At last, a new operating system. And a new name too
最终，一个新的操作系统。而且名字也是新的。
Feb 2nd 2013 |From the print edition
STEP forward, CrackBerry Kevin. Many months ago Kevin Michaluk vowed not to cut his hair until BlackBerry 10, the smartphone’s long-delayed new operating system, was launched. In New York on January 30th Mr Michaluk, who runs CrackBerry.com, a website devoted to the device, submitted himself to the scissors. He had had time to grow a handsome ponytail. Research In Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that makes the BlackBerry, also adopted a new style, renaming itself: BlackBerry. Why bother? Perhaps because only pedants ever called it RIM.
凯文在“黑莓爱好者网”表示上又向前迈出了一步。数月之前，凯文•麦考鲁克发誓说什么时候拖延已久的新操作系统黑莓10研发出来，自己什么时候再去剪发。1月30日，经营着以发布新产品为主的“黑莓爱好者网站”的麦考鲁克终于把自己交给了理发师。他过去有时间给自己留一个潇洒的马尾辫。加拿大移动研究公司（RIM）生产黑莓的同时也采取了新的策略：正式更名为黑莓。为什么要多此一举？可能是因为只有书呆子才会称他们RIM。
To complete its makeover RIM—sorry, BlackBerry—unveiled a new “global creative director”, Alicia Keys, a singer and songwriter whose talents it hopes will tune up the brand. More substantively, it also showed off two phones, the Z10, with a full touchscreen, and the Q10, with a physical keyboard. The Z10 went on sale in Britain on January 31st. Many of BlackBerry’s bosses, including Thorsten Heins, the chief executive, and the chief marketing and operating officers, are new too, having been in their jobs for a year or less. They are bursting with conviction that BlackBerry 10 will revive the company’s fortunes.
为了完成RIM的改头换面，哦，不好意思，是黑莓的改头换面，公司公开了一位新的“全球创意总监”艾丽西亚•凯斯，希望借这样一位创作型歌手的聪明才智使品牌格调上扬。其实公司主要还是要炫耀两款新手机：全触屏Z10和依旧是传统的全键盘Q10。1月31日，Z10已经在英国出售。黑莓大多数老板们，包括总裁索斯滕•海因斯和首席营销与操作官，都是刚刚走马上任，工作了一年或者一年以下。他们信心十足并且渴望黑莓10能够重新焕发公司生机，带来财富。
Once the BlackBerry was the smartphone of choice for everyone from Barack Obama to corporate road-warriors. Granted, in some places, such as Indonesia and Venezuela, and for some British teenagers, it still is. Chief information officers wary of staff using their own phones for work still swear by it. So do those who find typing on touchscreens infuriating. A BlackBerry’s keys are more forgiving of clumsy thumbs.
黑莓智能机曾经是上至美国总统奥巴马下至公司道路修筑工人的选择。当然在一些地区，例如印度尼西亚、委内瑞拉还有对于一些英国的年轻人，黑莓仍是首选。首席信息官们担心员工工作期间使用黑莓的同时，自己对黑莓也是爱不释手。更别说那些对于全屏触摸输入极为不习惯的人。黑莓手机的全键盘更多的照顾了笨拙的大拇指。
But the BlackBerry has been pulped by Apple’s iPhones and by Android smartphones. In the 12 weeks to December 23rd only 4% of smartphones sold in Europe’s five biggest markets were BlackBerrys, estimates Kantar Worldpanel, a market-research firm. In America the BlackBerry’s share was an even feebler 1.1% (see chart). Lately the company has been operating at a loss. Although its share price has more than doubled since September, it is still only a quarter of what it was two years ago. It slid by more than 10% on the day of the launch.
不过黑莓手机在市场上已经被苹果的iPhones和安卓智能机挤压的溃不成军。据市场研究公司Kantar Worldpanel估计截止到12月23日的前12周里，欧洲五大市场黑莓手机占有率只有4%。美国市场黑莓市场份额更加无力，只有1.1%（见图表）。近来公司一直在亏损的状态下运营。尽管自9月以来公司股价增长两倍有余，但是也仅仅相当于两年前一个季度的水平。发布会当天，公司股价已经下滑超过了10%。
In many ways the new BlackBerrys are ingenious. You can, for example, see and deal with messages, tweets and so forth in a central “hub” without needing to switch applications. The Z10’s touch keyboard learns which words you are likeliest to type, so you can enter them by a flick of the thumb without having to finish. It also adjusts itself to habitual typos.
新黑莓手机在许多方面还是与众不同的。比如，你可以在hub中心里看信息、发邮件、发推特以及其他功能，并不需要更换应用。Z10全键盘可以识别用户可能会按哪些键，从而我们只需用拇指轻点不需要完完整整的输入就可以达到目的。当然它自己还会调整适应习惯性错别字。
BlackBerry is also aiming at the corporate market in which it first made its name. BlackBerry 10 phones allow the strict separation of applications and content for personal life and work, which may attract companies that do not yet let staff use their own devices. For the many that already do, the latest version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which supports corporate smartphones, is being opened to iPhones and Android devices too.
黑莓同样瞄准自己发迹的地方——公司这样的市场。黑莓10将应用程序严格划分开来以满足个人生活和工作的不同需求，这也就意味着会吸引那些不允许员工上班使用手机的公司。许多公司已经开始使用此操作系统，支持公司智能机最新版本的黑莓企业服务器也向iPhone和安卓手机开放。
Mobile carriers are desperate to see a third operating system take on iOS, which sits in iPhones, and Android. They have welcomed BlackBerry 10’s belated arrival wholeheartedly. Alas, technical brilliance and the cheers of carriers are no guarantee of success.
现在不是苹果IOS系统就是安卓系统，移动运营商急切想看到第三方操作系统与之抗衡。运营商对于迟来的黑莓10仍是满心欢喜的表示欢迎。唉，技术上光彩夺目、运营商高声喝彩并不是成功的保证。
Android and iOS are well entrenched. Because the leaders have such a huge market share, developers may prefer to create and update apps for them first, and wait to see whether people buy the phones that run on other systems. And people will be less likely to buy them without the latest versions of their favourite apps. BlackBerry has thought of this: it says it has made it easy to code or adapt apps for BlackBerry 10. It boasts 70,000 apps already and more are promised. Even so, this may not be enough to pull custom away from Apple and Android.
安卓和IOS系统已经深入民心。因为两大领军系统拥有巨大的市场份额，程序开发员可能就更倾向于首先开发或更像适用它们的程序。之后对于人们是否会买其他操作系统的手机，则静观其变。如果没有自己钟爱最新应用的版本，人们可能并不会去购买新操作系统的手机。黑莓也考虑到这一点：公司表示无论是编码还是适应程序，对于黑莓10而言都不会显的复杂。公司自称已经上架7万个应用程序，而且承诺还会增加。即使这样，想要动摇苹果和安卓的“文化习俗地位”，火候依然不足。
BlackBerry 10 is not the only pretender to the number-three slot. The smartphone version of Microsoft’s Windows 8 beat it to market by a few months. Mozilla, a non-profit organisation best known for its Firefox browser, is working on a mobile operating system, with the backing of some carriers. At least BlackBerry has 80m users, many of whom will be keen to give the new version a try. CrackBerry Kevin has waited long enough.
黑莓10并不是第一个想要以“第三方夹缝中求生存”的身份来觊觎宝座的系统。微软推出的Windows 8智能机系统几个月前就敲山震虎般的影响了智能机系统市场。Mozilla，以其火狐浏览器著称非盈利组织，正在开发新的移动手机操作系统，并且拥有一些移动运营商的支持。至少，黑莓有8000万用户，而且其中大多数人愿意尝试新版本。凯文在CrackBerry 等这样一天已经很久了。
