经济学人下载:苹果在中国 与腾讯的应用之战(2)

Hostilities have now broken out with Tencent.
现在，苹果公司已对腾讯有所不满。

The two had co-existed happily: since richer Chinese prefer iPhones to Android phones, these devices are where WeChat made much of its money.
腾讯和苹果之前愉快地和平相处。尽管相比安卓手机来说，中国的有钱人更喜欢苹果手机，不过微信都能从这些手机中获利。

But earlier this year, WeChat launched “mini-programmes,” a form of lightweight app that operates independently of Apple's app store and robs it of revenues.
但是，今年早期，微信推出了微小应用“小程序”，这些小程序可以独立于苹果软件商店运行，这抢走了苹果公司的利润。

Apple, meanwhile, had disliked but tolerated WeChat's practice of allowing users to reward generators of content (for example, opinion columns) with small tips.
同时，苹果并不喜欢微信允许用户通过打赏来奖励文章的原创者（例如专栏），但是却不得不容忍。

These bypass Apple's own payments mechanism.
微信的打赏功能绕过苹果自己的支付机制。

On April 19th Apple obliged WeChat to shut down tipping.
4月19号，苹果公司要求微信关闭打赏功能。

Another front in the fighting is that the American firm's mainland app store accepts Alipay, a payment service from China's Alibaba, but not WeChat's payment offering.
在这场斗争中的另一条战线是，美国公司的应用商店都加入了支付宝应用（中国阿里巴巴的支付服务，而不是提供微信支付业务）。

Broadly, WeChat is going from being a social-media platform (akin to Facebook and WhatsApp rolled into one) to becoming a mobile-operating system, putting it on a collision course with Apple.
大体来讲，微信正在从成为一种社交平台（类似脸书、Whatsapp等软件的平台）逐渐发展成为可移动操作系统，这使得微信与苹果发生冲突。

“There is a war going on,” says Mr Brennan.
Brennan说道：“一场战争正在进行”。

Who will win such a clash of titans?
在两个巨头公司的竞争中，谁将会赢得的胜利？

Rumours are swirling among tech experts about what might happen next.
技术专家对于接下来将会发生什么也是众说风云。

Apple is trying to fortify its position.
苹果公司努力加强自己在中国的地位。

It is investing heavily in its large network of stores and research labs on the mainland; and it plans to include China in the first wave of countries in which its highly anticipated new iPhone will be launched later this year.
所以它开始在大陆大量投资庞大的网络商店和研究实验室；而苹果公司计划将中国纳入备受期待的新苹果手机首波发行国家之中。

But Apple is on the defensive, whereas Tencent is firmly on the attack.
不过，苹果现在处于防御状态，腾讯则一直处于进攻状态。

Mr Brennan speculates that Tencent might even launch a WeChat phone, which would make Tencent's offering completely independent of the iPhone.
Brennan预测腾讯甚至可能会推出微信手机，能够使腾讯推出的软件完全独立于苹果手机。

Anywhere else in the world, it would be foolish to go up against the Californian giant.
无论哪个国家的公司，与苹果公司作对是不明智的。

In China, though, the native firm may have the advantage.
但是在中国，本土公司也许有优势。

As Connie Chan of Andreessen Horowitz, an investment fund in Silicon Valley, puts it: “Loyalty is much, much stronger to WeChat than to Apple in China.”
硅谷的Andreessen Horowitz（一家风险投资基金公司）的Connie Chan 讲到：在中国，用户对于微信的忠诚要比苹果强的多。