经济学人:苹果 从iPhones到 iCars

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　　Apple is entering the auto¹ business, but the road ahead could be rough. 苹果进军汽车业，但前路艰难。

　　Having redefined the personal-computer and mobile-phone industries, Apple has set its sights on a new, moving target. 在重新定义了个人电脑业和手机业以后，苹果又将目光聚焦于全新的、移动的目标。

　　The darling of the tech industry is aiming to debut² an electric car in 2019, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. 据《华尔街日报》报道，科技行业的宠儿苹果公司计划在2019年首次推出电动汽车。

　　For years there had been speculation³ that Apple had auto ambitions. 多年来，外界一直猜测苹果对汽车行业野心勃勃。

　　It has been hiring swarms⁴ of engineers to work on the project, code-named Titan, which now employs around 600. 苹果已经雇佣了一群工程师启动了代号为“泰坦”的汽车项目，现在约600名雇员参与研发设计。

　　With around $200 billion stored up, Apple certainly has enough cash to spend on a new venture. 苹果公司拥有约2000亿美元的资金储备，这保障其投资这项商业冒险的充足资金。

　　Its legions of fans are always eager to see it launch a new offering that makes a splash. 长期以来众多的“果粉”翘首以盼，期望能看到苹果发布轰动一时的新品。

　　Its most recent product, the Apple Watch, has not been the massive hit some analysts⁵ expected,  但是苹果公司最新发布的产品——苹果手表，并没有如分析家预期地那样造成强大的冲击。

　　and Apple's launch event earlier this month was rather dull, showcasing mainly tweaks to existing products. 而在本月早些时候，苹果举办的发布会则是相当无聊——主要是展示对已有产品进行的一些改进。

　　Launching a car would be far more daring and, in theory, highly lucrative⁶. 苹果公司推出汽车是更为大胆的举动，从理论上讲，能有更高的收益。

　　Global car sales were worth around $2 trillion last year. 去年全球汽车销售金额高达约2万亿美元。

　　However, there are many things about the car business that make it quite unlike peddling⁷ phones. 然而，汽车产业的许多特点使其与手机的销售大不相同。

　　The replacement⁸ cycle for an iPhone is a mere⁹ two years. 一般iPhone的更新周期仅为两年。

　　Consumers hold on to their cars for far longer. 客户使用汽车的时间更久。

　　To make business sense, Apple's cars would need to earn returns comparable to those of its existing products. 商业要更好地运作，苹果研发的iCar就要赚取高于它现有产品的利润。

　　But gross profit margins¹⁰ like Apple's current 40% or so are something most large-scale carmakers can only dream of. 但苹果现有的总利润率为40%左右，这是大多数大型汽车制造商梦寐以求的。

　　At BMW, one of the most profitable of these, such margins are around 20%. 宝马是利润率最高的汽车制造商之一，但是也只能达到20%左右。

　　An even more important factor is that, as demonstrated by all this week's attention on Volkswagen, cars are more heavily regulated than consumer electronics. 正如这周公众对大众汽车的关注证明，汽车业相比消费类电子产品面临更严格的监管，这是更为重要的影响因素。

　　Compliance¹² with safety standards and emissions¹³ rules is likely to be more rigorously enforced in future. 在未来会更加严格地执行相关措施——满足安全标准、符合排放规则。

　　That is a tricky¹⁴ prospect¹⁵ for even the most experienced carmaker, let alone an industry newbie. 即便对最有经验的汽车制造商而言，前景依然艰难，更不用说行业新手了。

　　The firm's capabilities¹⁶ in mobile devices will be an advantage, as cars become ever more connected to the internet. 随着汽车与互联网的关系愈发密切，苹果在移动设备上的能力将会成为一个优势。

　　But the risks associated with connected cars are of a different order to those with mobile phones. 但是如果发生危险，联网汽车比联网手机的后果更加严重。

　　This week it was revealed that malware had infiltrated¹⁷ some of the smartphone apps sold in Apple's store, including two of the most popular apps in China. 本周据有关消息，有恶意软件入侵了苹果商店贩售的部分智能手机应用，其中包括两款在中国最流行的应用。

　　This was embarrassing but not disastrous¹⁸. 这使得苹果陷入窘况，但不至于损失惨重。

　　If similar malware got into an Apple car, the results could be deadly. 如果相似的恶意软件入侵的是苹果汽车，那么结果将是致命的。

　　Such concerns are not enough to discourage tech firms from driving at full speed into the car business. 这样的担心并不足以阻止众多科技公司全力以赴进军汽车业。

　　Leading the way is Tesla, a maker¹¹ of upmarket electric vehicles set up by Elon Musk¹⁹, a successful tech entrepreneur. 这条路上的引领者是特斯拉——一家由成功的科技企业家埃隆。马斯克建立的高端电动汽车制造商。

　　Google is working on a self-driving vehicle and an operating system for cars, and recently hired a former motor-industry executive to run its autonomous²⁰ car project. 谷歌正在研发自主驾驶汽车和汽车的操作系统，并在近日聘请了一位前汽车行业的执行官来运行这个自主经营的汽车项目。

　　Apple's decision to enter the motor industry may be fuelled in part by not wanting to leave Google with control of the dashboard and cars' operating systems. 苹果之所以进军汽车业，原因之一可能是不想将对汽车仪表盘和汽车操作系统的控制权交予谷歌。

　　Their rivalry²¹ is turning into a road race. 他们的竞争正在转向汽车业。

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