【英语科技】新一轮智能手机大战拉开序幕

The next round in the smartphone battle between Apple and Google is under way, with the iPhone 4 on sale today and a next generation of Android-based phones being unveiled.

The iPhone 4 is available in the US, UK, France, Germany and Japan from today and is due to roll out to 88 countries by the end of September, in the widest availability to date for the product.

Apple's rivals responded yesterday with Google, Motorola and Verizon Wireless unveiling the next generation of the Droid-branded phone.

The original Droid established itself as a competitor to the iPhone through the backing of a big marketing campaign by Verizon. Its successor has the same styling but an improved keyboard and faster processor.

Motorola is not only trying to win smartphone sales from Apple but also from HTC of Taiwan – another champion of the Android operating system.

The US handset maker is also planning the Droid X, which has similar features to the HTC Evo – the current standard bearer for Android.

Motorola has slipped over the past three years from being second only to Nokia in handset shipments to eighth place in the first quarter, according to the iSuppli research firm.

Shipments were down 42 per cent on a year earlier at 8.5m. But smartphone shipments of 2.3m beat analysts' estimates and Motorola expects to ship about 13m this year as it focuses on Android-based handsets.

Verizon has also been concentrating on a range of Droid phones from Motorola and HTC to compete with AT&T's exclusive arrangement with Apple for the iPhone.

AT&T said it received 10 times as many pre-orders for the iPhone 4 as it did for the iPhone 3GS, launched a year ago.

Apple issued an apology when pre-ordering opened last week and its systems crashed. It said it took pre-orders for more than 600,000 iPhone 4s – the most in a single day.

苹果(Apple)与谷歌(Google)之间的下一轮智能手机较量已经展开，今日苹果iPhone 4开始销售，而采用谷歌Android操作系统的下一代手机也将亮相。

iPhone 4从今日起在美国、英国、法国、德国和日本销售，并计划到9月底扩大至88个国家，这将是这种手机迄今销售范围最大的一次。

苹果的竞争对手昨日作出回应，谷歌、摩托罗拉(Motorola)和Verizon Wireless发布了下一代Droid品牌的手机。

在Verizon庞大营销宣传活动的支持下，第一代Droid手机成功确立了iPhone竞争对手的地位。新一代Droid手机具有相同的款式，但键盘经过改进，还采用了速度更快的处理器。

摩托罗拉不仅试图与苹果争夺智能手机销量，还将矛头指向台湾的宏达电(HTC)，后者也生产采用Android操作系统的手机。

摩托罗拉这家美国手机制造商还在规划Droid X，这款手机的功能将类似于Android当前的代表者HTC Evo。

过去三年来，摩托罗拉在手机制造商榜单上的名次有所下滑。根据研究公司iSuppli的数据，按手机发货量计算，该公司已从仅次于诺基亚(Nokia)的第二位，降至今年首季的第八位。

手机发货量同比下降42%，为850万部。但智能手机的发货量达到230万部，超出分析师估算。摩托罗拉预期，随着该公司聚焦于采用Android操作系统的手机，今年全年的智能手机发货量有望达到1300万部。

Verizon也在专注于推广一系列来自摩托罗拉和宏达电的Droid手机，以求抗衡AT&T与苹果达成的iPhone独家销售协议。

AT&T表示，与一年前推出iPhone 3GS时相比，它收到了10倍的iPhone 4预购订单。

苹果上周开通预购后，其系统陷入瘫痪，为此该公司发布声明致歉。苹果称，它收到了逾60万部iPhone 4的预购订单，创单日订单数量之最。

译者/和风