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Messaging Apps Take on Facebook, Apple
On a recent Saturday, Johan Dijkland, a 23-year-old student in Emmen, Netherlands, opened a free messaging app called Line on his iPhone. Then he tapped on a virtual sticker of a sleepy panda with a 'good night' speech bubble and pressed send to a friend.
最近的一个周六，荷兰埃门23岁的学生迪杰克兰德(Johan Dijkland)打开了手机上的免费即时通讯软件Line。他在一个有一只慵懒熊猫形象的虚拟贴图上打出“晚安”的字样，把它发给了一个朋友。
With that action, Mr. Dijkland's text joined the tens of billions of messages that are processed every day from a fast-growing crowd of mobile messaging apps.
迪杰克兰德的信息只是诸多移动即时通讯应用程序每天处理的数百亿条信息之一。即时通讯软件的数量正在迅速增长。
These messaging apps--with funny names like WhatsApp, WeChat and KakaoTalk--have become an indispensable form of communication for hundreds of millions of people world-wide.
这些即时通讯软件有著有趣的名字，比如WhatsApp、微信(WeChat)和Kakao Talk。它们已经成为全世界数亿人不可或缺的通讯工具。
They are also rankling technology companies from Silicon Valley to Seoul. That is because when users like Mr. Dijkland send messages using Line, his mobile carrier Vodafone Group PLC (VOD, VODPF, VOD.LN) and iPhone maker Apple Inc. (AAPL) don't directly profit from the interaction.
不过，这些即时通讯软件却挑战了从硅谷到首尔等一些科技公司的利益。这是因为，当迪杰克兰德这样的用户使用Line发送信息时，他的移动运营商沃达丰空中通讯公司(Vodafone Group PLC)和iPhone的制造商苹果公司(Apple Inc.)无法直接从这样的互动中获利。
And as Mr. Dijkland's use of the free app Line grows--he estimates he spends three to four hours a day on Line sending dozens of messages and stickers--his time using other conversational channels such as social network Facebook Inc. (FB) has declined.
此外，由于迪杰克兰德越来越多地使用免费的Line应用程序，他使用社交网络Facebook等其他信息互动渠道的时间减少了。他估计每天在Line上花费三、四个小时，发送数十条信息和贴图。
'On Line you have conversations, so you react by the minute,' said Mr. Dijkland, who started using Line five months ago. 'On Facebook you just look at the news feed and after that, there's not more to see.'
迪杰克兰德说：在Line上你是在和他人对话，几分钟内就可以得到回复。而在Facebook上，你只是查看新鲜事，然后就没什么好看的了。迪杰克兰德五个月前开始使用Line。
Line, which is especially popular in Japan, has been downloaded more than 110 million times, said Jeanie Han, CEO of Line USA. The app, and others like it available for download, are rapidly replacing the fixtures on phones like Research in Motion Ltd.'s (BBRY, BB.T) BlackBerry, Apple's iPhone, and others.
Line美国的首席执行长Jeanie Han说，Line已经被下载超过1.1亿次，在日本尤其受欢迎。包括Line在内的类似应用程序正在迅速取代一些手机的固有功能，其中包括Research in Motion Ltd.的BlackBerry手机和苹果的iPhone手机等。
Texting apps are especially costing wireless carriers, which for years relied on the services for the bulk of their revenue.
文本即时通讯软件对移动运营商的冲击尤其严重。多年以来，移动运营商的很大一部分利润都来自这些服务。
By some estimates a single text, which may cost as much as 20 cents to send or receive, costs the carriers themselves just one-hundredth of a cent. The rise of texting apps has taken away $23 billion in revenue from carriers as of the end of 2012, according to market research firm Ovum.
根据一些统计，用户收发一条信息可能需要支付高达20美分的费用，而运营商的成本仅为0.01美分。根据市场研究公司Ovum的数据，截止2012年底，文本即时通讯应用程序的崛起已经导致运营商损失了230亿美元的收入。
Matt Murphy, a venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers who has invested in voice and text messaging service textPlus Inc., said mobile messaging has now become people's 'primary social graph.' He added, 'Apps are taking that audience and turning that into something bigger.'
凯鹏华盈(Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)的风险资本投资人墨菲(Matt Murphy)说，移动即时通讯已经成为人们主要的社交工具。他补充说，应用程序正在利用这部分用户，利用他们发展更大的业务。
As a result, companies including Facebook, Deutsche Telekom AG (DTE.XE, DTEGY) and Samsung Electronics Corp. (SSNHY, 005930.SE) are making a land grab into the messaging app market.
因此，包括Facebook、德国电信(Deutsche Telekom AG)和三星电子(Samsung Electronics Corp.)在内的公司正在努力进入移动即时通讯软件市场。 |
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发表于 2016-7-11 09:57:18