从智能手机到智能手表的这些年

For much of the developed world, 2013 marked the beginning of a new technological era. More than half the people in North America, the UK, Japan, South Korea and the Nordic countries now own a smartphone, market researchers have concluded. By next year, the rest of western Europe will join that mobile majority.
对许多发达国家来说，2013年标志着一个科技新时代的开端。市场调查人员得出结论称，如今在北美、英国、日本、韩国和北欧等地，一半以上的人拥有智能手机。等到来年，西欧其余国家也将加入这一阵营。

The rise of the smartphone has already created new winners and losers in the consumer electronics market. According to a November estimate by analysts at US investment bank Canaccord Genuity, Apple and Samsung captured a “remarkable” 109 per cent (correct) of handset industry profits in the third quarter of 2013, a figure that makes sense only if the losses suffered by suppliers such as BlackBerry, Nokia and Taiwan’s HTC are counted as “negative profits”.
智能手机的崛起让消费电子市场诞生了新的赢家和输家。美国投行Canaccord Genuity的分析师在11月份给出的估计数字显示，2013年第三季度，苹果(Apple)和三星(Samsung)“不可思议”地斩获了手机行业109%的利润。这一数字之所以说得通，是因为黑莓(BlackBerry)、诺基亚(Nokia)以及台湾宏达电(HTC)等供应商遭受的亏损被算作了“负利润”。

But it is not just their mobile rivals’ earnings that Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy devices have gobbled up. Cameras, music and radio players, alarm clocks, navigation systems, even torches and compasses are now absorbed into a glowing screen.
不过，苹果iPhone和三星Galaxy设备所吞噬的可不止是移动领域竞争对手们的利润。如今，不仅相机、音乐与电台播放器、闹钟、导航系统，就连手电筒和指南针也被整合进这些发光的屏幕中。

Yet as smartphones increase in sophistication, they are also enabling new categories of gadget that harness their always-on connection, sensors and processing power.
尽管如此，随着智能手机变得日益复杂，它们也催生出一系列能够利用它们的“永远在线”网络连接、传感器和处理能力的新电子产品。

Wearable technology, “smart home” devices such as lights and security systems, fitness trackers and even toys are all orbiting the smartphone, making connected devices one of 2013’s hottest gadget trends.
可穿戴技术、灯光与安保系统等“智能家居”设备、健身追踪器乃至玩具，都开始围着智能手机“打转”。可连接设备(connected devices)由此成为2013年最“火”的电子产品潮流之一。

As innovation in smartphones themselves starts to slow down, the platform that they are enabling is just getting started – even if analysts say mass-market adoption is still years away.
智能手机自身的创新速度开始放缓，但它们所催生的平台的发展才刚刚起步——尽管分析师表示这一平台还需数年时间才能为大众市场所接受。

“The nice thing about the internet of things is it’s not monolithic,” says Rob Chandhok, president of Qualcomm’s interactive platforms division, who predicts a “Cambrian explosion” of smart devices. “I expect wearables to be on a very fast cadence as form factors fall out.”
高通(Qualcomm)交互平台部门总裁罗伯•钱德霍克(Rob Chandhok)说：“物联网的美好之处就在于它不是一元化的。”他预言智能设备会出现“寒武纪大爆发”。“我预计，随着各种形态的智能产品逐渐问世，可穿戴设备将呈现飞速发展。”

Pebble, one of the best-known independent makers of smartwatches, which raised $10m on US-based crowdfunding platform Kickstarter last year, said in November that it had sold 190,000 watches in total – impressive for a start-up but hardly the sort of volume that would have Apple rushing its rumoured iWatch to market.
名气颇高的独立智能手表制造商Pebble去年在美国群募平台Kickstarter上募资1000万美元。11月份，该公司宣布，它已总计售出19万块手表。就一家初创企业而言，这是一个令人赞叹的销售数字；但这一数字还不足以迫使苹果急忙将其传闻中的iWatch投放到市场。

As with most smartwatches, the Pebble mainly acts as a way to notify the wearer of incoming messages or other alerts from a Bluetooth-tethered smartphone.
如大多数智能手表一样，Pebble的主要功能是：接收蓝牙连接的智能手机收到的信息或其他提示，将之通报给佩戴者。

The September launch of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear marked a significant moment for the smartwatch market. Although the device has had mixed reviews, the endorsement of the form factor by the South Korean electronics group – coupled with persistent rumours that Google, Microsoft and others are all working on similar watches – signalled that smart watches may not be a niche for much longer. Even Casio’s G-Shock now has a Bluetooth connection to receive message notifications – and has the benefit of actually looking like a watch.
三星9月份举行的Galaxy Gear发布会标志着智能手表市场的一个重要时刻。尽管该产品得到的评价褒贬不一，但这家韩国电子集团对此类可穿戴设备的支持——再加上不断有传言称，谷歌(Google)、微软(Microsoft)等公司也都在研发类似的手表——暗示着，可能过不了太久，智能手表就不再是一种小众产品了。就连卡西欧(Casio)的G-Shock现在也有蓝牙连接，用以接收信息通知——此外它还有个优势，那就是看起来的确像块手表。

At the same time as the Galaxy Gear was unveiled, Qualcomm launched the Toq, a smartwatch that uses its Mirasol screen to showcase the potential of the technology.
就在Galaxy Gear除去面纱的同时，高通推出了Toq——这款智能手表的屏幕使用Mirasol显示技术，高通试图以此来展示这项技术的潜力。