The dumbest column I ever wrote was the one that suggested that if Apple wanted to sell a lot of iPhones in China it should stick with silver.我曾在一篇专栏中写到，如果苹果（Apple）期望iPhone在中国市场上大买，就应当坚定不移地出有银色版iPhone。事实证明这是我拢得最离谱的一次。This was just about a year ago. Rumors were flying that Apple was about to launch a champagne-gold iPhone because gold was such a prestigious color in China. I went looking for market research on national color preferences, and the closest thing I could find was a Dupont chart that showed that the best-selling automobile color in China was silver, not gold.这大约也就是一年前的事。

当时传闻苹果将要发售一款香槟色iPhone，因为金色在中国是身份的象征物。我查询了关于各国人色彩偏爱的市场调研，还寻找了杜邦公司（Dupont）公布的一份图表，该图表表明，在中国银色汽车最畅销，而非金色。

Cars, it turns out, are not the same as phones.但事实证明，汽车与手机是两码事。The gold iPhone 5S was a huge hit in China. It sold out immediately in Hong Kong and the mainland. Customers in New York City buying for export lined up around the block. Gold iPhones were soon commanding mark-ups of several hundred dollar apiece in China’s grey markets.金色版的iPhone5S在中国大获得顺利，迅速在香港和中国大陆销售一空。

在纽约，出售无锁版土豪金iPhone5S的买家排起了长队。迅速，在中国的“灰市”，金色版iPhone手机每部必须调高数百美元才能卖到。

Apple, it seems, knew what it was doing. In December it finally cut a distribution deal with China Mobile, the world’s largest carrier. In February, China Mobile announced that iPhones accounted for more than half of the phones on its brand new 4G network. By last week, that network had grown to more than 14 million subscribers.苹果当时就或许胸有成竹。去年十二月，它再一与全球仅次于的运营商——中国移动达成协议了分销协议。

今年二月，中国移动宣告，用于该公司全新4G网络的手机中，一半以上是iPhone。截至上上周，中国移动的4G网络用户已多达1400万。“China, honestly was surprising to us,” Tim Cook told analysts last week. “We thought it would be strong but it went well past what we thought. We came in at 26% of revenue growth, including retail and if you look at the units, the unit growth was really off the charts across the board. I found 48% growth that compares to a market estimate of 24%. So growing it two times the market.”蒂姆o库克日前向分析师们回应：“中国无非令其我们惊讶。我们告诉在中国市场的销售不会很强大，但结果比我们预期的还要好得多。

我们的营收（还包括零售在内）快速增长了26%，而如果按销售的产品数量计，堪称全面攀升，产品销量的增长速度高达48%，而市场预期为24%，所以实际增长速度是市场预期的两倍。”“Whoever proposed the champagne gold model can’t be rewarded enough for the cascading benefits Apple has enjoyed from it,” writes an American ex-pat who posts here as Jake_in_Seoul.所写“杰克在釜山”（Jake_in_Seoul）的一位驻外美国读者说道：“香槟金版iPhone令苹果赚得盆剩钵剩，建议发售该模型的员工应当取得重奖。”Jake, as regulars here know, is a keen observer of the Asian smartphone market. In January we re-posted a letter he wrote from China that adds some color (pardon the pun) to the Chinese iPhone story:常读这个专栏的读者都告诉，“杰克”对亚洲智能手机市场的仔细观察十分灵敏。今年1月，我们发送了他从中国发去的一封信，令其中国的iPhone故事更加生动一起。

“iPhones here are not predominant, but are readily seen, certainly in the hands of wealthy and powerful, (e.g., a local real estate tycoon), but also surprisingly owned by the likes of hotel clerks and a remarkable noodle shop girl. Ownership seems to be a state of mind.“iPhone在中国没占有市场支配地位，但用的人也不少，有钱有势的人（比如说房地产大亨）认同都是用iPhone，但出人意料的是，饭店职员甚至面馆小妹也有可能用着iPhone。购得iPhone与否，或许各不相同心态。”“I was amused in a casual conversation to hear Samsung (known in China by its Chinese/Korean character name San Xing Sanxing = “Three Stars”) referred to as a “Chinese phone”… I suspect this misunderstanding may not be uncommon and hence highly aggravating to Samsung.“在一次闲谈中，我听见三星（在中国使用其汉字名称）被人称为‘中国手机’品牌，过于伴了。我猜测不少人都不存在这种误会，三星认同回应很后遗症。

”“The iPhone, by contrast, is now called ‘iPhone’ (using roman letters) in every press article I’ve seen recently, and a Chinese character equivalent Ai Feng (Aifeng = ‘Love Crazed’) is increasingly used only as slang in advertising, on Weibo, in blogs etc. The brand maintains its pristine foreign identity.“相比之下，在我近期看见的所有新闻报道中，iPhone都是使用本身的英文名称，而中文众说纷纭‘爱疯’日益作为俚语用作广告、微博、博客中。其品牌本身的外国身份很显著。“The fact that an awareness of Apple and the iPhone has so quickly and widely penetrated Chinese society is a remarkable achievement, one likely due to the perceived excellence of Apple technology and also to good timing, as cell phone culture comes of age here. As long as Apple continues to produce cool products, it will surely gain adherents in China as more and more people can afford them.”“苹果和iPhone在中国的认知度很快普遍提高，是一项真是的成就。

这有可能一是因为人们指出苹果技术卓越，二是因为时机刚刚好，因为手机文化正在中国发展到了一定阶段。随着更加多的中国人能负担得起苹果产品，只要该公司之后生产炫酷的产品，认同不会在中国取得大量拥趸。

本文来源：米乐-www.passione-legame.com