評論
打印
Smartphone apps
智能手機應用軟件
The antisocial networks
反社會網絡
A bunch of new apps test the limits of the sharing economy
用一組新應用測試分享式經濟的極限
Hurry up and vacate that parking spot!
快點騰出停車位！
PARKING can stir intense passions, especially inSan Francisco, where demand for public spaces often exceeds supply. Hence the outcry over apps that let occupants of slots on streets make money by alerting other drivers that they are about to drive away. As we went to press, one of the apps, MonkeyParking, was seeking an understanding withSan Francisco's city attorney, Dennis Herrera, who had given it until July 11th to cease operating on the city's streets or face a lawsuit. Another app, ParkModo, which also attracted Mr Herrera's attention, is not currently operating inSan Francisco, though it says it intends to roll out nationwide in future.
停車可以激發強烈的熱情，特別是在公共空間供不應求的舊金山。因此強烈抗議的應用軟件使得街道上停車位的占用者通過向其他司機發出他們正要離開的提醒信息而賺錢。在本文發表時，其中一個應用軟件，MonkeyParking，正尋求舊金山市府的律師Dennis Herrera的理解，他已經責令其6月11日前停止操控城市街道否則將面臨起訴。另一個應用軟件，ParkModo，也引起了Herrera的注意，這一軟件目前還不能在舊金山應用，雖然它聲稱它打算在將來席卷全國。
At the heart of the dispute over these services is whether apps should be able to use a public asset to make a profit. Users of MonkeyParking's service bid between 5 and 20 for spaces about to be liberated by other users. The firm has also launched the app inRome, another city where parking is scarce.San Francisco's authorities point to a local law banning efforts to sell or rent public parking spaces. The app firms say it is not spaces that are being sold, just information about their availability, which thus reduces the number of cars circling the streets searching for them.
這些服務的核心爭議是這些應用軟件是否應該被允許使用公共資產來牟利。MonkeyParking服務的用戶出價5到20美元來競拍其他用戶將騰出的停車位。該公司還在另一個停車位相對稀有的城市——羅馬推出了這項應用服務。舊金山當局指出，當地一項法律強力禁止出售或租賃公共停車位。而軟件公司稱其服務不是停車位買賣，只是提供可用停車位的信息，這因此減少了在街道上來回轉圈尋找停車位的車輛數量。
MonkeyParking wants its app to be seen as part of the “sharing economy”, like those of Airbnb, which lets people rent rooms or houses to others, and Lyft, a ride-sharing service. These also help maximise the use of existing assets. The difference, however, is that the homes and cars are privately owned. Jeremiah Owyang of Crowd Companies, which advises firms on the sharing economy, thinks apps that monetise public assets are “not in the spirit” of the sharing movement.
MonkeyParking希望其應用軟件被視為“分享式經濟”的一部分，像空中食宿Airbnb和Lyft一樣，Airbnb可以讓人們出租房間或房屋給他人，而Lyft提供駕乘分享服務。這些服務也有利于最大限度的利用現有資產。然而不同的是，那些房屋和車輛是私有的。Crowd Companies的Jeremiah Owyang對公司就分享式經濟提出過建議，他認為使公共資產貨幣化的應用軟件與分享運動的精神存在出入。
Even trying to monetise private assets is proving controversial in some cases. Another outfit in San Francisco, ReservationHop, has come under fire for making fake bookings at hard-to-get-into restaurants and then selling them via an app. Buyers are given the false names to use when they turn up to dine. The worry here is that restaurants could lose out if no one buys the fake reservations. Ticket Scalpr is an app incarnation of the age-old business of reselling tickets for popular events, though it says its aim is to cut out conventional touts and let fans swap surplus tickets directly.
甚至在某些情況下，使私有資產貨幣化的嘗試也已發了爭議。舊金山的另一家機構ReservationHop，因假裝預訂那些很難訂到位子的餐廳并通過一個應用軟件出售這些預定機會，而遭受譴責。在就餐時，買家使用其提供的虛假姓名。這里令人擔心的是如果沒人購買這些假預訂，餐廳將蒙受損失。Ticket Scalpr是一個用于轉賣流行賽事門票—這一古老業務的應用程序版本，盡管其聲稱其目的是為了減少傳統的票販子而讓粉絲直接交換剩余門票。
There has been a heated debate on Twitter about such arguably antisocial networks, using a new hashtag, JerkTech. What the apps seen so far have in common is that their creators have identified things that are regularly being priced below their market-clearing level, ie, that at which demand equals supply. And, inSilicon Valley's spirit of “move fast and break things”, they are conducting a rapid test of the public's, and regulators', appetite for shifting the boundaries of what is acceptable business practice. Uber, a taxi-hailing app which has no doubt been called a jerk and worse over the “surge pricing” it imposes at times of high demand, agreed this week withNew York's attorney-general that it would curb its peak rates.
在推特上有一個關于這些有爭議的反社會網絡的激烈辯論，其使用了一個新標簽：JerkTech。迄今為止，應用軟件的共同點是他們的制造者認為事物的定價通常低于它們的市場結算水平，即在這一水平供等于求。另一個共同點是，本著硅谷的“快速前進打破陳規”的精神，他們正進行一項快速測試，分別針對大眾和監管者對于改變“什么是可接受的商業慣例”的邊界的意愿。Uber，一個招出租車的應用軟件，它被稱為混蛋毫無疑問，更差勁的是其在高需求的時間段，價格飆升，本周應紐約總檢察長的要求，其同意停止高峰期的漲價行為。
