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Samsung has made a lot of money selling smartphones based on Google’s Android operating system. So why is Samsung trying again (and again, and again) to build out a competing operating system?
三星（Samsung）依赖谷歌（Google）的安卓操作系统已经赚了很多钱。那么三星为什么还要反复尝试构建自己的操作系统呢？
Android, which is open source, is free for Samsung to install on its Galaxy phones, Note mini-tablets, and other connected devices. It allows Samsung to outsource to Google the concerns of planning of future features, locking down security, and maintaining a marketplace, the Play Store, with more than 1.5 million apps. Best of all, it actually earns Samsung a cut of Google’s mobile advertising revenue.
三星可以免费在其Galaxy系列手机、Note系列平板和其它相关设备上安装安卓的开源系统。三星相当于把规划未来功能、确保系统安全和维护应用市场（谷歌的官方应用市场Play Store已经拥有150多万款应用）的任务都丢给了谷歌。最妙的是，三星还能从谷歌的移动广告收入中分一杯羹。
So why would Samsung bother with its own operating system? Because it can.
那么三星为什么还要大费周章去构建自己的操作系统呢？因为它能做到。
Samsung has tried many times to launch a phone running Tizen, an open-source operating system it is co-developing with Intel. It has made many promises along the way, such as using the OS for its high-end flagship devices. This week, it revealed that it would instead chase low-end devices in emerging markets such as India—an acknowledgement that, despite its efforts, Tizen lacks traction. (Neither Samsung nor Google responded to requests for comment.)
三星已经多次尝试发布运行Tizen系统的手机了，Tizen是三星与英特尔（Intel）共同开发的系统。三星在这个过程中也做过不少承诺，如许诺在它的高端旗舰机型上使用Tizen系统等等。不过就在上周，三星发布了一款旨在进军印度等新兴市场的低端Tizen手机——这相当于承认尽管付出了不少努力，但是Tizen还是缺乏吸引力。（三星和谷歌都没有就此给出评论。）
The technology community has long questioned the merits of the Tizen project. On one hand, the mobile devices market is largely dominated by Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android, with Microsoft’s Windows Phone and the BlackBerry OS trailing far behind. A strong third player would heighten competition and spur further innovation, and Samsung—a massively successful manufacturer of devices around the globe—is best positioned to be it.
科技界早就在质疑Tizen项目的魅力。一方面，移动设备市场很大程度上是由苹果的iOS和谷歌的安卓主宰，微软（Microsoft）的Windows Phone和黑莓（Blackberry）的BlackBerry OS只能远远落在后面亦步亦趋。如果有一个强势的老三，必将提高市场竞争程度，激励进一步的创新。而三星作为在全球范围内大获成功的设备厂商，可以说是一个最合适的人选。
“If anyone can succeed at building that third ecosystem, it’s Samsung,” said Jeff Orr, senior practice director for mobile devices, content, and applications at ABI Research. “They make their own CPUs, modems, displays, software . . . it makes sense they would have a strategy to move away from Google, rather than locking themselves into something outside their own control.”
ABI研究公司移动设备、内容与应用高级业务总监杰夫o奥尔指出：“如果说有人能成功构建第三大生态系统，那一定是三星。他们能生产自己的CPU、调制解调器、显示器、软件……因此他们摆脱谷歌也是说得通的，而不是继续把自己拴在自己无法控制的东西上。”
On the other hand, previous operating systems (such as the ill-fated Palm OS) failed to disrupt an apparent duopoly. Less than five percent of smartphones around the world use operating systems that aren’t Android or iOS, according to estimates by IDC, the market research firm. Does the Korean electronics giant really think there’s room for one more?
另一方面，之前一些昙花一现的操作系统（如命运多舛的Palm OS）也没能打破iOS和安卓的双头垄断。据市调机构IDC估算，全球使用iOS和安卓以外的其它操作系统的设备还不足5%。那么作为韩国电子巨头的三星，真的认为市场上还有足够的空间再容纳新的系统吗？
Consider the plight of Windows Phone. Microsoft MSFT -1.48% , no mom-and-pop shop, has just 3 percent of the U.S. market and even less share globally. Or perhaps consider the mobile OS remainders bin: Palm, HP (after buying Palm), Nokia, BlackBerry, and a handful of others.
大家可以思考一下Windows Phone的困境。微软的规模也不小了，但是它的WP系统只占据了美国的市场的3%，在全球市场上的占有率甚至还低于这个数。其它移动操作系统商的命运也都大同小异，比如Pam、收购Palm后的惠普（HP）、诺基亚（Nokia）、黑莓还有少数其他几家。
So hitching oneself to Android seems sensible. Yet while Google’s operating system is free, it is far from without constraints. For Google’s own apps and its Play Store to come pre-installed on a phone, companies like Samsung must sign “Mobile Application Distribution Agreements” that dictate requirements that Google GOOG 0.50% has for every Android phone and tablet that ships from its partners.
因此，搭安卓的便车似乎是一种合理的做法。不过尽管谷歌的操作系统是免费的，但是它并非没有限制。比如谷歌自家的应用和它的Play Store必须要预装在手机里；像三星这样的厂家必须与谷歌签订“移动应用分销协议”，在协议中，谷歌对其合作伙伴生产的每一部安卓手机都有明确的要求。
Among them:
其中包括：
o Google will be the only search engine used on the device at all “access points” unless the owners themselves download alternatives.
o 谷歌将是设备上所有“连接点”的唯一搜索引擎，除非用户自己下载了其它替代应用。
o Google’s search bar will be at the top of the foremost home screen on the phone or tablet.
o 谷歌的搜索栏要被放置在手机或平板电脑主页的最顶端。
o A folder labeled “Google” containing a large number of Google’s apps and prominent placement of certain apps such as Gmail.
o 必须有一个名叫“谷歌”的文件夹，里面包含大量谷歌的应用，比如Gmail等常用应用。
Those agreements, according to a September report from The Information, are intended to enforce “consistency in the software experience by device makers.” Even before the newer agreements, there have been “frequent fights about” modifications, “particularly between Google and Samsung,” according to The Information.
据科技网站The Information今年9月的一篇报导，这些协议旨在推动“设备制造商提供一致的软件体验”。就在最新的协议出台之前，谷歌和厂商就经常因为个别条款发生“经常争吵”，“特别是在谷歌与三星之间。”
Other companies have grabbed Android’s open-source bits while avoiding Google’s demands. Among them: Amazon (for its Kindle Fire tablets and Fire phone) and the Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. Both technology companies offer versions of Android that look and feel different from Google’s unadulterated version, yet are close enough at their core that developers can easily convert their apps for use in the Amazon Appstore or Xiaomi’sMiMarket. In China, Xiaomi recently overtook Samsung by claiming 16 percent of the country’s smartphone market. In the U.S., Amazon’s Fire phone flopped.
其它厂商在抓住安卓开源的好处的同时，也避开了谷歌的要求。比如亚马逊（特别是它的Kindle Fire平板电脑和Fire手机）和中国的小米（Xiaomi）。这两家公司都提供的是安卓的变种系统，感觉上和谷歌的“纯净版”安卓很不一样，不过开发者也可以很轻易地把他们的应用简单修改后放到亚马逊Appstore或小米商城里。在中国，小米最近宣称已经击败了三星，占领了中国智能手机市场16%的份额。而在美国，亚马逊的Fire手机则失败了。
So far, Samsung has succeeded in differentiating its Galaxy phones, Note tablets, and other products from Android-based competitors. Daniel Gleeson, senior analyst with IHS Technology, believes Google’s bundling is not really harming Samsung. “Google is simply better than Samsung at building those apps, and of course they are apps that are widely known and loved by consumers. Samsung’s strength is in its hardware engineering, not its software,” Gleeson said.
到目前为止，三星在Galaxy手机、Note平板和其它相关产品的差异化上做得很成功。IHS Technology公司的高级分析师丹尼尔o格里森认为，谷歌的“捆绑销售”并不会影响到三星。他表示：“谷歌比三星更擅长构建应用程序，另外谷歌的应用也很有名，并且深受消费者的喜爱。三星的优势是在硬件工艺，而不是软件。”
At the same time, Samsung has been pushing Tizen for use in other types of electronic devices such as cameras, watches, and refrigerators. The corporate market is also an option, says ABI Research’s Orr. Samsung has already made steps into enterprise security with its Knox and SAFE programs; it could conceivably work its way into the workplace where support for popular consumer apps is less of a concern and customization of the operating system is more highly valued.
与此同时，三星也在推动Tizen系统在相机、手表和冰箱等其它电子产品上的用。ABI研究公司的奥尔表示，企业市场也是一个可能的选项。三星已经通过Knox和SAFE项目在企业安全性方面有所建树。它完全可能继续深耕企业市场，因为这个市场并不在乎有多少流行应用，而操作系统的定制性却具有更高的价值。
“For Samsung to boost development (it must) take Tizen to new devices, and hopefully own that space,” IHS Technology’s Gleeson said. “Samsung will need to provide some compelling use cases where Tizen can out-perform Android.”
IHS Technology的格里森表示：“三星要想推动Tizen的发展，必须把它带到新的设备上，并且占据住那个领域。三星必须展示一些有吸引力的使用案例，证明Tizen在某方面的表现要强于安卓。
The clock is ticking. Samsung announced its lowest third-quarter operating profit in three years on Oct. 6, citing flagging sales of its top-end Galaxy phones, heavy marketing and price-cutting to fight the drop, and decreased component orders all around. What’s more, those results came before Apple AAPL 0.14% launched its iPhone 6 and 6 Plus phones, which carry larger screens that were once Samsung’s sole purview and sold in record numbers.
时间在一分一秒地流逝。10月6日，三星宣布了三年以来最低的第三季度营业利润，其高端Galaxy系列手机的销量疲软、为了应对销量下降而花费的沉重营销费用和降价成本、零部件订单的下降都是导致利润降低的原因。雪上加霜的是，这些消息的宣布还是在苹果推出iPhone 6和6 plus之前。而iPhone 6和6 plus引以为傲的大屏，一度正是三星以前创下销量纪录的独家法宝。
