蘋果高管暗示將進軍電動汽車領域

After turning music players, telephones and watches into portable computers, Apple is now eyeing the autoMobile as the “ultimate mobile device”.

在把音樂播放器、手機和手錶變成便攜式電腦之後，蘋果(Apple)目前把汽車視爲“終極移動設備”。

Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice-president of operations, dropped the biggest hint yet about the iPhone maker’s ambitions to transform the automotive industry during an onstage interview on Wednesday.

週三，蘋果運營高級副總裁傑夫•威廉斯(Jeff Williams)在臺上接受採訪時，給出了這家iPhone製造商改造汽車業抱負的最明確暗示。

“The car is the ultimate mobile device, isn’t it?” Mr Williams said at the Code conference. “We explore all kinds of categories.”

“汽車是終極的移動設備，不是嗎？”威廉斯在全球開發者大會上表示。“我們對所有領域開展探索。”

Mr Williams made the remark in response to a question from the audience about how Apple plans to deploy its huge cash pile, which is approaching $200bn.

在觀衆提問蘋果將如何使用公司的鉅額現金儲備時，威廉斯給出了上述回答。蘋果目前的現金儲備已接近2000億美元。

He clarified that Apple already offers CarPlay, an infotainment system that shows content from a driver’s iPhone in the dashboard. Carmakers including General Motors, Ford and Hyundai have said they plan to build CarPlay into their cars over the next year.

他解釋稱，蘋果已推出了CarPlay，這是一款信息娛樂系統，通過駕駛員放在儀表盤上的iPhone顯示內容。通用汽車(General Motors)、福特(Ford)和現代(Hyundai)等車企都表示，他們打算明年在自家的車輛上搭載CarPlay。

But Mr Williams’ comment follows reports in the Financial Times and elsewhere that Apple has a secret team of automotive engineers and designers working towards an electric vehicle.

但是，威廉斯在發表上述言論之前，英國《金融時報》等媒體已報道稱，蘋果擁有一個祕密的汽車工程師與設計師團隊，正在研製電動汽車。

Neither Mr Williams nor his colleagues at Apple have commented on those reports directly but his allusion follows a familiar pattern of its executives’ hints about future products, from its smartwatch to television.

威廉斯和他的蘋果同事都沒有直接置評該報道，但他的暗示跟以往蘋果高管對未來產品的暗示如出一轍，從智能手錶到電視項目公佈之前均有此類暗示。