After starting her career in New York’s financial services industry five years ago, Carrie Sin was rarely without her BlackBerry. Like millions of white-collar workers around the globe, she felt a sort of enforced allegiance to it. “I always had it for work and it was easier to stick with one device. Also, I was used to the keyboard,” she says.
5年前，卡丽•西恩(Carrie Sin)进入纽约金融服务行业，开始了自己的职业生涯。自此以后，她的黑莓(BlackBerry)手机几乎寸不离手。就像全球数百万白领一样，她对这部黑莓怀有一种强迫症般的忠诚感。她说：“我总用它工作，始终使用同一款设备让我感觉更轻松。而且，我也习惯了黑莓的键盘。”
But the appeal of her BlackBerry began to wane as more of her friends bought iPhones. Socially, it was like being stuck at the office while everyone else was at a party. “I was left off group texts and the running joke when my friends would email about new apps would include something like: ‘Carrie has a BlackBerry so her only app is [to use it as a] paperweight’.”
然而，随着朋友中买iPhone的人越来越多，黑莓对卡丽的吸引力也开始消失。在社交方面，她的感觉就像其他人都去参加派对了，自己却仍在忙工作。“我收不到群发短信，我朋友发邮件谈论新款应用时，常常附带着笑话我一番：‘卡丽有黑莓，所以她唯一的应用就是（用它）当镇纸’。”
So in May, she finally made the switch. The experience, says Ms Sin, was “life-changing. Really.”
于是，今年5月，卡丽终于转换了阵营。她说，这一体验“真地像改变人生一样”。
She is not alone. In the fiscal first quarter BlackBerry’s subscriber base fell by 4m to 72m. Its longtime strength – corporate users such as Ms Sin – has been unable to insulate it from the touch and app-driven smartphone revolution unleashed by Apple’s iPhone.
像她这么做的人越来越多了。黑莓今年第一财季的订户数量减少400万，至7200万。黑莓的长期优势在于像卡丽一样的企业用户，但苹果(Apple)iPhone引领的触屏与应用推动的智能手机变革，对这一优势构成了严重的冲击。
At the top of its game, BlackBerry seemed almost invincible – an icon for the 2000s, feted by rap stars, captains of industry, lawyers and even US President Barack Obama, who famously refused to give up his personal BlackBerry when elected.
在高端客户当中，黑莓似乎曾经战无不胜——它是21世纪最初10年的标杆性产品，受到了各界人士的追捧，比如说唱明星、行业领袖、律师甚至美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)。广为人知的是，奥巴马当选总统以后，坚决拒绝放弃他自己用的黑莓。
Those were the BlackBerry glory days when mobile email was the “killer app”. The company’s devices, which helped define the embryonic smartphone market, were renowned for their mini-Qwerty keyboards, reliability and security.
这是黑莓的光辉岁月，那时移动邮件是“杀手级应用”。该公司的设备以迷你全键盘、稳定性以及安全性而著称，帮助定义了新生的智能手机市。
Those days are long past. BlackBerry’s share of the global smartphone market has fallen from about 50 per cent to just 3 per cent over the past 4 years, according to IDC, the market research firm.
但这样的日子早已一去不复返。市场调研公司IDC表示，过去4年里，黑莓占全球智能手机市场的份额从50%左右降到仅为3%。
In the last reported quarter, the Canadian company reported an unexpected net loss of $84m and forecast more losses to come. Despite the launch of smartphones built around the company’s new BlackBerry 10 operating system, sales of the new models fell about 1m units short of analysts’ targets.
上一季度财报显示，这家加拿大公司的净亏损出人意料地达到8400万美元，预计接下来亏损还会增加。尽管该公司推出了搭载黑莓10操作系统(BB10)的智能手机，但新款手机销量比分析师的目标低了100万部。
Stunned by those numbers and a share price that has collapsed from $230 at its peak to around $11, BlackBerry’s board finally called time on the company’s nascent turnround strategy on Monday, setting up a special committee to undertake a 'strategic review’ – a move that most analysts believe will lead to a sale or leveraged buyout.
这样的业绩数字以及从股价从峰值230美元跌至约11美元，令黑莓董事会大为震惊。最终，黑莓董事会在几周前决定暂停执行出台不久的扭亏为赢战略，设立一个特别委员会进行“战略评估”——多数分析人士认为，黑莓的结局将是被出售或者杠杆收购。
This is all a far cry from 2008 when the market valued BlackBerry (then called Research In Motion) at almost $80bn. RIM replaced Nortel Networks, which filed for bankruptcy protection in January 2009, as Canada’s technology flag-bearer and the company’s co-chief executives, founder Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie, were treated like rock stars.
此情此景与2008年黑莓（当时叫RIM）市值达800亿美元左右时有天壤之别。2009年1月，北电(Nortel Networks)申请破产保护，RIM随后取而代之，成为加拿大科技界的领军企业。而黑莓的联席首席执行官、创始人迈克•拉扎里迪斯(Mike Lazaridis)与吉姆•贝尔斯利(Jim Balsillie)像摇滚明星那样受到追捧。
But signs were growing that the culture of relying on big corporate sales was running too deep and that BlackBerry was missing the phenomenon of smartphone apps that would come to dominate many aspects of customers’ lives. Basil Al-Dajane describes his four-month internship at BlackBerry’s headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario in 2010 as his time in the “dungeon”.
然而，越来越多的迹象显示，由于主要围绕企业大客户展开销售的文化积重难返，黑莓没有利用好智能手机应用火爆的局面，而手机应用即将主导顾客生活的诸多方面。巴兹尔•达贾恩(Basil Al-Dajane)曾在位于安大略省沃特卢的黑莓总部实习过4个月，他把那段时间形容为“蹲地牢”。
“It was like working at an insurance company but they’re trying to make technology,” says the 22-year-old. “It was very corporate – that’s who they were selling to, and that’s the culture they adopted.”
22岁的巴兹尔表示：“那时我感觉就像在一家保险公司工作，但他们却在尝试打造科技产品。黑莓的业务主要是面向企业的——把企业作为销售对象，这就是它们的文化。”
During the 2011 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Mr Balsillie was asked whether BlackBerry had lost touch with customers and become jaded. “I don’t think that is fair at all,” he snapped back. He added defiantly: “We believe the best is still ahead of us.”
在2011年巴塞罗那“世界移动通信大会”(Mobile World Congress)上，贝尔斯利被问及黑莓是否已经脱离顾客、陈腐不堪了。他迅速回答：“我认为，这种说法有失公允”。他还反驳道：“我相信，黑莓的明天会更好。”
It wasn’t. Early last year Mr Balsillie and Mr Lazaridis stepped down after disappointing results and mounting evidence that many customers, particularly in the US, were abandoning their “crackberry” addiction in favour of “sexier” smartphones sold by Apple and Samsung.
实则不然。去年年初，贝尔斯利和拉扎里迪斯下台，原因是业绩令人失望，而且越来越多证据显示，很多顾客（尤其是美国市场上）戒掉“黑莓瘾”，换上了更漂亮的苹果和三星(Samsung)智能手机。
Mr Balsillie and Mr Lazaridis were replaced by Thorsten Heins, a German-born engineer, who set out to complete the technology transition that his predecessors started. With the board’s backing, Mr Heins bet on a new but long-delayed operating system called BlackBerry 10, designed to take advantage of seismic shifts in the smartphone hardware market including the move to touchscreens.
德国出生的工程师托斯滕•海因斯(Thorsten Heins)取代了贝尔斯利和拉扎里迪斯，随后便着手完成其前任启动的技术转型。在董事会的支持下，海因斯押注于新的BB10操作系统，但开发进程过于迟缓——新系统旨在利用好智能手机硬件市场的巨变趋势（包括向触屏转移）。
At the end of January, Mr Heins unveiled BB10 and two next generation handsets, the Z10 and Qwerty-keyboard-enabled Q10. For good measure, he also formally announced the name change from RIM to BlackBerry and, in a particularly awkward moment on stage, introduced singer Alicia Keys as the company’s new creative director. Ms Keys, it was soon revealed, had been a big iPhone user.
今年1月底，海因斯推出了BB10系统以及两款下一代手机：Z10与配备全键盘的Q10。此外，海因斯正式宣布RIM更名为黑莓，并在这个尤为棘手的阶段，引入歌手艾丽西亚•基斯(Alicia Keys)担任公司新的创意总监。然而，基斯不久被披露是iPhone的资深用户。
Despite its problems, Mr Heins and the BlackBerry board believed BlackBerry’s system could emerge as a clear alternative to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, which is used by Samsung. Mr Heins said the launch marked a “new beginning” for the Canadian smartphone maker.
尽管问题重重，但海因斯与黑莓董事会相信黑莓系统将成为苹果iOS和三星(Samsung)使用的谷歌(Google)安卓(Android)之外的最佳选择。海因斯表示，推出新系统标志着这家加拿大智能手机制造商的“重新启程”。
But as the company discovered, once BlackBerry lost its “coolness” and both consumers and companies began to switch allegiance, the trend was almost unstoppable, particularly in the sophisticated US market. BlackBerry was not alone. Motorola and Nokia had also underestimated the smartphone revolution.
但接下来黑莓发现，一旦失去了其“酷劲”，消费者和企业都开始变换阵营，这一趋势几乎是不可阻挡的，尤其是在复杂的美国市场。遭遇同样命运的绝非黑莓一家。摩托罗拉(Motorola)和诺基亚(Nokia)也低估了智能手机革命的冲击。
BlackBerry’s senior executives in particular cast doubt on whether the iPhone could succeed without a physical keyboard. “They looked at the iPhone and dismissed it just like Nokia [had done],” says Ron Adner, professor of strategy at Tuck School of Business and an expert on innovation who believes many of RIM’s problems stem from this error. “When they finally did take it seriously, they over-corrected. They focused too much attention and resources on consumers and their app store, and lost their advantage with their core enterprise clients: company IT chiefs,” he says.
黑莓高管尤为怀疑，没有物理键盘的iPhone能否成功。塔克商学院(Tuck School of Business)战略教授、创新专家罗恩•阿德纳(Ron Adner)表示：“他们看看iPhone，然后就像诺基亚一样，对其不屑一顾。”他认为RIM的问题根源就在于此。他说：“当他们最终认真对待这个问题时，又矫枉过正了。他们把太多注意力和资源投入到消费者及应用商店上了，反而丢掉了在核心企业客户（企业IT主管）上的优势：。”
When the iPhone was launched, BlackBerry concluded that without a physical keyboard it would never be widely adopted among its core business demographic, who sent and received large numbers of emails. “The iPhone has severe limitations when it comes to effortless typing,” Mr Lazaridis said soon after the iPhone’s launch.
在iPhone推出之际，黑莓得出结论，iPhone没有物理键盘，永远不会被其核心企业客户群体广泛接受，因为这些人要收发大量邮件。拉扎里迪斯在iPhone上市后不久表示：“iPhone局限重大，没法轻松地打字。”
What he and other industry veterans missed was that the iPhone’s virtual keyboard was adequate and the benefits of having a speedy mobile web browser and access to a huge number of free or low-cost apps far outweighed its limitations.
他与其他业界资深人士没想到的是，iPhone的虚拟键盘已经绰绰有余，移动浏览器运行速度快加上大量应用不是免费就是价格便宜，这些带来的好处远远超过其局限。
Finally, “due to the lacklustre BB10 launch, we think the board is actively considering taking the company private or selling the company,” says Peter Misek, an analyst with Jefferies.
杰富瑞(Jefferies)分析师彼得•米谢克(Peter Misek)表示：“最终，由于推出BB10以后反响平平，我们认为董事会正在积极考虑将黑莓私有化或者对外出售。”
The apparent about-face just six months after the BB10 launch highlights the brutal nature of the global smartphone industry dominated by Apple and Samsung.
在BB10推出后6个月，黑莓董事会的想法就出现彻底转变，凸显出被苹果与三星主导的全球智能手机行业残酷的本质。
However, the company’s bankers are believed to have been shopping BlackBerry around for at least 12 months, according to people familiar with the market. Among the companies that are believed to have been approached are Microsoft and its partner, Nokia; Samsung; HTC; Motorola, which is now owned by Google; Amazon; Lenovo; Dell; and IBM. Others, including Silver Lake Partners, the private equity firm, have also been contacted but all are thought to have spurned the advances.
但业界知情人士表示，据说至少12个月以来，黑莓聘用的银行家就一直在兜售黑莓。可能接触过的企业包括微软(Microsoft)及其合作伙伴诺基亚；三星；HTC；现在隶属于谷歌的摩托罗拉；亚马逊(Amazon)；联想(Lenovo)；戴尔(Dell)以及IBM等。可能也接触过私募股权投资公司Silver Lake Partners等其他企业，但所有企业都对这一提议避之不及。
Given BlackBerry’s status as a national champion, some analysts speculate that a “Canadian rescue” could at least buy more time. Certainly, affection for BlackBerry is palpable in its home town of Waterloo, where many are confident it will survive its strategic review.
考虑到黑莓作为国家冠军企业的地位，有些分析人士猜测，“加拿大式救助”至少能赢得一些时间。当然，在其家乡沃特卢，人们对黑莓的喜爱是明确无误的，这里很多人认为黑莓能通过战略评估。
Jody Palubiski, managing partner of the Charcoal Group, which owns eight restaurants in the area, stresses that the company has done far more than simply turn the region into a tech hub. “I think about all the parks and the hospital that this has helped create,” he says, pulling out his BlackBerry in his crowded Beertown restaurant in Waterloo. “I would never buy an iPhone.”
在沃特卢拥有8家餐厅的Charcoal Group的管理合伙人乔迪•帕卢比斯基(Jody Palubiski)强调，黑莓的贡献不仅仅是把该地区打造成了科技中心。在他位于沃特卢Beertown的拥挤餐厅中，乔迪掏出自己的黑莓说道：“我想到的是黑莓帮助建立的所有公园和医院。我永远都不会买iPhone。”
The remedies could include the possibility of BlackBerry quitting the fickle hardware market to focus on software and network services. Speculation about a Canadian rescuer has been fuelled in part by the decision of Prem Watsa, who runs Fairfax Financial and is one of BlackBerry’s biggest shareholders, to resign from the BlackBerry board owing to “potential conflicts of interest”.
挽救措施可能包括黑莓退出变化莫测的硬件市场，专注于软件和网络服务。人们猜测可能会有一家加拿大企业对黑莓伸出援手，普雷姆•沃察(Prem Watsa)因“潜在的利益冲突”而决策辞去黑莓董事，这在一定程度上坚定了人们的看法。沃察经营着Fairfax Financial，是黑莓的最大股东。
Mr Watsa, who holds a 9.9 per cent stake, has said he has “no current intention” of selling, despite the company’s struggles, and is believed to be trying to pull together a consortium of Canadian banks and pension funds to back a buyout bid.
沃察拥有9.9%的黑莓股份。他曾表示，尽管黑莓陷入困境，但他“目前尚不打算”出售这些股份，据说他正在努力召集加拿大多家银行和养老金基金组建一个财团，以支持收购竞标。
But even if such a bid were to succeed, many analysts think it may be too late to save BlackBerry.
但很多分析人士认为，即便竞标获得成功，拯救黑莓可能为时已晚。
“Unfortunately for BlackBerry’s remaining loyalists, this looks like the writing on the wall for the storied devices, as sales of its new BB10 devices do not indicate that the platform will regain meaningful market share,” says Charles Golvin of Forrester Research.
福里斯特调查公司(Forrester Research)的夏尔•戈尔万(Charles Golvin)表示：“对黑莓剩余的忠诚支持者来说，不幸的是，曾经辉煌的黑莓设备即将迎来灭顶之灾——新款BB10设备的销量表明，这一平台没有重获足够大的市场份额。”
Rather than returning to its former glory, they fear BlackBerry could follow other pioneers into oblivion. When a major private equity company was asked this week whether it was interested in BlackBerry, the reply was: “Remember the Palm Pilot? Need we say more?”
他们担心，黑莓不仅无法重振昔日辉煌，还会步其他先驱者的后尘，被人们遗忘。几周前，一位重要的私人股本公司在被问及对黑莓是否感兴趣时，回答是：“还记得Palm Pilot吗？还需多言吗？”
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