经济学人下载:苹果在中国 明天会更好

Business
商业报道

Apple in China
苹果在中国

Better days ahead
明天会更好

The tech giant can rebound from its recent misfortunes in China
科技巨头将从最近在中国遇到的霉运中走出

THINGS have not gone well for Apple in China of late.
苹果近来在中国发展并不顺利。

Earlier this year official news media orchestrated a series of attacks on the firm, following allegations that it had offered Chinese customers unsatisfactory guarantees for its products.
今年早些时候，官媒策划了一系列对苹果进行责难的报道，称苹果对中国消费者所购产品的保修服务令人不满。

Apple ended up issuing a humiliating apology.
此事以苹果耻辱性地道歉而告一段落。

The Middle Kingdom is the world's biggest market for both luxury goods and for smartphones.
中国是世界上奢侈品和智能机的最大市场。

That should have propelled Apple's iPhones to the top of the heap.
这本该将iPhone的销售推向了顶峰。

But the firm's market share languishes at around 8% of all handset sales, whereas Samsung commands just over a fifth of them.
但是苹果所占手机市场份额只有8%左右，而三星超过了1/5。

Apple's fortunes are improving.
苹果的运势在改善。

The main reason the company's iPhones have fared poorly in China so far is that they are not offered on the inferior 3G network run by China Mobile, the country's largest mobile operator.
迄今为止苹果在中国进展缓慢，主要原因是iPhone并不支持中国移动提供的较次的3G网络，而中国移动是中国最大的移动电话运营商。

But the arrival of a new, whizzier network could change that. On December 4th the Chinese government authorised the country's three main wireless-telecoms operators to go ahead with the next generation of network technology, known as 4G.
但是新的更先进的网络将会改变这一状况。12月4日，中国政府授权中国三大主要无线通信运营商继续开发下一代的网络技术，即4G网络。

The same day it emerged that later this month China Mobile—a state-owned giant that is also the world's largest mobile-phone operator, with more than 700m customers—will unveil a 4G iPhone for the Chinese market.
同一天，中国移动宣布，将在本月下旬发布面向中国市场的4G iPhone。

RBC, an investment bank, suggests that sales of such a device could be worth 9 billion to 10 billion to Apple.
投资银行加拿大皇家银行暗示该设备的销售可能为苹果公司带来90亿到100亿美元的收入。

Anand Ramachandran of Barclays, another bank, is more cautious.
巴克莱银行的安纳德?拉马钱德兰更加谨慎。

He wants to see whether Apple is forced to yield to demands by China Mobile that it split the cost of its handset subsidies with customers.
他想看看苹果公司是否会被迫向中国移动让步，与顾客一起分担手机补贴的费用。

Investors are also wondering whether Apple will give in to pressure to return more of its giant cash mountain to shareholders through such things as share buy-backs.
投资者还想知道苹果公司是否会屈服于压力，通过股份回购返回更多现金给股东。

Carl Icahn, a veteran shareholder activist, had been pressing the tech giant to hand back 150 billion immediately.
资深股东维权人士卡尔伊坎一直逼迫这个科技巨头马上返还1.5亿美元。

But this week Mr Icahn reduced his demand to 50 billion, which is still an eye-wateringly large amount of money.
但是本周伊坎将要价减少到5000万美元，但这还是非常大的一笔钱。

Ironically, greater success in China could lead to more friction if it puts even more cash in Apple's already overflowing coffers.
讽刺的是，如果苹果公司本已过剩的现金流因此而增多，那么在中国市场的成功反而会令它面临更大的压力。