三星魅力直逼蘋果

Samsung Electronics Co. is succeeding where other technology companies have tried and failed: closing the coolness gap with Apple Inc.

其他科技公司曾嘗試縮小與蘋果公司(Apple +1.88%)的魅力差距，但都以失敗告終。而三星電子(Samsung Electronics Co.)卻在這方面取得了成功。

The deep-pocketed Korean company has used a combination of engineering prowess, manufacturing heft and marketing savvy to create smartphones that can rival the iPhone in both sales and appeal.

這家財大氣粗的韓國公司利用自己在設計、製造和營銷方面的能力和經驗，推出了銷量和魅力都可與iPhone比肩的智能手機。

Samsung, the market leader in smartphones, on Friday said its fourth-quarter profit surged 76% to a record high on the strength of smartphone sales, including its Galaxy S line. The latest version is considered comparable by many shoppers in both design and technical features.

身爲智能手機市場領頭羊的三星在上週五說，藉助Galaxy S系列等智能手機的強勁銷售，它在第四季度的利潤猛增76%，達到創紀錄的水平。很多消費者覺得，三星最新款智能手機無論是設計還是技術參數都可與蘋果媲美。

Apple, meanwhile, reignited concerns about demand for its iPhone 5 after reporting flat earnings for the holiday quarter, sending its stock down 14% in the past two days. The stock has also dropped 37% since hitting an all-time high on Sept. 19, just two days before the iPhone 5 launched in stores.

與此同時，蘋果報告假日購物期所在季度利潤平平，再次引燃人們對iPhone 5需求的擔憂，導致該公司股價在過去兩個交易日下跌14%。蘋果股價曾在2012年9月19日、即iPhone 5上市兩天之前達到歷史最高水平，此後已經下跌37%。

At that time, Samsung had just unleashed an aggressive marketing campaign including a television commercial that poked fun at the iPhone 5. 'The next big thing is already here,' the spot said, referring to its Galaxy S III phone.

當時，三星剛剛打響了一場咄咄逼人的營銷戰，包括一則拿iPhone 5開玩笑的電視廣告。廣告語是“下一件了不起的東西已經在這了”，這件東西便是三星Galaxy S III手機。

The ad was part of a more than $200 million U.S. marketing blitz that Samsung launched in 2011 to lampoon Apple, according to Kantar Media. The creative vision for those ads was a former Nike executive, Todd Pendleton, who now runs Samsung's marketing in the U.S.

包括這條廣告在內，三星自2011年以來在美國發起了一場嘲諷蘋果的閃電營銷戰，據廣告信息研究公司Kantar Media的數據，營銷活動花費超過2億美元。廣告的創意來自曾任耐克(NikeNKE-1.06%)高管、現在負責三星美國營銷的彭德爾頓(Todd Pendleton)。

The campaign swayed consumers including Will Hernandez, an Apple iPhone owner who bought a Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone about three months ago after seeing Samsung's ads.

營銷戰動搖了包括赫爾南德斯(Will Hernandez)在內的消費者。約三個月之前，本來使用蘋果iPhone的赫爾南德斯看到三星的廣告，然後買了一部Galaxy S III。

'If you see this stuff on TV enough, it gets you thinking,' said Mr. Hernandez, a 34-year-old resident of Somerville, Mass., who adds that he likes how his Galaxy has a larger screen than the iPhone. 'Now, when someone gives me an iPhone to look at a picture, it looks so tiny.'

家住馬薩諸塞州薩默維爾、現年34歲的赫爾南德斯說，在電視上看這種廣告看多了，它就會讓你開始考慮。赫爾南德斯說，他喜歡Galaxy屏幕比iPhone更大這一點。他說：現在，當別人把iPhone拿過來讓我看一張照片的時候，我就覺得它實在太小了。

The marketing onslaught is helping Samsung widen the gap as the market leader. Samsung is estimated to have held 28% of the global smartphone market last year, up from 20% a year earlier, according to IHS iSuppli. Apple's share, meanwhile, isn't rising as quickly, moving to 20.5% in 2012 from 19% a year earlier.

營銷戰正在幫助三星擴大其市場領導者的優勢地位。據IHS iSuppli估計，去年三星掌握了全球智能手機市場28%的份額，高於上一年的20%。而蘋果市場份額的擴大則沒有這麼快，僅從2011年的19%上升到2012年的20.5%。

Despite Samsung's advances, Apple generates higher revenue and its profit in the latest quarter was twice as large as Samsung's. And even after its stock slump, Apple's market value of $413 billion is nearly double Samsung's $217 billion market cap.

儘管三星一路高歌猛進，但蘋果的收入還是更高，最新一個季度的利潤更是達到三星的兩倍。而且即便是在股價大幅下跌之後，蘋果4,130億美元的市值也接近三星2,170億美元市值的兩倍。

A Samsung spokesman in Seoul declined to make executives available. An Apple spokeswoman declined to make executives available for interviews, but reiterated recent comments by Chief Executive Tim Cook. Mr. Cook has said Apple is 'unwilling to cut corners in delivering the best customer experience in the world.'

三星駐首爾發言人不讓採訪高管。蘋果一位發言人拒絕安排高管接受採訪，但她重申了蘋果首席執行長庫克(Tim Cook)的話。庫克曾說，蘋果在提供世界上最佳用戶體驗方面不願走捷徑。

While many analysts agree that Samsung isn't as innovative as Apple in terms of design and software capability, it has been able to match other electronics companies' products at a cheaper price.

雖然許多分析人士都認爲，三星在設計和軟件能力方面並不像蘋果那樣具有創新性，但三星一直能夠以較低的價格生產出與其他電子產品公司相匹敵的產品。

Samsung's high-end smartphones are priced similarly to their iPhone counterparts in the U.S. But Samsung's devices have been significantly discounted at times, to less than a quarter of the sticker price in some cases.

在美國市場，三星高端智能手機的定價與相互競爭的iPhone手機處於同一水平。但三星的手機不時會大幅打折，某些產品的打折價會低到不及產品標價的四分之一。

Samsung owns its own manufacturing facilities where it builds screens, chips and other parts, allowing it to cut costs to make smartphones in a way that few other manufacturers can. Apple designs its own devices and some of the technologies it uses, but it relies on other companies, including Samsung, to help build its iPhones.

三星擁有自己的生產設施，它在那裏生產顯示屏、芯片和其他零部件。這使得它在生產智能手機時能將成本削減到其他生產商幾乎難以企及的程度。雖然蘋果負責設計自己的產品並開發一些生產其產品所用的技術，但它卻需要靠包括三星在內的其他公司來幫助其生產iPhone。

At the same time, the Korean electronics maker has capitalized on what Apple wasn't doing in the smartphone market. Even as Apple stuck to one new model each year with a narrow price band, Samsung released multiple smartphones in various shapes and sizes and with features such as larger screens.

與此同時，三星一直通過做那些蘋果在智能手機市場上沒有做的事來獲利。就在蘋果堅持每年只發布一款新手機、並將產品的價格區間限制得很窄之際，三星卻會同時發佈多款手機，它們具有不同的外形和尺寸，並具備了更大的顯示屏等特點。

Samsung was also quick to embrace Google Inc.'s Android mobile software just as the operating system was becoming popular with consumers. That enabled the company to become the leading vendor of Android phones in the U.S.

谷歌公司(Google +0.39%)開發的手機操作系統軟件安卓(Android)剛一受到消費者的追捧，三星就迅速採用了它。這使得三星成爲美國市場上最大的安卓手機提供商。

Meanwhile, Samsung also offers feature phones based on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows Phone software to attract consumers in low-end and emerging markets.

與此同時，三星還提供基於微軟公司(Microsoft +0.35%)Windows Phone軟件的功能手機，以吸引低端和新型市場上的消費者。

The result is a two-horse race in which Apple appears to be seeing iPhone sales growth slow at a time when smartphones are set to become the majority of all cellphone sales.

其結果是，就在智能手機開始成爲手機市場上的主流產品之際，蘋果公司iPhone手機的銷售增速看來卻在放緩。

Samsung's surge in smartphones has caused more than just consumers to switch away from Apple. Some app developers have said they are now focusing more attention on Samsung devices.

三星智能手機銷量的大幅增長不僅使一批消費者棄用蘋果產品而改用三星手機，就連一些應用軟件開發商也說，他們現在正把更多注意力放在三星的手機上。

Ken Yarmosh, chief executive of Savvy Apps in Washington, D.C., said his company began by making apps for Apple's iOS operating system but lately has been focusing on Android as Samsung devices have become more prevalent, especially among his own company's testing devices.

Savvy Apps是華盛頓一家手機應用軟件開發商，其首席執行長雅莫什(Ken Yarmosh)說，他的公司創辦伊始是爲蘋果的iOS操作系統軟件開發應用程序，但近來一直把注意力放在安卓操作系統上，因爲三星的手機已經變得更爲流行，這一點在Savvy Apps測試的手機中表現得尤爲明顯。

'There was a major flip─it was Apple, then if you have money build for Android,' Mr. Yarmosh said. 'Now it's Android first, or Android only.'

雅莫什說，手機市場的風向發生了重大轉變，以往應用軟件開發商都是優先爲蘋果手機開發軟件，有多餘的資金纔會爲安卓手機開發軟件。而現在是他們先爲安卓手機開發軟件，或者只爲安卓手機開發。

The intense competition has led to skirmishes between Apple and Samsung. In August, a federal court sided with Apple in a fight over patents, awarding it more than $1 billion in damages and saying Samsung had infringed many of Apple's patents. The two companies are also dueling in numerous courts world-wide over various other patents, including the design of their respective devices and the wireless technology that powers them.

蘋果和三星間的激烈競爭導致雙方發生了一系列小衝突。去年八月，一家聯邦法庭在兩公司的一場專利權訴訟中站到了蘋果一邊，下令三星給予蘋果逾10億美元的損害賠償，並稱三星侵犯了蘋果的許多專利。這兩家公司還在全球各地的許多法庭上就其他各種各樣的專利權進行着爭鬥，這些專利涉及它們各自手機的設計及手機使用的無線通訊技術等方面。

Apple also appears to be responding to Samsung's growth by aiming to diversify its iPhone line. The Wall Street Journal earlier this month reported that Apple is working on a lower-cost iPhone that could potentially launch later this year.

蘋果似乎還打算通過增加iPhone的產品線的種類來對三星的增長做出迴應。《華爾街日報》本月早些時候報道說，蘋果正在開發一款成本更低的iPhone，這款手機可能於今年晚些時候發佈。

Despite the threat from Samsung, Apple still sold a record 47 million iPhones in the latest quarter, and the two largest U.S. carriers, AT&T Inc. and Verizon Wireless, said the majority of smartphones activated over the holidays were iPhones.

儘管受到了來自三星的競爭威脅，蘋果在最後一個季度的銷量仍然達到創紀錄的4,700萬部，美國最大的兩家運營商美國電話電報公司(AT&T Inc.T+1.61%)和Verizon Wireless說，假期期間激活的大部分智能手機都是iPhone。

'Most people I know have iPhones,' said David Barnard, founder of App Cubby, which makes utility programs for Apple devices. The iPhone's popularity is not what is at question, he added, but rather that Samsung has taken a smart tack by attacking Apple's hip image. 'Painting the iPhone as a passé thing is such a perfect marketing message to counteract its coolness.'

負責爲蘋果設備開發應用程序的企業App Cubby的創始人巴納德(David Barnard)說，我認識的大多數人都使用iPhone。他補充說，iPhone的受歡迎程度不容置疑，但是三星採取了一個聰明的策略，那就是攻擊蘋果的時髦外觀。他說，把iPhone形容爲一種過時的商品，這是一個完美的營銷策略，讓蘋果顯得不那麼酷了。

Samsung executives began taking aim in 2009 after Apple began selling the iPhone in South Korea, where it briefly became the top-seller of phones in the country.

2009年蘋果開始在韓國銷售iPhone之後，iPhone一時間成爲韓國最暢銷的手機。此後，三星的高管開始以iPhone作爲目標。

'All this time we've been paying all our attention to Nokia, ' a then-new chief of Samsung's telecom business, J.K. Shin, wrote in a memo to top executives in February 2010, which was revealed publicly last year in a trial. 'Yet when our [user experience] is compared with the unexpected competitor Apple's iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth.'

2010年2月，當時剛剛擔任三星移動業務總裁的申宗均(J.K. Shin)在給高管的備忘錄中寫道，一直以來我們都在關注諾基亞，然而我們的用戶體驗卻會被拿來與始料未及的競爭者──蘋果的iPhone相比，兩者之間實在是天壤之別。這份備忘錄去年在一次庭審中被公開。

A few months later, Samsung unveiled its answer to the iPhone, the Galaxy S, an Android-based model that had several distinctive features, such as an FM radio and front-facing camera. It also had an element that would eventually become an ace up its sleeve-a bigger screen.

幾個月之後，三星發佈了Galaxy S系列手機，作爲對iPhone的迴應，這是一款基於安卓平臺的手機型號，擁有一些相當有特色的功能，比如FM收音機和前置攝像頭，它還有另外一個加分元素──更大的屏幕，正是這個元素最終成了三星手裏的王牌。

Apple released its iPhone 4 in mid-2010 with a new design and a front-facing camera. It far outsold the Samsung product, but the Galaxy S had made a mark and was on the radar of Apple's leaders.

蘋果於2010年年中發佈了iPhone 4，該手機擁有全新的設計和前置攝像頭，銷量遠遠超過了三星的產品，但是Galaxy S已經給市場留下深刻印象，並引起了蘋果高管的注意。

In 2011, Samsung rolled out Galaxy S II and then flooded the market with smartphones. It put Galaxy S models at the high end and created four more lines-such as the Galaxy M-each with numerous models.

2011年，三星推出了Galaxy S II，並在隨後推出了大量智能手機型號。三星將Galaxy S定位爲高端型號，推出了包括Galaxy M在內的四個產品線，每個產品線都包含諸多型號。

Samsung took another step last year by adding a new line called Note, which Samsung says is a cross between a smartphone and tablet due to its larger screen, measuring more than 5 inches diagonally. The first Note launched in October 2011 and an update came out a year later.

三星去年採取了另一項措施，增加了一個叫做Note的新產品線。三星說，這款產品是智能手機和平板電腦的交叉產品，因爲它的屏幕更大，超過了五英寸。第一款Note於2011年10月發佈，一年之後三星推出了升級版。

Samsung's latest efforts seem to be paying off, at least with consumers who aren't so loyal to Apple.

三星最近期的努力似乎得到了回報，至少贏得了對蘋果不那麼忠誠的消費者。

Dora Daniels, 26, of Oakland, Calif., said she learned about Samsung's latest Galaxy S III because of giant ads plastered around a downtown San Francisco transit station.

加州奧克蘭26歲的丹尼爾斯(Dora Daniels)說，她從舊金山市中心公交站附近的巨大廣告牌上得知了三星最新的Galaxy S III。

'It's silly because I don't want to be a slave to marketing but it really got into my head,' said Ms. Daniels, who recently switched to the Samsung phone from an older iPhone.

丹尼爾斯說，我想我是有點傻，我不想成爲營銷手段的奴隸，但是它確實讓我十分着迷。不久前，她拋棄了自己的舊款iPhone，換成了三星手機。