The Secret Of Steve

The secret of Steve is simple. It explains his success and excess. It exemplifies our instinct for creation. Creating is not a result of genius, unconscious incubation or aha! moments. It is a result of thinking: a series of mental steps consisting of problem, solution, repeat. The best solutions solve the most problems. This was discovered in the 1930s by psychologist Karl Duncker:

“ … action means acting, guided by knowledge of the purpose and of the means. This structure of action is no ‘definition,’ but an original and basic experience of mankind. Also the question, ‘Why doesn’t it work?’ or, ‘What should I change to make it work?’”

Jobs announced Apple’s new cell phone, the iPhone, in 2007:

“The most advanced phones are called smart phones. They are definitely a little smarter, but they actually are harder to use. They all have these keyboards that are there whether you need them or not. How do you solve this? We solved it in computers 20 years ago. We solved it with a screen that could display anything. What we’re going to do is get rid of all these buttons and just make a giant screen. We don’t want to carry around a mouse. We’re going to use a stylus. No. You have to get them and put them away, and you lose them. We’re going to use our fingers.”

Jobs is using steps like the ones Duncker saw. Problem: Smarter phones are harder to use because they have permanent keyboards. Solution: A big screen and a pointer. Problem: What kind of pointer? Solution: A mouse. Problem: We don’t want to carry a mouse around. Solution: A stylus. Problem: A stylus might get lost. Solution: Use our fingers.

Apple sold 4 million phones in 2007, 14 million in 2008, 29 million in 2009, 40 million in 2010, and 82 million in 2011 for a total of 155 million phones sold in its first five years in the phone business despite charging a higher price than its competitors. How?

For several years I was a member of the research advisory board of a company that made cell phones. Every year it gave me its latest phone. I found each one harder to use than the last, as did other board members. It was no secret Apple might make a phone: The risk was always dismissed, since Apple had never made a phone. A few months after Apple’s phone became available, the board met and I asked what the company thought of it. The Chief Engineer said, “It has a really bad microphone.”

This was true, irrelevant, and revealing. This company thought smart phones were phones, only smarter. They had made some of the first cell phones which, of course had buttons on them. These had been successful. As they added smarts they added buttons. A good phone made a good phone call. The smart stuff was a bonus.

Apple made computers. For Apple, as Jobs’s announcement made clear, a smart phone was not a phone. It was a computer for your pocket that among other things made calls. Making computers was a problem that Apple, as Jobs described it, “solved” 20 years ago. It did not matter that Apple had never made a phone. It did matter that phone makers had never made a computer. The company I was advising, once a leading phone manufacturer, lost a large amount of money in 2007, saw its market share collapse, and was eventually sold.

“Why doesn’t it work?” deceives us with its simplicity. The first challenge is asking it. The Chief Engineer refused to consider this question. His logic: Sales are rising and customers are happy, therefore nothing is broken and there is nothing to fix.

 

乔布斯成功的秘密

乔布斯成功的秘密很简单，他的成功和固执据来自于此。创造不是天赋和潜意识的结果。而是一个思考的结果，是一系列对于问题和解决方案的重复思考的过程。一个最好的解决方案往往能解开大部分难题，这个结论在1930年就被心理学家Karl Duncker发现。

行动就是意味着有目的的，有计划的一连串行动。这种行为是一种未定义的，但却是一个人类的原始的和最基本的经验。就像这样的问题，“为什么不能这么做？”或者是“我应该怎么改变才能解决他？”

乔布斯在2007年介绍苹果的新手机iphone是说：

最先进的手机被称为智能手机。他们确实比一般的手机聪明点，但是实际上他们很难使用。他们都有一些键盘，无论你使用还是不使用他。怎么才能解决这些呢？我们已经在二十多年前制造电脑的时候就有了答案，我们的解决方法就是制造一个足够大的屏幕，拜托所有的按钮，知识制造一个巨大的屏幕。我们肯定都不想带着一个鼠标到处走。我们将会使用一个触屏笔。不，我们得到它然后把它们放在一边，或者丢掉他们。我们使用我们的手指就足够了。

乔布斯所用的方式就像Dunker说的那样。

问题：智能手机很难用是因为他们拥有固定不变的键盘；

解决方案：一个大的屏幕和一个操作装置；

问题：什么样的操作装置？

解决方案：一个鼠标；

问题：我们不想带着鼠标到处跑；

解决方案：一个触控笔即可；

问题：一个触控笔很容易丢失；

解决方案：用我们的手指操作即可；

尽管他们的竞价远远的超过了他们的竞争者，但是他们在售出苹果的前五年一共卖出了1.55亿部手机。在2007年苹果卖出4百万，2008年卖出2.9千万，2010年卖出4千万，2011年卖出8.2千万。他们是怎么做到的呢？

我曾经当过几年某手机制造商的研究顾问。每年他们都会给我一款他们最新的手机。我发现每款都比他的上一款难用，公司的其他成员也是这样认为的。苹果想做手机已经不是一个秘密了：因为苹果从来没有制作过一台手机，所以人们都不太相信。但是几个月后苹果的手机面世了，公司开了个会，我问他们对苹果的看法。首席工程师说这款手机的麦克风太烂了。

这句话虽然看上去不找边际，但是他确实是个实话，他暗示了这家公司做智能手机，终究还是一部手机，只不过功能多点而已。他们在很早以前便开始制造移动电话 ，曾经非常的成功。对这家公司来说，好的通话质量等于好的手机，其它的功能只是附加品。

苹果是个电脑制造商。就像乔布斯说的那样，智能手机不仅仅是一部手机， 他是放在你的口袋的，可以打电话的电脑。制造电脑的问题，苹果已经在而是年前就已经解决了。苹果没有制造手机的经验根本就不是问题。那些手机制造商没有制造过电脑才是真正的问题。我曾经服务过的一家公司，曾经是手机制造的佼佼者，但是在2007年丢失了大量市场，损失了大量的金钱，最后被收购了。

“why doesn't it work?”他的简单性欺骗了我们。最初的挑战就是来自这个问题。那个首席工程师就是拒绝思考这个问题，他认为，只要市场在增长 ，客户就会高兴，因此就没有什么事情存在，也不会有什么困境。