经济学人160:克隆来袭

 　　Business

　　商业

　　Internet companies

　　互联网企业

　　Attack of the clones

　　克隆来袭

　　ON AUGUST 1st Airbnb, an online marketplace that helps people rent rooms, admitted that it had mishandled a complaint from someone whose apartment was ransacked¹ by one of its renters.

　　8月1日，Airbnb，一家在线房屋租赁公司，承认他们错误的处理了一起客户投诉，这位客户的公寓被其中一名租客洗劫一空。

　　Brian Chesky, the firm's boss, begged forgiveness and announced that from August 15th Airbnb would cover up to $50,000-worth of damage caused by its customers, subject to certain conditions.

　　公司的老板Brian Chesky恳求客户的原谅，并宣布从当月15日起，客户所遭受的损失，只要符合一定的条件，Airbnb将会为他们买单，承担高达5万美元的费用。

　　Soon afterwards 9flats, a rival based in Berlin, said it, too, would offer insurance.

　　随即，一家总部在柏林的竞争对手9flats也宣布他们将为客户提供保险。

　　An Airbnb executive gripe s that such behaviour is typical of 9flats, which he says copies much of what Airbnb does.

　　Airbnb一位高层抱怨称这是9flats的一贯手法，对方已经抄袭了Airbnb的很多做法。

　　Other American web superstars, such as Groupon, a discount firm, and Kickstarter, which crowdsources funding for arts and technology projects, have also been attacked by clones.

　　其它的美国互联网明星企业，像Groupon和Kickstarter，也同样受到了克隆企业的困扰。

　　As the cost of computing² power plummet³ s and the prices of hot start-ups soar—Airbnb was recently valued at an eye-watering $1.3 billion—the clone wars will get bloody⁴.

　　由于计算机计算成本锐减和热门创业企业受到的热捧—Airbnb最近就被估计市值高达13亿美元，这场反克隆的战争将会愈加血腥。

　　One battleground will be China.

　　其中一个战场就是中国。

　　There, opaque⁵ rules have kept many American firms at bay , leaving the field open for Chinese ones to develop similar services.

　　在那，一些不透明的规则使许多美国企业发展受阻，为中国的本土企业发展相似服务提供了很大的空间。

　　Diandian, for example, resembles Tumblr, an American blogging platform. Zhihu, a question-and-answer service, looks a bit like Quora, an American firm.

　　例如，点点就是模仿的美国轻博客社区Tumblr。知乎，这家社会化问答网站就和美国的Quora如初一辄。

　　Another battleground will be Germany, where three brothers, Alexander, Oliver and Marc Samwer, have become the copycat kings of Europe.The brothers have a knack⁶ for spotting good business models in Silicon⁷ Valley, and then quickly starting something similar in Europe.

　　另一个战场会是德国，那有三兄弟Alexander，Oliver和Marc Samwer，他们是欧洲著名的抄袭之王。

　　They later sell these clones, sometimes to the firms on which they were modelled.

　　他们的本事就是能很快的发现来自硅谷的好的商业模式，然后迅速在欧洲发展相似的业务。再卖掉这些克隆企业，有时就卖给被他们抄袭的企业。

　　The Samwers scored their first success in 1999 with Alando, an online auction⁸ house which they sold to eBay.

　　Samwer兄弟在1999年觅得了第一桶金，他们在成功成立了一家相似的网上拍卖行Alando后，又回卖给了eBay。

　　They have notched⁹ up several other big deals since then.

　　那之后，他们还完成了若干项别的大交易。

　　In 2007, beside their investment vehicle, European Founders¹⁰ Fund, they set up Rocket Internet, an incubator that uses its own pool of experts—now around 90 people—to help launch several start-ups a year.

　　2007年，除了他们的投资工具—瓯洲创始人基金，他们还成立了一家名为Rocket Internet的公司，这是一家创业孵化器，主要依靠自己的专家—现在大概共有员工90名，每年帮助若干企业创业。

　　Kinnevik, a Swedish investor¹¹, has a stake and also invests in its portfolio¹² .

　　来自瑞典的投资人Kinnevik就有在该公司的股权，并参与了其他的投资组合。

　　Airbnb is now firmly in the Samwers' sights.

　　Airbnb现在就被Samwer兄弟瞄上了。

　　In June, the American firm bought Accoleo, a start-up in Hamburg, as a way into the European market.

　　在6月，这家美国企业买下了在德国汉堡的一家创业企业Accoleo，借此进入欧洲市场。

　　It faces stiff competition not just from 9flats but also from Wimdu, a clone backed by the Samwer brothers and staffed with experienced hands.

　　它所面临的严峻竞争不单来自9flats，也来自Samwer兄弟投资的另一家拥有经验丰富的员工的克隆企业Wimdu。

　　Arne Bleckwenn, the boss of Wimdu, is on his third start-up for the Samwers. Gamegoods, his first, was a rare flop¹³.

　　对Wimdu的老板Ame Bleckwenn来说，这已经是他的第三次创业了。

　　The second, GratisPay, a virtual-currency platform for internet games, was sold last year to SponsorPay, a German rival.

　　他创业的第一家企业Gamegoods是一次十足的失败。第二家是专为网络游戏提供虚拟货币的平台网站GratisPay，在去年卖给了德国的竞争对手SponsorPay。

　　Wimdu is no shoestring¹⁴ operation: in June it raised $90m from its core investors¹⁵.

　　Wimdu可不是小本经营，仅在6月它就从核心投资者那儿获得了9千万的投资。

　　In July the Samwers raised more money for Zalando, an online shoe-shop that resembles Amazon's Zappos.

　　在7月Samwer兄弟又为Zalando带来了更多的投资，这是一家在网上卖鞋的网站，和Amazon的Zappos类似。

　　Both Wimdu and Zalando may ultimately be snapped up by other firms, though the Samwers could choose to hang on to them or to take some equity¹⁶ in the buyer—a strategy Rocket Internet adopted when it sold CityDeal, an online-discount firm, to Groupon last year.

　　不管Wimdu还是Zalando，最终都可能会被别的公司收购，虽然Samwer兄弟可以选择是自己经营还是从购买者那保持一定的股份—在去年将CityDea卖给Groupon时，Rocket Internet就采取了后一种策略。

　　Rocket Internet has been helping¹⁷ to develop Groupon's international business, along with two of the Samwer brothers.

　　Rocket Internet和Samwer兄弟中的其中两位决定帮助提升Groupon的国际业务，

　　It stands to make more money from Groupon's planned stockmarket listing .

　　这样他们就可以从Groupon的上市计划中获利更多。

　　Florian Heinemann, the boss of Rocket Internet, is unrepentant about cloning.

　　Florian Heinemann，Rocket Internet则对克隆企业的做法不以为意。

　　Internet ideas are rarely patented and rightly so, he says: patents create a temporary monopoly which tends to stifle¹⁸ competition.

　　互联网的创意大都没有申请专利，并且他认为专利会造成一时的垄断，扼杀竞争。

　　Mr Bleckwenn at Wimdu also defends copying good ideas:BMW didn't invent the car, he observes.

　　Wimdu的Bleckwenn也认为模仿好点子的做法合理。宝马公司也不是汽车的发明者，他说道。

　　German mechanical engineers are brilliant at improving existing inventions.

　　德国的机械工程师们很擅长对已有的发明进行改进。

　　From their perspective, the Samwer brothers are simply applying that same genius to the internet.

　　对Samwer兄弟而言，他们也仅是将自己的这一天赋用于了互联网而已。

　　Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but some of the imitatees can't take a compliment .

　　模仿这一说法也许是最真诚的恭维方式，但对一些被模仿者却不愿领情。

　　They hate having to buy back their own ideas at a hefty premium¹⁹.

　　大量的费用买回原本就属于他们的创意。

　　And they gripe about the clone troopers' aggressive tactics.

　　并且他们抱怨这些后来者咄咄逼人的策略。

　　Airbnb claims that clones have sent people to rent its properties so they can give owners a sales pitch .

　　Airbnb就埋怨说那些克隆网站会派人去租他们的公寓，这样他们就能向房屋所有者推销他们的服务了。

　　Such tricks make Silicon Valley types choke on their freshly squeezed mango juice. But they are perfectly²⁰ legal.

　　他们不想要再以额外尽管这些伎俩会令硅谷的榜样们被他们的鲜榨芒果汁给呛着。但他们这样全是完全合法的。

　　Fred Destin, a venture capitalist at Atlas²¹ Venture who has worked in both Europe and America, sees a double standard.

　　来自Atlas Venture的Fred Destin，作为一位在欧洲和美国都工作过的风险投资家，他发现了其中的双重标准。

　　When something works in America, he says, eight companies immediately go after the same opportunity and venture capitalists fund them.

　　当一些企业在美国兴起时，他说道8家相同的企业会立马获得相同的机会，得到风投们的支持。

　　But nobody calls them clones.

　　但是却没有人说他们是抄袭。

　　The fact that Groupon has been willing to work with the Samwers on building its business is another sign that some of the outrage²² is overdone²³.

　　事实上， Groupon愿意同Samwer兄弟合作发展业务的意愿就给了我们一个信号，来自克隆企业的冲击太过分了。

　　Still, start-ups do need to think about the threat.

　　然而，创业企业们还是得考虑一下这些威胁。

　　Suing clones is hard, says David Goldstone, an intellectual-property specialist at Goodwin Procter, an American law firm.

　　要想控告这些克隆企业很难，来自美国律师事务所的知识产权专家David Goldstone认为。

　　Registering patents in many countries is both costly²⁴ and time-consuming, and they may prove hard to enforce.

　　在很多国家，注册专利费钱又费时，很难进行。

　　A better bet is to out-innovate the opposition²⁵.

　　一种更好的博弈就是在创新上超越对手。

　　Firms that can harness powerful network effects,in which users encourage friends and family members to join them on a particular service, may be best placed to fight off the clones.

　　那些能够打败克隆者的，往往是能有效利用强大的网络影响，让用户们鼓励亲朋好友来使用它的某种特定服务的企业。

　　Others will just have to draw their light sabres and hope that the Force is with them.

　　而其它的企业则只能手执佩剑，希望自己也能拥有这样的力量。

　　1.marketplace n.集会场所；市场

　　Sifang Street is a very busy marketplace.

　　四方街是一个热闹的集市。

　　2.announce v.宣布；宣告

　　I hope to announce the winner shortly.

　　我希望马上宣布胜利者的名字。

　　3.behaviour n.行为；举止

　　Such behaviour is beneath contempt.

　　这种行为令人不齿。

　　4.similar a.类似的

　　The two buildings are similar on the whole.

　　从整体来看，这两幢楼是相似的。

　　5.service n.服务；发球

　　The volunteers for community service are doing a good job.

　　社区服务的义工做得很出色。

1 ransacked   

v.彻底搜查( ransack的过去式和过去分词 )；抢劫，掠夺

参考例句：

• The house had been ransacked by burglars. 这房子遭到了盗贼的洗劫。
• The house had been ransacked of all that was worth anything. 屋子里所有值钱的东西都被抢去了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 computing   

n.计算

参考例句：

• to work in computing 从事信息处理
• Back in the dark ages of computing, in about 1980, they started a software company. 早在计算机尚未普及的时代（约1980年），他们就创办了软件公司。

3 plummet   

vi.(价格、水平等)骤然下跌；n.铅坠；重压物

参考例句：

• Mengniu and Yili have seen their shares plummet since the incident broke.自事件发生以来，蒙牛和伊利的股票大幅下跌。
• Even if rice prices were to plummet,other brakes on poverty alleviation remain.就算大米价格下跌，其它阻止导致贫困的因素仍然存在。

4 bloody   

adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染

参考例句：

• He got a bloody nose in the fight.他在打斗中被打得鼻子流血。
• He is a bloody fool.他是一个十足的笨蛋。

5 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

6 knack   

n.诀窍，做事情的灵巧的，便利的方法

参考例句：

• He has a knack of teaching arithmetic.他教算术有诀窍。
• Making omelettes isn't difficult,but there's a knack to it.做煎蛋饼并不难，但有窍门。

7 silicon   

n.硅(旧名矽)

参考例句：

• This company pioneered the use of silicon chip.这家公司开创了使用硅片的方法。
• A chip is a piece of silicon about the size of a postage stamp.芯片就是一枚邮票大小的硅片。

8 auction   

n.拍卖；拍卖会；vt.拍卖

参考例句：

• They've put the contents of their house up for auction.他们把房子里的东西全都拿去拍卖了。
• They bought a new minibus with the proceeds from the auction.他们用拍卖得来的钱买了一辆新面包车。

9 notched   

a.有凹口的，有缺口的

参考例句：

• Torino notched up a 2-1 win at Lazio. 都灵队以2 比1 赢了拉齐奧队。
• He notched up ten points in the first five minutes of the game. 他在比赛开始后的五分钟里得了十分。

10 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句

11 investor   

n.投资者，投资人

参考例句：

• My nephew is a cautious investor.我侄子是个小心谨慎的投资者。
• The investor believes that his investment will pay off handsomely soon.这个投资者相信他的投资不久会有相当大的收益。

12 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

13 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

14 shoestring   

n.小额资本；adj.小本经营的

参考例句：

• In the early years,the business was run on a shoestring.早年，这家店铺曾是小本经营。
• How can I take the best possible digital pictures on a shoestring budget?怎样用很小投资拍摄最好的数码照片？

15 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

16 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

17 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

18 stifle   

vt.使窒息；闷死；扼杀；抑止，阻止

参考例句：

• She tried hard to stifle her laughter.她强忍住笑。
• It was an uninteresting conversation and I had to stifle a yawn.那是一次枯燥无味的交谈，我不得不强忍住自己的呵欠。

19 premium   

n.加付款；赠品；adj.高级的；售价高的

参考例句：

• You have to pay a premium for express delivery.寄快递你得付额外费用。
• Fresh water was at a premium after the reservoir was contaminated.在水库被污染之后，清水便因稀而贵了。

20 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

21 atlas   

n.地图册，图表集

参考例句：

• He reached down the atlas from the top shelf.他从书架顶层取下地图集。
• The atlas contains forty maps,including three of Great Britain.这本地图集有40幅地图，其中包括3幅英国地图。

22 outrage   

n.暴行，侮辱，愤怒；vt.凌辱，激怒

参考例句：

• When he heard the news he reacted with a sense of outrage.他得悉此事时义愤填膺。
• We should never forget the outrage committed by the Japanese invaders.我们永远都不应该忘记日本侵略者犯下的暴行。

23 overdone   

v.做得过分( overdo的过去分词 )；太夸张；把…煮得太久；（工作等）过度

参考例句：

• The lust of men must not be overdone. 人们的欲望不该过分。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The joke is overdone. 玩笑开得过火。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

24 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

25 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。