I remember the moment when the BlackBerry was cool. It was a fleeting moment when I was kind of cool too.
我还记得黑萄手机最酷的时代。那时的我也非常酷，但那个时代巳经随着时间的流逝渐渐走远了。
That was more than eleven years ago, during the Gore-Bush election of 2000. Part of the coolness of Gore’s campaign was the young crowd that made up his staff and that they were all using BlackBerrys. At the time, the BlackBerry wasn’t even a smartphone, it was still a PDA (Personal Data Assistant) and was competing head to head with Palm. All of the tech people wanted their hands on a BlackBerry. I had a BlackBerry back then. My clients would squeal with excitement whenever I used it. They envkrasly1 watched as emails were “pushed” to me automatically. Wow. I was hot. I was cool. I had a BlackBerry.
11年前的2000年还是小布什在竞选总统的时候。布什阵营里有一部分很潮的 年轻人，他们大多都在用黑霉手机。那时黑莓手机还只是个人商务机，不是智能手 机，还在与掌上电脑比拼市场份额。每个对科技感兴趣的人都希望他们可以拥有一 部黑莓手机，我也紧跟潮流使用黑莓手机。每次我的客户们看到我在使用黑莓，都 会非常兴奋地叫喊出来。他们总是用很艳羡的目光看着电子邮件自动地“推”向我。 哇，那时的我是多么时尚,多么抢眼。我有黑莓手机！
Now things have changed. Palm is no longer a player. And, by the looks of things, the BlackBerry is on its way out too. Yet here I am, still clinging to2 my once cool device. And I’m looking more like a loser every day. That’s because BlackBerry is no longer cool And neither am I. I keep seeing signs pointing to a future without the BlackBerry.
但现在不同了。个人掌上电脑已经落伍了,而且从外型上看，黑莓手机也逐渐 落伍了。但我却还在执着地使用着曾经流行一时的电子产品。这让我每天都看起来 像是个失败者。因为黑莓已经不再那么潮了,而我也一样。我一直等着看黑莓时代 过后的市场新的风向标。
For example, recently Verizon released their version of the iPhone. At the time I emailed about a dozen tech guys I know, owners and employees at IT firms, and asked them if I should bite the bullet, ditch the BlackBerry and get a different smartphone. I was laughed at. “What, you still have a BlackBerry?” one tech guy emailed me back. “What a loser! ” A full 80% of those guys told me to go out and immediately buy the iPhone. The remainder recommended a Droid device. Not a single person told me to get another BlackBerry. And the amazing thing is that these tech guys were mostly Microsoft people. So you，d think they，d be telling me to buy anything other than an Apple or Google product. Their enthusiasm no love of their iPhone or Droid device said it all: I’m a loser. And the BlackBerry is toast.
例如，最近Verizon公司推出了iPhone手机。我发了十几封邮件问那些在IT公司 工作的朋友，其中有老板也有员工,我问他们是否应该忍痛抛弃黑莓换一个新的智 能手机？结果被他们嘲笑了。一位朋友给我回邮件惊讶地问什么？你现在还在用 黑莓？你也太落伍了!“他们之中80%的人都说我已经太落后了，应该马上换iphone手机，我的朋友没有一个建议我再买黑莓了。而更另我惊讶的是，这些rr行业的人 大多数都是微软的拥护者，所以他们也绝对不会建议我买苹果或者谷歌的手机产 品。他们对此的狂热，不，对iphone或者Droid的喜爱都向我传达一个信息:我已经落 伍了，黑毒已经过时了。
Clients I know who once loved their BlackBerry are jumping ship. John’s a client of mine who owns a fifty person job shop. He’s not the most technical guy around. But he’s not a loser like me. That’s because he used to own a BlackBerry, and he was happy with it. But about a month ago his contract came up. So he decided to switch to an iPhone. And he loves this phone. He loves the interface, the browsing, the apps everything. BlackBerry users don’t have this kind of passion about their smartphone.
我的一位客户曾经也是黑莓的追捧者，而现在已经投向其他品牌了。我的一位 客户约翰，拥有一家50人的商店，他不是电子行业的人，但是他却不像我这样落后 于时代。因为他曾经是黑莓的用户，也非常喜欢黑莓,但是一个月前他的合同到期 之后，他决定换成iphone，并且他一下子就喜欢上了这款手机。他钟爱iphone的界 面、浏览器及其附件等等。而黑莓的用户则对他们的智能手机没有这样的激情。
The other thing I noticed about the BlackBerry is that you can’t find accessories3 for it anywhere but in the phone store or online. Go into any Walmart or Best Buy and try to find a screen protector or car adaptor for your BlackBerry and you’ll be shown to a corner where they keep the damaged items and left over Christmas ornaments. Meanwhile, there are aisles of accessories and add-ons for the iPhone and Droids available. I feel like such a loser when I have to pull out my BlackBerry and explain I need a new case for it. The hipster salesperson would just roll his eyes.
我所注意到的另外一点是，你只能在手机店或者网上找到黑莓手机的配件。如 果你试图在沃尔玛或者百思买这样的地方找到黑莓的屏保或者车载转换器，你会 被带到超市的角落，那里通常是放置已经有些损坏的商品或者是圣诞节装饰品。而 iphone和Droids却都有自己的配件货架和通道。当我必须在一堆破旧商品里淘我的 黑莓配件并且向店员询问哪里有新的配件时，我觉得自己就像是一个失败者。那些 时輋的店员会对我不屑一顾。
I don’t want to be a loser anymore. I want to be a winner. Like Charlie Sheen. And Ralph Macchio on “Dancing With The Stars.” And John.
我不想再做一个落伍的人了，我要变成潮人，就像査理?辛和拉夫?马奇奥在 《与星共舞》中的表演一样。
And yet I continue to resist moving to the iPhone or a Droid device. It’s not because I don’t think they’re good phones. I think they’re great phones. It’s just that I don’t want to be a loser again. And the choices are getting too complicated. Back in the day, there were lots of desktop applications to choose to help me run my business. And they all ran on Windows. Today there are lots of smartphone apps to choose. But they’reall different and not compatible with other smartphone operating systems.
但是我继续拒绝成为iphone或Droid的用户，这倒不是因为我认为他们不够好， 我认为他们是很棒的手机，我只是不想再次成为一个失败的落伍者。选择变得太复 杂。现在有很多的电脑应用供应商推荐我使用他们的产品，他们都是在Windows系统上进行操作的。今天有很多的智能手机配套附件可供选择，但是他们都不同，并 且很难与其他的运行系统兼容。