苹果高管暗示将进军电动汽车领域

After turning music players, telephones and watchesinto portable computers, Apple is now eyeing theautomobile as the “ultimate mobile device.

在把音乐播放器、手机和手表变成便携式电脑之后，苹果(Apple)目前把汽车视为“终极移动设备。

Jeff Williams, Apple’s senior vice-president ofoperations, dropped the biggest hint yet about theiPhone maker’s ambitions to transform theautomotive industry during an onstage interviewon Wednesday.

周三，苹果运营高级副总裁杰夫•威廉斯(Jeff Williams)在台上接受采访时，给出了这家iPhone制造商改造汽车业抱负的最明确暗示。

“The car is the ultimate mobile device, isn’t it? Mr Williams said at the Code conference. “Weexplore all kinds of categories.

“汽车是终极的移动设备，不是吗?威廉斯在全球开发者大会上表示。“我们对所有领域开展探索。

Mr Williams made the remark in response to a question from the audience about how Appleplans to deploy its huge cash pile, which is approaching $200bn.

在观众提问苹果将如何使用公司的巨额现金储备时，威廉斯给出了上述回答。苹果目前的现金储备已接近2000亿美元。

He clarified that Apple already offers CarPlay, an infotainment system that shows content from adriver’s iPhone in the dashboard. Carmakers including General Motors, Ford and Hyundai havesaid they plan to build CarPlay into their cars over the next year.

他解释称，苹果已推出了CarPlay，这是一款信息娱乐系统，通过驾驶员放在仪表盘上的iPhone显示内容。通用汽车(General Motors)、福特(Ford)和现代(Hyundai)等车企都表示，他们打算明年在自家的车辆上搭载CarPlay。

But Mr Williams’ comment follows reports in the Financial Times and elsewhere that Apple has asecret team of automotive engineers and designers working towards an electric vehicle.

但是，威廉斯在发表上述言论之前，英国《金融时报》等媒体已报道称，苹果拥有一个秘密的汽车工程师与设计师团队，正在研制电动汽车。

Neither Mr Williams nor his colleagues at Apple have commented on those reports directly buthis allusion follows a familiar pattern of its executives’ hints about future products, from itssmartwatch to television.

威廉斯和他的苹果同事都没有直接置评该报道，但他的暗示跟以往苹果高管对未来产品的暗示如出一辙，从智能手表到电视项目公布之前均有此类暗示。