「歡迎加入蘋果（Apple）！」
八月初，一封從求職社交網站LinkedIn發出的徵才信，如一顆美麗的鵝卵石，激起台灣百萬工程師心中層層漣漪。
品牌教主蘋果破天荒在台獵才，悄悄透過網站向友達、和碩、聯發科技等工程師招手。信中明確指出，台北研發團隊將研發新iPhone。
蘋果開出的職缺，從硬體、軟體、韌體、測試與物料機械工程師與主管等，明眼人一看便知，蘋果要的就是一整支手機研發團隊，人數絕不只二十五人。
這表面上是對台灣科技人才與產業實力的肯定，但背後卻透露出值得擔憂的訊息。
其一是，蘋果低調神祕的企業性格，封閉的作業系統，不見得是工程師的最佳舞台。
「去了蘋果，就像進了黑洞，」宏達電研究副總張智威直言，不像Google鼓勵工程師對外發表論文、演講，蘋果要求員工一律噤聲。
其二，蘋果借重的還是台灣做低階產品的能力，台灣人才很難藉此提升做高階產品的研發能力。
「蘋果最大的兩支團隊，一是工業設計，二是軟體，兩個蘋果都不可能放出來。在台灣的研發團隊，最有可能是做低價iPhone，和原有團隊區隔，」一位熟悉蘋果的手機廠總經理私底下說。
台灣科技產業更是百感交集。
喜的是，科技產業聚落優勢再次發揮。蘇格蘭皇家證券研究部主管王萬里說，蘋果研發落腳台北，可以零時差和供應鏈溝通設計。
憂的是，當速度成為決勝點，也透露出智慧手機產業過早成熟的隱憂。市調機構顧能（Gartner）最新出爐的智慧手機市場數據顯示，蘋果市佔率直直落，今年第二季，三星以三一．七％市佔率，遙遙領先一四．二％的蘋果。
更嚴重的是，iPhone平均售價達五年新低，從五年前六百美元，滑落到預估兩百至三百美元。
「當蘋果也比速度、比價錢，你就知道，智慧手機產業的成長，不再由創新驅動，」王萬里評論。
個人電腦產業繁花開盡三十年，取而代之的智慧手機和平板電腦，卻只用了五年就黔驢技窮。這才是蘋果這次獵才行動背後，讓科技業神經緊繃的真正原因。
The Economist
八月初，一封從求職社交網站LinkedIn發出的徵才信，如一顆美麗的鵝卵石，激起台灣百萬工程師心中層層漣漪。
品牌教主蘋果破天荒在台獵才，悄悄透過網站向友達、和碩、聯發科技等工程師招手。信中明確指出，台北研發團隊將研發新iPhone。
蘋果開出的職缺，從硬體、軟體、韌體、測試與物料機械工程師與主管等，明眼人一看便知，蘋果要的就是一整支手機研發團隊，人數絕不只二十五人。
這表面上是對台灣科技人才與產業實力的肯定，但背後卻透露出值得擔憂的訊息。
其一是，蘋果低調神祕的企業性格，封閉的作業系統，不見得是工程師的最佳舞台。
「去了蘋果，就像進了黑洞，」宏達電研究副總張智威直言，不像Google鼓勵工程師對外發表論文、演講，蘋果要求員工一律噤聲。
其二，蘋果借重的還是台灣做低階產品的能力，台灣人才很難藉此提升做高階產品的研發能力。
「蘋果最大的兩支團隊，一是工業設計，二是軟體，兩個蘋果都不可能放出來。在台灣的研發團隊，最有可能是做低價iPhone，和原有團隊區隔，」一位熟悉蘋果的手機廠總經理私底下說。
台灣科技產業更是百感交集。
喜的是，科技產業聚落優勢再次發揮。蘇格蘭皇家證券研究部主管王萬里說，蘋果研發落腳台北，可以零時差和供應鏈溝通設計。
憂的是，當速度成為決勝點，也透露出智慧手機產業過早成熟的隱憂。市調機構顧能（Gartner）最新出爐的智慧手機市場數據顯示，蘋果市佔率直直落，今年第二季，三星以三一．七％市佔率，遙遙領先一四．二％的蘋果。
更嚴重的是，iPhone平均售價達五年新低，從五年前六百美元，滑落到預估兩百至三百美元。
「當蘋果也比速度、比價錢，你就知道，智慧手機產業的成長，不再由創新驅動，」王萬里評論。
個人電腦產業繁花開盡三十年，取而代之的智慧手機和平板電腦，卻只用了五年就黔驢技窮。這才是蘋果這次獵才行動背後，讓科技業神經緊繃的真正原因。
The Economist
Carl Icahn's latest investment
Nice juicy Apple
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: August 20, 2013
From The Economist
Published: August 20, 2013
Aug 17th 2013 | SAN FRANCISCO |From the print edition
Activist investors are training their sights on tech firms.
ALTHOUGH he is still stirring things up at Dell, an ailing computer-maker, Carl Icahn has found time to tilt at another tech titan. On August 13th the veteran shareholder activist revealed that he had built up a stake in Apple, though he stayed mum about exactly how many shares he had bought. Mr Icahn's intentions, however, are crystal clear: he wants the consumer-electronics behemoth to expand plans to return some of its whopping $147 billion of cash and marketable securities to shareholders.
Mr Icahn is also after more money at Dell, where he has been lobbying with allies against a proposed buy-out plan put forward by Michael Dell, the firm's founder, and Silver Lake, a private-equity firm. His pressing has already forced the buy-out group to raise its initial offer by over $350m, to $24.8 billion and he has taken his battle to the courts in a bid to extract an even higher price.
Other tech firms have been attracting the attention of activist investors too. Earlier this year ValueAct Capital, an investment fund, said it had built up a $2 billion stake in Microsoft. Jaguar Financial, a Canadian bank, has been encouraging fresh thinking at troubled BlackBerry, which announced on August 12th that it is exploring various strategic options, including alliances and a possible sale. And Elliott Management, a hedge fund, has been lobbying for change at NetApp, a data-storage firm that it thinks could do more to improve returns to shareholders.
One reason tech firms have found themselves in activists' crosshairs is that, like Apple, some built up big cash piles during the economic downturn and have been slow to use the money. Financiers hope to get them to loosen their purse-strings faster and to pocket some of the cash. Mr Icahn wants Apple to increase and accelerate a share buy-back programme that is currently set to return $60 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.
Another reason that tech firms make tempting targets for shareholder activists is that swift changes in technologies can trip up even the mightiest. Witness the case of Microsoft, which ruled the roost during the personal-computer era but has struggled to adapt to a world in which tablets and smartphones are all the rage. Investors hope to mint money by pushing companies to change more rapidly in response to such upheavals in their markets.
The rewards can be substantial. Egged on by Third Point, an activist hedge fund, Yahoo appointed Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive in July 2012. By the time she celebrated a year in the job last month, the troubled web giant's share price had risen by over 70%. In July the hedge fund sold a big chunk of shares back to Yahoo. Mr Icahn thinks Apple's share price, which closed at $499 on August 14th, could soar too if the firm follows his advice on buy-backs. He tweeted this week that he had had a "nice conversation" with Tim Cook, Apple's boss, about his idea, though he did not say what Mr Cook thought of it. If Apple drags its feet, expect things to turn nasty.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
Activist investors are training their sights on tech firms.
ALTHOUGH he is still stirring things up at Dell, an ailing computer-maker, Carl Icahn has found time to tilt at another tech titan. On August 13th the veteran shareholder activist revealed that he had built up a stake in Apple, though he stayed mum about exactly how many shares he had bought. Mr Icahn's intentions, however, are crystal clear: he wants the consumer-electronics behemoth to expand plans to return some of its whopping $147 billion of cash and marketable securities to shareholders.
Mr Icahn is also after more money at Dell, where he has been lobbying with allies against a proposed buy-out plan put forward by Michael Dell, the firm's founder, and Silver Lake, a private-equity firm. His pressing has already forced the buy-out group to raise its initial offer by over $350m, to $24.8 billion and he has taken his battle to the courts in a bid to extract an even higher price.
Other tech firms have been attracting the attention of activist investors too. Earlier this year ValueAct Capital, an investment fund, said it had built up a $2 billion stake in Microsoft. Jaguar Financial, a Canadian bank, has been encouraging fresh thinking at troubled BlackBerry, which announced on August 12th that it is exploring various strategic options, including alliances and a possible sale. And Elliott Management, a hedge fund, has been lobbying for change at NetApp, a data-storage firm that it thinks could do more to improve returns to shareholders.
One reason tech firms have found themselves in activists' crosshairs is that, like Apple, some built up big cash piles during the economic downturn and have been slow to use the money. Financiers hope to get them to loosen their purse-strings faster and to pocket some of the cash. Mr Icahn wants Apple to increase and accelerate a share buy-back programme that is currently set to return $60 billion to shareholders by the end of 2015.
Another reason that tech firms make tempting targets for shareholder activists is that swift changes in technologies can trip up even the mightiest. Witness the case of Microsoft, which ruled the roost during the personal-computer era but has struggled to adapt to a world in which tablets and smartphones are all the rage. Investors hope to mint money by pushing companies to change more rapidly in response to such upheavals in their markets.
The rewards can be substantial. Egged on by Third Point, an activist hedge fund, Yahoo appointed Marissa Mayer as its new chief executive in July 2012. By the time she celebrated a year in the job last month, the troubled web giant's share price had risen by over 70%. In July the hedge fund sold a big chunk of shares back to Yahoo. Mr Icahn thinks Apple's share price, which closed at $499 on August 14th, could soar too if the firm follows his advice on buy-backs. He tweeted this week that he had had a "nice conversation" with Tim Cook, Apple's boss, about his idea, though he did not say what Mr Cook thought of it. If Apple drags its feet, expect things to turn nasty.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
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