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By 2006, a year before Apple introduced the iPhone, Japanese consumers could watch broadcast TV on their phones.
到2006年，就在蘋(píng)果公司推出iPhone的前一年，日本消費(fèi)者已經(jīng)能夠通過(guò)手機(jī)觀看電視節(jié)目。
Yet, for all the advances, Japanese manufacturers struggled to challenge Finland's Nokia Corp. and U.S.-based Motorola Inc. abroad because the Japanese firms had churned out phones for the domestic market throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s based on a telecommunications standard used only in Japan. In order to sell phones abroad, the companies had to modify the handsets to work on foreign networks.
盡管技術(shù)上進(jìn)步驚人，日本廠商在海外市場(chǎng)卻難以對(duì)芬蘭諾基亞(Nokia Corp.)和美國(guó)摩托羅拉(Motorola Inc.)形成挑戰(zhàn)，因?yàn)閺?0年代末到本世紀(jì)初的這段時(shí)間，日本廠商都是根據(jù)僅適用于日本的通訊標(biāo)準(zhǔn)制造手機(jī)，以滿足國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)的需求。為了在海外銷(xiāo)售手機(jī)，日本廠商必須對(duì)手機(jī)進(jìn)行改裝以適應(yīng)海外市場(chǎng)的通訊網(wǎng)絡(luò)。
Late to the market, Japanese manufacturers struggled to gain a foothold with foreign carriers, unlike South Korea's Samsung, which forged relationships with network operators around the world and worked quickly to supply products tailored to overseas markets.
由于產(chǎn)品在海外上市的時(shí)間晚，日本廠商很難像韓國(guó)的三星那樣與海外電信運(yùn)營(yíng)商建立穩(wěn)固的合作關(guān)系。三星與各國(guó)的電信網(wǎng)絡(luò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商建立了良好關(guān)系，并致力于迅速推出專(zhuān)門(mén)針對(duì)海外市場(chǎng)的產(chǎn)品。
The inward-looking mentality earned Japan's devices the moniker, 'Galapagos' phones: a reference to the uniquely evolved creatures that Charles Darwin found on the Galapagos Islands that served as the foundation for his theory of evolution.
由于重點(diǎn)關(guān)注國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)，日本手機(jī)贏得了"加拉巴哥"(Galapagos)手機(jī)的稱(chēng)號(hào)，將日本手機(jī)比作達(dá)爾文(Charles Darwin)在加拉巴哥島上發(fā)現(xiàn)的獨(dú)特進(jìn)化的生物。據(jù)說(shuō)正是在加拉巴哥島上的發(fā)現(xiàn)為達(dá)爾文的進(jìn)化論奠定了基礎(chǔ)。
The most popular Japanese feature phones were often long, skinny versions of clamshell-type phones. They came with a host of features unique to the Japanese market such as digital money to make purchases, the ability to double as a monthly pass for trains and buses or a function to swap contact details with a push of a button.
最好賣(mài)的日本功能手機(jī)往往都是狹長(zhǎng)、輕薄的翻蓋機(jī)型，而且?guī)в袑?zhuān)門(mén)針對(duì)日本市場(chǎng)的很多功能，比如內(nèi)置可支持刷卡購(gòu)物的數(shù)碼芯片，還可以升級(jí)為帶有公交卡的功能，或者能夠一鍵交換聯(lián)系方式。
The iPhone's debut in 2007 changed everything.
2007年iPhone的面世改變了一切。
While the rest of the world saw the iPhone for what it was - a game-changing product - some executives in Japan dismissed it, believing their phones were already smart enough.
雖然全世界意識(shí)到了iPhone對(duì)于整個(gè)行業(yè)的意義──它是一款具有決定性的產(chǎn)品，然而日本的一些高管卻忽視了它，固執(zhí)地相信自家的手機(jī)已經(jīng)足夠智能了。
In July 2008, a few weeks after Softbank Corp. introduced the iPhone in Japan, Tadashi Onodera, chief executive of Japan's No. 2 carrier, KDDI Corp., said the device couldn't 'fully satisfy the needs of [Japanese] cellphone users.' Three years later, KDDI, under new management, began to offer the iPhone and it became KDDI's best-selling smartphone.
2008年7月，軟庫(kù)公司(Softbank Corp.)將iPhone手機(jī)引入日本幾周后，日本第二大運(yùn)營(yíng)商KDDI Corp.的首席執(zhí)行長(zhǎng)小野寺正(Tadashi Onodera)聲稱(chēng)，iPhone無(wú)法完全滿足日本手機(jī)用戶的需求。三年后，更換了管理層的KDDI開(kāi)始銷(xiāo)售iPhone手機(jī)，后來(lái)iPhone手機(jī)成為這家公司最暢銷(xiāo)的智能手機(jī)。
'The Japanese firms misread the market,' said Ryuji Ono, a Tokyo-based partner at consulting firm Roland Berger. 'They weren't watching the rest of the world.'
咨詢公司羅蘭貝格(Roland Berger)駐東京的合伙人大野隆司(Ryuji Ono)說(shuō)，日本公司錯(cuò)判了市場(chǎng)，沒(méi)有留意整個(gè)國(guó)際舞臺(tái)。
Smartphones now account for 56.6% of all new mobile phones shipped in Japan, according to Tokyo-based market research firm MM Research Institute. Apple and Samsung accounted for more than 20% of the Japanese market in the past fiscal year, compared with five years ago, when there were almost no foreign brands.
根據(jù)東京市場(chǎng)調(diào)研公司MM Research Institute的數(shù)據(jù)，現(xiàn)在，智能手機(jī)已經(jīng)占到日本新手機(jī)出貨量的56.6%。在過(guò)去一個(gè)財(cái)政年度，蘋(píng)果和三星在日本市場(chǎng)占據(jù)了逾20%的份額。而就在五年前，日本手機(jī)市場(chǎng)上幾乎還沒(méi)有外國(guó)品牌的身影。
Apple was the top smartphone manufacturer in Japan in the past fiscal year. And Samsung cracked the top five in the domestic smartphone market.
上個(gè)財(cái)年，蘋(píng)果是日本第一大智能手機(jī)品牌，三星也躋身前五強(qiáng)。
By the time Japanese manufacturers jumped on the trend - the first Japanese smartphones running Google Inc.'s Android operating system appeared in the domestic market in 2010 - Samsung was already flooding the Europe and the U.S. with a wide range of models.
等到日本廠商試圖趕上這股智能手機(jī)潮流時(shí)（第一批運(yùn)行谷歌安卓(Android)操作系統(tǒng)的日本品牌智能手機(jī)2010年才在日本國(guó)內(nèi)市場(chǎng)推出），，三星已經(jīng)在歐美市場(chǎng)推出了眾多機(jī)型。
Backed into a corner in their own country, the leading handset makers have had no choice but to consolidate and re-enter foreign markets.
在自己國(guó)內(nèi)幾乎陷入絕境的日本領(lǐng)先手機(jī)制造商們別無(wú)選擇，只能攜手合作，重新打入海外市場(chǎng)。
NEC Corp., Hitachi Ltd., and Casio Computer Co. in 2010 joined forces to form a cellphone joint venture majority owned by NEC. Later that year, Toshiba Corp. sold its phone business to Fujitsu. In February, Sony bought out its joint-venture partner, Sweden's Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson, giving the Japanese company full control over its money-losing smartphone business.
2010年，日本電氣公司(NEC Corp.)、日立(Hitachi Ltd.)和卡西歐(Casio Computer Co.)組建了一家手機(jī)合資公司，日本電氣擔(dān)當(dāng)大股東。是年晚些時(shí)候，東芝(Toshiba Corp.)將手機(jī)業(yè)務(wù)出售給了富士通。今年2月，索尼從瑞典愛(ài)立信公司(Telefon AB L.M. Ericsson)手中收購(gòu)了合資公司的全部股權(quán)，對(duì)處于虧損狀態(tài)的智能手機(jī)業(yè)務(wù)有了絕對(duì)的控制權(quán)。
But times remain tough. In the most-recent quarter, Fujitsu, NEC, Sharp, Sony and Panasonic all reported losses in their handset business segments.
但形勢(shì)依然嚴(yán)峻。最近一個(gè)季度，富士通、日本電氣、夏普、索尼和松下的手機(jī)業(yè)務(wù)均告虧損。
What's more, Sony, Panasonic and Sharp are backing away from the TV business, unable to withstand another round of competition with already battered balance sheets.
而且，索尼、松下和夏普均逐漸弱化了電視機(jī)業(yè)務(wù)，已經(jīng)不堪重負(fù)的資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表很難經(jīng)受起新一輪的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)。
The television television stelevisiond so essential to an electronics company's success that it was deemed 'the king of the living room.' 'The golden age of TV is over, and TV will never be king again in the consumer-electronics space,' Kunio Nakamura, a former president and chairman at Panasonic, said in an interview last month with the Nikkei newspaper.
松下前總裁兼董事長(zhǎng)中村邦夫(Kunio Nakamura)上個(gè)月接受《日經(jīng)新聞》(Nikkei)采訪時(shí)說(shuō)，"電視機(jī)的黃金時(shí)代已經(jīng)過(guò)去，電視機(jī)永遠(yuǎn)也無(wú)法在電子消費(fèi)市場(chǎng)稱(chēng)王稱(chēng)霸了。"
Panasonic recently came to Europe with a new waterproof smartphone called the Eluga, selling it in Italy and Germany with a target to ship 1.5 million units in Europe this fiscal year.
松下最近在歐洲市場(chǎng)（意大利和德國(guó)）推出了一款新型防水智能手機(jī)"Eluga"，目標(biāo)是本財(cái)政年度在歐洲的出貨量達(dá)到150萬(wàn)部。
NEC Casio, which sells shock-resistant G'zOne handsets through Verizon Wireless in the U.S., plans to ship about two million phones outside Japan this fiscal year, or about 40% of its total target of five million units.
NEC Casio通過(guò)運(yùn)營(yíng)商在美國(guó)銷(xiāo)售防震手機(jī)"G'zOne"，計(jì)劃本財(cái)政年度海外市場(chǎng)出貨量達(dá)到200萬(wàn)部左右，約占其財(cái)年總出貨量目標(biāo)500萬(wàn)部的40%。
Sharp is focusing on the Chinese market, though the company doesn't specify how many of its targeted 7.7 million handset shipments will go outside Japan. Fujitsu, meanwhile, aims to reach a deal with an overseas carrier later this year.
夏普則更專(zhuān)注于中國(guó)市場(chǎng)，不過(guò)該公司未具體說(shuō)明其770萬(wàn)部的總出貨量目標(biāo)中有多少將在海外銷(xiāo)售。同時(shí)，富士通正努力在今年晚些時(shí)候與一家海外運(yùn)營(yíng)商達(dá)成合作協(xié)議。
For Sony, the bulk of its phones are sold outside Japan. With a flurry of new models this fiscal year, Sony plans to ship 34 million smartphones world-wide, surpassing the targeted output of its four closest Japanese rivals combined.
索尼的手機(jī)產(chǎn)品有很大一部分在海外銷(xiāo)售。本財(cái)政年度，隨著一系列新機(jī)型的推出，索尼計(jì)劃在全球銷(xiāo)售3,400萬(wàn)部智能手機(jī)，超出其四家本國(guó)同行目標(biāo)出貨量的總和。
In a sign of the changing attitudes, NTT DoCoMo Inc. President Kaoru Kato arrived at an interview with a reporter last month carrying a Samsung Galaxy phone.
NTT DoCoMo Inc.總裁加藤薰(Kaoru Kato)上個(gè)月在一次接受采訪時(shí)隨身攜帶的是一部三星Galaxy手機(jī)，這在無(wú)形中也透露出日企高管的態(tài)度轉(zhuǎn)變。
It would have been unthinkable even three years ago for the president of Japan's largest carrier and the mobile arm of NTT Corp., which is one-third owned by the Japanese government, to carry a Korean phone.
NTT DoCoMo Inc.是日本第一大運(yùn)營(yíng)商，也是NTT Corp.的移動(dòng)子公司，而NTT Corp.由政府持有三分之一的股權(quán)。就算是短短三年前，這樣一家公司的總裁帶著一部韓國(guó)品牌的手機(jī)亮相簡(jiǎn)直令人難以想象。
Mr. Kato says he uses the Galaxy because it was the first available summer smartphone model running on DoCoMo's 4G networks. He says he may switch to a Fujitsu or Sony model eventually.
加藤薰說(shuō)，他使用三星Galaxy手機(jī)的原因在于，它是今年夏季最先推出的使用DoCoMo 4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)的智能手機(jī)。他說(shuō)，最終他可能還是會(huì)換成富士通或索尼手機(jī)。
'I'm not trying to be a pitch man for Samsung all of a sudden, but it has a nice, clear screen,' Mr. Kato says. 'Everything is really improved.'
他說(shuō)，"我并不是突然間變成了三星手機(jī)的推銷(xiāo)員，但這款手機(jī)的屏幕確實(shí)很漂亮、很清楚。各方面都真正得到了改進(jìn)。"
