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Mobile phones
手機(jī)
The rise of the cheap smartphone
廉價(jià)智能手機(jī)的崛起
As smartphones reach the masses, a host of vendors are eager to serve them
智能手機(jī)普及化，大小手機(jī)廠商開始在低端市場(chǎng)兵戎相向
NEXT month Britons will have yet more smartphones to choose from, when devices from Wiko, a two-year-old French company, go on sale. Wiko will be hoping that its phones, which in France start at around 70, prove as popular across the Channel as at home. In 2013 nearly 7% of French first-time smartphone-buyers plumped for a Wiko, says Carolina Milanesi of Kantar Worldpanel, a research firm. In early 2014 the firm claims to have been the second-biggest vendor in France.
下個(gè)月，英國人民將有更多的智能手機(jī)可供選擇，因?yàn)橄聜€(gè)月Wiko的產(chǎn)品就要在英國上市銷售了。Wiko是法國的一家成立僅兩年的公司，它的產(chǎn)品在法國的最低售價(jià)只有70歐元。Wiko希望能夠在英國可以復(fù)制它在本土的成功。據(jù)市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司Kantar Worldpanel的卡羅琳娜·米蘭內(nèi)塞稱，在2013年，在法國首次購買的智能手機(jī)的人群中，7%選擇了Wiko。今年年初，Wiko宣稱其已成為法國第二大的手機(jī)廠商。
Wiko is not alone. In both rich countries and poor ones, cheaper smartphone brands are making inroads. Demand for pricey phones, mainly in developed economies, is slowing, but that for less expensive devices is booming. People buying their first smartphones today, perhaps to replace a basic handset, care less about the brand and more about price than the richer, keener types of a few years ago.
Wiko并不是個(gè)例。無論是在發(fā)達(dá)國家還是發(fā)展中國家，廉價(jià)手機(jī)品牌正在大舉進(jìn)軍。對(duì)高價(jià)位手機(jī)的需求正在減緩，而對(duì)中低價(jià)位手機(jī)的需求正在急劇增長。現(xiàn)在才開始購買智能手機(jī)的人們，可能原來使用的也只是簡(jiǎn)單的功能機(jī)，所以比起前幾年富人、極客們關(guān)注的品牌，他們更關(guān)注的是價(jià)格。
They are likely to pay less for a nice new smartphone than they did for their shabby old device, because the cost of making smartphones has tumbled. Vendors can buy standardised processors which chip designers such as America's Qualcomm, the market leader, and competitors such as Taiwan's MediaTek or China's Spreadtrum are scrapping furiously to provide in ever-rising quality at ever-lower prices. They choose cameras, screens and so forth to wrap around the innards, and have phones churned out in Chinese factories. Last year, says Francisco Jeronimo of IDC, another research firm, shipments of smartphones priced below 80 more than quintupled. Devices at under 100 made up one-sixth of the total.
因?yàn)橹圃熘悄軝C(jī)的成本猛跌的緣故，人們可以以很低的價(jià)格買到優(yōu)秀的新型智能機(jī)，甚至比他們那些簡(jiǎn)陋的舊手機(jī)的價(jià)格更低。手機(jī)產(chǎn)商可以從芯片制造商那里買到標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化的處理器，現(xiàn)在這一行業(yè)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)極其激烈，行業(yè)老大高通和中國的聯(lián)發(fā)科和展訊正競(jìng)相以史無前例的低價(jià)格提供高質(zhì)量的產(chǎn)品。接著，他們?cè)龠x購攝像頭、屏幕，然后和連同內(nèi)部零件一起打包給中國的工廠批量生產(chǎn)。 互聯(lián)網(wǎng)數(shù)據(jù)中心的弗朗西斯科·杰洛尼摩稱，去年，價(jià)格低于80美元的智能機(jī)的出貨量是上一年的五倍還多;100美元以下的手機(jī)占總量的六分之一。
At a global level, the market has fragmented: in 2013, says IDC, the share of smartphone shipments by vendors outside the top five was 40%, twice as much as in 2009. In national markets, local names unfamiliar elsewhere, like Wiko, are prominent. Micromax and Karbonn rank second and third in India, according to IDC. Symphony is thought to have more than half the market in Bangladesh; and Walton, an electronics firm, has branched successfully into smartphones, notes Holger Hussmann of Telenor, a Norwegian mobile operator with interests in Asia and eastern Europe.
從全球的角度來看，智能機(jī)市場(chǎng)一家獨(dú)大的局面正在改變：IDC稱，2013年，排名前五之外的智能手機(jī)的出貨量在總量的40%，是2009年的兩倍。而在國內(nèi)市場(chǎng)，像Wiko這樣在國際上不知名的品牌處于主導(dǎo)地位。 IDC的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，Micromax和Karbonn*在印度的銷量分居第二、三名。挪威電信的霍爾格·胡斯曼指出，Symphony已占領(lǐng)孟加拉國超過一半的市場(chǎng);生產(chǎn)電子元器件的Walton也已成功把業(yè)務(wù)擴(kuò)展到了職能手機(jī)領(lǐng)域。挪威電信是挪威的一家移動(dòng)運(yùn)營商，正有意開發(fā)亞洲和東歐的市場(chǎng)。
The declining cost of making phones means that buyers are getting more for their money. In 2012, says Mr Jeronimo, 42% of phones priced at less than 80 had a processor faster than 1 gigahertz; by last year 87% did. The proportion of cheap phones with screens more than four inches across went up from less than 8% to 38%. Two years ago the median price of a smartphone was 325. Last year it was 250. This year it may be 200.
智能機(jī)成本的降低意味著消費(fèi)者得到了實(shí)惠。據(jù)IDC的杰洛尼摩稱，2012年市場(chǎng)上處理器速度高于1G且價(jià)格低于80美元的職能機(jī)占總數(shù)的42%，而去年這一數(shù)據(jù)達(dá)到了87%。屏幕大于四英寸的廉價(jià)智能機(jī)的比例由8%升到了38%。兩年前，智能手機(jī)的中間價(jià)為325美元，今年為250美元，今年可能降至200美元。
The cheapest phones will become cheaper still. At Mobile World Congress, an industry jamboree in Barcelona at the end of February, Mozilla, a non-profit company best known for Firefox, its web browser, announced that smartphones running its operating system, Firefox OS, on Spreadtrum chips would go on sale with a target price of only 25. Mr Hussmann reports that the bill of materials is less than that.
這一降價(jià)的趨勢(shì)還會(huì)持續(xù)下去。在今年二月末舉行的MWC大會(huì)上，因火狐瀏覽器而著稱于世的非營利機(jī)構(gòu)Mozilla宣布將發(fā)售定價(jià)僅為25美元的手機(jī)。該手機(jī)搭載展訊的芯片，運(yùn)行Mozilla自己的系統(tǒng)Firefox OS。胡斯曼稱手機(jī)的制造成本并沒有超過25美元。
It is not only at the bottom that competition is intensifying. In China, points out C.K. Lu of Gartner, another research company, OPPO and Vivo, two local brands, both increased their market shares last year despite focusing on phones priced at 2,000 yuan or more. Fancy phones can also polish a brand. Huawei, another Chinese company, has been trying just that; Wiko's top-of-the-range smartphone costs 349.
競(jìng)爭(zhēng)日趨激烈的地方不僅是低端市場(chǎng)。信息研究公司高德納的C.K.Lu指出，中國的本地品牌OPPO和Vivo去年著重發(fā)展價(jià)格高于2000元的智能機(jī)，其市場(chǎng)份額依然都得到了提升。高端手機(jī)可以提高企業(yè)的品牌價(jià)值。另一家中國公司，華為也做了這方面的嘗試。Wiko最的產(chǎn)品的價(jià)格達(dá)到了349美元。
All this is great for smartphone-buyers everywhere. It is less good news for the market leaders, Apple and Samsung—the only vendors making much money. Apple may be insulated by its operating system and apparently impregnable brand, although it has lately been selling cheaper iPhones. Samsung, which dominates the market for phones running on Google's Android operating system, may be more vulnerable.
上述一切對(duì)于全球的智能機(jī)消費(fèi)者來說都是好消息，但是智能機(jī)市場(chǎng)的大佬蘋果和三星——為數(shù)不多的會(huì)因此發(fā)愁。此發(fā)也許蘋果可以依靠其獨(dú)立的操作系統(tǒng)和固若金湯的品牌來免受影響。但是安卓智能機(jī)的主導(dǎo)者三星可能就顯得比較脆弱了。
The South Korean company suffered a decline in profits late last year. Granted, it makes cheaper devices as well as dearer ones, and it can afford some slimming of its margins. People in poor countries also covet global brands: it has taken share from locals in India. But its problem, Mr Jeronimo says, is that it carries lots of costs, in research and development and in marketing, that cheaper rivals do not. “They are able to provide much better devices, in terms of specs, for a much lower price,” he says. “And this is particularly worrying in developed markets.”
去年年底，三星的利潤出現(xiàn)了下降。的確，三星可以同時(shí)經(jīng)營各個(gè)價(jià)位的智能機(jī)，而且也可以承受一定程度的利潤下降。但是三星的真正的問題，正如杰諾尼摩所說的一樣，在于其研發(fā)和營銷方面的巨額開支，而它那些提供廉價(jià)手機(jī)的對(duì)手們則沒有這樣的困擾?！八鼈兛梢砸愿偷膬r(jià)格提供—至少在配置方面來說—更好的設(shè)備，”他說道，“這個(gè)問題發(fā)達(dá)國家市場(chǎng)尤為使人擔(dān)憂?！?BR> Samsung is doubtless wise to this. Hence its attempt to push beyond the smartphone, into smart watches and wristbands, connected domestic appliances and the business market. Mobile-phone brands have been brittle before: ask Ericsson, HTC, Motorola and Nokia. Samsung has spent bucketloads building its name. It will not want to be usurped by the Wikos of the world.
很顯然，三星對(duì)此做出了明智的應(yīng)對(duì)。它正試圖把經(jīng)營范圍從智能手機(jī)擴(kuò)展到智能手表，智能手環(huán)和物聯(lián)網(wǎng)領(lǐng)域。智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)風(fēng)雨莫測(cè)：愛立信，HTC，摩托羅拉和諾基亞就是前車之鑒。三星費(fèi)盡心血打造自己的帝國，它可不會(huì)讓W(xué)iko這樣的廉價(jià)手機(jī)品牌輕易地篡位奪權(quán)。
Mobile phones
手機(jī)
The rise of the cheap smartphone
廉價(jià)智能手機(jī)的崛起
As smartphones reach the masses, a host of vendors are eager to serve them
智能手機(jī)普及化，大小手機(jī)廠商開始在低端市場(chǎng)兵戎相向
NEXT month Britons will have yet more smartphones to choose from, when devices from Wiko, a two-year-old French company, go on sale. Wiko will be hoping that its phones, which in France start at around 70, prove as popular across the Channel as at home. In 2013 nearly 7% of French first-time smartphone-buyers plumped for a Wiko, says Carolina Milanesi of Kantar Worldpanel, a research firm. In early 2014 the firm claims to have been the second-biggest vendor in France.
下個(gè)月，英國人民將有更多的智能手機(jī)可供選擇，因?yàn)橄聜€(gè)月Wiko的產(chǎn)品就要在英國上市銷售了。Wiko是法國的一家成立僅兩年的公司，它的產(chǎn)品在法國的最低售價(jià)只有70歐元。Wiko希望能夠在英國可以復(fù)制它在本土的成功。據(jù)市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司Kantar Worldpanel的卡羅琳娜·米蘭內(nèi)塞稱，在2013年，在法國首次購買的智能手機(jī)的人群中，7%選擇了Wiko。今年年初，Wiko宣稱其已成為法國第二大的手機(jī)廠商。
Wiko is not alone. In both rich countries and poor ones, cheaper smartphone brands are making inroads. Demand for pricey phones, mainly in developed economies, is slowing, but that for less expensive devices is booming. People buying their first smartphones today, perhaps to replace a basic handset, care less about the brand and more about price than the richer, keener types of a few years ago.
Wiko并不是個(gè)例。無論是在發(fā)達(dá)國家還是發(fā)展中國家，廉價(jià)手機(jī)品牌正在大舉進(jìn)軍。對(duì)高價(jià)位手機(jī)的需求正在減緩，而對(duì)中低價(jià)位手機(jī)的需求正在急劇增長。現(xiàn)在才開始購買智能手機(jī)的人們，可能原來使用的也只是簡(jiǎn)單的功能機(jī)，所以比起前幾年富人、極客們關(guān)注的品牌，他們更關(guān)注的是價(jià)格。
They are likely to pay less for a nice new smartphone than they did for their shabby old device, because the cost of making smartphones has tumbled. Vendors can buy standardised processors which chip designers such as America's Qualcomm, the market leader, and competitors such as Taiwan's MediaTek or China's Spreadtrum are scrapping furiously to provide in ever-rising quality at ever-lower prices. They choose cameras, screens and so forth to wrap around the innards, and have phones churned out in Chinese factories. Last year, says Francisco Jeronimo of IDC, another research firm, shipments of smartphones priced below 80 more than quintupled. Devices at under 100 made up one-sixth of the total.
因?yàn)橹圃熘悄軝C(jī)的成本猛跌的緣故，人們可以以很低的價(jià)格買到優(yōu)秀的新型智能機(jī)，甚至比他們那些簡(jiǎn)陋的舊手機(jī)的價(jià)格更低。手機(jī)產(chǎn)商可以從芯片制造商那里買到標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化的處理器，現(xiàn)在這一行業(yè)的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)極其激烈，行業(yè)老大高通和中國的聯(lián)發(fā)科和展訊正競(jìng)相以史無前例的低價(jià)格提供高質(zhì)量的產(chǎn)品。接著，他們?cè)龠x購攝像頭、屏幕，然后和連同內(nèi)部零件一起打包給中國的工廠批量生產(chǎn)。 互聯(lián)網(wǎng)數(shù)據(jù)中心的弗朗西斯科·杰洛尼摩稱，去年，價(jià)格低于80美元的智能機(jī)的出貨量是上一年的五倍還多;100美元以下的手機(jī)占總量的六分之一。
At a global level, the market has fragmented: in 2013, says IDC, the share of smartphone shipments by vendors outside the top five was 40%, twice as much as in 2009. In national markets, local names unfamiliar elsewhere, like Wiko, are prominent. Micromax and Karbonn rank second and third in India, according to IDC. Symphony is thought to have more than half the market in Bangladesh; and Walton, an electronics firm, has branched successfully into smartphones, notes Holger Hussmann of Telenor, a Norwegian mobile operator with interests in Asia and eastern Europe.
從全球的角度來看，智能機(jī)市場(chǎng)一家獨(dú)大的局面正在改變：IDC稱，2013年，排名前五之外的智能手機(jī)的出貨量在總量的40%，是2009年的兩倍。而在國內(nèi)市場(chǎng)，像Wiko這樣在國際上不知名的品牌處于主導(dǎo)地位。 IDC的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，Micromax和Karbonn*在印度的銷量分居第二、三名。挪威電信的霍爾格·胡斯曼指出，Symphony已占領(lǐng)孟加拉國超過一半的市場(chǎng);生產(chǎn)電子元器件的Walton也已成功把業(yè)務(wù)擴(kuò)展到了職能手機(jī)領(lǐng)域。挪威電信是挪威的一家移動(dòng)運(yùn)營商，正有意開發(fā)亞洲和東歐的市場(chǎng)。
The declining cost of making phones means that buyers are getting more for their money. In 2012, says Mr Jeronimo, 42% of phones priced at less than 80 had a processor faster than 1 gigahertz; by last year 87% did. The proportion of cheap phones with screens more than four inches across went up from less than 8% to 38%. Two years ago the median price of a smartphone was 325. Last year it was 250. This year it may be 200.
智能機(jī)成本的降低意味著消費(fèi)者得到了實(shí)惠。據(jù)IDC的杰洛尼摩稱，2012年市場(chǎng)上處理器速度高于1G且價(jià)格低于80美元的職能機(jī)占總數(shù)的42%，而去年這一數(shù)據(jù)達(dá)到了87%。屏幕大于四英寸的廉價(jià)智能機(jī)的比例由8%升到了38%。兩年前，智能手機(jī)的中間價(jià)為325美元，今年為250美元，今年可能降至200美元。
The cheapest phones will become cheaper still. At Mobile World Congress, an industry jamboree in Barcelona at the end of February, Mozilla, a non-profit company best known for Firefox, its web browser, announced that smartphones running its operating system, Firefox OS, on Spreadtrum chips would go on sale with a target price of only 25. Mr Hussmann reports that the bill of materials is less than that.
這一降價(jià)的趨勢(shì)還會(huì)持續(xù)下去。在今年二月末舉行的MWC大會(huì)上，因火狐瀏覽器而著稱于世的非營利機(jī)構(gòu)Mozilla宣布將發(fā)售定價(jià)僅為25美元的手機(jī)。該手機(jī)搭載展訊的芯片，運(yùn)行Mozilla自己的系統(tǒng)Firefox OS。胡斯曼稱手機(jī)的制造成本并沒有超過25美元。
It is not only at the bottom that competition is intensifying. In China, points out C.K. Lu of Gartner, another research company, OPPO and Vivo, two local brands, both increased their market shares last year despite focusing on phones priced at 2,000 yuan or more. Fancy phones can also polish a brand. Huawei, another Chinese company, has been trying just that; Wiko's top-of-the-range smartphone costs 349.
競(jìng)爭(zhēng)日趨激烈的地方不僅是低端市場(chǎng)。信息研究公司高德納的C.K.Lu指出，中國的本地品牌OPPO和Vivo去年著重發(fā)展價(jià)格高于2000元的智能機(jī)，其市場(chǎng)份額依然都得到了提升。高端手機(jī)可以提高企業(yè)的品牌價(jià)值。另一家中國公司，華為也做了這方面的嘗試。Wiko最的產(chǎn)品的價(jià)格達(dá)到了349美元。
All this is great for smartphone-buyers everywhere. It is less good news for the market leaders, Apple and Samsung—the only vendors making much money. Apple may be insulated by its operating system and apparently impregnable brand, although it has lately been selling cheaper iPhones. Samsung, which dominates the market for phones running on Google's Android operating system, may be more vulnerable.
上述一切對(duì)于全球的智能機(jī)消費(fèi)者來說都是好消息，但是智能機(jī)市場(chǎng)的大佬蘋果和三星——為數(shù)不多的會(huì)因此發(fā)愁。此發(fā)也許蘋果可以依靠其獨(dú)立的操作系統(tǒng)和固若金湯的品牌來免受影響。但是安卓智能機(jī)的主導(dǎo)者三星可能就顯得比較脆弱了。
The South Korean company suffered a decline in profits late last year. Granted, it makes cheaper devices as well as dearer ones, and it can afford some slimming of its margins. People in poor countries also covet global brands: it has taken share from locals in India. But its problem, Mr Jeronimo says, is that it carries lots of costs, in research and development and in marketing, that cheaper rivals do not. “They are able to provide much better devices, in terms of specs, for a much lower price,” he says. “And this is particularly worrying in developed markets.”
去年年底，三星的利潤出現(xiàn)了下降。的確，三星可以同時(shí)經(jīng)營各個(gè)價(jià)位的智能機(jī)，而且也可以承受一定程度的利潤下降。但是三星的真正的問題，正如杰諾尼摩所說的一樣，在于其研發(fā)和營銷方面的巨額開支，而它那些提供廉價(jià)手機(jī)的對(duì)手們則沒有這樣的困擾?！八鼈兛梢砸愿偷膬r(jià)格提供—至少在配置方面來說—更好的設(shè)備，”他說道，“這個(gè)問題發(fā)達(dá)國家市場(chǎng)尤為使人擔(dān)憂?！?BR> Samsung is doubtless wise to this. Hence its attempt to push beyond the smartphone, into smart watches and wristbands, connected domestic appliances and the business market. Mobile-phone brands have been brittle before: ask Ericsson, HTC, Motorola and Nokia. Samsung has spent bucketloads building its name. It will not want to be usurped by the Wikos of the world.
很顯然，三星對(duì)此做出了明智的應(yīng)對(duì)。它正試圖把經(jīng)營范圍從智能手機(jī)擴(kuò)展到智能手表，智能手環(huán)和物聯(lián)網(wǎng)領(lǐng)域。智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)風(fēng)雨莫測(cè)：愛立信，HTC，摩托羅拉和諾基亞就是前車之鑒。三星費(fèi)盡心血打造自己的帝國，它可不會(huì)讓W(xué)iko這樣的廉價(jià)手機(jī)品牌輕易地篡位奪權(quán)。