iPad登台亮相，蓄势待发

GIVEN all the hype ahead of the arrival of Apple’s new tablet computer, the debut on April 3rd of the iPad in America was perhaps inevitably going to feel like something of an anti-climax. There were long lines at the company’s stores before daybreak and, as the doors opened, would-be buyers were met with rapturous applause from Apple staff. But many reports suggested that by mid-morning the fervour had died down in most places. At the Apple store in San Francisco late on Saturday afternoon, it almost felt like any other shopping day—except, that is, for the small scrum that had formed around the table where iPads were being tested. The company later said it had sold over 300,000 on the first day, around the middle of the range of analysts" expectations.
苹果新款平板电脑iPad面世前，宣传铺天盖地，考虑到这点， 它4月3日在美国的上市，或许就不免让人觉得有些虎头蛇尾了。拂晓前，苹果商店外人群大排长龙，店门一开，这些潜在买家就获得了苹果公司员工雷鸣般的掌声。不过许多报告表明，上午10点左右，大多数地方人们的热情便已消退。周六下午晚些时候，旧金山的苹果商店感觉上几乎与其他任何购物日一般无二，除此之外，换言之，围绕着苹果商店体验桌上、玩家们正体验与试用的iPad，人们展开了小规模争夺。苹果公司后来宣布iPad首日销量超过30万台，大约只有分析家预测幅度的一半。

The devices on sale this week are WiFi-only iPads; many people will be waiting for the mobile-wireless ones that are due to go on sale in late April. Moreover, customers were able to order iPads online from mid-March for home delivery beginning April 3rd, which meant they didn’t need to traipse to a store. And Apple agreed to let Best Buy, a big electronics retailer, offer iPads on the same day as its own stores, which siphoned off some traffic from Apple’s outlets. Your correspondent was able to pick up his own iPad from a Best Buy store mid-morning without even having to queue for it.
本周销售的iPad只有WiFi功能；而具备移动无线功能的机子由于4月底才公开发售，许多人正翘首以待。此外，由于4月3日开始送货上门，消费者从3月中旬起就能在网上订购iPad，这意味着他们无需去商店购买。而且，苹果公司同意让大型电子产品零售商百思买（Best Buy）于同日，在自家卖场供应iPad，这也分流了苹果商店的一些销量。本刊记者甚至无需排队，一早就在百思买拿到了自己的iPad。

Several of the folk at that store with iPads under their arms seemed to be Apple aficionados already. Aimee Levine, a self-confessed “gadget girl” who already owns an iPhone and iPod music player, said one of the main reasons for buying an iPad was that she planned to take out electronic subscriptions to her favourite newspapers and magazines on it, and to do away with the printed ones. Jeremy Moore, another customer, said he was keen to get his hands on something that had the potential to reshape computing. “If it makes me feel like I’m in the future I’ll buy it.”
在百思买店铺，几个人手拿iPad，貌似早就是苹果迷了。艾梅•莱温，自认是“战机少女（gadget girl）”，已有一部iPhone和一部iPod音乐播放器在手，她说购买iPad的其中一个主要原因是，打算在iPad上订阅自己喜欢的报刊杂志电子版，而放弃印刷版。另一个消费者杰里米•穆尔，则称他热衷把玩任何可能改变电脑模式的玩意。他说，“假如某样东西让我有身处未来之感，我就会买它。”

Consumers may buy a tablet as a “third device”, between mobile phones and personal computers
平板电脑作为介于移动电话与个人电脑之间的“第三装置”，消费者也许会购买

Apple will be hoping that when customers try the iPad it really does feel like a quantum leap in personal computing. Your correspondent has only had a few hours to play with the new device, but his initial impressions are that Apple’s gizmo will help to convince people everywhere that there is indeed a place for tablet computers in their future as a “third device” that sits between mobile phones and personal computers.
苹果希望，消费者在试用iPad时，会感觉它用起来确实就像个人电脑上的一个巨大突破。这款新装置本刊记者只玩了几个小时，不过，他对苹果发明的第一印象，将帮助世界各地的人们确信，作为介于手机与个人电脑之间的“第三装置”，平板电脑未来定会占据一席之地。

Among other things, the new iPad boasts a beautiful touchscreen that portrays images in deep, rich colours; simple controls that make it very easy to navigate around the device; and a specially designed chip that means most programs run at lightning speeds. Games such as Flight Control and videos from YouTube ran smoothly, and the quality of the sound produced by the iPad’s speakers was impressive. Although the on-screen keyboard isn’t ideal for extended typing—which explains why Apple is offering a plug-in version—it was perfectly adequate for dashing off emails and Facebook posts.
相比其他装置，新面市的iPad自诩触摸屏美妙无比，图片描绘色彩深沉丰富，操控简单，易于浏览；而一个特别设计的芯片意味着，大部分程序运行速度极快。“飞行控制”之类的游戏与YouTube视频运行流畅，而iPad扬声器产生的声音令人印象深刻。虽然屏幕扩展键盘打字并不理想——这是苹果何以提供一个插件程序的原因——该插件完全支持飞速撰写电邮并在“脸谱”网站快速发布帖子。

Tablets and e-readers will mean big disruption for the publishing business
平板电脑与电子阅读器意味着，出版业将天下大乱更多信息请访问：http://www.24en.com/

Then there is the iBooks app, which lets users download texts from Apple’s iBookstore. These look amazing on screen and, together with the slick page-turning capabilities of the iPad, they suggest that the days of the single-purpose, black and white e-reader such as Amazon’s Kindle are numbered. Quite how long it takes for publishers to adapt to this new regime remains unclear, but both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal had apps available on the day that the new device appeared.
还有iBooks应用，可让用户从苹果的iBookstore电子书下载商店里下载文本。这些文本在屏幕上看起来棒极了，外加iPad灵巧的翻页功能，这些都表明，诸如亚马逊Kindle之类、功能单一且仅有黑白两色的电子书，已时日无多。出版商要多长时间才能适应这一新机制，尚不得而知，不过，在这款新装置面世的那一天，《纽约时报》与《华尔街日报》就已有iPad程序可用。

Much will depend not just on the iPad itself, but also on the way in which Apple develops a new “ecosystem” around it so that the company’s hardware is complemented by enough fancy software to make buying a package of both a compelling one. Many iPhone apps have already been revised to fit a bigger screen and others are being developed to take advantage of it. What seems certain, as we have reported, is that for good or ill, tablets will bring big disruption to the publishing business.
这在很大程度上取决于iPad自身，此外也取决于苹果围绕其开发的一个新的“生态系统”，该系统能让iPad上运行的软件花样繁多，源源不断，从而使苹果公司的这款硬件与软件两者打包销售必不可少。iPhone上的许多应用程序已作了修改，好适用于大点的屏幕，而为了利用大屏幕优势，其他应用程序也正在开发。正如我们已报道的，无论平板电脑是好是坏，有一点确凿无疑，那就是它将会造成出版业天下大乱。