经济学人下载:互联网巨头用低价战略 进军平板电脑市场

Amazon
亚马逊

The Walmart of the web
网络沃尔玛

The internet giant’s new tablet computer fits itsstrategy of developing big businesses by charging small prices
互联网巨头用低价战略，进军平板电脑市场

A couple of years after it launched its website in 1995, Amazon was the subject of an unflattering report entitled “Amazon.Toast”. The pundit who penned it predicted that the fledgling online bookseller would soon be crushed by Barnes & Noble (B&N), a book-retailing behemoth which had just launched its own site.

1995年上线后的几年，亚马逊便成为一份名为《AmazonToast》报告唱衰的对象。编写该报告的专家预测，羽翼未丰的在线图书零售商亚马逊很快就会被巴诺挤出市场，后者是网站刚刚上线的图书零售巨头。

Far from being crushed, Amazon is doing the crushing. Borders, a once-mighty book chain, was flattened this year. B&N looks likea frightened capybara running from a fierce Brazilian she-warrior. Amazon is now one of the web’s most successful e-tailers. Even Apple is feeling the heat.

亚马逊没有被挤出市场，反而变被动为主动。昔日强大的连锁书店Borders今年被清盘。巴诺看起来就像一只胆颤心惊的南美水豚正逃避着剽悍的亚马逊女战士。亚马逊现在是互联网上最成功的在线零售商。即便是苹果也感到热浪灼人。

On September 28th Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s boss, unveiled a tablet computer called the Kindle Fire. It will compete with gadgets such as B&N’s Nook Color tablet and Apple’s iPad. The new Amazon tablet, which has a somewhat smaller screen than the iPad and only offers Wi-Fi connectivity, is likely to be just the first salvo in a titanicbattle.

9月28日，亚马逊的老板Jeff Bezos发布了一款名为Kindle Fire的平板电脑。它将与巴诺的Nook Color电子书和苹果的iPad展开竞争。新款亚马逊平板电脑的屏幕比iPad小几分，并且只提供无线保真网络连接，它的出现有可能是一场鏖战前的第一枪。

Like Apple, Amazon boasts a huge collection of online content, including e-books, films and music. And like Apple, it lets people store their content in a computing “cloud” and retrieve it from almost anywhere. But the two firms part company when it comes to pricing. The Kindle Fire, which will be available from mid-November in America, will cost only $199. That is far less than the cheapest iPad, a Wi-Fi-only device which costs $499. B&N responded to the Kindle Fire by cutting the price of its Nook Color to $224. This week Amazon also rolled out a new range of Kindle e-readers, the cheapest of which costs just $79. “We are building premium products and offering them at non-premium prices,” beamed Mr Bezos.

与苹果相似，亚马逊号称其有大量的在线内容，有电子书、电影和音乐。在另一点也和苹果相像，它允许人们将自己的内容存储在它的计算云中，并且可以从几乎任何地方取回。但是，这两个公司在对产品的定价上却大相径庭。Kindle Fire九月中旬将在美国上市，仅售199美元。这比只有Wi-Fi功能售价为499美元，最便宜的iPad还要便宜的多。本周，亚马逊还推出了新款Kindler电子阅读器，最便宜的仅售79美元。亚马逊的老板Bezos说：“我们打造优质的产品并以低价提供给消费者。”

Amazon’s decision to undercut its rivals is partly a tactic designed to disrupt the tablet market, which is still dominated by the iPad. Gartner, a research firm, reckons that Apple’s device will account for almost three-quarters of the 64m tablets it thinks will be sold worldwide this year. Amazon’s pricing strategy also reflects one of the firm’s core beliefs, whichis that cheap stuff makes customers cheerful. Call it the Walmart of the web.

亚马逊以低价削弱对手的主意是其扰乱平板电脑市场策略的一部分，iPad仍占据着这一市场的统治地位。高德纳咨询公司认为，苹果的平板电脑将会占今年全球平板电脑总销量约75%的份额，预计今年全球范围内将售出为64，000，000台。亚马逊的定价策略同时也反映出公司的一大核心理念，那就是“低价吸引客户”，称之为“网络沃尔玛”。