Raspberry Pi 和苹果，谁才是真正的供不应求

像这样的情况已经在最近几周内发生两次了──由于低估市场对于产品的需求，导致全球各处店家都贴出“销售一空”(sold out)的公告。第一个遭遇到这种命运的产品是35美元的Raspberry Pi迷你计算机，另一款则是售价500美元的新款iPad。 但只有一家公司对于发生这样的错误情有可原。 The Raspberry Pi Foundation是英国一个小型的慈善组织，成立的宗旨在于推广科技，而非以销售技术来营利。该基金会过去从来没真的发表过一款产品，因而选择了两家全球渠道商Premier Farnell和RS Components为其处理首批Raspberry Pi订单。Raspberry Pi迷你计算机在几个小时内就销售一空。

Raspberry Pi迷你计算机(去一下水银)E5zesmc

苹果公司(Apple Inc.)是一家在科技产品销售服务领域拥有5,000亿美元规模的公司。该公司在制造与销售服务方面已经有25年以上的经验了，拥有供应链专家、规划师、营运经理人、销售与市场专才等等核心干部。过去几年来，该公司也已经发表过十余种产品了。苹果公司还在全球行销网络布署自己的零售商店与通路商，如Best Buy等。该公司最近发表的新款iPad一样在数小时内销售一空。 这两家公司均以“前所未有的需求”作为产品供应不足的理由。如果一家公司才刚成立几年，而且一直关注于教育方面，对于供应链全无经验，最后又选择了没什么零售经验的两家通路商为合作伙伴，我们很清楚像这样的情形是可能发生的。 但是，如果你是一家原本由CEO管理供应链的公司，拥有数百家的供货商，普遍都没有零件产品库存短缺的情况。成千上万的员工随时待命，只待一纸通知下来即可马上开始打造产品。你不只能够从上游供货商处分享到市场预测信息，也可以和下游合作伙伴共同交换意见。对了，你还拥有自己的零售商店，你在市场供需方面可说是相当有经验的。 然而，你却无法预测都已经发表到第三代产品的市场需求？ 对于苹果发表的设计总能带给市场耳目一新的赞叹，我总是给予高度肯定；对于苹果的产品总能维持其一贯的品质、定价与信誉，我也给予极度的赞赏。生活在这样一个资本主义社会下，我也支持苹果公司能够尽可能地赚钱营利。但苹果公司真的是低估市场需求吗？又一次？别开玩笑了！ 编译：Susan Hong 本文授权编译自EBN Online，版权所有，谢绝转载 参考英文原文：：Lessons From Apple & Pi，by Barbara Jorgensen, EBN Community Editor

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{pagination} Lessons From Apple & Pi Barbara Jorgensen, EBN Community Editor It has happened twice in as many weeks -- underestimated demand for a product has resulted in "Sold Out" notices being posted everywhere. The first product to suffer this fate was the $35 Raspberry Pi computer. The second was the new $500 iPad. Only one company has a legitimate excuse for being so wrong. The Raspberry Pi Foundation, a tiny charitable operation, is in the business of spreading technology, rather than selling it. It had never really launched a product before. The foundation chose two global distributors, Premier Farnell and RS Components, to handle the initial orders. The device sold out within hours. (See: Distributors Sell Out of Raspberry Pi in Hours.) Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL) is a $500 billion company in the business of selling technology products. It has been manufacturing and selling devices for more than 25 years. It has a cadre of supply chain experts, planners, operations managers, and sales and marketing gurus. It has released dozens of products over the years. It owns its own set of retail stores and distributes through global outlets such as Best Buy. The new iPad also sold out within hours. (See: Apple Watch: When Failure Equals Success.) Both companies cited "unprecedented demand" as the reason for their shortfalls. I can see that happening if a company is only a couple of years old, focuses on education, has no experience in the supply chain, and partners with two industrial distributors that don't do a lot of retail business. Even they were caught off guard. But let's say you are a company whose CEO used to run your supply chain. You have hundreds of suppliers, and there are no widespread product shortages. You have thousands of employees poised to build your products with a moment's notice. And you share forecasting information not only with your upstream suppliers, but also with your downstream partners. Oh, yeah. You also own retail stores, so you have some experience with supply and demand. And yet you can't predict demand for a product already on its third iteration? Please. I give Apple credit for releasing product after product that wows the market. I also give it credit for maintaining its quality, premium pricing, and reputation. I live in a capitalist society, so I'm also in favor of Apple making as much money as it can. But underestimating a forecast? Again? You've got to be kidding.