华硕欲挑战苹果在平板市场的冠军地位

If Apple Inc. vs Samsung Electronics Co. is a battle of the titans, then here is a David and Goliath story.

如果苹果(Apple Inc.)与三星电子(Samsung Electronics Co.)之争是一场泰坦之战，那么下面我们要说的则是大卫和歌利亚的故事。

Taiwanese electronics maker Asustek Computer Inc. is trumpeting that it will be Apple's biggest challenger in combined tablet and notebook shipments by next year.

台湾电子产品制造商华硕电脑有限公司(Asustek Computer Inc.)正在鼓吹，到明年以平板电脑和笔记本电脑的出货量计算，华硕将成为苹果的最大挑战者。

That's right -- Asustek thinks it can beat out everyone else besides Apple.

是的，华硕认为自己可以击败除苹果以外的任何一个竞争对手。

Although it's the world's biggest motherboard maker and fifth-largest laptop maker by shipments, Asustek -- whose computers are sold under the 'Asus' brand -- is still unfamiliar to many Western consumers.

虽然按出货量计算华硕是全球最大的主板制造商和第五大笔记本电脑制造商，但对于很多西方消费者来说，华硕这个名字依然比较陌生。

But Asustek's thrown its hat in the ring this year with two aggressively priced products: the Nexus 7, a popular $199 seven-inch tablet it's selling in partnership with Google Inc., and the 11.6-inch Vivobook, currently the top-selling touch screen notebook on Best Buy Co.'s website at $499.99.

但华硕今年显然是做好了开战的准备，目前已经推出两款极具价格优势的产品：一是售价199美元且广受欢迎的七英寸平板电脑Nexus 7，华硕目前和谷歌(Google Inc.)合作销售这款产品；二是11.6英寸笔记本电脑Vivobook。这款笔记本电脑目前在百思买(Best Buy Co.)网站售价499.99美元，是该网站最畅销的触屏笔记本电脑。

While it's far from a sure bet that Asustek can vault past larger tablet competitors such as South Korea's Samsung -- currently the world's second biggest tablet maker by shipments -- analysts say its latest low-priced offerings at least gives it a seat at the big kids' table of the mobile computing realm.

虽然目前还很难说华硕一定能够超越韩国的三星电子等平板电脑市场更大的竞争对手（按出货量计算三星目前是全球第二大平板电脑厂商），但分析师说，华硕近期推出的低价产品至少能让它在重量级厂商占主导地位的移动计算领域占有一席之地。

Asustek has been trying to carve out a niche in tablet-notebook hybrid devices. It's also been targeting the U.S. market this year by, for instance, starting up a Twitter presence in May.

华硕一直试图打造一个平板-笔记本电脑融合产品的利基市常今年以来它也将目标瞄准了美国市场，比如今年5月它在推特(Twitter)上设立了产品页面。

Asustek Chief Financial Officer David Chang said Monday that the company expects to ship 12 million Android tablets in 2013, up 90.5% from 6.3 million in 2012. It expects combined Windows notebook and tablet shipments to grow 7.6% to 24 million units in 2013 from 22.3 million this year.

华硕首席财务长张伟明周一表示，该公司预计2013年安卓平板的出货量能够达到1,200万部，相比2012年的630万部增加90.5%。华硕预计Windows笔记本电脑和平板电脑的出货量在2013年能够增加7.6%，至2,400万部，高于今年2,230万部的水平。

Mr. Chang says he believes the popularity of seven-inch tablets can boost the company to second place in combined tablet and notebook shipments after Apple next year. The company's quarterly tablet shipments have tripled since the launch of the Nexus 7 in July.

张伟明说，在他看来，随着7英寸平板电脑的普及，按照平板电脑和笔记本电脑的出货量计算，到明年华硕的市场排名可以提升至第二位，仅次于苹果。自今年7月推出Nexus 7以来，该公司季度平板电脑出货量增加了两倍。

But analysts say silver medal is still a lofty goal for this little-known Taiwanese company, which takes its name from the hind half of Pegasus, the mythical winged horse. In the third quarter, Asustek ranked fourth among tablet makers with 8.6% of the market, behind Apple with 50.4%, Samsung with 18.4% and Amazon.com Inc. with 9.0%, according to market researcher IDC.

但分析师说，哪怕是“成为市场第二这一目标对华硕这家名不见经传的台湾企业来说也显得很高。华硕的英文名取自希腊神话中的飞马珀伽索斯(Pegasus)。市场研究机构国际数据公司(IDC)的数据表明，今年三季度华硕在平板电脑厂商中排名第四，其占据的市场份额为8.6%，排在苹果（50.4%）、三星（18.4%）和亚马逊(Amazon.com Inc.,9.0%)之后。