酷兔英语


Amazon.com Inc. on Wednesday unveiled the Kindle Fire tablet at a price less than half Apple Inc.'s dominant iPad and with an extensive catalog of books and videos.


亚马逊公司(Amazon.com Inc.)周三推出了Kindle Fire平板电脑,其价格不到苹果公司(Apple Inc.)推出的在市场占主导地位的iPad的一半。Kindle Fire所能选择的电子书和视频的内容更加丰富。



The Fire tablet--priced at $199 compared to the lowest-priced iPad at $499--has a 7-inch screen and can access Amazon's app store and stream movies and TV shows. While the device contains only 8 gigabytes of internalstorage, equal to the cheapest iPod nano, Amazon expects users to predominantly access their media through the Internet, takingadvantage of unlimited free storage on Amazon's network.


平板电脑Fire的售价为199美元,而iPad最便宜的型号也要499美元。Fire的显示屏为7英寸,用户可以访问亚马逊的应用程序商店以及收看流媒体电影和电视节目。尽管Fire的内存只有8G,容量仅相当于最便宜的iPod nano,但亚马逊公司预计用户主要通过互联网浏览媒体内容,以利用亚马逊网络上无限的免费存储空间。



'We asked ourselves, 'Is there some way we can bring all of these things together [web, movies, apps, books and games] into a remarkable product offering customers would love?'' Amazon Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said at the company's launch event in New York City. 'Yes, the answer is Amazon Kindle Fire.'


亚马逊公司首席执行长贝佐斯(Jeff Bezos)在该公司于纽约举办的产品发布会上说,我们问自己,是否有办法将网络、电影、应用程序、电子书和游戏融合到一款会受消费者喜爱的杰出产品中?有的,答案就是亚马逊Kindle Fire。



The Fire will include 30 days of free Amazon Prime service, which gives users unlimited two-day shipping on Amazon.com purchases and free access to a library of streaming videos that is set to top 11,000 titles this fall. In comparison, Netflix Inc. has more than 20,000 titles.


Fire用户可以免费使用30天的"亚马逊高级"(Amazon Prime)服务,其中包括在亚马逊网站购物时可以无限制免费享受下订单后货物两日内送达的服务,以及免费使用流媒体视频图书馆,今年秋天,这个图书馆的视频数量将超过1.1万部。相比之下,Netflix Inc.提供的视频数量超过2万部。



Amazon shares, up 29% in 2011, recently rose 3.4% to $231.87.


亚马逊股价今年以来累计上涨29%,最近涨幅3.4%,至231.87美元。



Even with its many features, questions remain about the Fire's technical limitations and lackluster selection of apps, especially compared to the iPad. The Fire doesn't have a camera or microphone, and it doesn't offer cellular connection, working only with Wi-Fi. In addition, the low amount of internalstorage limits what users are able to do if they don't have an Internet connection.


尽管拥有许多功能,但Fire在技术上的局限及其应用程序选择有限(尤其是在和iPad相比时)仍然遭到了质疑。Fire没有配备摄像头或麦克风,无法使用移动连接,只能利用无线局域网(Wi-Fi)连接网络。此外,内存较小限制了用户在无法连接互联网时的使用选择。



Nonetheless, 'being able to come to market with a $200 device and very impressive array of content sources makes it a much more viable competitor than we've had,' Caris & Co. analyst Scott Tilghman said.


小型投行Caris & Co.的分析师蒂尔曼(Scott Tilghman)说,尽管如此,Fire的售价只有200美元,且其丰富的内容资源令人印象深刻,这令Fire成为一个比我们所见过的产品更具实力的竞争对手。



Amazon also showed off a new line of Kindle electronic readers, with two new touchscreen Kindles priced at $99 for the Wi-Fi only version and $149 for 3G cellular connectivity. A non-touch Kindle will sell for $79. Kindles without ads are priced higher. Previously, the cheapest Kindle was a $114 ad-displaying version.


亚马逊同时还展示了Kindle电子阅读器的全线新品:Wi-Fi版触屏Kindle售价99美元,3G版触屏Kindle售价149美元。非触屏版Kindle售价79美元。不带广告的Kindle售价更高。此前,最便宜的Kindle售价是114美元。



'This is unbelievable value,' Mr. Bezos said. 'I really want to stress this point: These are premium products at nonpremium prices.'


贝佐斯说,这样的价格令人难以置信。我真的很想强调这一点:Kindle是物美价廉。



The Fire will be released Nov. 15, while the touch Kindles will ship Nov. 21. The non-touch Kindle already is available, and preordering for the others has started on the company's website.


Fire将于11月15日发售,而触屏版Kindle将于11月21日发货。非触屏版Kindle已经在售。亚马逊网站已经开始接受待售新品的预定。



'Amazon has an advantage that other tablet manufacturers don't in that millions of people already visit its site on a regular basis,' said Ken Sena, an analyst who covers Amazon for Evercore Partners. He added that those consumers will be regularly exposed to advertisements for the device.


投资银行Evercore Partners负责亚马逊的分析师塞纳(Ken Sena)说,和其它平板电脑制造商相比,亚马逊的优势在于数百万人会定期访问它的网站。塞纳说,这些消费者会定期接触到Kindle的广告。



'It certainly creates a competitor to the iPad,' Mr. Sena said. Apple shares recently rose 19 cents to $399.45.


塞纳说,Kindle肯定对iPad构成了竞争。苹果公司的股价最近涨了19美分,至399.45美元。



The Kindles will be available at Amazon's traditionalretail partners, such as Best Buy Co. and RadioShack Corp. The devices will compete against Barnes & Noble Inc.'s Nook, an e-reader that starts at $139 and has a $249 version with a color screen. Barnes & Noble shares recently dropped 6.5% to $12.35.


亚马逊传统零售合作伙伴也将销售Kindle,比如百思买(Best Buy Co.)和RadioShack Corp.。Kindle将和美国连锁书店巴诺(Barnes & Noble)的电子阅读器Nook竞争。Nook的售价为139美元,彩屏版为249美元。巴诺的股价最近下跌6.5%,至12.35美元。



Analysts speculate that Amazon won't be making much, if any, money from the Fire but instead will benefit from the sale of books, movies and other media through its digital store. The tablet will have access to more than 100,000 movies and TV shows; 17 million songs; 1 million books; and hundreds of newspapers and magazines.


分析师推测,亚马逊不会从Fire身上赚到多少钱。相反,该公司会从其数字商店销售的电子书、电影和其它媒体内容获利。可供Fire挑选的电影和电视节目超过10万种,歌曲有1,700万首,电子书有100万部,另外还有数百种报纸和杂志。



'The fact is Amazon has a lot of movies to sell you and a lot of books to sell you, which is not necessarily the case on a lot of competing products that are more expensive,' Current Analysis analyst Avi Greengart said, adding that the company is basically selling a vending machine. 'Their business model is to sell you stuff after you buy this.'


研究机构Current Analysis的分析师格林戈特(Avi Greengart)说,事实上,亚马逊有大量电影和电子书能向消费者出售。很多竞争对手的产品尽管价格更贵,却不一定有这样的优势。格林戈特补充说,亚马逊基本上就是在卖一台"自动售货机"。他们的商业模式是:在你买了Kindle之后,再继续向你销售内容。



SHARA TIBKEN