Apple in China 苹果手机在中国 iPhones make Chinese eyes light up 苹果手机让中国人开眼了
Apple doesn’t just make stuff in China; its sales there are booming, too.
苹果公司不仅从中国采购原材料，其销售量也正在蓬勃发展。
SAY the words “Apple” and “China” to Westerners, and many will think of sweatshops. Campaigners have accused Foxconn, which makes most of Apple’s gizmos in mainland China, of overworking and underpaying its staff. Apple has promised to insist on better working conditions.
“苹果”和“中国”能让许多西方人联想到“血汗工厂”。人们已经发起运动谴责富士康，它是苹果在中国大陆最大的零配件生产商，它让工人们超时工作，还只支付较少的工资。苹果承诺要为工人们提供更好的工作环境。
Ask about Apple inside China, however, and you hear little but praise. It is one of the most admired brands in the Middle Kingdom. A survey last year by researchers at Stanford University found that iPad penetration was greater at an elite high school in Beijing than at one in Palo Alto, California. In the first quarter of this year Apple earned $7.9 billion in greater China, making it the firm’s second-biggest market (see chart). The latest iPad was launched on the mainland on July 20th.
然而，要是问中国对苹果公司的印象的话，那你几乎只能听到赞誉之声。“苹果”在这个泱泱大国可以是一个响当当的品牌。从斯坦福大学去年的一项调查中可以发现，iPad在北京的重点高中有比在加利福尼亚的帕洛阿尔托更具渗透力。今年第1季度苹果公司从大中华地区赚取了79亿美元，该地区也成为苹果公司的第2大市场。最新的iPad于7月20日开始在大陆发售了。
Apple’s latest results, announced on July 24th, were excellent by normal standards: global revenues for the most recent quarter were $35 billion, with a gross margin of nearly 43%. Amazingly, this was worse than investors expected, so Apple’s shares slipped by 4.3%. Analysts blamed weak demand in Europe, as well as purchases deferred because of rumours of a new iPhone launch.
于7月24日发布的最新财报显示，苹果公司表现非凡：上一个季度的全球销售额达到350亿美元，毛利占比为43%。令人惊奇的是，这一结果居然比投资者预期的要坏，而苹果公司的股份也因此下跌了4.3%。分析家把这归因于欧洲市场需要疲软和关于新版iPhone将要推迟上市的传闻。
Sales in greater China fell to $5.7 billion, a plunge of 28% from the spectacular first quarter (when Apple launched the much-awaited iPhone 4S in the country). That was expected, however. More telling is that revenues rose by 48% year-on-year.
苹果产品在大中华区的销售额也下降到了57亿美元，即第1季度销量巨跌28%（在这个季度里苹果公司向中国发售了令人期待以久的iPhone 4S）。然而这也是在人们的预料之中的。更能说明问题的是，与去年同期相比销售增长了48%。
Sales of smartphones (of all brands) in China are soaring: they rose by 288% in April, year-on-year, and for the first time outpaced the sales of dumbphones. Sanford C. Bernstein, an investment bank, estimates that 270m people in China can already afford Apple’s products, and that each year another 57m will be able to. Many Chinese are desperate for its gadgets. This year a boy from Anhui, one of China’s poorest provinces, reportedly sold one of his kidneys to buy an iPhone and iPad.
中国的智能手机销售（所有品牌）都出现了猛增：与去年同期相比今年4月的销量增长了288%。投资银行斯坦福C·伯恩斯坦，中国有2.7亿人能买得起苹果公司的产品，而今后每年还会有5700万人加入他们的行列。许多中国人渴望得到这些小东西。据报道一位来自中国最贫困的安徽省的男孩为了买一部iPhone或iPad去卖肾。
Apple’s sales could also get a boost from another quarter. China Mobile, which counts two-thirds of China’s 1 billion mobile subscribers as customers, does not yet officially offer Apple products. “To go big in China, Apple must get a deal with China Mobile,” says C.K. Lu of Gartner, a market-research firm. Rumours suggest such a deal may be in the offing.
在这个季度里苹果公司的销量还会进一步提高。拥有中国10亿移动用户中三分之一的中国移动公司尚未正式发售苹果公司的产品。据市场调查公司高德纳公司的C·K·卢说：“要想在中国大卖，苹果必须和中国移动联手。”有传闻说两个公司间将会于近期达到交易。
In short, Apple’s products are selling fast and likely to sell even faster. Some predict that China will overtake America to become Apple’s largest market within a few years.
简而言之，苹果公司的产品非常热销，而且还会进一步热销。一些人预言，中国将会在数年内超过美国成为苹果最大的市场。
