乔布斯传 第647期:多点触控(4)

A small company in Delaware called FingerWorks was already making a line of multi-touch trackpads.

特拉华州一家小企业FingerWorks已经制作出一系列多点触控板。

Founded by two academics at the University of Delaware, John Elias and Wayne Westerman,

该公司的创始人约翰·埃利亚斯和韦恩·韦斯特曼是美国特拉华大学的学者。

FingerWorks had developed some tablets with multi-touch sensing capabilities¹

FingerWorks公司已经研发出具有多点触控功能的平板电脑，

and taken out patents on ways to translate various finger gestures, such as pinches and swipes, into useful functions.

并申请专利，保护自己将手指动作转化为有用功能的技术，如触控缩放和滑动浏览。

In early 2005 Apple quietly acquired the company, all of its patents, and the services of its two founders².

2005年初，苹果公司悄悄收购了该公司及其全部专利，两位创始人也受雇于苹果。

FingerWorks quit selling its products to others, and it began filing its new patents in Apple's name.

FingerWorks不再将其产品销售给他人，并将新专利归入苹果公司名下。

After six months of work on the trackwheel P1 and the multi-touch P2 phone options,

滚轮P1项目和多点触控P2项目进行了6个月后，

Jobs called his inner circle into his conference room to make a decision.

乔布斯把核心圈子成员召至自己的会议室，进行最终抉择。

Fadell had been trying hard to develop the trackwheel model,

法德尔一直以来都在努力研发滚轮模型，

but he admitted they had not cracked the problem of figuring out a simple way to dial calls.

但他承认团队还未找出简单的拨号方式。

The multi-touch approach was riskier³, because they were unsure whether they could execute the engineering,

多点触控方案风险更高，因为不确定能否将其工程化，

but it was also more exciting and promising⁴.

但是该方案也更激动人心，更有前景。

"We all know this is the one we want to do," said Jobs, pointing to the touchscreen. "So let's make it work."

“我们都知道，这就是我们想做的东西，”乔布斯意指触摸屏，“那么，就让我们实现它吧。”

It was what he liked to call a bet-the-company moment, high risk and high reward if it succeeded.

这就是他所谓的拿公司一搏的时刻，风险高，但如果成功了，回报也高。

1 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

2 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

3 riskier   

冒险的，危险的( risky的比较级 )

参考例句：

• Now they are starting to demand higher returns on riskier assets. 而今他们开始在风险更高的资产上要求更高的回报。
• The problem with that: RIM's business is getting riskier every quarter. 不过问题也随之而来：RIM面临的业务风险正逐季增大。

4 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。