蘋果取消iPhone耳機插孔引爭議
For months, Apple watchers have been puzzling over how the company would sell consumers on the idea that scrapping the iPhone’s headphone jack was a benefit, not a nuisance.
好幾個月來，蘋果(Apple)觀察家對這樣一個問題感到困惑：該公司將如何說服消費者相信，取消iPhone的耳機插孔是功能升級，而不是一個惱人的問題。
Many pundits predicted a backlash against removing a technology that, however old, remained in faithful daily service to hundreds of millions of people.
許多評論人士預計，移除一項每日忠實服務於億萬人的技術（無論它怎麼陳舊）將招致反彈。
Few, however, predicted quite the kind of negative reaction that Apple provoked during Wednesday’s iPhone 7 launch event, with critics taking to Twitter en masse.
然而，很少有人預測到蘋果在週三iPhone 7發佈會上引發的那種負面反應，批評者紛紛在Twitter上吐槽。
To prepare its pitch, Apple had plenty of experience to draw on with when making this type of shift.
就準備說辭而言，蘋果在作出這種轉變時有足夠經驗可以借鑑。
In 2008, when Steve Jobs pulled the MacBook Air out of a brown paper envelope, it lacked the CD drive that was standard on other PCs, allowing the new notebook to be much thinner than its competitors.
2008年，當蘋果創始人史蒂夫•喬布斯(Steve Jobs)從一個牛皮紙信封取出MacBook Air時，人們發現這款全新設計的筆記本電腦沒有PC上都有的CD驅動器，這使它比競爭對手更薄。
Jobs predicted, accurately, that soon software and media would be delivered over the internet, rather than on discs.
喬布斯準確地預測，軟件和媒體很快會通過互聯網交付，而不是光盤。
We don’t think most users are going to miss the optical drive, he said. The MacBook Air was built to be a wireless machine.
我們不認爲大多數用戶會懷念光驅，他說，MacBook Air的設計宗旨就是一款無線機器。
The iPhone, just a year old at that point, was also built to be wireless.
那時剛滿週歲的iPhone也以無線爲設計宗旨。
But the 3.5mm wired headphone socket has endured thanks to its simplicity, reliability and universal compatibility.
但3.5毫米的耳機接口由於其簡潔性、可靠性和普遍兼容性而被保留了下來。
When Phil Schiller, Apple’s marketing chief, took tothe stage in San Francisco on Wednesday, he portrayed the port as a hangover from the 19th century that was standing in the way of 21st century progress.
當蘋果的營銷主管菲爾•席勒(Phil Schiller)週三走上舊金山的舞臺時，他把這種接口說成是19世紀遺留下來的產物，阻擋着21世紀的進步。
Our smartphones are packed with technologies and we all want more, which meant removing some components to make way for bigger batteries and faster processors, he said.
我們的智能手機擠滿了技術，大家都想要更多，他表示，這意味着移除一些組件，爲更大的電池和速度更快的處理器騰出空間。
The reason to move on comes down to one word: courage — the courage to move on, do something new that betters all of us.
翻開新一頁的原因歸結爲一個詞：勇氣——翻開新一頁的勇氣，做讓我們所有人過得更好的新產品。
And our team has tremendous courage.
而我們的團隊有巨大勇氣。
If Mr Schiller was trying to head off a backlash, his speech may have backfired.
如果說席勒在試圖預防反彈，那麼他的話可能起到了反作用。
Faced with what many decried as another example of Apple hubris, social networks lit up in a mix of bewilderment, outrage and parody.
面對許多人所譴責的蘋果傲慢的又一個例證，社交網絡迸發出大量交織着困惑、憤怒和搞笑的言論。
Removing a headphone jack doesn’t take courage.
取消一個耳機插孔並不需要勇氣。
But charging $159 for AirPods does, tweeted Dave Pell, an investor and iOS app developer, referring to the pricey new wireless headphones that Apple launched alongside the iPhone 7.
但對AirPods開出159美元的售價確實需要勇氣，投資者和iOS應用開發者戴夫•佩爾(Dave Pell)在Twitter上發帖稱。他指的是蘋果與iPhone 7同時發佈的昂貴的新款無線耳機。
Mike Monteiro, creative director at San Francisco studio Mule Design, posted advert-like images of historical figures such as Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks and Anne Frank with AirPods Photoshopped into their ears, each bearing the caption Courage.
舊金山工作室騾子設計(Mule Design)的創意總監邁克•蒙蒂羅(Mike Monteiro)貼出歷史人物——如聖雄甘地(Mahatma Gandhi)、羅莎•帕克斯(Rosa Parks)和安妮•弗蘭克(Anne Frank)——的廣告形象，用Photoshop把AirPods塞進他們的耳朵，每幅畫面的說明文字都是勇氣。
Behind the ridicule was the feeling that even if its headphones really do sound better than others’, Apple’s motivations were primarily commercial.
這種調侃背後的感覺是，即使蘋果的耳機音質確實更好，該公司的主要動機也是商業性的。
These moves represent Apple’s desire to bolster declining mobile device revenues by capturing as much of its device owners’ expenditures in the burgeoning growing audio accessories market as possible, says Paul Erickson, analyst at IHS Technology, a research group.
這些舉動反映出蘋果渴望提振不斷下降的移動設備營收，儘可能多地捕捉到其設備所有者在方興未艾的音頻配件市場的消費，研究機構IHS Technology分析師保羅•埃裏克森(Paul Erickson)表示。
It should be noted that wireless models are the highest revenue-generating products within the headphone market.
應該指出的是，無線型號是耳機市場中創收最高的產品。
Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS Insight, predicts the move to wireless audio ultimately will be seen as a masterstroke, thanks to the benefits to both users and Apple’s own accessories sales.
CCS Insight的分析師傑夫•布拉波(Geoff Blaber)預計，改用無線音頻最終將被視爲一個神來之筆，對用戶、對蘋果自己的配件銷售都有好處。
Most customers’ immediate concerns will be salved by the inclusion of new earbuds that work with the iPhone’s remaining Lightning port, as well as an adaptor for traditional headphones, he says.
他表示，蘋果顧及了多數顧客眼下的擔憂，包括了可插入iPhone尚存的Lightning端口的新款耳機，還有一個可連接傳統耳機的適配器。
