With Jony Ive’s Successor, Apple Bets a Pragmatist Can Turn Prophet

作为乔尼·伊夫的继任者，苹果押注实用主义者能否成功

In two decades at Apple Inc, Jeff Williams has gone from heading procurement to leading all of the tech giant’s operations.

在为苹果公司效力20年里，杰夫·威廉姆斯的身份已从采购主管变身为这家科技巨头的首席运营官了。

Now he has a new responsibility: creating the iconic gadgets that make Apple hum. That will be a critical test for both him and the company, which is in need of a new hit.

现在，他有了一项新的责任：创造出能让苹果公司继续繁荣的标志性产品。这对于他和苹果公司来说都是一个关键的考验，因为苹果公司需要推出一款新的热门产品。

Apple’s chief operating officer since 2015, Mr Williams has long been seen as a possible future CEO. Last week’s announcement that he will take over management of software and hardware design when chief design officer Jony Ive leaves this year—the company’s biggest executive change in years—fueled anticipation that Mr Williams is the heir apparent to Tim Cook.

自2015年担任苹果公司首席营运官以来，威廉姆斯一直被视为未来首席执行官的可能人选。苹果公司上周宣布，首席设计官乔尼·伊夫将于今年离职，届时威廉姆斯将接管软件和硬件设计的管理工作。这将是苹果多年以来最大的一次高管变动，人们由此猜测威廉姆斯或将成为库克的接班人。

Meanwhile, Mr Williams’s ability to identify the right projects and reject the wrong ones, and to push software and industrial designers forward, will go a long way to determining Apple’s success.

与此同时，威廉姆斯甄别正确项目、拒绝错误项目、推动软件和工业设计师向前发展的能力，将在很大程度上决定苹果公司能否成功。

Design has been central to Apple’s formula since Steve Jobs, with help from Mr Ive, revived the company in the 1990s. Putting Mr Williams in charge marks a departure for Apple: Never before has core product creation been directly managed by someone who ascended through the operating ranks—a staid domain of planning, procurement and logistics.

自上世纪90年代史蒂夫·乔布斯在伊夫的协助下重振苹果公司以来，设计一直是苹果公司发展模式的核心。让威廉姆斯执掌这项任务标志着苹果公司的一大转变：此前核心产品创新从来没有由一个在运营层面(包括规划、采购和物流的一个古板的领域)提拔上来的人直接管理过。

Apple didn’t make Mr Williams available for this article, but people who have worked with him say he has been more visible in the product-development process than Mr Cook.

苹果公司没有让威廉姆斯就这篇文章置评，但与他共事过的人表示，在产品开发过程中，他比库克更引人注目。

Mr Williams has shown interest in products’ look and feel, they said, and helped steer the Apple Watch from being a fashion- and fitness-focused product tethered to the iPhone to one that boasts wireless connectivity and more health features, one of his priorities.

他们表示，威廉姆斯对产品的外观和感觉表现出了兴趣，并帮助Apple Watch从一个附属于iPhone的以健身功能为主的时尚配件，转变为一款支持无线联网和更多健康功能的产品，这是他的功绩之一。

Still, Mr Williams is an operations executive at his core, the people said, and his skills at logistics and planning make him more implementer than inventor.

但知情人士称，威廉姆斯本质上是一位运营高管，他在物流和规划方面的才能让他看起来更像是一位实干家，而非发明家。

“He sees where we are, not where we need to be in years to come,” said a former colleague, who also praised Mr Williams’s leadership, versatility and encyclopedic memory.

一位前同事说：“他看到的是我们现在所处的位置，而不是未来几年我们需要达到的位置。”他还赞扬了威廉姆斯的领导力、多才多艺和广博的记忆力。

(全文共339个词，华尔街日报)

重难点词汇：

pragmatist n. 实用主义者;爱管闲事的人

procurement n. 采购;获得，取得

anticipation n. 预料，预期;预感;预支;盼望，希望;先发制人

logistic adj. 后勤的;安排协调方面的;组织上的 n. 数理逻辑;符号逻辑

tether n. 系链;拴绳 v. (用绳或链)拴住

versatility n. 多功能性;多才多艺;用途广泛考研都考什么

encyclopedic adj. 渊博的;知识广博的

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