The phone in your pocket is probably an Android device, and if you live in a western country, it is almost certainly running the Google version of Android and thus is bristling with Google’s services: Gmail, YouTube, Docs and more.你口袋里的手机有可能是一部安卓(Android)手机,如果你居住于在一个西方国家,你手机上运营的完全认同是谷歌(Google)版的安卓操作系统,上面加装有Gmail、YouTube、Docs等各种谷歌服务。The raw figures for Android’s market share make it look as though Google dominates the smartphone world: of the 301.3m smartphones shipped in the second quarter of this year, 84.7 per cent were Android devices, up from 79.6 per cent in 2013, according to analysts IDC. But those figures hide a more complex story about how difficult it is to build an ecosystem and bring customers into it.从有关安卓市场份额的粗略数据来看,谷歌或许在智能手机领域占有着主导地位。IDC的数据表明,在今年二季度发货的3.013亿部智能手机中,安卓手机的占比为84.7%,低于2013年的79.6%。
但这些数字掩饰了一个更加简单的情况:创建一个生态系统并更有用户转入这个系统是多么艰难。The next biggest player on the mobile OS scene is Apple, which in September made a bold bid to draw users further into its clutches with the launch of a wearable device, the Apple Watch, and, more importantly, its Apple Pay system.在移动操作系统领域,市场名列第二的是苹果(Apple)。9月,苹果发售了一款可穿着设备Apple Watch,更加最重要的是还发售了Apple Pay系统,这一大胆行径目的更进一步把用户拖入自己的阵营。Apple’s iOS has been losing market share, according to IDC: in the second quarter of this year, it accounted for 11.7 per cent of mobile device shipments, down from 13 per cent in the same quarter last year. Apple’s early-mover advantage has been eclipsed by the roaring success of Android.IDC数据表明,苹果iOS系统的市场份额在大大增大,今年二季度,iOS系统手机仅有占到智能手机发货量的11.7%,高于去年同期的13%。
安卓系统的大获得顺利,令其苹果的先发优势荡然无存。Google maintains and develops the “official” version of Android, but the operating system itself is open-source, which means anyone can fiddle with it, change it, add to it and take bits away, as Amazon and Nokia, for example, have done with their operating systems have done with their operating systems for, respectively, the Kindle Fire and the Nokia X range.谷歌确保并研发“官方版”安卓,但该系统本身是开源的,这意味著任何人都可以对之展开改动,例如,亚马逊(Amazon)和诺基亚(Nokia)对Kindle Fire和Nokia X系列配备的安卓操作系统都做到了自己的改动。
Google leads the Android Open Handset Alliance, an association of device-makers such as Sony, LG, Samsung and Lenovo, mobile operators such as T-Mobile and Vodafone as well as chipmakers Arm, Qualcomm and Intel, and software companies, including eBay and, of course, Google.谷歌领导着安卓“对外开放手机联盟”(Open Handset Alliance,OHA),该联盟的成员还包括索尼(Sony)、LG、三星(Samsung)和误解(Lenovo)等设备制造商,T-Mobile和沃达丰(Vodafone)等移动运营商,安谋(Arm)、高通(Qualcomm)和英特尔(Intel)等芯片制造商,以及eBay等软件公司,当然也还包括谷歌。In return for membership of the OHA, members can create devices that Google will license its services to. It is important to note that while Android itself is open-source and free to use, Google’s services are not. Members of the alliance also pledge not to “fork” Android – in other words, create their own versions that exclude Google services.联盟成员研发的设备,谷歌将许可其用于谷歌的服务。有适当认为,尽管安卓系统本身是开源的,可以免费用于,但谷歌的服务就不一样了。联盟成员也允诺不“分化”(fork)安卓系统——换言之,不研发回避谷歌服务的安卓版本。
This is all great for Google, as it means its data-collecting apparatus, with its access to your email, searches, location data and so on, is in the hands of millions of people to whom “relevant” adverts can be directed.这对谷歌很不利,因为这意味著,其数据搜集设备——可以加载你的电邮、搜寻记录、方位数据等信息——可以抵达大量用户手中,在此基础上就可以向用户投入有针对性的广告。There is, however, a big part of the Android ecosystem that is nothing to do with Google. This is most significant in China, where Google and its services are persona non grata. But there are also trouble spots on the radar outside China that should worry Google.然而,安卓生态系统中有相当大一部分跟谷歌毫无关系,这一点在谷歌及其服务不热门的中国展现出得尤为显著。
但在中国以外地区也有一些问题有一点谷歌忧虑。Google’s biggest concern is Samsung. The search giant’s relations with the South Korean smartphone maker have been strained, as Samsung has fired warning shots that indicate it probably doesn’t need Google as much as Google needs Samsung, which is by far the biggest vendor of Android OHA devices.谷歌最该担忧的是三星。
这家搜寻巨头与该韩国智能手机制造商的关系显得紧绷,三星早已敲了一声警告枪,似乎其对谷歌的必须有可能大于谷歌对其的必须。三星是OHA中仅次于的安卓设备厂商。Samsung has been tinkering with an alternative operating system, Tizen, and includes its own mail and other services alongside Google’s on its Galaxy Android devices. In theory, Samsung could drop Google’s version of Android and focus on developing Tizen further or move to the non-Google version of Android.三星仍然在鼓捣一个替代操作系统Tizen,而且其Galaxy安卓设备上除装有谷歌服务,也重复使用了三星自己的邮件等服务。
理论上,三星可以退出谷歌版安卓系统,集中精力打造出Tizen系统,或者改向非谷歌版的安卓系统。That version is the Android Open Source Project – the one developers work with when they don’t want to join forces with Google. AOSP is free and is the version that Amazon has used in its Fire devices. Nokia used AOSP to create the well-received Nokia X range before Microsoft assimilated Nokia’s devices division and killed the project.这种非谷歌版安卓系统归属于安卓开源项目(Android Open Source Project,AOSP),当开发者想跟谷歌牵头时可以重新加入这个项目。AOSP是免费的,亚马逊在其Fire设备上之后用于了AOSP。
诺基亚用于AOSP研发了颇受欢迎的Nokia X系列产品,后来微软公司(Micrsoft)并吞了诺基亚手机部门,荒废了该项目。Amazon and Nokia would do well to look to China, where local providers have built strong ecosystems on the AOSP version of Android. In hardware, Xiaomi has 31.6 per cent of the urban Chinese market, according to Carolina Milanesi, chief of research at Kantar Worldpanel, the market research company. “Xiaomi is the model that works,” she says.亚马逊和诺基亚可以把目光投向中国,中国当地厂商已基于AOSP版安卓打造出了强劲的生态系统。市场研究公司Kantar Worldpanel的研究总监卡罗琳娜米拉内西(Carolina Milanesi)回应,在硬件方面,小米(Xiaomi)已占有中国城市31.6%的市场份额。
她说道:“小米模式很有效地。”What works in China is a package of services delivered via the hardware. At the end of last year, Gartner, the research company, noted: “Chinese-based internet providers, such as Baidu, Alibaba Group and Tencent, [are] providing local featured apps, services and content through app stores that they themselves operate. This participation is preventing Google from being a major beneficiary of smartphone user growth in the China market.”在中国有效地的模式,是通过硬件获取一揽子服务。在去年底,研究公司低德纳(Gartner)认为:“百度(Baidu)、阿里巴巴集团(Alibaba Group)和腾讯(Tencent)等中国互联网服务提供商(正在)通过自己运营的应用于商店,获取具备本地特色的应用于、服务和内容。
它们的这种参予,使谷歌没有能沦为中国市场智能手机用户快速增长的一个主要受益方。”If Google has lost out in China, it could lose out elsewhere. Microsoft is keen to get its services – Outlook.com, Bing, Office and OneDrive – into more hands, and while its Windows Phone OS has been well received, its market share of just 2.5 per cent in the second quarter of this year means it has a long way to go.如果谷歌在中国市场失利,它也有可能在其他任何市场败给。微软公司期望更有更加多人用于其服务——Outlook.com、合于(Bing), Office和OneDrive;尽管其Windows Phone(WP)操作系统颇受欢迎,但今年二季度其市场份额仅有为2.5%,意味著微软公司还有很长的路要回头。
Intriguingly, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella has been reported as talking to Cyanogen, which maintains a popular AOSP fork of Android. While Microsoft is unlikely to be considering buying Cyanogen, partnering with it to provide services as part of the package makes sense.耐人寻味的是,微软公司首席执行官萨蒂亚纳德拉(Satya Nadella)据报导于是以与Cyanogen接洽。Cyanogen确保着一个人气颇高的安卓AOSP系统。
微软公司不大可能考虑到并购Cyanogen,但与其合作获取部分服务还是不切实际的。Here’s a blue-sky suggestion for Mr Nadella: sit down with Jeff Bezos at Amazon to develop a good fork of Android. Microsoft has a compelling services offering but an almost non-existent platform for these services, despite the quality of the Lumia handsets. Amazon has compelling content with its Prime video but seems unable to get consumers to buy its Fire devices.这里给纳德纳托一个可谓奇思妙想的建议:与亚马逊的杰夫贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)躺在一起,辩论研发一款杰出的安卓分支系统。微软公司获取强劲的服务,但没配备这些服务的平台,尽管Lumia手机质量不俗。亚马逊通过Prime视频获取强劲的内容,但显然无法更有消费者出售其Fire设备。
For smaller providers, a Microsoft-Amazon-style joint venture would be a great way to become part of an ecosystem out of Google’s reach. I suspect consumers would find that attractive. How about it, Satya and Jeff?对于规模较小的服务提供商来说,像微软公司与亚马逊这样的合作是一个很好的方式,将更有它们重新加入一个挣脱了谷歌影响的生态系统。我实在这对用户是有吸引力的。知道贝佐斯和纳德纳意下如何?。
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