????創(chuàng)新乏力是Twitter長(zhǎng)期以來(lái)所面臨的一大難題。

????主題標(biāo)簽功能是用戶提出的。TweetDeck是Twitter從別處收購(gòu)的?，F(xiàn)在又傳聞Twitter正考慮關(guān)閉今年早些時(shí)候發(fā)布的音樂(lè)服務(wù)。登錄Twitter.com，大家眼前所見(jiàn)和五年前大同小異。知名商業(yè)雜志《快速公司》（Fast Company）已將Twitter從今年的“最具創(chuàng)新力公司”榜單上除名。

????但就此得出Twitter不思進(jìn)取顯然有失偏頗。上周四，Twitter公布了IPO細(xì)節(jié)，預(yù)計(jì)每股發(fā)行價(jià)為17到20美元，由此計(jì)算，市值可達(dá)100億美元。這家IPO新貴在研發(fā)上的投入可不含糊。根據(jù)IPO文件，今年第三季度，Twitter的研發(fā)開(kāi)支高達(dá)9,000萬(wàn)美元，相當(dāng)于公司同期營(yíng)收的52%。這是Twitter公司最大的一塊開(kāi)銷，是其市場(chǎng)營(yíng)銷開(kāi)支的一倍以上。這個(gè)比例遠(yuǎn)高于絕大多數(shù)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)對(duì)手。以Facebook為例，它在上市前一個(gè)季度的研發(fā)開(kāi)支僅為營(yíng)收的14%。當(dāng)然，現(xiàn)在這個(gè)比例已經(jīng)上升至26%。不過(guò)，F(xiàn)acebook和Twitter不同，它至少是盈利的。

????谷歌（Google）的研發(fā)開(kāi)支是營(yíng)收的15%。而且谷歌還在研發(fā)無(wú)人汽車、谷歌眼鏡等高精尖產(chǎn)品，甚至還有太空電梯。

????眼下并沒(méi)有跡象顯示Twitter正在研發(fā)什么先鋒產(chǎn)品。事實(shí)上，Twitter在IPO文件中對(duì)研發(fā)預(yù)算的細(xì)節(jié)幾乎只字未提，只是用官方語(yǔ)言描述稱，研發(fā)開(kāi)支被用于“改進(jìn)我們的產(chǎn)品與服務(wù)?！盩witter顯然并未在建設(shè)高精尖實(shí)驗(yàn)室，也沒(méi)有打造什么超級(jí)計(jì)算機(jī)。Twitter研發(fā)費(fèi)用的大頭實(shí)際上都與人力成本相關(guān)。上季度，它研發(fā)開(kāi)支的相當(dāng)一部分被用于支付公司股票期權(quán)。

????Twitter并未透露從事研發(fā)工作的員工數(shù)目。這家公司目前共有2,300名員工。假如都是研發(fā)人員的話，他們的年薪將高達(dá)104,000美元，但顯然并非如此。

????從Twitter的收益表中可以看到，它過(guò)去一年在研發(fā)方面的總投入將近2.5億美元。從2010年初計(jì)算，Twitter已在研發(fā)上投入了4.28億美元。但這顯然不是這家公司在研發(fā)上的全部開(kāi)支。實(shí)際花的錢要更多。

????Twitter和其它科技公司一樣，將一些軟件和其它研發(fā)成本進(jìn)行了貨幣化。換句話說(shuō)，Twitter一開(kāi)始就為這筆研發(fā)開(kāi)支做了預(yù)算，但它不會(huì)馬上顯示在收益表中。Twitter會(huì)在接下來(lái)數(shù)年分批將這筆錢花掉。只要公司認(rèn)為這筆錢能在未來(lái)幾年帶來(lái)收入增長(zhǎng)，這樣做報(bào)表也是規(guī)則允許的。所以，除了常規(guī)研發(fā)開(kāi)支，Twitter從2011年初開(kāi)始，在貨幣化軟件和研發(fā)成本方面共計(jì)開(kāi)支8，700萬(wàn)美元。

????一些看過(guò)Twitter公司IPO申請(qǐng)文件的分析師表示，這家公司的財(cái)務(wù)狀況可能比賬面上顯示的更好。若扣除研發(fā)費(fèi)用，Twitter是盈利的。不過(guò)，鑒于研發(fā)費(fèi)用可能占Twitter人員開(kāi)支的大頭，這筆費(fèi)用短期內(nèi)不大可能下降，除非Twitter打算精簡(jiǎn)人員。事實(shí)上，Twitter在IPO申請(qǐng)文件中寫道，“在可預(yù)見(jiàn)的未來(lái)”，研發(fā)開(kāi)支金額預(yù)計(jì)將持續(xù)增長(zhǎng)。

????券商Wedbush Securities公司跟蹤社交媒體公司的分析師邁克爾?帕切特說(shuō)：“我猜測(cè)Twitter的研發(fā)開(kāi)支很多是用于使其網(wǎng)站實(shí)現(xiàn)無(wú)縫銜接、適用于移動(dòng)設(shè)備，同時(shí)擴(kuò)建視頻流媒體服務(wù)器。擴(kuò)建規(guī)模很大。我不知道Twitter正在怎樣進(jìn)行創(chuàng)新，但我認(rèn)為現(xiàn)在就批評(píng)他們?nèi)狈?chuàng)意還為時(shí)過(guò)早?！?/p>

????或許Twitter是在超支方面獨(dú)出心裁？（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：項(xiàng)航?

????One of the long-time knocks on Twitter is that it doesn't do a very good job of innovating.

????Users came up with hashtags. TweetDeck was created by another company that Twitter had to buy. Twitter is reportedly considering shutting down a music site that it launched earlier this year. Go to Twitter.com and you will basically see the same thing you did five years ago. FastCompany booted Twitter from its list of most innovative companies this year.

????This is apparently not for lack of trying. Twitter, which priced its IPO Thursday at $17-$20 per share, giving it a valuation of $10 billion, spends a lot on research and development. According to its IPO document, in the third quarter of the year, Twitter shelled out nearly $90 million on R&D. That was equal to more than half, 52%, of the company's revenue in the same period. It is Twitter's largest cost, nearly 50% more than it spent on marketing. And it's far more than most of its rivals spend. Facebook, for instance, spent just 14% of its revenue on R&D in the quarter right before it went public. It has since ramped up that spending to 26%. But Facebook (FB) makes money, unlike Twitter.

????Google (GOOG) spends just 15% of revenue on R&D. And Google is working on a self-driving car, high-tech glasses and, maybe, space elevators.

????There is no sign that Twitter is working on anything that cool. Twitter actually gives very little detail about what it spends its R&D budget on in the offering documents for its IPO. It says that R&D expenses are to "improve our products and services." And it doesn't appear that Twitter is building some kind of high-tech lab or supercomputer. In fact, the bulk of Twitter's R&D expenses go toward personnel-related expenses. And a good portion of that expense, about a quarter, was the cost of handing out stock options.

????Twitter doesn't say how many employees work in its R&D groups. The company has a total of 2,300 employees. That would be $104,000 per employee if all of its employees were in R&D, which they are not.

????In all, Twitter says on its income statement it has spent close to a quarter of a billion dollars on R&D in the past year. Since the beginning of 2010, Twitter has logged a $428 million expense for R&D. But that isn't actually all the money the company has spent on R&D. In reality, it has spent more than that.

????Twitter, like other technology companies, capitalizes some of its software and other development costs. That means that while Twitter pays for those R&D expenses upfront, that cost doesn't actually show up on its income statement. Instead, Twitter expenses the cost in chunks over the next few years. The rules allow that as long as you think the R&D expense will add to your sales over the next few years. In addition to its regular R&D expenses, Twitter spent another $87 million on capitalized software and other development costs since the beginning of 2011.

????Some analysts who have looked at Twitter's IPO filing have said its finances may be better than they appear. Take away the R&D expense and Twitter would be profitable. But considering the R&D expense likely makes up such a large part of what the company spends on employees, it's unlikely to go away any time soon, unless Twitter expects to start downsizing. In fact, in the IPO documents, Twitter says that it expects R&D expenses "will increase in dollar amounts for the foreseeable future."

????"I can only assume a lot of it is on making the site seamless, delivering to mobile, and building out servers that can accommodate video. That's a lot of buildout," says Michael Pachter, an analyst who follows social media companies at brokerage firm Wedbush Securities. "I don't know what they're doing to innovate, but I think it is early to criticize them for lack of creativity."

????Overspending, perhaps?