????朱麗婭?胡與蘋(píng)果（Apple）攜手,，銷(xiāo)售幫助人們起床的小玩意。胡是Lark公司的首席執(zhí)行官,，這家初創(chuàng)公司生產(chǎn)的腕帶能追蹤你的睡眠情況,，并在某一時(shí)刻開(kāi)始震動(dòng)，無(wú)聲的將你“喚醒”,，而不會(huì)吵到你的枕邊人,。你只需翻個(gè)身，用手指在你的iPhone上劃一下,，就能關(guān)閉震動(dòng),。
????然后，你可以睡眼朦朧地查看Lark追蹤的信息：夜里你醒了幾次,，什么時(shí)候醒的,，都體現(xiàn)在一張睡眠圖表里。這個(gè)小玩意很不錯(cuò),，一不小心就會(huì)上癮,。使用了幾周之后，我開(kāi)始用它的讀數(shù)來(lái)為自己的壞脾氣辯護(hù),。我一直對(duì)自己說(shuō),，假如前一晚我不知不覺(jué)醒了24次，那么第二天說(shuō)些刻薄的牢騷話(huà)是可以原諒的,。
????如果你想閱讀Lark的詳細(xì)評(píng)測(cè),，請(qǐng)參閱其它網(wǎng)站。不過(guò)我更感興趣的是Lark的商業(yè)模型,，換句話(huà)說(shuō),，Lark為何如此走運(yùn)？因?yàn)楫?dāng)絕大部分創(chuàng)業(yè)公司還在費(fèi)盡心思向陌生人推介自己時(shí),，Lark已經(jīng)成功牽手了最重量級(jí)的合作伙伴——蘋(píng)果,。
????僅僅一次會(huì)晤之后，蘋(píng)果的大佬們就決定將Lark放上北美洲蘋(píng)果零售店的貨架上。就這樣,，Lark將命運(yùn)和蘋(píng)果綁在了一起,，就如同一只緊緊附著在船身免費(fèi)旅行的藤壺（海洋里的一種甲殼類(lèi)小動(dòng)物——譯注）。
????透過(guò)Lark的故事,，我們能略微一窺蘋(píng)果的零售運(yùn)營(yíng)是如何運(yùn)作的,。不過(guò)胡不愿意過(guò)多談?wù)摯耸隆Ｋ趲字芮?，即Lark發(fā)布之前,，向《財(cái)富》（Fortune）透露，“蘋(píng)果要求我嚴(yán)守秘密,，他們非常不希望我談?wù)撊魏蜗嚓P(guān)事情,。”
????其它幾家公司,，像無(wú)線(xiàn)配件生產(chǎn)商Jawbone,、羅技（Logitech）和擁有iHome品牌的SDI科技公司等，都不愿評(píng)論自己與蘋(píng)果的零售關(guān)系,。蘋(píng)果的合作伙伴們似乎都被蘋(píng)果“大名鼎鼎”的保密文化同化了,，或者說(shuō)他們都很害怕蘋(píng)果的報(bào)復(fù)。不過(guò)這就是接受蘋(píng)果恩賜的代價(jià)吧,。（蘋(píng)果也拒絕對(duì)此置評(píng),。）
????下面我們來(lái)盡可能詳細(xì)講述一下Lark的故事：朱莉亞?胡畢業(yè)于麻省理工學(xué)院斯隆商學(xué)院（MIT's Sloan School of Business），她當(dāng)時(shí)開(kāi)發(fā)出了能正常工作的Lark的原型,。2010年,，胡通過(guò)一些人的安排，與蘋(píng)果進(jìn)行了一次會(huì)議,。胡表示,，“我當(dāng)時(shí)以為蘋(píng)果肯定對(duì)我們一無(wú)所知，我要向蘋(píng)果介紹Lark是什么,，我們又是誰(shuí),。”不過(guò)蘋(píng)果并不需要他們做任何解釋,。主管蘋(píng)果配件銷(xiāo)售的道格?理查森告訴胡,，蘋(píng)果已經(jīng)關(guān)注Lark六個(gè)月時(shí)間了。理查森僅僅快速瀏覽了一下Lark,，就決定將上千條Lark腕帶放上蘋(píng)果零售店貨架,。
????蘋(píng)果首席視覺(jué)設(shè)計(jì)師杰克?克萊因幫助Lark設(shè)計(jì)了包裝。胡表示,，“我從他那兒學(xué)到了不少東西,。人們希望感覺(jué)到這是一款怎樣的產(chǎn)品,。找到一種方法讓他們能迅速聯(lián)想到蘋(píng)果，從而證明這是款讓人舒適的產(chǎn)品,?！焙钍軉l(fā)，她按照克萊因的教導(dǎo),，重新排列了Lark包裝盒內(nèi)的部件,。胡表示，“我基本上把蘋(píng)果的人當(dāng)作測(cè)試版的用戶(hù),?！?/p>
????那些測(cè)試版試用者將成為L(zhǎng)ark的獨(dú)家零售商，至少在最初幾個(gè)月是如此,。作為交換,，Lark得以加入到蘋(píng)果的“路演”中。但事實(shí)上,，似乎沒(méi)有人樂(lè)意討論蘋(píng)果的路演究竟是什么,。胡擔(dān)心向我們透露這些信息將違反自己與蘋(píng)果的保密協(xié)議。蘋(píng)果當(dāng)然也不會(huì)討論此事,。不過(guò)蘋(píng)果的官方網(wǎng)站上還是有“K-12 IT路演”的信息。通過(guò)谷歌搜索可以看到,，路演就是一種小型集會(huì),，人們可以參與其中并從中了解開(kāi)發(fā)者對(duì)蘋(píng)果技術(shù)的利用情況。胡顯然認(rèn)為蘋(píng)果在會(huì)議上討論Lark是大有裨益的,。這再次證明Lark的市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷(xiāo)現(xiàn)在與蘋(píng)果緊緊捆綁在了一起,。
????所有這一切的目的都是讓Lark進(jìn)入到盡可能多的人的視線(xiàn)里。根據(jù)投資與資本管理公司Needham & Co的調(diào)查,，過(guò)去三個(gè)月,，300家蘋(píng)果零售店的平均客流量超過(guò)20萬(wàn)人。即便只有很少一部分顧客看到了Lark,，但對(duì)Lark而言,，也是很高的曝光率。蘋(píng)果向Lark提供了推銷(xiāo)渠道,。很多互聯(lián)網(wǎng)新創(chuàng)公司都會(huì)告訴你,，渠道對(duì)于產(chǎn)生最初的客流至關(guān)重要，因?yàn)樗麄冸S后才能進(jìn)行口耳相傳,。如果這渠道分布在300個(gè)不同得地方,，每個(gè)地方都有成千上萬(wàn)人光顧呢？那就更好了,。
????和很多應(yīng)用開(kāi)發(fā)商利用App Store一樣,，Lark利用蘋(píng)果來(lái)獲得關(guān)注,。開(kāi)發(fā)商們希望蘋(píng)果的網(wǎng)絡(luò)將幫助自己找到“觀(guān)眾”。 Lark的地位比其它開(kāi)發(fā)商更加穩(wěn)固,。畢竟蘋(píng)果明確邀請(qǐng)Lark進(jìn)駐其零售商店,，而這不僅僅是因?yàn)長(zhǎng)ark沒(méi)有違反蘋(píng)果神秘的條件和條款文件。
????Lark獲得了蘋(píng)果的認(rèn)可,。對(duì)于蘋(píng)果的死忠粉絲來(lái)說(shuō),，這就如同得到了史蒂夫?喬布斯的臨幸。是不是在床上倒無(wú)所謂,。
????譯者：項(xiàng)航 |
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????Julia Hu got into bed with Apple (AAPL) so she could sell gadgets that get people out of bed. Hu is the CEO of Lark, a startup making a wristband that tracks your sleep until the moment it interrupts it. That's when it starts vibrating, a silent alarm that wakes you while your partner stays asleep. To turn it off you roll over and slide your finger across your iPhone.
????You can then blearily look at what Lark has been tracking: When and how often you woke up during the night, charted out on a sleep graph. It's a neat, addictive little gadget, and after weeks of testing, I've started to use its readings to justify any and all crankiness. Caustic grumbles are excusable when I know my sleep was unconsciously interrupted 24 times overnight. Or so I keep telling myself.
????If you want to read a full review of the product, look elsewhere. I'm more intrigued by Lark's business model, which is to say Lark's luck. Because while most startups have to shill to introduce themselves to strangers, Lark has already introduced itself to the one party that mattered most: Apple.
????After only one meeting with Apple, the people in Cupertino agreed to put Lark on the shelves of Apple Stores across North America. And just like that, Lark attached its fortune to Apple's - a barnacle along for the ride.
????Lark's story offers a rare glimpse into how things work inside Apple's retail operation. Not that Hu can say that much about it. "The Apple stuff is so under-wraps they don't really want me to talk about anything," she told Fortune a few weeks ago, before Lark launched.
????Several other companies, from Jawbone to Logitech (LOGI) to SDI's iHome, declined to comment on their retail relationships with Apple. Apple's partners appear to be assimilating to Apple's notorious devotion to secrecy – or fearful of its vindictive reprisals. But that's the cost of receiving Apple's blessing. (Apple also declined to comment for this story.)
????Lark's story, or as much as it can be retold, goes like this: In 2010, after graduating from MIT's Sloan School of Business and developing a working Lark prototype, Hu leveraged some contacts and got a meeting with Apple. "I went in there thinking it was going to be a completely cold pitch that we'd be explaining to them what Lark was and who we were," she says. But Apple didn't need an explanation. Doug Richardson, the man in charge of Apple's accessories merchandising, told her Apple had been tracking the buzz about Lark for six months. It only took a quick pitch from Lark to have Richardson put thousands of Larks in Apple's retail stores.
????Jack Klein, one of Apple's lead visual designers, helped Lark design the packaging. "He told us several things," Hu says. "People want to feel what they're sleeping with. Figure out a way where you could quickly have an Apple associate prove that this is a comfortable product.'" Hu, impressed, did as she was told, rearranging what was inside the box. "I consider them almost like beta testers," Hu says.
????And those beta testers, at least for the first few months, will be Lark's exclusive retailer. In exchange, Lark gets to take part in Apple's "roadshow," a – well... actually, nobody seems willing to talk about what Apple's roadshow is. Hu worried that telling me would violate her non-disclosure agreement with Apple. Apple of course declined to comment. Apple's own website, though, has information about a "K-12 IT Road Show." And a quick Google search shows it's a mini-conference for people to come and see what developers are doing with Apple technology. Hu apparently felt it was worth having Apple talk Lark up at these conferences. More proof that Lark's marketing is now inexorably hitched to Apple's.
????And that's what this is all about: Getting Lark in front of as many people as possible. On average, more than 200,000 people came through each of Apple's 300+ stores in the last three months, according to Needham & Co. That's great exposure for Lark, even if a small fraction of those shoppers look at Lark. For Lark, Apple offers a retailing portal to its product. And as any web startup can tell you, portals are the key to generating that initial traffic bump that starts word of mouth. If that portal has hundreds of thousands of visitors in each of its 300 locations? Even better.
????Lark, then, is using Apple the same way many app developers use the App Store: to be seen. Developers are hopeful Apple's network will help them find an audience. Lark's position is even more secure. Apple, after all, explicitly invited Lark into the retail store, and not just because it didn't violate its arcane terms and conditions document.
????Lark has received Apple's imprimatur. And for Apple diehards, that's as good as being touched by Steve Jobs himself. In bed or otherwise.
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