创业与商业hbswk.hbs.edu
史蒂夫·乔布斯与杰夫·贝索斯会见“Ginger”(2003)
Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos meet "Ginger" (2003)
2010 — 2017,它一次次回到首页
黑点是上首页(≥ 50 分)的那次投稿,空心点是没冲上去的投稿,点越大分数越高。
导读
这篇 2003 年《哈佛商业评论》工作知识网站的文章,记录了乔布斯和贝索斯在 Segway(代号"Ginger")发布前与发明人 Dean Kamen 团队的会面。两位巨头对这款革命性代步车的市场前景、监管障碍和推广策略提出了尖锐而后来被验证的质疑。
为什么经久不衰:它罕见地呈现了两位顶级产品人对一个"革命性产品"的即时洞察与犀利拷问,而 Segway 此后的失败几乎逐条印证了他们的判断,至今仍是产品与市场讨论的经典案例。
HN 评论精选
监管和公共空间准入才是 Segway 的致命障碍,两位创始人的担忧后来都被验证。
贝索斯说:"我认为这场对话的重点错了。你的产品如此革命性,卖出去不成问题。问题是,人们会被允许使用它吗?"贝索斯和乔布斯都说对了。自行车从 19 世纪就有了,城市规划者至今仍在与主流政治舆论斗争才能划出专用车道。如果大多数城市目前都只是勉强容忍自行车,那 Segway 无疑是死路一条。我觉得乔布斯先从大学起步的想法比贝索斯从小国家起步的想法稍好一些——比如加州戴维斯是美国最适宜骑车的城市(出行占比 20%),那会是完美的起点。
Tiktaalik查看英文原文
>"I think the emphasis of this conversation is wrong," said Bezos. "You have a product so revolutionary, you'll have no problem selling it. The question is, are people going to be allowed to use it?" Bezos and Jobs were right. Bicycles have been around since the 19th century and yet city planners are still struggling against mainstream political opinion to be able to set aside dedicated space for their use. If most cities currently only barely tolerate bicycles, the Segway was certainly dead on arrival. I think Jobs' idea for starting small at universities was a bit better of an idea than Bezos' idea of starting in a small country. Davis California for example is the most bike friendly city in America (20% mode share). That would have been the perfect place to start.
评论者对乔布斯"拟人"这一设计批评的确切含义感到困惑。
乔布斯说:"它的造型不创新、不优雅、没有人形感",一口气点出他的三条设计信条。我一直在想他说设计不"拟人"(anthropomorphic)到底是什么意思——iPhone 的形状看起来和人形差别也很大啊。也许他指的是不够符合人体工学?
mastazi查看英文原文
> "Its shape is not innovative, it's not elegant, it doesn't feel anthropomorphic," said Jobs, ticking off three of his design mantras. I was wondering what exactly did Jobs mean when he said that the design was not "anthropomorphic". I mean, the shape of an iPhone does look very different from that of a human figure. EDIT: perhaps he meant that it wasn't ergonomic?
Segway 失败的真正原因是形象问题——骑上去显得很傻,"酷"决定消费产品的成败。
我不想显得自大,但如果有机会在 Segway 发布前见到 Dean,我本可以帮他省去很多痛苦。Segway 失败的原因是:骑它的人看起来像个十足的呆子。我很惊讶乔布斯没直接说出这一点(也许他批评设计时就是这个意思)。他们在《今日秀》上亮相时,骑手们戴着自行车头盔、穿着毛背心、打着领结。我骑过一次,它确实是台了不起的机器……但我死也不会在公共场合骑它。Dean 再聪明,无法与普通人产生共鸣就是失败的原因。永远不要低估"酷"的力量。
marknutter查看英文原文
I don't want to sound cocky, but I could have saved Dean a lot of grief and time if I had the chance before he launched the segway. The reason the segway failed is because people look like fucking dorks when they ride them. I'm surprised Jobs didn't make that remark (maybe thats what he meant when he was criticizing the design). When they revealed it on the Today show they had people riding around on them with bike helmets, sweater vests, and bowties. I've ridden one, mind you, and it is an incredible machine.. but I wouldn't be caught dead riding one of those things in public. There's a reason Jobe rides one in Arrested Development. For all Dean's smarts, it was his inability to connect with the every day person that caused the flop. Never underestimate the power of cool.
乔布斯断言 Segway 代码可被逆向工程,后来确实有人破解了它。
"在乔布斯看来这不是好理由,因为代码很容易被逆向工程。不,不可能,Tim 说。可能,乔布斯说。"我不知道乔布斯这方面的直觉从何而来,但他完全说对了:http://tlb.org/scooter.html
philwelch查看英文原文
"Not a good reason, in Jobs's view, because the code could easily be reverse-engineered. No it couldn't, said Tim. Could, said Jobs." I don't know where Jobs gets his instincts about this stuff, but he was totally right: http://tlb.org/scooter.html
历次讨论
同类还值得读
微软已死(2007)
Microsoft is Dead (2007)
Paul Graham 2007 年的一篇短文,判断微软在互联网与创业竞争中已不再令人畏惧、失去影响力——所谓“死”并非字面倒闭。
创业与商业上首页 8 次 · 2007–2025paulgraham.comH&R Block 与 Intuit 游说反对简化报税(2017)
H&R Block and Intuit Lobbying Against Simpler Tax Filing (2017)
2017年ProPublica调查报道梳理了H&R Block和Intuit如何通过游说反对更简单的美国报税方式,尤其是政府预填税表和免费申报等改革。
创业与商业上首页 5 次 · 2017–2022propublica.org你本不该有老板
You Weren't Meant to Have a Boss (2008)
Paul Graham 2008 年的经典文章,论证人类在演化中习惯于小团体协作,而大公司的层级结构和老板制度是人为产物,对程序员尤其有害——因为编程的本质是创造新事物,而大公司…
创业与商业上首页 5 次 · 2008–2020paulgraham.com为什么要在经济糟糕时创业
Why to Start a Startup in a Bad Economy
Paul Graham 的经典短文,论证经济衰退并不是创业的障碍:真正决定成败的是创始人和产品,而非宏观环境;衰退期反而竞争更少、人才更易招、成本更低。
创业与商业上首页 5 次 · 2008–2022paulgraham.com做那些不可规模化的事
Do Things that Don't Scale
Paul Graham 2013 年的经典创业文章《Do Things that Don't Scale》。
创业与商业上首页 4 次 · 2013–2025paulgraham.com编辑精选