與蘋果逐鹿天下,三星苦於沒有自研軟件
Samsung Electronics Co. is stepping up its hunt for acquisitions and building out its presence in Silicon Valley to try and overcome its key weakness: software.
三星電子公司(Samsung Electronics Co.)正加快尋求收購機會，並採取措施擴大其在硅谷的影響力，以嘗試克服其主要弱點：軟件。The South Korea-based company became the world's largest maker of smartphones by manufacturing attractive devices that hit the market quickly and cheaply.
這家韓國企業生產的電子產品上市速度快且價格低廉，對消費者極具吸引力，使其成爲了世界最大的智能手機制造商。But to thrive in a mobile-device market increasingly dominated by software specialists like Apple Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., which acquired Nokia Corp.'s phone business last month, Samsung is aiming to become a software power in its own right.
但爲了在日益被蘋果(Apple Inc.)、谷歌(Google Inc.)和微軟(Microsoft Corp.)等精通軟件的廠商主導的移動設備市場取得蓬勃發展，三星打算憑己之力成爲軟件巨擘。微軟在上個月剛剛收購了諾基亞(Nokia Corp.)的手機業務。
Earlier this year, Samsung was among the bidders for Israeli mobile-mapping service Waze Ltd., according to people familiar with the matter. Google eventually bought Waze for about $1.1 billion in July, a deal that is under review by the Federal Trade Commission. According to one person, Samsung had approached Waze in hopes of making a large investment and forming a partnership, before acquisition talks kicked off.
知情人士表示，今年早些時候，三星參與了以色列手機地圖服務公司Waze Ltd.的收購競價。7月份，谷歌最終以約110億美元的價格收購Waze，目前該交易正在接受美國聯邦貿易委員會(Federal Trade Commission)的審查。據一位知情人士稱，在收購談判開始前，三星曾與Waze有過接洽，希望進行大筆投資並建立合作關係。Samsung has plenty of other Silicon Valley software startups in its sights, particularly in games, mobile search, social media and mapping-related services, according to employees and an internal document reviewed by the Journal.
從三星員工提供的信息及《華爾街日報》審閱過的一份內部文件來看，三星已經準備在硅谷收購大量軟件初創企業，尤其是遊戲、手機搜索、社交媒體和地圖相關服務方面的企業。The document, a mergers and acquisitions presentation prepared in February by Samsung's Media Solution Center, the arm that works on software initiatives, lays out the company's rationale for bulking up in each category and lists potential acquisition and investment targets.
這份文件是三星公司負責軟件方面行動的媒體解決方案中心(Media Solutions Center)今年2月準備的一份有關兼併收購的演示報告，其中闡述了公司在每個領域擴張的理由，並列出了潛在的收購和投資的目標。According to the document, Samsung has evaluated startups such as Unity Technologies, a San Francisco-based developer of gaming platforms, and Green Throttle Games Inc., a Santa Clara, Calif.-based company that makes game controllers and software that connects mobile devices to televisions. It has also considered gaming pioneer Atari Inc., which Samsung could have used to offer classic games like Asteroids and Pong exclusively on its mobile phones. Atari auctioned off some of its properties this year as part of a bankruptcy filing after rejecting preliminary bids from several companies for its portfolio of games.
這份文件顯示，三星對Unity Technologies和Green Throttle Games Inc.等初創企業進行了評估。前者是舊金山一家遊戲平臺開發商，後者是加州 克拉拉(Santa Clara)一家制造遊戲手柄和移動設備與電視連接軟件的公司。三星還考慮了遊戲行業的先鋒企業Atari Inc.，三星原本可以利用這家公司在手機上提供Asteroids和Pong等經典遊戲。Atari今年拒絕了數家公司對其遊戲組合產品的初步競價要約，後來按照破產申請的要求將其部分資產進行了拍賣。Samsung has also looked closely at Glympse, a Seattle-based company that allows users to share their location with their friends--a service that Samsung says could be integrated into their phones' native calendar and contacts functions, differentiating it from competitors.
三星還對西雅圖的Glympse予以了密切關注。這是一家爲用戶提供地理位置分享服務的公司，三星表示這項服務可以與手機自帶的日曆和聯繫人功能進行整合，從而在競爭對手中脫潁而出。Samsung first reached out to Glympse in early 2012, and has raised the prospect of an equity investment, though discussions remain ongoing, according to a person familiar with the matter. Last month, Glympse unveiled an app for Samsung's Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
據知情人士稱，三星最早於2012年初與Glympse接洽，並提出了股權投資的設想，但商討目前還在進行中。上個月，Glympse爲三星Galaxy Gear智能手錶推出了一款應用。Elsewhere in the document, Samsung named Tel Aviv-based mobile search engine as a possible target. It has also looked at video-chat app Rounds, another Israeli startup, that would help Samsung compete with Apple's FaceTime and Google's Hangouts.
在這份文件中，三星還將以色列特拉維夫的手機搜索引擎作爲潛在目標。此外還在考慮視頻聊天應用Rounds，開發這一應用的Rounds公司也是一家以色列的初創企業，這一應用將可以幫助三星與蘋果的FaceTime和谷歌的Hangouts競爭。Samsung declined to comment on its acquisition plans--but it has made no secret of what it calls its 'embracing the culture of Silicon Valley.'
三星拒絕就其收購計劃予以置評，但其所自稱的“對硅谷文化的歡迎”已經不是祕密。In recent months, the Suwon, South Korea-based company has broken ground on a major research facility near Apple's offices and launched a software startup accelerator with locations in Palo Alto, Calif., and Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood. It will make early-stage investments in startups, especially developers of software for Samsung devices.
近幾個月，總部位於韓國水原(Suwon)的三星公司開始在硅谷啓動離蘋果公司不遠的一處大型研發中心的建設，並開設了一個覆蓋加州帕洛阿爾託(Palo Alto)和曼哈頓切爾西(Chelsea)社區的軟件創業公司加速器。加速器將爲初創企業進行早期投資，特別是爲三星產品開發軟件的開發商。Samsung, which has $1.1 billion set aside for early-stage startup and venture capital investments in the U.S., is also poaching software engineers from its U.S. rivals and, at a hotel in San Francisco later this month, will host its first ever developers' conference, an important step toward creating an 'ecosystem' of applications unique to its devices.
三星撥出了11億美元用於在美國進行初創企業的早期投資及風險投資，同時也在挖美國競爭對手的軟件工程師。本月晚些時候三星將在舊金山一家酒店舉行有史以來的首次開發商大會，這是創建專爲三星產品量身打造的應用程序“生態環境”的重要一步。'The kind of things that happen in the Valley are really exciting to Samsung, ' said David Eun, the head of Samsung's Open Innovation Center, which operates the software-startup accelerator.
負責運作軟件創業公司加速器的三星開放創新中心(Open Innovation Center)的負責人大衛·尤恩(David Eun)說：“正在硅谷發生的事情對三星來說非常激動人心。”The aggressive move into its rivals' backyard is unusual for Samsung, a company that has historically kept its operations heavily centralized and shied away from outside deals. The emphasis on self-reliance runs so deep that Samsung manufactures some 90% of its products within its own factories.
積極闖入競爭對手後院的做法對三星來說是不同尋常的，因爲這是一個歷來高度集中管理且避開外部交易的公司。對自給自足的側重根深蒂固，因此三星約90%的產品都是在自己的工廠中生產。Privately, company executives portray the recent shift not as a repudiation of its long-term strategy, but rather as a complement to its own research and development efforts, which remain substantial.
私下裏，三星公司高管並不認爲最近的轉變是對其長期戰略的背離，而是與自身本已充實的研發努力相輔相成。The company spent $10.8 billion on R&D last year, with 67, 000 employees devoted to helping Samsung maintain its edge in the global television, semiconductor and home-appliance markets.
三星去年的研發開支爲108億美元，6.7萬名員工全力以赴助力三星保持在全球電視、半導體和家用電器市場的優勢。So far, though, its attempts at developing a proprietary-software hit for its mobile phones--which account for two-thirds of Samsung's operating profits--have fallen flat.
不過迄今爲止，爲三星手機開發熱門自有軟件的努力並未達到預期效果。手機業務佔三星營業利潤的三分之二。Among Samsung's recent efforts are an abandoned mobile operating system, a mobile chat service that has struggled to gain traction and coolly received technologies that anticipate hand gestures and eye movements.
在三星最近的努力中，有一款廢置的手機操作系統、一款難以獲得關注的移動聊天服務軟件，手勢和眼球操縱技術的市場反應也比較冷淡。In November 2009, Samsung launched Bada, an open-source mobile operating system that it hoped could challenge Google's Android platform. But Bada's unfriendly user interface and poor syncing with other devices proved unpopular with consumers.
2009年11月，三星推出了開源手機操作系統Bada，希望該系統可以與谷歌的安卓(Android)相較量。但由於用戶界面不友好，與其他設備的同步也很差，Bada並未受到消費者的歡迎。Earlier this year, Samsung pulled the plug on Bada, rolling those efforts into a new operating system known as Tizen. There too, Silicon Valley plays a key role: Samsung is codeveloping Tizen with Intel Corp. The company has yet to release a Tizen-powered smartphone.
今年早些時候，三星放棄了Bada，把精力投在了一款名叫Tizen的新型操作系統上。硅谷再次扮演了關鍵的角色：Tizen是三星與英特爾(Intel Corp.)合作開發的。三星目前尚未發佈Tizen操作系統的智能手機。If Samsung's new operating system catches on, it could relieve the company's reliance on Android, which powers the vast majority of Samsung's mobile devices, including its new smartwatch.
如果三星的新款操作系統受到歡迎，那麼就可以緩解公司對安卓的依賴。三星絕大多數手機都採用安卓系統，包括其最新的智能手錶。Breaking through with a proprietary 'must-have' software application could also bolster Samsung's position at a time when the company is vulnerable to competition from Chinese hardware makers, including Lenovo Group Ltd., Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Inc. In the most recent quarter, Samsung's mobile business saw its operating profit margin fall to 17.7%, from 19.8% in the previous quarter amid pricing pressure from rivals and increased spending on advertising.
面對包括聯想集團(Lenovo Group Ltd.)、華爲技術公司(Huawei Technologies Co.)和小米公司(Xiaomi Inc.)在內的中國硬件製造商的競爭，開創性地開發出一款自有的“必備”軟件應用還可以提高三星的地位。三季度，由於競爭對手的價格壓力以及廣告費用的增加，三星手機業務的運營利潤率從前一季度的19.8%下降到了17.7%。Meanwhile, Google's tie-up with Motorola Mobility in 2011, and Microsoft's move to acquire Nokia's mobile-phone business last month, mean that Samsung will face heightened competition from companies that, like Apple, can compete in both hardware and software.
與此同時，谷歌2011年與摩托羅拉移動公司(Motorola Mobility)的聯姻，以及上個月微軟對諾基亞手機業務的收購，都意味着三星將面臨來自蘋果等在軟硬件方面均有強大實力的公司的更大的競爭。Samsung's software success is far from assured. Unlike Apple, Google and Microsoft, the Korean electronics giant doesn't have a history of software achievements. Instead, Samsung cut its teeth in the world of hardware, where efficiency, flexibility and supply-chain management are paramount.
三星在軟件方面的成功誰也不能保證。與蘋果、谷歌和微軟不同，這家韓國電子巨頭並沒有在軟件方面取得成就的歷史。相反，三星在硬件領域可謂輕車熟路，在這個領域，效率、靈活性和供應鏈管理至關重要。Acquiring its way to software dominance is no easier than building up its software capabilities organically. While Samsung has some nearly $50 billion in cash on hand, the company has struggled in the past with deal-making. Even today, some in Silicon Valley say, Samsung has developed a reputation for kicking the tires on a range of potential deals, only rarely pulling the trigger.
通過收購爲進入軟件領域開路並不比逐步打造其軟件方面的能力容易。儘管手頭有近500億美元的現金，但三星過去曾經在收購交易上栽過跟頭。硅谷有人說，就連現在，三星也都只是對一系列潛在交易進行了調查，但很少敲定成交。One reason for such caution is Samsung's purchase of AST Research Inc. in the mid-1990s, an experience that still weighs heavily on company executives.
這種謹慎的原因之一是三星在上世紀90年代中期對AST Research Inc.的收購，這次收購經歷對公司高管的影響依然很大。The two-part, $840 million acquisition of Irvine, Calif.-based AST, once the world's fifth-largest computer maker, was conceived as an attempt to break into the U.S. personal-computer market.
總部位於加州爾灣(Irvine)的AST當時是世界第五大電腦製造商。三星以8.4億美元的價格分兩部分對其進行了收購，這一舉動被認爲是企圖打入美國個人電腦市場。Samsung sustained heavy losses in AST before ultimately giving up on the deal, which remains Samsung's largest overseas acquisition to date. Even now, the office of the chairman remains wary of big acquisitions, in large part because of AST, employees say.
由於遭受沉重損失，三星最終放棄了對AST的收購。迄今爲止這依然是三星曆史上規模最大的海外收購。三星員工表示，到現在董事長辦公室對大型收購交易依然保持謹慎，很大程度上就是因爲AST收購。Samsung's recent acquisitions have been small, and focused on software developers that can help distinguish Samsung's phones from others built on the Android platform
三星近期的收購交易規模都較小，並且集中於能幫助三星手機有別於其他搭載安卓平臺產品的軟件開發商身上。Last May, Samsung--seeking to create a credible rival to Apple's iTunes platform--snapped up mSpot Inc., a Palo Alto, Calif.-based mobile-software developer with hopes of creating a one-stop media platform that would allow users to stream and download music on their Samsung devices.
去年5月，爲了對蘋果iTunes平臺構成實質性的威脅，三星收購了加州帕洛阿爾託手機軟件開發商mSpot，希望創建一個一站式媒體平臺，讓用戶可從三星手機上試聽和下載音樂。In the process, Samsung hoped to rival not only iTunes, but also online music-streaming services such as those offered by Sweden's Spotify AB and Oakland, Calif.-based Pandora Media Inc.
在這個過程中，三星希望不光能與iTunes抗衡，還希望能與其他在線音樂流媒體服務較量，比如瑞典的Spotify AB和加州奧克蘭(Oakland)的Pandora Media Inc.。Earlier this year, Samsung moved mSpot into a new office with plans to double its staff by the end of 2013. Since then, however, the company's attempts to develop the product, initially called Samsung Music Hub, have foundered.
今年早些時候，三星爲mSpot安排了新辦公室，計劃在2013年底將其員工規模擴充一倍。不過此後三星開發起初名爲Samsung Music Hub的相關產品的努力進展得並不順利。
