质疑未停，“天线门”升级成“苹果门”？

Steve Jobs只对了一半，这不是一个“天线门(antennagate)”事件，而是一个将耗费这位Apple总裁暨执行官更多时间的“苹果门(Applegate)”事件。(编按：美国舆论以水门事件来讽刺有关Apple指 iPhone 4 收讯不良是因为智能手机都会有的天线问题。)

我承认自己一直以来也是Apple的粉丝。在1993年，我为自己买的第一台PC就是Macintosh PowerBook 145B；那部笔记本电脑有2英吋厚、轨迹球比麋鹿的眼睛还大，但在它于1996年退休以前，我还是开心地拖着它跑遍大小采访场合。那台PowerBook 145B我还保存着，尽管已经不能动，但我会带着它一起进养老院(如果我会去的话)。

许许多多的Apple消费者都对该公司的产品有一股狂热；随着Apple陆续推出iPod、iPhone与iPad等新产品，那股热情燃烧得更为炽烈。但若有任何人认为iPhone 4的天线问题只是单纯的收讯不良，那都是没有注意到Apple这家公司的负面公众形象──尽管他们的产品拥有杰出的成就。

Apple对任何一个有心跳而且对科技产品有兴趣的人来说，显然是一家非常成功的公司，但这家公司却是以惹恼粉丝、甚至进一步激怒那些不喜欢他们某些行事风格的人们的行动，侵蚀其自身利益；iPhone 4的天线问题就是一个例子。

在消费性电子市场有一个强烈而日益扩大的认知，是Apple这家公司似乎认为自己能藐视任何人，包括消费者、供货商，甚至是电信服务业者。

部份iPhone 4使用者所反映的收讯不良问题，就像是我的编辑同事Dylan McGrath在“ Apple ‘not perfect,’ but ‘antennagate’ overblown”这篇报导中所言，原本从字面上看来只是个小麻烦。然而Apple却以笨拙的解释让状况失控，并因为对消费者傲慢的忽视，让一个简单的问题演变成危机事件。

这其实也是必然会发生的；最近这几年来，Apple的经营策略完全不像是一家上市公司，对一些其他企业会公开讨论的议题，他们却将客户与股东拒之门外，例如像是执行官Job的健康情况这样的敏感话题。

点击进入第二页：其他公司的处理方式和态度都更好

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其他公司对这样的天线问题通常会以不同的方式处理、态度也更积极，也许是通过大规模的产品召回行动，或者是提供消费者可解决讯号衰减或是收讯不良等问题的“保护套”；但Apple却又一次让所有针对该问题所产生的各种各样猜测(包括其原因以及影响程度)在市场上发酵，但现在竟说受影响的仅有不到1%的iPhone 4使用者。

在7月16日，Apple终于松口说他们并不“完美”，并愿意免费提供消费者手机“保护套”；此外也让消费者无条件退货(但必须是在购买后30天之内)。

一家企业的公众形象就像其产品的质量一样，是取得永续性成功的关键；Apple似乎有全面检讨其公共关系策略的必要。如果不立即改善其目前的市场形象，Apple将面临的风险不仅是来自一般常客，还包括其他的业务。

Apple的商誉正在流失，对该公司来说现在也有一些财务上的影响；Apple的毛利与营业利润在其同业之间可说是最高的，但现在，随着众家竞争对手强行进军该公司在过去几年扮演主导角色的市场领域，Apple有了一个明显的受攻击标的。

所有Apple做得相当漂亮的工作，现在其他公司也会做；例如其在线程序商店，就被众多OEM厂商与电信服务业者复制。此外包括Motorola、Nokia、Samsung与Sony Ericsson等厂牌所推出的智能手机，都变成iPhone的强劲对手；网络也随处可见与iTunes类似的在线音乐商店。

Apple的表现还是会很好，但其利润将因竞争白热化而受侵蚀；但若是失去支持他们的那群人，该公司将无法承担。而现在Apple是透过提供免费“保护套”给iPhone使用者的方式，来表达对他们的关切。

这是个好的开始；然而，Jobs在iPhone 4天线问题上责怪媒体、又试图将讨论焦点转移到其他同业智能手机性能上的做法，显示这家公司仍然拒绝接受或是忽视其公众形象已经在支持者与反对者眼中受损。这也是为何笔者认为，这不只是“天线门”、而是一个“苹果门”事件；这个争议完全是Apple本身的问题，不仅是小小的手机硬件瑕疵所导致。

(参考原文： It’s Applegate, not 'antennagate'，by Bolaji Ojo)

《电子工程专辑》网站版权所有，谢绝转载

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It’s Applegate, not 'antennagate'

by Bolaji Ojo

Steve Jobs was only half right. There is no “antennagate” but “Applegate” will consume more of the Apple Inc. chairman and CEO’s time in future.

I must admit to being a long-term fan of Apple. I bought my first personal computer, a Macintosh PowerBook 145B in 1993. The computer was two inches thick and the trackball was bigger than a moose’s eyeball but I happily lugged it around on numerous reporting assignments before retiring it in 1996.

I still have the PowerBook 145B. It doesn’t work but it will find a place in a nursing home if I ever retire into one.

Many Apple Inc. customers are that passionate about the company’s products. The passion has only intensified in the last years as Apple introduced the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Anyone who thinks the controversy surrounding Apple’s iPhone 4 antenna problem was only because of dropped calls has not paid any attentions to the negative direction of the company’s public persona despite the outstanding success of its products.

That Apple is a wildly successful company is obvious to anyone with a pulse and some interest in technology products. Yet, Apple is undermining its own interest with actions that are irritating fans and further enraging those who dislike some of its business practices. The iPhone 4 antenna issue falls in this category.

There is a strong and growing perception in the consumer electronic market that Apple believes it can thumb its corporate nose at anyone, including customers, suppliers and even telecommunication service providers.

The signal problem reported by some iPhone 4 users amounts literally to a minor irritant as my colleague Dylan McGrath pointed out in his report “Apple ‘not perfect,’ but ‘antennagate’ overblown.

However, Apple allowed the situation to get out of hand with clumsy explanations and an arrogant disregard for customers that turned a simple problem into a crisis.

This was inevitable. Apple has operated in recent years as if it is not a public enterprise, shutting out customers and shareholders from issues other businesses would have openly discussed, including the delicate topic of chairman and CEO Jobs’ health.

Any other company would have handled the antenna problem differently and promptly, perhaps through the extreme action of a product recall or by giving customers the “bumper” cover that it knew would stop the signal degradation and dropped calls some had complained about.

Instead, Apple did what it’s done in the past. It allowed all kinds of speculations to develop in the market about the source and depth of a problem the company now says affected less than one percent of iPhone 4 buyers.

On Friday, July 16, Apple finally said it was not “perfect” and offered customers the “bumpers” free. It also offered to not penalize any customers who wished to return their phones within the required 30-day post-purchase period.

A company’s public image is as critical to its continuing success as the quality of its products. Apple’s public relations need to be overhauled.

There are significant risks ahead for Apple not only from regular customers but also from other businesses if it does not do something soon to improve its current image in the market.

The company is leaking goodwill and there are financial implications here for Apple. The company’s gross profit and operating margins are among the highest in its segment and Apple now has a fat target on its back as rivals muscle in on the territories it has dominated over the last years.

All the things the company does extremely well are now being done by other companies: its apps stores are being duplicated by OEMs and telecom service providers; smartphones from Motorola Inc., Nokia Corp., Samsung Inc. and Son-Ericsson Inc., are shaping up as strong iPhone rivals and; online music stores that can rival the iTunes market are proliferating all over the web.

Apple will continue to do well but its margins will erode as competition intensifies. What it cannot afford to lose is the core group of people who supports it and wish it well. Apple showed it cared today by offering to give free "bumpers" to iPhone buyers.

It was a good start. However, blaming the media for the iPhone 4 antenna controversy and attempting to shift the discussion to the performance of other OEMs’ smartphones as Jobs did during his conference call Friday, July 16 show the company is still in denial or ignorant about the beating its public image has taken from supporters and detractors.

That’s why this is not antennagate. It is Applegate. This controversy is all about Apple and not merely due to a piece of faulty mobile phone hardware.