经济学人29:电子书 一笑泯恩仇

 　　Business.

　　商业。

　　E-readers.

　　电纸书。

　　Turning the page.

　　微软和B&N相逢一笑泯恩仇。

　　Microsoft and Barnes & Noble write their own love story.

　　微软和Barnes & Noble共写爱情故事。

　　LAST July Barnes & Noble gave a presentation to the antitrust division of America's Department of Justice.

　　去年七月Barnes & Noble向美国司法部反托拉斯部门做了一个演示。

　　In slide after slide, the bookseller laid into Microsoft.

　　Barnes & Noble的每张幻灯片都在攻击微软。

　　The software giant, it thundered, was guilty of "anti-competitive behaviour" in demanding royalties¹ from makers³ of mobile devices (such as the Nook, Barnes & Noble's e-reader) that used Android, Google's open-source mobile operating system.

　　它怒斥微软这家软件巨头违法，因为微软向生产使用安卓(谷歌的手机开源操作系统)移动设备的厂商收取专利使用费是"反竞争行为"（例如Barnes & Noble的电子书阅读器Nook）。

　　The bookseller sniffed⁴ that Microsoft owned only "trivial" patents and reminded the department of the software company's past trespasses⁵ against competition.

　　Barnes & Noble讥讽微软只拥有一些不重要的专利并向提醒司法部微软以往的反竞争行为。

　　Nine months later, the bookworms and the geeks are the best of friends.

　　九个月后，书虫和极客成为了最好的朋友。

　　On April 30th Barnes & Noble said it was creating a subsidiary, called NewCo for now, into which it would put Nook and its "college" business, which has 641 bookshops on American campuses.

　　4月30日，Barnes & Noble宣布成立名为NewCo的分支公司，该公司主营Nook和在美国校园拥有641家书店的"高校"业务部。

　　Microsoft is putting up $300m for 17.6% of NewCo.

　　微软注资3亿美元，拥有17.6的股份。

　　People will be able to buy and read e-books through a Nook application for Windows 8, a new incarnation of Microsoft's operating system that is due to appear in a few months.

　　人们将能通过WIN8版Nook应用购买和阅读电子书。WIN8是微软的新版操作系统，将在数月后问世。

　　Microsoft will pay NewCo an advance of $180m over three years for such purchases, plus $125m over five years to buy content and develop technology.

　　微软将会提前支付1.8亿美元的三年使用费，并支付额外的1.25亿美元用于之后五年的内容购买和技术开发。

　　The squabbles over patents have been settled: Microsoft is giving Barnes & Noble a licence for the Nook and will get royalties in return.

　　专利之争已经平息：微软给予Barnes & Noble的Nook许可证并获得专利使用费。

　　For now at least, the Nook will remain an Android, not Windows, device.

　　最起码就目前而言，Nook将仍然是安卓阵营成员而非windows成员。

　　The agreement values NewCo at $1.7 billion, more than twice Barnes & Noble's market capitalisation before it was announced.

　　协议中将NewCo估价为17亿美元，超过协议公布前Barnes & Noble市值的两倍。

　　The bookseller's share price rose by 50% on the day of the deal—which tells you what investors⁶ think of the dead-tree end of the trade.

　　协议达成当天Barnes & Noble股价上涨50%，这表明投资者对这个实体书过时行业的看法。

　　The alliance should bring Barnes & Noble not only cash but also new readers of digital books and magazines, especially outside the United States.

　　两公司联合不仅仅给Barnes & Noble带来资金还要带来新的电子书刊读者，尤其是美国外的读者。

　　In the fourth quarter of 2011, according to Tom Mainelli of IDC, a research firm, Barnes & Noble accounted for one-fifth of the 7m e-readers shipped in America—against a mighty⁷ three-quarters for Amazon, maker² of the Kindle⁸ (see chart).

　　调查机构IDC的Tom Mainelli表示，2011年第四季度美国市场新推出的七百万的电子书阅读器中，Barnes & Noble占有五分之一，而Kindle的生产商亚马逊囊括了四分之三（见图）。

　　But Barnes & Noble shipped no Nooks elsewhere, which helps explain why it had only 14% of the global market.

　　但是Barnes & Noble只在美国销售Nook，这也解释了为什么它只拥有14%全球市场。

　　Via the Nook app, non-Americans will also be able to leaf through Barnes & Noble's digital catalogue.

　　通过Nook应用，其他国家的居民也可以浏览Barnes & Noble的电子产品目录。

　　Microsoft is in effect buying a second bash at a market where it made an early but unsuccessful start.

　　实际上这是微软在早期打入电纸书市场失败后的第二次尝试。

　　It launched its own e-reader software all of 12 years ago.

　　12年前，微软就曾发布过自己的电纸书软件。

　　The deal with Barnes & Noble, bringing lots of content with it, may give people an extra reason to buy Windows 8 tablets (a likelier choice for e-reading than smartphones, laptops or desktops) when they appear.

　　这次与 Barnes & Noble的协议又加入了诸多内容，这使得上市后购买WIN 8平板电脑的人们多了一个理由（就电子阅读来说平板电脑是比智能手机，笔记本或台式机更好的选择）。

　　The bundling of Barnes & Noble's college business into NewCo indicates a hope that a fair few of these customers will be students.

　　Barnes & Noble的大量高校业务融入NewCo，这意味着多数客户有望是学生。

　　Allen Weiner of Gartner , another research firm, suggests that through campus bookshops Barnes & Noble could sell Windows devices pre-loaded with course material.

　　调查机构高德纳公司的Allen Weiner暗示通过校园书店，Barnes & Noble可以销售预先装有课程材料的Windous设备。

　　Of course, others are after students' dollars too. Apple recently started selling interactive⁹ digital textbooks for the iPad, far and away the biggest-selling tablet (among its publishing partners is Pearson, part-owner of The Economist).

　　当然其他公司也对大学生市场虎视眈眈。苹果公司最近开始为其卖得最好的平板电脑ipad销售互动电子书（合作出版社之一是Pearson，也是经济学人的股东之一）。

　　But Mr Weiner points out that Microsoft and Barnes & Noble have some advantages. Lots of students write notes and essays with Microsoft's Office software, which is not available on the iPad.

　　但是Weiner指出微软和Barnes & Noble有优势，许多学生使用微软的office软件做笔记，写文章，而ipad上却没有这一软件。

　　And although Amazon sells and rents a lot of paper textbooks, it has not done much with digital ones.

　　而且尽管亚马逊销售出租大量纸质教材，却并没有过多涉及电子版教材。

　　The tie-up with Barnes & Noble makes three of a kind for Microsoft: cheap deals with struggling but established partners in markets where it is weak and sees a chance to do much better.

　　与Barnes & Noble公司的合作关系是微软完成了第三项同类合作：在表现不佳有大量上升空间市场里以廉价的合同和经营不佳但在业内已树起口碑的公司签约合作。

　　In 2009 it struck an agreement with Yahoo!

　　2009年，微软与雅虎就网上搜索达成协议。

　　in online search. Last year Nokia became the prime conduit for Windows in smartphones.

　　去年，诺基亚成为windows智能手机的最佳渠道。

　　With Barnes & Noble it is having another stab at e-reading. Unlike the books on the Nook, this tale is still being written.

　　而与Barnes & Noble合作，则可以打入电子阅读市场。不像Nook上的电子书那样，这个故事依旧在继续。

1 royalties   

特许权使用费

参考例句：

• I lived on about £3,000 a year from the royalties on my book. 我靠着写书得来的每年约3，000英镑的版税生活。 来自辞典例句
• Payments shall generally be made in the form of royalties. 一般应采取提成方式支付。 来自经济法规部分

2 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

3 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 trespasses   

罪过( trespass的名词复数 )； 非法进入

参考例句：

• If you forgive men their trespasses,your Heavenly Father will also forgive you. 如果你们饶恕他们的过失，你们的天父也必将饶恕你们的过失。
• Forgive us our trespasses! 宽恕我们的罪过吧！

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

8 kindle   

v.点燃，着火

参考例句：

• This wood is too wet to kindle.这木柴太湿点不着。
• A small spark was enough to kindle Lily's imagination.一星光花足以点燃莉丽的全部想象力。

9 interactive   

adj.相互作用的，互相影响的，（电脑）交互的

参考例句：

• The psychotherapy is carried out in small interactive groups.这种心理治疗是在互动的小组之间进行的。
• This will make videogames more interactive than ever.这将使电子游戏的互动性更胜以往。