经济学人327:三星 韩国巨头新年出师不利

　　Business

商业报道

Samsung

三星

Fluffed lines

忘词

The South Korean giant has a lousy start to the new year

韩国巨头新年出师不利

THE last 51 weeks of 2014 will be better than the first one.

2014年过去的51周都比新年的第一周要好。

Or so Samsung's bosses will hope after two toe-curlers in as many days.

在经过这些天来的两次惨淡经营后，三星的老板们更是希望如此。

2_副本.jpgOn January 6th, at the Consumer Electronics Show, a trade fair in Las Vegas, Michael Bay, director of the Transformer films, was due to extol 1 a new Samsung television with a 105-inch curved screen.

今年1月6号，在位于拉斯维加斯的电子消费产品展上，变形金刚系列电影的导演迈克尔·贝本来是要称赞三星一款105英寸的弧形屏幕电视的，

Alas 2, the autocue froze—as did Mr Bay, who walked off the stage.

可是就当他走上台的时候，提词器就卡屏了，最后尴尬下台。

The next day Samsung Electronics, the part of the South Korean conglomerate 3 that makes mobile devices, consumer electronics, semiconductors 4 and display panels, admitted that in the last quarter of 2013 it had fallen far short of analysts 5' forecasts.

随后的第二天，三星电子—三星集团中负责销售移动设备、电子展品、半导体和显示器的子公司，承认2013年最后一个季度的销售远低于分析师的预期。

Samsung Electronics' operating profit in the fourth quarter fell for the first time in more than two years, to about 8.3 trillion won, 18% less than in the third.

两年以来，三星电子第四季度的营业利润首次下滑，降至8.3万亿韩元，比第三季度少了18%，分析人士预计原本会有10万亿韩元或更多的收益。

Analysts had hoped for 10 trillion won or more. Revenue was around 59 trillion won, flat from the third quarter.

收入在59万亿韩元左右，与第三季度持平。

Rumours 6 of a miss had already cropped 9% from the share price since December 23rd.

销售额下滑的传闻已经使股价自12月23日以来下降了9%。

Unlike the autocue, Samsung Electronics has not gone phut.

不像提词器表现的那样，三星电子并没有死机，

The full results are due later this month, and the company is giving no more details yet, but most of the shortfall can probably be ascribed to temporary factors.

最后的结果会与本月底揭晓，公司目前没有给出详细的结果，但是短期的下滑大多归因于临时性的原因。

Samsung Electronics has handed maybe 800 billion won to its staff in a special bonus. Mark Newman of Sanford C.

三星电子分配给了三星员工大约8000亿韩元的特别红利。

Bernstein, a research firm, reckons that the strength of the won, which is at a four-year high, accounts for another 700 billion won.

一家分析公司的马克·纽曼表示韩元的实力达到了四年来的新高，约合7000亿韩元。

Mr Newman adds that in the second and third quarters Samsung Electronics—which sells more smartphones than anyone else—shipped more devices than operators could shift, leaving them with bigger inventories 7 than usual.

纽曼先生补充说，在第二和第三季度，三星电子比其他任何公司销售了更多的只能手机，比起运营商卖出了更多的设备，使得它们剩下了比以往更多的库存。

So Samsung probably shipped fewer to them in the fourth quarter.

因而三星在第四季度可能给它们减少了配额。

But over the whole year, shipments grew by half and Samsung won market share from Apple at the pricier end of the market.

但是从全年来看，出货量增加了一半，并以市场中更高的价格从苹果公司那赢得了更多额市场份额。

Operating profits were up substantially, too, Mr Newman says; just the timing 8 was different.

纽曼说：营业利润也在持续增加，只是时间不同而已。

A more niggling worry is that the company is starting to find the market for mobile devices harder work.

一个更为让人费神的担忧是，三星公司正在为移动设备的硬件寻找市场。

IDC, another research firm, expects smartphone shipments to grow by 18.4% a year between 2013 and 2017.

另一家研究公司IDC预计，从2013年到2017年，只能手机的出货量将增长18.4%。

That sounds dandy for Samsung, but the fastest growth is in cheaper phones, where competition is getting fiercer and margins 9 thinner.

这对三星公司来说似乎是极好的，但是增长最快的是廉价手机，而这一块的市场竞争日益激烈，利润也日益单薄。

Dozens of Chinese companies are making cheap devices that are improving all the time. IDC predicts that average prices will fall by 7.3% a year.

众多的中国公司都在不断研发更好的廉价移动设备，IDC公司预计平均价格会以7.3%的幅度下滑。

However, given Samsung's sheer scale and the range of its phones at all prices, it is probably as well placed as anybody.

然而，考虑到三星的市场份额以及它的手机覆盖所有的价格范围，这使得三星比其他任何公司都处在更好的位置。

Analysts at Nomura, a bank, point out that although cheaper smartphones command lower margins than dearer ones, they are at least more profitable than basic builder's phones.

一家银行的分析人士指出，尽管智能手机比起廉价手机更有利可图，但它们起码比民工手机赚钱。

And the margins on Samsung's tablets are rising.

并且三星平板的利润也在上升。

Breadth was, in effect, Samsung's pitch at CES.

未来发展应用的广度，实际上才是三星在电子消费品展览会上所强调的。

As well as its gargantuan 10 TVs it showed off new tablets, washing machines and more—and a platform called Smart Home, on which all manner of appliances could be controlled from inside or outside the home.

包括会上展示的巨型电视、新型平板、洗衣机以及更多的设备，并展示了一个名为智能家庭的平台，通过这一平台所有的家用设备都能在室内或是室外操控。

The connected home has been a technologists' dream for years: the industry is about to find out how many people want it in reality.

这种智能连接方式一直是技术人员多年的梦想：这个产业就是要发现在现实生活中有多少人想要实现这种智能的连接方式。

Mr Bay may have been lost for words, but Samsung is not lost for ideas—nor for money.

迈克尔·贝可能会忘了词，但是三星从来不缺想法或是资金。