【大西洋月刊111010】苹果的崛起离不开中国的崛起

lilyma06

【中文标题】苹果的崛起离不开中国的崛起

【原文标题】Apple's Rise Is China's Rise

【登载媒体】大西洋月刊

【来源地址】http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/apples-rise-is-chinas-rise/246370/

【译    者】山子毛毛

【翻译方式】人工

【声    明】欢迎转载，请务必注明译者和出处 bbs.m4.cn。

【译    文】
Steve Jobs's vision of a world full of iPhones, iPads, and iPods would be impossible without cheap foreign labor
没有廉价的外国劳动力，乔布斯让iPhones、iPads、iPods遍布全世界的愿望将遥不可及

"Designed by Apple in California Assembled in China" is etched into the glossy black of every iPhone. The designer is mourned and deified the world over, but the assemblers are huddled in anonymity. Indeed, the story of Apple's rise over the last decade is as much America's story as it is China's. If Steve Jobs, donned in his uniform of jeans and black pullover, was the general who led the battle for global digital technology supremacy, then it took hundreds of thousands of his troops in factory overalls and static-free scrubs to realize his vision with precision and consistency.
“加州苹果总部设计、中国组装装配”这一理念已深深烙在每一部Iphone手机中。苹果的设计师已被世界人民悼念并神化，然而苹果的大量组装装配员工却被世界遗忘与冷落。设想一下，身着牛仔制服与黑色套衫的乔布斯占据着全球数字信息技术的霸权地位，自己的工厂里有着成千上万穿着工作裤与防静电工作服的”部队”， 他指挥“部队”以精确与协调一致的步调来实现着自己让苹果产品遍及全球每个角落的梦想。

That the foot soldiers of Apple's meteoric ascendancy are Chinese has received nary a mention in the flood of hagiographies on the late industry titan. That's understandable: Jobs was an iconic iconoclast who thrived as a businessman and as the envy of his field. The revolution he ushered in transforming consumer behavior and the portable device frontier deserves to be praised. His was a quintessentially American story of risk-tolerant entrepreneurs who sought the ideal and succeeded to an inimitable degree. Product of an immigrant father and college drop-out, Jobs personified the unique cultural and social milieu of Silicon Valley, one that has spawned endless, though mostly unsuccessful, imitators. He embodied one of the defining narratives of what's best about America writ large, that it is an inventor of the future, time and again. That is how progress is done.  
作为苹果公司最大优势的“步兵”——中国工人，他们却在世人对后崛起的IT行业巨头疯狂汹涌般崇拜中很少被提及。令人不可思议的是：乔布斯本人作为一位打破旧行的形象代言人，成功的商人引起该领域的羡慕。乔布斯在转变消费习惯领域所引领的的革命性变革和开发便携式前沿设备产品值得世人称道。乔布斯是一个以独特方式追求完美与成功的标准的耐风险美国企业家。作为移民后裔与大学辍学的乔布斯，他人性化了硅谷独特的社会与文化环境，虽然大多数时候是不太成功的，有时仅仅是模仿，但催生无穷的力量。美国制度最好的方面是什么，他用自己的行动作了叙述与注脚。这是未来的发明家乔布斯一次次地这样做着，这也是他如何做到进步。

But kneading innovation in the abstract in Cupertino was realized as tangible devices in city-sized factory in Shenzhen, China (Foxconn reportedly has more workers on its payroll than twice the entire population of Washington, D.C.). Commercialization of the sophisticated products, while successively lowering prices, would've been impossible without China's essential role. Few, if any, Americans seem to care that the iPhone registers in the "trade deficit" column of U.S. trade with China, even though the guts of that phone contain parts from Japan, Korea, and the U.S. Who disputes that Apple is thoroughly American? Are the Occupy Wall Street participants--tweeting their progress and slogans on iPhones--rallying against how Apple indirectly hires vastly more Chinese workers than in their California headquarters? The trade deficit is with China--just look at the COSCO shipping containers arriving at U.S. shores loaded with i-somethings that are cheaper than those sold in China.  
在中国深圳城镇化的工厂，苹果总部库比蒂诺浓缩的创意精华以生产出具体有形的产品得以实现（据报道富士康工资单上的工人数量比美国华盛顿人口的两倍还要多）。如此复杂化的商业产品持续以低廉的价格销售，没有中国工人这一基本要素是不可能的。如果有的话，很少有美国人去关注iPhone造成中美贸易中的“贸易逆差”的事实，虽然该手机内核的部分零部件来自日本、韩国和美国。还有谁会为苹果是否是彻彻地地的美国产品而争辩呢？占领华尔街运动的参与者们用Iphone在推特上发布占领华尔街运动的进展与口号，但他们团结起来反对为什么苹果间接雇用了超过位于加州总部的工人数量很多的中国工人了吗？与中国的贸易赤字——看看那些由中国远洋运输集团运送到美国海岸的集装箱吧，那里面满载都是比在中国市场销售便宜很多的i-xxx产品。

And as Apple keeps almost all the value of its products, China is left wondering whether it too can produce an Apple. In the meantime, Foxconn spits out millions of iPhones to support its workforce and sustain profit margins. Some of its workers have even plunged off buildings to their deaths, capturing enormous international attention last year. Despite the well noted "college campus-like" atmosphere of Foxconn, that image belied a messy cauldron of worker discontent. And more recently, Apple has drawn criticism from Chinese environmental groups for neglecting to hold its suppliers in China to strict environmental standards. The extent to which Apple is in fact responsible for these issues, directly or indirectly, seems to have had little impact on its brand and sales in China.  
苹果几乎拥有了其产品创造的所有价值,而留给中国只剩想象：自己是否有朝一日也可以产生这样一个苹果产品。与此同时,富士康生成着成千上万的iPhone来支撑工厂的劳动力并维持工厂的利润。去年，引起国际社会巨大关注的是一些富士康的员工甚至从职工宿舍楼跳楼自杀。尽管富士康标榜自己为员工营造了“大学校园般”的气氛,但这一形象掩盖了工人积累不满情绪后所酿成的大祸。而最近，中国环保社团批评苹果公司对其中国的供应商在制定严格的环保标准方面缺乏重视。苹果实际上要对这些问题负责的程度,直接或间接的好像已经不会影响其在中国的品牌形象和产品销售。

The Chinese factory worker's role in the Apple story should not obscure Steve Jobs monumental achievements as an innovator. Nor should those workers' roles be marginalized in the breathless paeans to Jobs's almost-mythical legend. This is the funny thing about the current state of trade and globalized network of supply chains in which we find ourselves--many of the stories that germinate in Cupertino/Silicon Valley usually find their denouement in Shenzhen or nearby factory towns. Yet when recriminations are flung back and forth between the U.S. and China--recently over Chinese currency again--there are always clear-cut villains and heroes. Sure, China is exploiting the trade regime where it can to its own advantage. Why wouldn't it game the system if possible? It is simply following its own interests and the well-trod path of many countries before it that also tried to bend the system to its own liking. Not all were successful, but the successful ones usually get blamed for breaking the rules of the game.
苹果模式下中国工人的作用不应掩盖史蒂夫•乔布斯作为一个发明家不朽的成就，也不应该在对乔布斯近乎神话般传奇的令人屏息的赞美声中被淹没。有趣的是，在当前的贸易和全球化的供应链中，我们发现了自己也置身其中——许多在美国库比蒂诺或硅谷生根发芽的模式通常会在深圳或其工厂附近的城镇找到落幕的土壤。然而当中美之间互相来回指责对方的时候（最近中美之间又因人民币互相指责对方），总是有清晰可辨的恶棍与英雄。当然，中国正在开拓有利于自身优势的贸易制度。如果有可能，中国为什么制定贸易游戏规则呢？很简单，保障其自身的切身利益和走许多国家之前已开拓出的道路，这洋就使得贸易制度向着有利于自己的方面歪曲。并不是所有的国家都能成功，而成功的那些国家往往会因破坏游戏规则的理由而受到谴责。

But let's just cast all these complexities aside momentarily and focus on what's truly important: Apple brought down the iPhone 4S to a base price of just $200! A swankier and more powerful phone that is cheaper than the lesser version? American consumers: meet the China price. Thank you China. And thank you Steve Jobs.                        
暂时让我们将所有这些复杂的问题放到一边，来关注什么是真正重要的：苹果官方对iPhone4s的基本定价仅仅只有200美刀，一个更华丽且功能更强大的iPhone4s反而比以前那些版本便宜很多？美国消费者们,对比同款产品在中国的销售价，你们应该感谢中国以及感谢史蒂夫•乔布斯。

orangegxm

:L牵强了点吧，中国做出来的硬件在它整个利润产出中占的相对小的多，它的软件系统和服务才是它的主要利润所在吧！

majiazhanghu

沙发到七楼要杯具了，灌水不带这样的。

山岭

乔布斯一死，苹果几年内市值缩水90%是有可能的

pj731

以后的苹果是什么样，难说

acteam

orangegxm 发表于 2011-10-12 16:33
牵强了点吧，中国做出来的硬件在它整个利润产出中占的相对小的多，它的软件系统和服务才是它的主要利润所 ...

iphone4 硬件成本200美元左右，很多结构拆解后算的。
再均摊掉设计研发以及加工成本，光硬件的利润率还是很高的，大约50%左右。

nhkbbs

没有压缩硬件组装成本，苹果也难买得那么好

jack_j11

苹果快要走到头了。

大漠金舟

这话说到点子上了。还有一点：中国的消费者也功不可没。

水煮为粥

没有乔布斯的苹果很难再结果啊