Apple plans to hold near-simultaneous product launch events in California and Beijing for the first time next week, sparking hopes among investors for a long-awaited iPhone partnership with China Mobile.

下周苹果(Apple)将首次在加利福尼亚和北京举行近乎同步的产品发布活动，令投资者对该公司与中国移动(China Mobile)达成等待已久的iPhone合作协议产生期待。

An invitation sent to Chinese media yesterday revealed an event on September 11, a day after the latest iPhone is expected to make its debut at Apple’s Cupertino headquarters.

昨日该公司向中国媒体发出的邀请，透露了9月11日将举行一次活动。预计此前一天，苹果将在加州库比蒂诺总部发布最新款iPhone。

The event follows a barrage of negative publicity for Apple in China this year, after it was accused by state media of offering poor customer service, prompting an apology from Tim Cook, chief executive.

今年苹果在中国遭遇接二连三的负面报道，官方媒体指责该公司提供劣质客户服务，促使苹果首席执行官蒂姆•库克(Tim Cook)作出道歉。

Since then, Mr Cook has flown to China to meet Xi Guohua, the chairman of China Mobile, to discuss “matters of co-operation”. Investors hope that striking a distribution deal with the world’s largest mobile operator by customers, alongside a cheaper iPhone designed to appeal to consumers in emerging markets, will reignite Apple’s flagging growth.

在那之后，库克曾飞往中国会晤中国移动董事长奚国华，讨论“合作事宜”。投资者希望，与全球用户人数最多的移动通信运营商达成手机经销协议，同时发布旨在吸引新兴市场消费者的廉价版iPhone，将重振苹果渐趋疲弱的业绩增长势头。

After losing some of the momentum gained by the prospect of new device launches and investment from activist shareholder Carl Icahn in recent days, Apple stock opened above $500 yesterday. The shares were 2.2 per cent higher at $499.14 around midday in New York.

近日苹果股价失去了因新产品发布在即和获得维权投资者卡尔•伊卡恩(Carl Icahn)投资而产生的势头。昨日该股在500美元上方开盘，截至纽约午盘为499.14美元，较前一日上涨2.2%。

China is Apple’s second-largest market but it faces strong competition from local, lower-cost smartphone makers such as Lenovo and Xiaomi, many of which use Google’s Android platform. Google announced on Tuesday that it had activated more than 1bn Android devices to date, far exceeding the iPhone’s total sales. Apple’s sales fell 14 per cent in China in the third quarter, partly due to inventory adjustments.

中国是苹果的第二大市场，但苹果面临着联想(Lenovo)和小米(Xiaomi)等成本较低的本土智能手机制造商的有力竞争，这些本土制造商有很多采用谷歌(Google)的安卓平台。谷歌周二宣布，迄今已激活逾10亿部安卓设备，远远超过iPhone总销量。第三季度苹果在华销量下滑14%，部分原因是库存调整。

UBS has estimated that Apple could sell 17m iPhones through China Mobile next year, accounting for more than half of its forecast for total iPhone unit growth, while analysts at Stifel say it could add $4 to $8 in ­earnings per share over the 12 months after launch.

瑞银(UBS)估计，明年苹果有望通过中国移动销售1700万部iPhone，占iPhone预计增加的销量的一半以上。同时Stifel分析师表示，新产品发布后12个月内，苹果每股盈利有望增加4至8美元。

China Mobile had 745m subscribers in July and is trialling 4G “LTE” networks. Though less than a third of the Chinese mobile market today uses the 3G networks that are required for a good experience on devices such as the iPhone, the Chinese smartphone market is growing rapidly, more than doubling in the first half of 2013 to about 150m shipments, according to Gartner.

中国移动截止7月份拥有7.45亿用户，这家运营商目前正在试运行4G LTE第四代移动通信网络。中国手机用户中，目前只有不到三分之一使用足以有效发挥iPhone等设备功能的3G网络，但中国的智能手机市场正在快速增长。高德纳公司(Gartner)数据显示，2013年上半年中国智能手机出货量约为1.5亿部，增长一倍多。

That far exceeds Gartner’s estimate for global smartphone growth of 46.5 per cent in the second quarter.

这远远超出高德纳估算的第二季度全球智能手机出货量46.5%的增幅。