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专栏 - 苹果2_0

三星:两面受敌,处境狼狈

Philip Elmer-DeWitt 2011年09月06日

苹果(Apple)公司内部流传着一个老笑话,那就是史蒂夫·乔布斯周围是一片“现实扭曲力场”:你离他太近的话,就会相信他所说的话。苹果的数百万用户中已经有不少成了该公司的“信徒”,而很多苹果投资者也赚得盆满钵满。不过,Elmer-DeWitt认为,在报道苹果公司时有点怀疑精神不是坏事。听他的应该没错。要知道,他自从1982年就开始报道苹果、观察史蒂夫·乔布斯经营该公司。
世界头号Android设备制造商眼下正两面受敌,在柏林国际电子消费品展览会也因禁售风波临时变阵,草草收场。

    三星公司在柏林展位上匆忙遮盖。来源:Android新闻网站AndroidPit

    上周,三星公司(Samsung)遭受双重打击,到底会伤筋动骨还是无关紧要,目前尚有待观察。首先是其惊人的销量引发质疑;其次,三星销售的产品与苹果公司(Apple)的iPhone和iPad惊人的相似,涉嫌侵权。

    • 出货量 vs.销售额。去年12月,三星公司宣称自己的7英寸银河平板电脑(Galaxy Tab)出货量达到了100万台,消息登上了不少媒体的头条。但这个数字遭到斯蒂夫•乔布斯的公开质疑,乔布斯戏称,这100万台中的大多数可能都还躺在货架上。如果周五《卫报》(Guardian)的一篇报道可以采信,那么乔布斯可能比他自己所意识到的还要更接近事实真相。据联想电脑公司(Lenovo)的高管安德鲁•巴罗称,2010年三星公司实际上只卖出了2万台银河平板电脑——仅为其出货量的2%。这个数字少得惊人,因而在科技类媒体上被广泛报道。但由于此消息来自与三星公司竞争最激烈的对手之一,其可信度还有待检验。

    • 专利之战。科技专利博客FOSS Patent的主笔弗洛里安•穆勒上周六报道称,在柏林举行的大型电子消费品展销会开幕第二天,三星公司就被迫从展位上撤下其新款7.7英寸银河平板电脑及其市场推广材料。三星甚至刮掉了样品下的产品名称。当时来自世界各地的科技记者云集展会,这一幕就在众目睽睽之下上演。这一风波的起因源自苹果对三星的一系列专利诉讼。苹果诉称三星“亦步亦趋地”仿冒了自己的知识产权。上个月,杜尔塞多夫的地方法院做出了有利于苹果公司的初步裁决,禁止在欧洲销售10英寸的银河平板电脑。据穆勒称,该法院已发布了第二轮禁令,将禁售令扩大到了7.7英寸的新款上。

    尽管如此,三星仍有可能在诉讼战中取胜,或是与苹果达成某种形式的和解。三星也还有机会发布可信的销售数字,区分清楚给经销商的出货量与卖给终端客户的销量。但在此之前,三星公司的公关代表都会如坐针毡。以下内容为穆勒翻译的视频采访对话,内容是AndroidPit网站的法比恩•罗林格采访三星德国分公司新闻发言人。

    AndroidPit:大家都看见你们把所有7.7英寸银河平板电脑都搬走了,还用一块布遮住了(部分展台)。这是怎么回事?

    三星公司:在当前情况下,我们已决定用其他参展的重点产品代替这款产品,也就是新款智能手机(Galaxy Note),因为,正如媒体所报道的那样,我们不会在德国销售这款产品,所以我们希望能向客户集中展示其他产品——新款智能手机(Galaxy Note)。

    AndroidPit:这件事跟苹果公司有什么关系吗?

    三星公司:对于这件事,我得请你谅解,我不能对目前的(法律事务)进展发表任何看法。

    AndroidPit:那么很明显你们想更多专注于这款智能手机,因此临时决定重新布置展台?

    三星公司:这款智能手机将是我们的重点产品,而因为其他产品无法在德国销售,我想,集中展示将在德国推出的产品对(参展的)客户会更好些,也更简单些,也符合展会观众的利益。

    穆勒指出,这位名叫卡斯塔德特的发言人极力草草结束访谈,并自始至终避免提到“7.7英寸银河平板电脑”这个词,而是用“这个产品”,或“那个产品”来指代。产品被禁售,还要硬撑着在这个国家做生意可真不是件容易的事。

    译者:清远

    Samsung suffered a pair of setbacks last week, although whether they are substantive or superficial remains to be seen. One called into question its impressive sales figures, the other its legal right to sell devices that bear such a striking resemblance to Apple's (AAPL) iPhones and iPads.

    • Shipments vs. Sales. Samsung made headlines last year when it announced in December that it had shipped 1 million units of its 7-inch Galaxy Tab -- a figure that Steve Jobs publicly challenged, joking that most of those 1 million Tabs were probably still sitting on the shelf. Jobs may have struck closer to home than he realized, if a report in Friday's Guardian is to be believed. According to Andrew Barrow, an executive at Lenovo, Samsung sold only 20,000 Galaxy Tabs in 2010 -- just 2% of the 1 million it shipped. That's an astonishing low number that 's getting a lot of play in the tech press. But it cannot be considered definitive because it comes from one of Samsung fiercest competitors.

    • Patent wars. FOSS Patents' Florian Mueller reported Saturday that on the second day of a major electronics trade show in Berlin Samsung was forced to remove from its booth both its new 7.7-inch Galaxy Tabs and the promotional material that accompanied them. It even scraped off the product's name where it appeared below the samples. The incident -- which played out in front of tech journalists from around the world -- stemmed from one of the many patent suits Apple has filed against Samsung, accusing it of "slavishly" copying Apple's intellectual property. Last month a regional court in Dusseldorf issued a preliminary ruling in Apple's favor, banning the sale of the 10-inch Galaxy Tab in Europe. According to Mueller, the court has issued a second injunction extending the ban to cover the new 7.7-inch model.

    Samsung may yet prevail -- or reach a settlement -- in its court battles with Apple. And it may yet release credible sales figures that distinguish between shipments to distributors and sales to customers. Until then, its PR representatives are in a tough spot. Below: Mueller's translation of a video interview AndroidPit's Fabien Roehlinger conducted with the press spokeswoman of Samsung's German subsidiary.

    AndroidPit: People saw that you removed all Galaxy Tabs 7.7 and covered [parts of the tables] with a sheet. What's the matter with this?

    Samsung: We have decided -- on a current occasion -- to replace the product with our other IFA highlight product, the Galaxy Note, since, as the press reported, we weren't going to offer the product for sale in Germany anyway, so we want to show our customers the other product -- the [Galaxy] Note -- more closely.

    AndroidPit: Does this have to do with Apple by any chance?

    Samsung: On this one I have to ask you for your understanding that I'm not allowed to comment on an ongoing [legal] proceeding.

    AndroidPit: So this apparently means you want to focus more on the Galaxy Note and you have therefore taken a decision on short notice to rearrange your exhibits?

    Samsung: The Note was going to be our highlight product anyway and since the other product wasn't going to be sold in Germany at any rate, I believe it's also better for the consumers here [at the show] and simpler and in the interest of trade show visitors that we really show only those products that are really going to be released in Germany.

    Mueller points out that Karstadt managed to get through the Q&A without ever uttering the words "Galaxy Tab 7.7," referring to it instead as "the product" or "the other product." It's not easy doing business in a country where your product has been banned.

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