Gold may have lost some of its lustre for investors over the past year but for Apple customers, it is still a precious and scarce commodity.
对投资者来说，黄金过去一年里可能丧失了一些吸引力，但对苹果公司(Apple)的消费者来说，“黄金”仍是一种稀有而贵重的大宗商品。
iPhone buyers lined up for Apple’s latest smartphones around the world on Friday, in what analysts expect to be another record-breaking launch. The annual ritual was given an extra sparkle with the inclusion of China in the simultaneous global launch for the first time and the new gold 5s model, which sold out almost instantaneously.
上周五，世界各地的果粉们为购买苹果新款iPhone排起了队。分析师们预计，苹果此次新机发售将再次打破销量记录。本次年度发售有两大亮点，一是全球同步发售地点首次包括中国，二是推出金色版的iPhone 5S，这款机型几乎瞬间就被售罄。
Staff at the company’s store in Beijing’s Sanlitun district cheered and clapped to welcome around 100 customers who waited patiently for the store to open on Friday to collect the new iPhone 5s or 5c devices they had pre-ordered.
上周五，在北京三里屯，苹果专卖店的员工们鼓掌欢迎在门外耐心等待的约100名预约购买iPhone 5s或5c的顾客。
Reports that the top-of-the-range gold iPhone 5s would be in short supply, and could not be pre-ordered online, as well as the introduction of a new in-store trade-in programme, drew Apple aficionados to its New York and San Francisco stores in greater numbers than last year.
之前就有报道称，价位最高的金色iPhone 5s将供不应求、可能无法在网上预约购买，同时苹果将推出新的以旧换新计划，受这些消息影响，纽约和旧金山苹果专卖店外排队的果粉数量高于去年。
“I don’t know why I’m here because I already have this one,” said Brian, pointing to his iPhone 5. The 45-year-old, who lives in San Francisco and works for Apple’s arch rival Google, described himself as an “insane fanboy” and said the 5s’ enhanced camera and fingerprint reader helped to overcome his initial reluctance to upgrade.
今年45岁、住在旧金山的布莱恩(Brian)表示：“我不知道自己为什么要来这里，我已经有一部iPhone了。”他指了指自己的iPhone 5。布莱恩为苹果的主要竞争对手谷歌(Google)工作，他称自己是一个“不理性的果粉”。他说，iPhone 5S提升了摄像性能，还带有指纹识别系统，这让一开始不想购买新苹果手机的他改变了主意。
An Apple Store staff member said the gold version had sold out at 5.05am when the retailer had started to take orders from people in line – a mixture of Apple devotees, curious tourists, start-ups hoping to grab the latest technology and employees sent to buy devices for their bosses.
苹果零售店的一位员工表示，早上5:05分的时候，专卖店刚开始为排队的人们处理订单，金色版iPhone就已经卖光了——排队的人中有果粉、好奇的旅游者、刚发达起来想要拥有新科技产品的人士，还有被派来为上司购买新机器的企业员工。
“I’m getting some 5s’ for some important people in the company,” said a man in a Dropbox hoodie. “It looks like there will be lots of 5c available but I don’t think anyone is here for that.”
一位穿着Dropbox连帽衣的男子说道：“我来这里为公司里的重要人物买几部iPhone 5S。现在看起来iPhone 5C的供应将会很多，但我认为没有人来这里是为了买5C。”
For many of the hundreds of people queueing up outside Apple’s San Francisco store, the iPhone launch has become an annual ritual. “I come here every year,” said Jessie, 32, who made the half-hour drive from nearby town Pacifica to arrive at 4am on Friday, but was still too late to buy a white or gold iPhone 5s.
在旧金山苹果零售店外有数百人排队，对他们中的许多人来说，iPhone发售已经成为每年一度的仪式。32岁的杰西(Jessie)表示：“我每年都来这里。”杰西从Pacifica开车半小时，在凌晨四点赶到这里，但还是没能买到一部白色或金色的iPhone 5S。
William Power, analyst at Baird, said Apple stores in Chicago, Dallas and Milwaukee “averaged 100-150 people in line one to two hours before opening, down from 200 to 300-plus in years past”.
Baird分析师威廉·保尔(William Power)表示，在芝加哥、达拉斯和密尔沃基的苹果零售店，“开售前一两个小时排队人数平均在100至150人之间，而往年会有两三百人”。
Nonetheless, Wall Street analysts have forecast that Apple will sell at least 6m iPhones this weekend, exceeding 2012’s 5m, when the iPhone 5 went on sale in fewer countries than this year.
即便如此，华尔街分析师预计，苹果这个周末至少将卖出600万部iPhone，超过2012年新机发售首个周末500万部的销量，当时首次发售iPhone 5的国家数量少于今年。
For Apple, its ability to grow in China is particularly important as sales of high-end smartphones have slowed globally. However, the high price on the new phones – higher in China than in the US – has analysts worried that Apple will not be able to reverse that trend.
对苹果而言，在中国市场的增长能力尤其重要，因为全球高端智能手机销售已经在放缓。然而，新款iPhone的高价（中国售价高于美国）让分析师担忧，苹果将无法扭转这种趋势。
In China, Apple already trails Samsung and has begun losing ground to local brands, most notably Xiaomi, whose phones are considered chic although they retail for less than $300. The fastest growing part of the Chinese market is of mid- and low-end phones, with the average sale price now around Rmb1,500 ($245), according to Barclays research.
苹果在中国已经落后于三星(Samsung)，并在与本土品牌（尤其是小米）的竞争中逐渐丢失市场份额。小米手机被认为非常新潮，而零售价不到300美元。巴克莱(Barclays)的研究显示，在中国市场上，增长最快的领域是中低端手机，目前这类手机平均售价在1500元人民币（合245美元）左右。
The iPhone 5c model, the more colourful and cheaper of the two new ones, starts at $733 in China, and more customers there than in the US will pay that full sticker price, as operators do not subsidise handsets as much as their US counterparts do.
在苹果此次发售的两款手机中，iPhone 5C有更多颜色可选，售价也较为便宜——它在中国的售价为733美元起。与美国市场相比，中国市场将会有更多的顾客支付全价，因为中国运营商没有像美国运营商那样提供那么多补贴。
“Everything is more expensive in China [than abroad],” said one customer who was waiting outside the store on Friday and whose job is training teachers in Beijing how to use iPads in their classes.
上周五在北京苹果专卖店外面排队的一位顾客表示：“中国什么东西都比国外贵。”这位顾客的工作是培训教师如何在课堂上使用iPad。
For the customers who had lined up to get the phone, the allure of Apple’s iOS operating system outweighed the question of price.
对排队等待购机的顾客来说，苹果iOS操作系统的魅力盖过了价格问题。
Ms Wang, a 30-year-old working in finance, said she has “the economic capability” to pay for the phone, and dislikes Samsung, whose Galaxy line of phones is the main competitor at the high end of the market.
30岁的王女士从事金融行业，她表示，她有购买iPhone的“经济能力”，而且她不喜欢三星。三星Galaxy系列手机是苹果在高端智能机市场上的主要竞争对手。
Next for Apple’s prospects in China will be news on whether it can strike a deal with China Mobile, the largest telecoms group by subscribers in China, to carry the phone.
接下来，苹果在中国市场上的增长前景如何，要看它能否与中国移动(China Mobile)签订合作协议。按用户数量计算，中国移动是中国最大的电信集团。
Analysts at Morgan Stanley estimate that adding China Mobile could lead to 12m additional sales in the first year, adding 6 per cent to its overall share of the Chinese market.
摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)的分析师预计，如果苹果与中国移动合作，第一年可能增加1200万部手机销量，在中国市场的总体份额将随之上升6%。
Additional reporting by Zhao Tianqi in Beijing |
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