现在硅谷开始盛传这样一句话：硬件就是新的软件。也就是说，多年以来，在无数网站、应用和云计算纷纷闪亮登场，而硬件创新只能叨陪末座后，硬件创新又开始升温了。真是这样吗？事实上，几个高调亮相的新产品已经举步维艰了。本文兹举三例，以说明硬件创新有多么困难。

    To hear some in Silicon Valley tell it, hardware is the new software. In other words, after years of taking a backseat to the splashy launches of countless websites, apps, and the cloud, innovation on the hardware side is ramping up again. Is it? Several high-profile launches have stumbled. Here are three examples that prove how hard hardware really is.

例证A：电子腕带Jawbone UP

    2011年，当位于旧金山的无线设备生产商Jawbone公司推出令人惊艳的、能感知动作的腕带后，该公司立即陷入了一场舆论风暴。简单地说，就是用户纷纷抱怨这款设备不好用（比如，这个产品刚推出的那段时间里，我碰到的每5个用户中就有3个向我抱怨这个问题）。这种负面反映极为普遍，Jawbone只好在一个月后召回这款产品，向用户退款，并在去年年末重新发布了新版本。对Jawbone来说这么做当然十分明智，但对UP这款产品来说，它肯定是已经受到损害了。

Exhibit A: The Jawbone UP

    When Jawbone, the San Francisco-based purveyor of wireless devices, originally launched its head-turning, movement-sensing wristband in 2011, the company found itself in the middle of a firestorm. Put simply, users complained that the device didn't work. (Anecdotally, every 3 out of 5 users I spoke to in the device's early days complained to me about the problem.) The outcry was so widespread, Jawbone recalled the product just a month after, offered refunds, and relaunched a redesigned version late last year. Certainly that was a smart move on Jawbone's part, but for UP, it's fair to say the damage has been done.

例证B：智能手表Pebble

    上个月报道Pebble时，我们曾说下一代硬件——可穿戴计算——已经问世了，谷歌眼镜和苹果iWatch注定要失败。Pebble只有区区11名全职员工，然而迄今已出货75,000个手表，评论认为，这个设备是个需要改进的伟大概念性产品。一些人认为，它的显示屏可以再清晰些，标配表带不要显得太廉价，目前可以选择的应用很有限，网络连接功能也有些问题，至少和iOS设备连接时有问题。老实说，该公司今年的主要目标是帮开发者开发更好的软件功能，但舆论对此抱怀疑态度。弗雷斯特研究公司（Forrester）的分析师莎拉•罗特曼•艾普斯称：“Pebble已让众多开发者和喜欢新技术产品的人激动不已。它的功能并不丰富，但算得上一款人们期待的智能手机的延伸产品。”不过她认为，这款产品暂时引发的热潮并不意味着它能在市场上取得更大成功。

Exhibit B: Pebble

    When we wrote about Pebble last month, we said that the next wave of hardware -- wearable computing -- was already here, Google (GOOG) Project Glass and Apple (AAPL) iWatch be damned. While the firm's 11 full-time employees have shipped over 75,000 watches to date, reviews call the device a great concept that needs improvement. Some argue the display could be sharper, the standard watch band less cheap-feeling. App selection remains limited, and the watch has proven to have some connection issues, at least with iOS devices. To be fair, the company's main goal this year is to help developers create better software features for the Pebble, but skeptics remain. "What Pebble has done is captured tremendous excitement from developers and early tech adopters," says Sarah Rotman Epps, a Forrester analyst, who argues that isn't indicative of broader mass-market success. "It doesn't have all the fuctionality yet of something one would expect to be an extension of your smartphone."

例证C：电视游戏机Ouya

    去年6月，当游戏业资深人士朱莉•尤尔曼宣布推出这款99美元的电子游戏机时，在市场上引起巨大轰动。其理念是：为那些不想掏几百美元玩游戏的人打造一台廉价游戏机，并设置一种容易连接、且基于安卓（Android）系统的开源开发环境，让那些最想省钱的草根程序员也能设计游戏。尽管面向消费者的正式发布会要到6月才开，但一些成品已开始提供给众筹网站的支持者了，而初期评价并不太好。如果满分为10分，科技博客Verge只给这台游戏机3.5分。它还写道：“控制杆需要改进，界面一团糟，我还提到过这个设备没有配套产品吧？”Ouya很快做出了反应，声明这款预发布的硬件产品只是预发布的。尤尔曼则在一篇博文中解释说，像复杂的游戏安装进程这类问题将会在明年夏季得到解决，不过很明显这家初创公司还有很多工作要做。

    当然，这并不表示硬件不会迎来“复兴”。大量像Pebble和Ouya这样的公司，正在开发最终能证明自己是革命性产品的硬件。不过，所谓的“硬件复兴”还有很长的路要走。

    《财富》杂志（Fortune）的读者朋友，你怎么看这个现象呢？请在下面发表评论。（财富中文网）

    译者：清远

Exhibit C: Ouya

    The $99 home video game console spearheaded by game industry vet Julie Uhrman generated tons of buzz when it was announced last July. The idea: create a video game console for people who don't want to shell out hundreds and employ an accessible, Android-based open-source development environment so even frugal grassroots coders could put out a game. While the official consumer release isn't until June, units have already begun shipping to Kickstarter backers, and early reviews haven't been so kind. "The controller needs work, the interface is a mess, and have I mentioned there's really nothing to do with the thing?" wrote The Verge, which gave the console a mediocre 3.5 out of 10 rating. Ouya shot back, stating the pre-release hardware being sent out was just that -- pre-release -- and Uhrman clarified in a separate blog post that things like convoluted game install processes will be fixed come summer, but it's clear the startup has a lot of work to do between now and then.

    This isn't to say there won't be a hardware "reawakening," of course. Plenty of companies like Pebble and Ouya are working on hardware that could ultimately prove revolutionary. But the "hardware renaissance" has some way to go yet.

    What do you think, Fortune readers? Chime in with comments below.