科技前沿:Droid:iPhone真正的竞争对手

【英文原文】

The Droid: Serious iPhone competition

Just in time to rain on Apple's (AAPL) 2009 earnings report, a prime-time TV ad and a series of well-timed leaks have put the spotlight on Motorola's (MOT) Droid — a yet-unreleased smartphone that is being described by sources who have played with a prototype as the iPhone's first serious competitor.

The ad, which premiered Saturday during the Yankees-Angels pennant game, is pasted below the fold. The challenge to Apple couldn't be less subtle; it's a series of "iDon't" screens listing key features the iPhone doesn't have — from a physical keyboard to interchangeable batteries — that the Droid does.

The leaks are being funneled primarily through the Boy Genius Report, a blog with unusually good sources in the telecommunications industry. On Friday the site published an illustrated walk-through of Google's (GOOG) Android 2.0 — the new and reportedly much improved version of the open-source operating system that powers the Droid. Then, overnight Monday, Boy Genius posted a hands-on review — complete with photo gallery — that describes it as "the Android device to beat, and easily the most impressive."

"From what we’ve been told," BGR writes, "Google had a direct hand in the Motorola Droid. Something to the point of almost dictating every move Motorola made when designing and making the phone."

The Droid is still vaporware; no release date has been set, although Verizon (VZ) said two weeks ago that it would release two Android phones before the end of the year, and the cryptic clock on a new Verizon/Motorola Droid promotional site has been decoded and appears to be counting down to Oct. 30.

Verizon, meanwhile, seems to be playing both sides of the latest smartphone war. Several blogs reported over the weekend that Apple has begun testing the iPhone on Verizon's so-called LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G network, scheduled for initial deployment this fall and broader rollout in 2010.

The same sources suggest that Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam, who is said to have flown to Mountain View, Calif., every other week in recent months for meetings with Google executives, may have also been making secret visits to Apple's Cupertino headquarters, less than 9 miles away.

【中文翻译】

一则黄金时段的电视广告和一连串时机正好的消息走漏使摩托罗拉（Motorola）的Droid——这款智能手机尚未发售，不过把玩过原型机的知情人士称它是iPhone首个真正的竞争对手——获得了公众注意，刚好抢走了苹果（Apple）2009年财务报告的风头。

那则广告在上周六洋基队（Yankees）对天使队（Angels）的锦标赛中初次播放。其中对苹果的挑战显露无遗；它是一系列"iDon't"屏幕，列举了Droid具备而iPhone不具备的关键功能——从物理键盘到可更换电池。

消息走漏主要是通过一个名为Boy Genius Report的博客，此博客在电信行业拥有极好的消息来源。上周五，该博客公布了关于谷歌（Google）Android 2.0——它是为Droid提供动力的开放源码操作系统新版本，据报道它较之前一版有很大改进——的演示图片。随后，在本周一晚上，Boy Genius发布了一篇实际操作的评论——带有图片展示——将其描述为“胜出的Android设备，而且很可能是最令人印象深刻的一款”。

BGR写道：“据我们了解，谷歌与摩托罗拉Droid有直接关系。差不多是指示了摩托罗拉在设计和制造该手机时的每一步”。

Droid仍然是雾件（vaporware）；尚未确定发布日期，不过Verizon于两周前表示将在年前发布两款Android手机，而且新的Verizon/摩托罗拉Droid推广网站上的秘密时钟被破译，它似乎正在倒数至10月30日。

与此同时，Verizon似乎正在最近的智能手机大战中两面讨好。上周末，有好几个博客报道苹果开始在Verizon所谓的长期演进（LTE, Long Term Evolution）4G网络上测试iPhone，该网络预定于今秋进行最初部署，并于2010年进行更广泛的首次展示。

同样是上面这些博客表示，Verizon Wireless首席执行官劳维尔迈克亚当（Lowell McAdam）——据说近几个月他每隔一周都会飞往加州山景城与谷歌的高管会面——可能也在秘密拜访不足9英里外的苹果库比提诺总部