经济学人110:诺记新机 悬崖边的挣扎

 　　Business Nokia's new phones Not drowning, but waving

　　商业 诺记新机 悬崖边的挣扎
　　The struggling phonemaker shows off its first Windows handsets
　　深陷泥潭的诺基亚展示自己的第一款微软win7系统的手机.
　　EIGHT months ago Stephen Elop, Nokia's newish chief executive, told the Finnish phonemaker's staff that they were "standing 1 on a burning platform" and had no choice but to jump into the "icy waters" below.
　　8个月前，斯蒂芬埃洛普，这位新晋诺基亚的首席执行官，向这个芬兰手机制造巨头的员工发表了讲话，说"我们正处于一个燃烧的平台之中，别无选择之下，只能跳入下方冰冷的海水中"。
　　His plan for fishing the company out of the freezing briny 2 rests largely on making smartphones that use Microsoft's Windows operating system—and getting them to market quickly.
　　很大程度上，他将引领诺基亚走出低谷的希望寄托在了制造使用微软操作系统的手机，并将其快速推向市场的计划之上。
　　On October 26th Mr Elop unveiled the first of these devices.
　　在10月26日，埃洛普揭开了首批机型的面纱。
　　On a live feed from Salo, in Finland, a proud employee packed a Lumia 800 into its box.
　　在芬兰萨罗的现场转播中，一位骄傲的诺基亚员工将一部Lumia 800 装进了包装盒内。
　　It is due to go on sale in six European countries next month. It will have a cheaper sibling 3, the Lumia 710.
　　此款机型计划下个月在六个欧洲国家上市，并且它将有一个廉价姊妹版本----即Lumia 710.
　　By recent standards, this is fast work. Nokia had been slow to cotton on to the popularity of touch screens.
　　照现今业界的标准，之前对触摸操控流行趋势的反应迟钝，但这次的行动确实迅速。
　　Its own operating system, Symbian, which was not designed for touch, looked clunky.
　　它的自家操作系统，塞班，并没有专门为触摸操作而设计，而且看起来非常过时。
　　While Nokia dithered, consumers lapped up Apple's iPhone and the many smartphones based on Google's Android operating system.
　　当诺基亚正因此而站在十字路口犹豫时，许多顾客转而选择了苹果的ipohone和基于谷歌安卓系统的手机。
　　All this cost Mr Elop's predecessor 4, Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, his job in September 2010.
　　这就导致了埃洛普的前任Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo在2010年9月丢掉了工作。
　　Having plumped for Windows over Symbian and MeeGo, a system Nokia had worked on with Intel, a huge semiconductor-maker,
　　在下定决心选择了微软的系统而非塞班亦或是和半导体制造商英特尔合作开发的Meego系统之后，
　　Mr Elop has had to move quickly.
　　埃洛普先生必须要加速行动了，
　　Even fewer people want Symbian, though Nokia updates and supports it: Nokia's smartphone sales fell by 39% in the year to the third quarter, when the firm made its second quarterly operating loss in a row.
　　尽管诺基亚一直在为塞班系统提供升级和技术支持，但是想拥有一部塞班手机的顾客已经越来越少了。今年，截至第三季度，诺基亚公司已经连续两季营业亏损，其智能手机的销量下降了39%。
　　Pricing is another sign of urgency. The Lumia 710 will be the cheapest Windows smartphone available. It may be the first to be offered free to low-tariff customers after operators' subsidies 5, says Francisco Jeronimo of IDC, a research firm.
　　IDC研究公司的Francisco Jeronimo说道:"定价（的高低）也从另一个方面显示了形势的紧迫性。Lumia 710将是市面上最便宜的搭载WP7操作系统的手机，并有可能经过运营商补贴之后免费提供给保税区的顾客。
　　The new phones have more going for them than price and cool Nordic design. Operators will surely be glad of an alternative to Apple and Android.
　　这两款新机的优点不仅仅是低价和时髦的北欧式设计，运营商们肯定乐于打破苹果和安卓两家独大的局面，并且微软的系统也比诺基亚的要可靠的多。
　　Microsoft's software is a more reliable bet than Nokia's own.
　　"相比于其出众的硬件配备，诺基亚所提供的软件实在是太过糟糕"。
　　"They've had great hardware but the software was a disaster," says Ben Wood of CCS Insight, another research group.
　　"有了这两款手机，诺基亚提供的软件服务将非常可靠"。
　　"With this product, they know the software's going to be rock solid."
　　CCS Insight 研究公司的Ben Wood 如是说。
　　The phones contain applications to distinguish them from rivals,
　　这两部新机里的内置应用使人们将它与其竞争对手区别开来，
　　such as a navigation system for drivers that uses Nokia's maps, by common consent the best in the trade, public-transport information for 450 cities in 44 countries, and streamed free music.
　　例如比如车载导航系统就基于业内公认最顶尖的诺基亚数字地图里面包括了44个国家450个城市的公共交通信息，以及免费的音乐软件。
　　Carolina Milanesi of Gartner, another research outfit 6, expects further differentiation 7 once a new version of Windows appears, probably next year.
　　分析机构Gartner分析师卡罗琳娜?米兰内塞(Carolina Milanesi)指出，或许明年微软研发出新一代操作系统时，这种差别将变得更明显。
　　That said, Nokia must still work to keep its chin above the waves.
　　这就是说，诺基亚还需在险境中奋力挣扎。
　　Microsoft, though a titan in personal-computer software, is a homunculus in mobile devices. Nokia's market share in America, where new smartphones are due to go on sale next year, has all but vanished.
　　尽管微软是个人电脑方面的巨头，在移动设备方面却相对弱势，而且诺记在美国---也就是明年两部新机要上市地区的市场份额已经消失殆尽。
　　Operators there may prefer Windows phones under more popular brands. And Windows' "tiles" require more explaining to the novice 8 than the icons 9 on an iPhone or Android phone.
　　美国的移动运营商们也更倾向于销售较受欢迎品牌的微软操作系统手机，况且面向一个对手机一窍不通的人推荐预装微软操作系统的手机可比预装了IOS和安卓系统的手机要难多了。
　　Hence Nokia's plan to put lots of "seeding" devices into retailers 10' hands.
　　所以说诺基亚的计划就是向尽可能多的零售商推广自己的最新产品。
　　Nokia is still the biggest seller of less sophisticated "feature" phones and shifted 25% more of them in the third quarter than the second.
　　但诺基亚在非智能手机领域独占鳌头，在第三季度，其第三季度的出货量比第二季度增长了25%。
　　This week it presented four new models,
　　并在本周推出了四款新机型，
　　aimed chiefly at aspiring 11, fun-loving youngsters in emerging markets—though they will be sold everywhere but America and Canada.
　　主要针对新兴市场中朝气蓬勃、酷爱玩乐的年轻客户---尽管它们不会在美国和加拿大上市.
　　Mr Elop thinks these products are "blurring 12 the line" between smartphones and feature phones: they even come with "Angry Birds", an online game to which many smartphone users have become hopelessly addicted 13, made by Rovio, another Finnish company.
　　埃洛普先生认为这些产品正在使智能和非智能手机的界限变得模糊，愤怒的小鸟，这款由芬兰Rovio公司研发的令许多智能手机用户无可救药般喜爱的游戏也被移植到了诺基亚的非智能手机之上。
　　Mr Elop does not need people to crave 14 Nokia's new phones. Merely to buy them.
　　或许埃洛普先生需要做的并不是让人们对诺基亚的新机有多大的渴望，他只要让他们掏腰包将它们买下来，这就足够了。