蘋果即將推出智能手錶和大屏手機

SAN FRANCISCO — When Apple wants to make a big splash, it returns to its history.

舊金山——當蘋果(Apple)希望掀起一層巨浪時，它選擇迴歸自己的歷史。

Thirty years ago at the Flint Center for the Performing Arts, a roomy auditorium in Cupertino, Calif., Steven P. Jobs introduced the original Macintosh. On Tuesday, Apple will return to the center to unveil a set of long-anticipated products: two iPhones with larger screens and a wearable computer that the media has nicknamed the iWatch.

三十年前，在加州庫珀蒂諾弗林特表演藝術中心(Flint Center for the Performing Arts)的一間寬敞的禮堂裏，史蒂芬·P·喬布斯(Steven P. Jobs)向人們介紹了初代麥金塔電腦(Macintosh)。下週二，蘋果將回到這個中心，推出人們期待已久的一系列產品：兩款屏幕更大的iPhone，以及一款可穿戴電腦，媒體給它取了個綽號叫“iWatch”。

The so-called smartwatch will be the first brand-new product unveiled under Timothy D. Cook, Apple’s chief executive, who took the helm three years ago, shortly before Mr. Jobs’s death.

這款所謂的智能手錶將是首席執行官蒂莫西·D·庫克(Timothy D. Cook)領導下的蘋果推出的第一款全新產品，庫克是三年前喬布斯去世後不久接掌公司的。

It is expected to come in two sizes and combine functions like health and fitness monitoring with mobile computing tasks like displaying maps. It will have a flexible screen and, like the new phones, will support technology that allows people to pay for things wirelessly.

預計這款產品會包括兩種尺寸，將健康和體能監測等功能和地圖顯示等移動計算任務結合在一起。它將有一塊可彎曲的屏幕，並和新款手機一樣，將支持讓人可以無線支付購物的技術。

“I believe it’s going to be historic,” said Tim Bajarin, a consumer technology analyst for Creative Strategies who attended the original Mac event in 1984. He added, “The design of this product is all Tim’s fingerprints.”Apple, which is highly secretive, has not officially commented on any of the new products. But multiple employees of Apple and its partners who were briefed on the products shared some details on the condition that they not be identified.

“我相信那將是一個歷史性的時刻，”創意策略公司(Creative Strategies)的消費科技分析師、參加過1984年Mac初代發佈會的本·巴加林(Ben Bajarin)說。他還說，“這個產品的設計處處顯露蒂姆的影響。”行事極其隱祕的蘋果沒有公開評論過以上的任何一款新產品。但是多位蘋果僱員和對產品情況有了解的合作伙伴分享了一些細節，條件是在本文中不透露身份。

With its first wearable computer, Apple will enter a growing market for fitness-tracking gadgets and smartwatches from Fitbit, Nike and Samsung Electronics. And with the two larger phones, Apple will fight back against Samsung, whose big-screen Galaxy smartphones have wrested sales away over the last few years.

隨着該公司第一款可穿戴電腦的推出，蘋果將進入一個正在成長的健康跟蹤設備和智能手錶市場，已經存在於該市場的有Fitbit、耐克(Nike)和三星電子(Samsung Electronics)。而憑藉兩款屏幕更大的手機，蘋果將對三星發起反擊，後者的大屏Galaxy智能手機在過去幾年裏搶走了不少銷量。

While the iPhones are expected to be released in the coming weeks, the watch is unlikely to be in stores until next year, several of the people with knowledge of the products said. The price of the new devices is not yet publicly known.

多位瞭解產品的人說，iPhone有望在未來幾周內發佈，不過手錶可能要到明年才能上架出售。新設備的價格尚未公佈。

Some said the smartwatch was one of Apple’s most ambitious projects to date.

有人說智能手錶是蘋果迄今爲止最具雄心的項目之一。

The company put an enormous amount of time and money into designing the wearable device’s sensors so that they can track movements and vital signs, like heart rate and footsteps, much more accurately than existing fitness devices, two employees said.

兩位公司僱員說，公司花了大量的時間和金錢用於設計可穿戴設備的傳感器，在追蹤運動和心率、步伐等生命體徵時，要比現有的健康設備準確得多。

It has a flexible display panel that is protected by synthetic sapphire, which is tougher than glass, they said. The device’s circuit board, which includes its sensors and chips, was described as tiny, about the size of a postage stamp.

他們說手錶有一塊可彎曲的顯示板，使用比玻璃更堅硬的合成藍寶石進行保護。包含傳感器和芯片在內的設備電路板據他們形容是極其微小的，大概是一張郵票的大小。

For replenishing the battery, the smartwatch will rely on a wireless charging method. Apple had at one point tested solar charging for the watch, but that experiment failed.

爲了讓電量保持充沛，智能手錶將依賴一種無線充電手段。蘋果一度測試過太陽能充電，但實驗失敗了。

For software, the watch will take advantage of HealthKit, a set of tools for storing health data that Apple introduced in June. The device will also rely heavily on Handoff, a new software feature that allows users to push content between their Apple devices.

軟件方面，手錶將利用蘋果在六月推出的HealthKit，一套用於存儲健康數據的工具。設備將非常依賴Handoff，這種新軟件特性讓用戶可以在自己的蘋果設備之間推送內容。

The bigger iPhones, which have been widely written about over the last year, will come in two screen sizes, one measuring 4.7 diagonal inches and the other 5.5 diagonal inches. The larger version will cost more. Unlike the older iPhones, which have somewhat sharp edges, the new ones have softer, rounded edges similar to those of the latest iPads.

過去一年裏，屏幕加大的iPhone得到了廣泛的關注，它將包括兩種屏幕尺寸，分別爲4.7寸和5.5寸。更大的那款售價會更高。和以往iPhone相對尖銳的邊緣相比，新款會採用更柔和的、圓角的邊緣，和最新的幾款iPad類似。

To deal with concerns that a bigger phone will make typing with one hand difficult (the current iPhone has a four-inch screen), some changes to the design of the iPhones’ user interface will allow people to type or use apps with just one hand; there will be a one-handed mode that can be switched on and off, two employees said.

有人擔心更大的手機屏幕會增加單手打字的難度（目前的iPhone是4寸屏），爲此蘋果將對iPhone的用戶界面設計做出改動，讓用戶可以用一隻手打字或使用應用；兩位僱員還說，將會有一個可以開關的單手模式。

The wearable device and the smartphones will include hardware and software that support a technology called near-field communication, or NFC, which allows devices to exchange information wirelessly over very short distances. It could make paying for things with a phone less of a hassle.

可穿戴設備和智能手機的硬件和軟件將支持一種叫做近場通訊（即NFC）的技術，設備通過這種技術可以在很短的距離內無線交換信息。這樣一來用戶在用手機做支付時可以省卻一些麻煩。

Apple has teamed up with American Express, MasterCard and Visa to support the payment system, said several people involved in the partnerships. With the deal, these people said, iPhone owners will be able to use their devices as a sort of digital wallet, improving their ability to pay for items at select partner merchants without handing over cash or a credit card.

多位參與合作事宜的人說，蘋果已經和美國運通(American Express)、萬事達(MasterCard)和Visa聯手，支持其支付系統。這些人說，根據協議，iPhone用戶將可以把設備當作某種數碼錢包來使用，在一些特定合作商戶那裏進行支付的過程將得到改進，不需要取出現金或信用卡。

Along with these partnerships, the abundance of new NFC-enabled iPhones could jump-start mobile payment, which has so far failed to gain traction among American consumers. Google, for instance, released a digital wallet in 2011 that has achieved little success. And Isis — a mobile wallet backed by three major American phone carriers, which was renamed Softcard this week — never caught on either.

在建立這些合作關係的同時，配備了NFC技術的新款iPhone還將以其豐富的功能推動移動支付的發展，迄今爲止，這種支付手段沒能得到美國消費者的垂青。例如Google在2011年推出了一款數碼錢包，幾乎沒收到什麼成效。而由三大美國手機運營商資助的移動錢包服務Isis同樣無功而返，本週這款產品已經改名爲Softcard。

Some analysts think Apple’s entrance into the world of mobile payment will make all the difference.

一些分析人士認爲，蘋果進軍移動支付，將給這個領域帶來天翻地覆的變化。

“Apple owns the hardware and the software here, unlike Google,” said Josh Beck, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities. “Not to mention Apple has this huge cache of customer credit cards, and an affluent customer base.”

“蘋果和Google不一樣，它有這個領域的硬件和軟件，”太平洋皇冠證券(Pacific Crest Securities)分析師喬什·貝克(Josh Beck)說。“更不用說它還掌握着大量消費者信用卡信息，以及一個頗爲富裕的消費者羣體。”

Representatives of American Express, Apple, MasterCard and Visa declined to comment.

美國運通、蘋果、萬事達和Visa公司的代表均拒絕置評。