经济学人下载:安卓系统,要当心了

Apple has not taken the challenge from HTC lightly. On July 15th the US International Trade Commission upheld two claims in a larger patent suit Apple had filed against its rival. Earlier in the month, Apple had filed additional claims and MOSAID, a Canadian company, said it would also sue HTC, and Sony Ericsson, for patent infringement. The outcome of these cases will be of keen interest not just for HTC but for other handset-makers using Android: promoted as a free, open-source system, it is proving surprisingly expensive. This is because it relies on a host of basic features that may be subject to patents: how a screen is swiped with a finger, how a phone number embedded in an e-mail can be called by tapping it, and so on.

苹果公司并未轻视来自HTC的挑战。7月15日，在苹果公司起诉HTC的一起比较大的专利诉讼案中，美国国际贸易委员会裁决HTC侵犯苹果公司的两项专利。本月初，苹果公司还起诉HTC侵犯了自己另外几项专利，而加拿大公司MOSAID称它也要起诉HTC和索尼爱立信侵犯专利。这些案件的结果不仅关系到HTC的直接利益，同时也关系到其他使用安卓系统的手机制造商的切身利益：安卓系统以免费、开放资源的姿态推广入市，但现在证明它会非常得贵。这是因为它的一些基本特色也许涉及到专利：触摸屏、电邮里的电话号码能直接拨打等等。

Last year HTC resolved another claim over Android, with Microsoft, agreeing to pay it hefty royalties. More such suits may yet emerge, and prove costly. HTC’s shares, having hitherto outperformed its peers’, have dropped by a third since early June. HTC will appeal against the trade commission’s ruling; but it will fight back in other ways, too. This month it spent $300m buying a loss-making software firm, S3, which recently won a patent case against Apple and may have other patents that will be useful in fending off Apple’s legal forays.

去年，HTC也解决了一起有关安卓系统的专利问题，它同意向微软支付巨额专利费用。更多这样的诉讼也许还会浮出水面，而且代价高昂。HTC的股价目前已经胜过同行们的了，而自6月初以来已经下跌了三分之一。HTC将就贸易委员会的裁决提起上诉；不过它也从其他方面予以反击。本月，它耗资3亿美元收购了亏损软件公司S3，这家公司最近在与苹果的专利案中胜诉，它也许还有其他专利能帮助HTC应对苹果的法律突袭。

Founded in 1997, HTC started out mostly doing contract manufacturing for other gadget-sellers. But as it has gained confidence in making smartphones under its own brand, it has steadily risen up mobile operators’ lists of the handsets they promote to subscribers. By April this year it had a bigger market capitalisation than troubled Nokia. The firm’s success has pushed Cher Wang, its chairwoman and largest shareholder, to the top of Forbes’s Taiwan rich list, passing Terry Gou, the boss of Hon Hai. HTC has kept much of its production in Taiwan whereas Hon Hai (also known as Foxconn) has shifted it to mainland China and stuck with contract manufacturing—a business that emphasises cost-trimming and low value-added.

HTC成立于1997年，最初主要为其他小机械销售者做代工。但是随着在制造自己品牌智能机方面积累起了信心，它在移动运营商向用户推荐的手机名单中的地位平稳上升。到今年4月，它的市场资本化已经比身陷困境的诺基亚公司要大了。HTC的成功使得其董事长、也是最大的股东王雪红女士超过鸿海集团董事长郭台铭荣登福布斯台湾富人榜榜首。HTC的生产多保留在台湾省内，而鸿海集团（也就是富士康集团）则把生产移向中国大陆，继续做代工——它注重节省成本和低附加值。