 1bn iPhones, making it one of the most successful consumer products of all time and propelling the company to record-breaking profits. Mobile industry commentator Horace Dediu has estimated that iOS devices and apps will together have generated over $1tn in revenues for Apple by the end of 2017.自那以来苹果销售了逾10亿部iPhone，使其成为历史上最为成功的消费产品之一，并推动公司实现创纪录的利润。移动行业分析师霍勒斯?德迪乌(Horace Dediu)估计，到2017年年底，iOS设备及应用加起来将会为苹果贡献逾1万亿美元的累计收入。Yet despite the urgency with which Jobs instigated the development of what would become the iPhone’s multi-touch technology, the project languished for several years.然而，尽管乔布斯敦促尽快研发后来运用于iPhone的多触点技术，但该项目仍在数年里一筹莫展。It was revived only when Jobs, looking to head off looming competition to the then-dominant iPod music player, suggested touch technology would make mobile phones less “angsty” to use.只有在当时占据主导地位的iPod音乐播放器面临竞争、而乔布斯寻求反击的时候——他提出，触摸技术将使手机用起来不太“让人焦虑”——后，该项目才形成势头。In the mid-2000s, when the Motorola Razr became a bestseller, traditional phone manufacturers such as Nokia were being “incremental”, said Hugo Fiennes, another former Apple engineer who spoke at the Computer History Museum’s event. “At Apple there was no holding back.”另一位苹果前工程师雨果?费因斯(Hugo Fiennes)在计算机历史博物馆的会议上表示，在2005年前后摩托罗拉(Motorola)的“剃刀”(Razr)热销的时候，诺基亚(Nokia)等传统的手机制造商表现出“步子太慢”，而那时“苹果已全力投入新产品的研发”。Development of the iPhone was famously secretive. Employees working on “Project Purple” were not even allowed to tell their families what they were creating. Teams working on different elements of the device were unaware of what each other were doing. Mr Fiennes, who was part of the team working on multitouch hardware, said the first time he saw the resulting software features such as “pinch to zoom” was when Jobs unveiled it at the iPhone’s launch event.iPhone的研发工作隐秘得出名。参与“紫色项目”的员工甚至不被允许告诉家人他们在鼓捣什么新产品。从事iPhone部件研发的各小组彼此不知道别人在做什么。费因斯是从事多点触控硬件研发团队的一员，他说，他第一次看到这种硬件带来的“捏拉缩放”等软件功能，是乔布斯在iPhone发布会上展示的时候。Mr Forstall had no experience in telecoms before working on the project and had never sent a text message before doing so on an iPhone. Yet despite this, Apple considered buying its own mobile spectrum or becoming a “virtual” mobile network operator, reselling another telecoms provider’s services under its brand, he said. Ultimately the company decided to partner with AT&T to distribute the device.福斯托在从事iPhone项目之前没有任何电信行业的经验，在iPhone诞生前甚至从未发过短信。然而他说，尽管如此，苹果曾考虑收购移动通信频谱，或者成为一家“虚拟”移动网络运营商，在自己的品牌下转卖另一家电信提供商的服务。最终，该公司决定与AT&T合作来售卖iPhone。“Of course [all the secrecy] was an impediment,” said Nitin Ganatra, who was director of engineering for iOS applications until he left Apple in 2012. “But at the same time, there was so much value there as well, by having this secret?.?.?.?Nobody knew what was coming.”在2012年离开苹果前担任iOS应用程序工程总监的尼廷?加纳特拉(Nitin Ganatra)表示：“当然（保密）是障碍。但与此同时，保密也是很有价值的……没有人知道我们会推出什么全新产品。”The iPhone’s timing turned out to be good, with internet services such as YouTube and Google Maps on the rise and the emergence of affordable mobile data contracts. The iPhone really began to fulfil its potential in 2008 when, despite Jobs’ initial reluctance to allow software from outside Apple to run on the device, the App Store made its debut.
事实证明，iPhone发布恰逢其时，YouTube和谷歌地图(Google Maps)等互联网服务日益增多，同时还出现了价格适中的移动数据合同。2008年App Store开张后，iPhone真正开始实现其潜力，尽管乔布斯最初不愿允许苹果以外的软件在iPhone上运行。The iPhone redefined what a mobile device could do, prompting countless imitators (and more than a few lawsuits by Apple as a result). The iPhone now accounts for about two-thirds of Apple’s revenues and an even larger share of the mobile industry's entire profits.iPhone重新定义了手机的功能，吸引了不计其数的模仿者（结果是苹果提起了好几起诉讼）。iPhone现在为苹果贡献了大约三分之二的收入，在整个移动设备行业的利润份额甚至更大。While Mr Forstall admitted that pricing “was a challenge” — the upfront cost of the device had to be cut by $200 just a few months after it went on sale — he never had any doubt it would be “huge”.尽管福斯托承认，定价“是一个挑战”——iPhone在上市几个月后，就不得不减价200美元——但他从未怀疑iPhone将成为“轰动产品”。“Using it, it never felt like work,” he said. “And I knew, this is it — everything is going to behave this way.”他说：“使用它从不让人感觉像是工作，我当时就明白，这就是理想境界——一切产品都会像这样。”