Smartphones in China
中国的智能手机市场
Taking a bite out of Apple
分苹果一杯羹
Xiaomi, often described as China’s answer to Apple, is actually quite different
有中国的苹果之称的小米实际上跟苹果很不一样。
Sep 14th 2013 | BEIJING |From the print edition
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IT FEELS more like a rock concert than a press conference as the casually dressed chief executive takes to a darkened stage to unveil his firm’s sleek new smartphone to an adoring crowd. Yet this was not the launch of the new iPhone by Apple on September 10th, but of the Mi-3 handset by Xiaomi, a Chinese firm, in Beijing on September 5th. With its emphasis on snazzy design, glitzy launches and the cult-like fervour it inspires in its users, no wonder Xiaomi is often compared to its giant American rival, both by admirers and by critics who call it a copycat. Xiaomi’s boss, Lei Jun (pictured), even wears jeans and a black shirt, Steve Jobs-style. Is Xiaomi really China’s answer to Apple?
小米的发布会比起新闻发布会更像是一场摇滚音乐会。打扮随意的首席执行官登上深色的舞台向粉丝们揭开其公司最新的时尚智能手机。然而，这不是9月10日苹果的新iPhone发布会，而食中国公司小米9月5日在北京举行的小米3发布会。凭借其时尚的设计，炫目的发布会和用户被激发出的疯狂的热情，小米难免经常被崇拜者和批评者同美国的竞争对手苹果作比较，批评家称其产品为山寨货。小米的老板，雷军（如图），甚至穿着类似乔布斯风格的牛仔裤和黑色短袖。小米真的是中国的苹果吗？
Xiaomi sold 7.2m handsets last year, in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, earning revenues of 12.6 billion yuan ($2.1 billion). Apple sold 125m smartphones globally, earning about $80 billion of its $157 billion sales. But since it was founded in 2010, Xiaomi has grown fast. A recent funding round valued it at $10 billion, more than Microsoft just paid for Nokia’s handset unit. That made Xiaomi one of the 15 most heavily venture-backed mobile start-ups ever, says Rajeev Chand of Rutberg, an investment bank. In the second quarter of 2013 Xiaomi’s market share in China was 5%, says Canalys, a research firm—more than Apple’s (4.8%) for the first time.
去年小米在中国大陆，香港和台湾一共售出了7200万台手机，收入达126亿人民币（约合21亿美元）。苹果在全球卖出了1.25亿台手机，销售额为1570亿美元，收入达到800亿美元。但是由于小米始建于2010年，小米的增长速度极快。最近的一轮融资，小米估值达100亿美元，超过微软刚刚买下的诺基亚手机部门。投资银行Rutberg的Rajeev Chand表示这使得小米成为全球目前为止最值钱的15个手机公司之一。
Yet “we have never compared ourselves to Apple—we are more like Amazon,” says Lin Bin, Xiaomi’s co-founder, who once worked for the Chinese arms of Microsoft and Google. Apple sells its iPhone 5 for around $860 in China and has the industry’s highest margins. Xiaomi offers its handsets at or near cost: the Mi-3, its new flagship, costs 2,000 yuan ($330). Xiaomi sells direct to customers online, rather than via network operators or retail stores, which also keeps prices down. Crucially, its business depends on selling services to its users, just as Amazon provides its Kindle readers at low prices and makes its money on the sale of e-books. The idea is to make a profit from customers as they use the handset, rather than from the sale of the hardware, says Mr Lin.
然而，曾在微软和谷歌工作过的小米联合创始人林斌表示，我们从没有跟苹果对比，我们更像是亚马逊。苹果的iPhone5在中国的售价约为860美元，是行业中利润率最高的手机。小米提供的手机接近成本，新旗舰米3售价为2000元（330美元）。小米通过线上商店直接卖给消费者，而不是通过网络运营商或零售商店，这也压低了价格。最重要的是，它的业务依赖于将服务卖给用户，就像亚马逊提供低价的kindle阅读器，通过卖电子书赚钱。林先生表示，这个想法是通过用户对手机的使用赚取利润，而不是通过硬件销售。
Xiaomi’s services revenues were 20m yuan in August, up from 10m yuan in April. It is a classic internet business model: build an audience then monetise it later, as Google and Facebook did, notes Mr Lin. Selling games, custom wallpapers and virtual gifts may not sound very lucrative, but China’s internet giants have found a huge market for virtual goods: the biggest, Tencent, sold $5 billion-worth of them last year.
小米8月份的服务收入为2000万，从四月的1000万增长至此。林先生指出，这是一种典型的互联网商业模式：吸引听众然后套现，谷歌和facebook也是这么做的。售卖游戏，自定义壁纸和虚拟礼品听起来没那么利润丰厚，但是中国的互联网巨头们找到了虚拟物品的巨大市场：最大的腾讯去年卖出了50亿美元的虚拟物品。
Another big difference is their openness to user feedback. Apple takes an almost Stalinist approach to its handsets, limiting user customisation in favour of a “we know best” design philosophy. Xiaomi is more guided by its users, releasing a new version of its MIUI software (based on Google’s Android operating system) every week in response to their suggestions. In some cases Xiaomi asks users to vote via weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, on whether particular features should be included or how they should work—a form of democracy its American rival would never countenance.
另外一个很大的不同是他们对待消费者反馈的态度。苹果对自己的手机采取的几乎是斯大林式的方法，限制用户定制，用一种我们知道什么是最好的设计哲学。小米更以用户为导向，每周发行一个新版本的MIUI软件（基于谷歌的安卓操作系统）响应用户的建议。有些时候，小米会通过微博投票征求用户的建议，这是其美国对手绝对不会赞同的民主工作形式。
Apple’s launch this week of the iPhone 5C, a colourful, slightly cheaper version of the iPhone aimed at consumers in China and other developing countries, marks a shift in its strategy as it faces competition from Xiaomi and many other Chinese firms. Apple’s handsets have sold well in developed countries, but those markets are maturing. Global sales of smartphones are growing by 50% a year, notes Canalys, but by 108% a year in China, which now accounts for over one-third of global sales.
这周苹果发布了iPhone 5c，一款彩色版稍便宜的iPhone，这款设备旨在吸引中国和其他发展中国家的消费者，标志着在诸如小米和其他中国公司的竞争下战略的转变。苹果的手机在发达国家非常畅销，但是这些市场相对成熟。Canalys指出，全球智能手机销量每年增长50%，但是在中国增速为108%，占据全球三分之一的销量。
For the first time, Apple held an official launch event in Beijing this week, indicating its growing interest in this market. Yet there was widespread surprise at the high price of the 5C, which will cost $733 in China, limiting its appeal among less wealthy buyers. A rumoured deal with China Mobile to distribute the iPhone 5C and subsidise its cost has so far failed to materialise. (Apple also unveiled the iPhone 5S, its new high-end smartphone, which features a fingerprint reader for improved security.)
本周苹果首次在北京举办了官方发布会，表明其在中国市场的兴趣与日俱增。但是外界对5c的价格普遍感到惊讶，在中国售价高达733美元，限制了其对不太富裕买家的吸引力。传言与中国移动的交易销售iPhone 5c以及补贴方案至今都没有实现。（苹果也发布了iPhone 5s，最新的高端机型，具备指纹识别器，提高了安全性。）
Xiaomi the money
小米的资金
As Apple looks to tap the rapid growth of the Chinese market, Xiaomi is heading the other way. It recently hired Hugo Barra, a Google executive responsible for product development for Android, to develop new products for international markets.
随着苹果开始注意挖掘中国市场的快速增长，小米选择了另一条路。最近小米聘请了谷歌安卓产品开发主管Hugo Barra为国际市场开发新产品。
Yet Xiaomi and other Chinese firms sell so many games, apps and add-ons in large part because the Chinese government requires handsets to run a neutered version of the Android operating system, without Google’s app store, mail service, maps and other features. That helps Xiaomi sell its own replacement services, an advantage it will lose once it steps outside China. How scared should Apple be, really, of a rival that has yet to prove that its business model will work at home, let alone abroad?
然而，小米和其他中国公司销售如此多的游戏，应用和插件很大程度上是因为中国政府要求手机运行一个阉割版的安卓操作系统，不包括谷歌的应用程序商店，邮件服务，地图和其他功能。这有助于小米销售期自己的替代服务，而这在国际市场上会失去优势。小米的商业模式在国内尚未称得上成功，更不用说在国外了，苹果应该为此感到害怕吗？ |