英文原文

Reader Survey: Apple Rides Recent Growth In Asia
For a company with a tiny market share in Asia, Apple Inc. has an outsized reputation.

Apple held just a 1.6% share of the personal-computer market in Asia in the second quarter of this year, and a 0.6% sliver of the region's mobile-phone market, according to technology market-research firm IDC. Yet Apple skyrocketed to the top of our annual Asia 200 survey this year, and was ranked by readers as the region's most admired multinational company. Last year, Apple ranked seventh.

Apple's sharp rise to the top spot over the past year reflects its fast-growing global reputation as a trend-setting technology company that continually turns out iconic products backed by unparalleled marketing savvy. Apple might not be a big player in Asia, in terms of market share, but the company's reputation looms large.

'Even if they don't have a big presence, they are tremendously successful at marketing themselves,' says Bryan Ma, the Singapore-based director of personal systems research at IDC. 'Look at the entire experience and aura they create, especially this globally connected age; everyone is hearing about this whole iPhone phenomenon, and can see their earnings are doing very well. Even if their market share isn't so big out here, these are things that businesspeople and executives in Asia would certainly respect and admire.'

Apple's ability to sidestep the global economic crisis has gained the company fresh respect. In July, Apple posted a 15% rise in profit for the fiscal third quarter ended June 27, and said it couldn't supply enough iPhones and Macintosh computers to meet demand. Shipments of Mac computers rose 4% to 2.6 million, although revenue fell 8% as the company cut prices on some models. Still, that stands in contrast to PC sales, which have slumped globally. Apple's results were fueled by surging demand for its 3G iPhone: the company sold 5.2 million iPhones in the quarter, more than seven times what it sold a year earlier.

Apple's focus remains on its core U.S. market, and also on Europe. Apple shipped 53% of its Macintosh computers to the U.S., 24% to Western Europe and 14% to Asia, in the second calendar quarter of this year, according to IDC. While the company's iconic iPod is popular in Asia, Apple's iTunes store remains out of reach of most Asian consumers. Apple has set up iTunes in Japan and Australia only. Copyright is the big hurdle. Apple has to conclude deals with individual record labels at the country level to allow songs to be sold on the iTunes platform in each market. That labyrinth process has mired efforts to make the service more widely available in Asia. The company is also likely concerned about piracy in Asia, say many analysts.

Still, the company is expanding its presence. Apple opened its first company-owned Apple retail store in Asia, outside of Japan, in China last year. Meanwhile, it has signed agreements with Asian mobile-phone carriers outside of Japan to distribute its hot-selling iPhone in the past 12 months. The product, which was already on sale in Japan, is now available in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, India, Thailand and Taiwan. In late August, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. announced a three-year deal with Apple to sell the iPhone in China later this year.

The release of the iPhone, Apple's latest must-have gadget, in Asia has helped buoy the company's profile in the region. More than 2,000 people in Singapore queued up for hours when domestic carrier Singapore Telecommunications launched the iPhone on July 10. The customer at the front of the line reportedly waited for 11 hours.

Apple has also managed to lift its share of other core segments in Asia. The company's 1.6% share of personal computers in the second quarter of this year marks a steady rise from the 1.1% share in the first quarter of 2007. The 0.6% share it has in the Asian phone market, meanwhile, is notable given the iPhone has been available in most of Asia for less than a year.

Those efforts are paying off. Apple ranked second in the Asia 200 survey in the innovation category, up from seventh last year. When asked to rank multinational companies by the long-term vision of their management, readers ranked Apple second this year, up from sixth.

'For a company that, from a product-line perspective, isn't that broad, it is rather admirable they can create so much demand, so much hunger and so much loyalty -- even out here in Asia, where the priority for the company might not be as high,' says IDC's Mr. Ma.

On Wednesday, Apple CEO and founder Steve Jobs appeared in public for the first time since he received a liver transplant earlier this year, unveiling new offerings that included an iPod Nano with a video camera.

中文翻译

作为在亚洲市场份额极低的一家公司，苹果(Apple Inc.)的声望却高高在上。

据技术市场研究公司国际数据公司(IDC)称，截至今年第二季度，苹果在亚洲个人电脑市场的占有率仅有1.6%，在当地手机市场的份额只有0.6%。不过，苹果在今年《华尔街日报》亚洲200强的年度调查中却升至榜首，被读者列为该地区最受尊敬的跨国公司。去年，苹果排在第七位。

苹果的排名在过去一年里急剧上升至首位反映出，作为一家引领潮流的科技公司，其全球信誉的快速增长。它不断推出的标志性产品受到了无以伦比的营销智慧的支持。从市场份额来说，苹果可能不是亚洲最大的厂商，但该公司的声望却越来越大。

IDC驻新加坡个人系统研究主管马伯远(Bryan Ma)表示，即使他们的占有率不大，但在营销自己方面却做的极其成功。看看整个经历和他们创造的光环吧，尤其是在这个全球网络相连的时代；每个人都听到了整个iPhone现象，可以看到他们的收益都做得很好。即使他们在亚洲的市场份额还不是很大，但上述这些都是值得亚洲的企业家和管理人士尊重和敬佩的。

苹果抵御全球经济危机的能力为公司赢得了新的尊重。今年7月，苹果公布截至6月27日的第三财政季度利润增长了15%，并表示iPhone手机和Macintosh电脑供不应求。Mac电脑出货量增长4%，至260万台，但由于公司对部分型号降价销售，收入下降了8%。不过，这与全球电脑销量的下降形成了鲜明对比。苹果的业绩受到了对其3G iPhone手机需求的推动：该公司当季共售出520万部iPhone手机，是去年同期销量的7倍以上。

苹果的重点依然在其核心的美国市场，同时还有欧洲市场。研究机构国际数据公司(IDC)的数据显示，今年第二季度，苹果的Macintosh电脑销往美国、西欧和亚洲的比例分别为53%、24%和14%。该公司标志产品iPod风靡亚洲，但iTunes商店却依然在大多数亚洲消费者所能企及的范围之外。苹果只在日本和澳大利亚开设了iTunes商店。版权是一个重大障碍。苹果必须逐个国家去跟不同的发行公司达成交易，才能允许歌曲在每个市场的iTunes平台上出售。这个过程错综复杂，因此难以在亚洲推广iTunes服务。许多分析师认为，苹果可能还担心亚洲的盗版问题。

不过苹果公司仍在不断扩大影响力。去年苹果在中国开设了零售店，这是该公司在亚洲除日本之外开设的首家。与此同时，苹果在过去一年里还与日本以外的亚洲手机运营商签署协议，销售其热卖的iPhone手机。iPhone此前已经在日本销售，现在香港、新加坡、马来西亚、印尼、菲律宾、印度、泰国和台湾都有售。8月底，中国联通(China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd.)宣布了与苹果公司为期三年的协议，将于今年晚些时候在中国大陆销售iPhone。

作为苹果最新的一款必备产品，iPhone在亚洲发布帮助提升了苹果公司在这一地区的知名度。7月10日，新加坡运营商加坡电信(Singapore Telecommunications)发布iPhone，2,000多人排了几个小时的队争相购买。排在队伍前面的消费者所说等了11个小时。

苹果还设法提升了其他核心业务在亚洲的份额。该公司今年第二季度个人电脑市场份额达到1.6%，较2007年第一季度1.1%的份额稳定上升。与此同时，其在亚洲手机市场占有0.6%的份额也同样值得注意，因为iPhone在亚洲大部分地区销售还不到一年。

这些举措取得了成效。在“亚洲200强”(Asia 200)调查中，苹果公司在创新一项从去年的排名第七上升到第二。在对跨国公司经营管理的长期前景排名时，读者对苹果的排名也从第六提高到第二。

国际数据公司的马伯远说，苹果的产品线不算丰富，这样一家公司能够创造这么大的需求、渴望和这么高的忠诚度，这实在令人钦佩。甚至远在亚洲也是如此，这家公司在亚洲并没有太大的优先权。

周三，苹果首席执行长、创始人乔布斯(Steve Job)宣布了内置摄像头的iPod Nano等新产品，这是乔布斯自去年进行肝移植手术以来首次公开露面。