北京“手机一卡通”排除iPhone
北京的每个人现在都可以通过刷智能手机搭乘公共交通工具——唯独苹果(Apple) iPhone用户除外。
Beijing’s public transport payments company Yikatong has launched an app that allows most Android smartphone users to pay for journeys by tapping their smartphone rather than their transport card, starting on Monday.
北京市政交通一卡通推出一个应用，让多数Android智能手机用户从周一开始，可通过刷智能手机(而不是交通卡)支付交通费。
The upgrade fits well with the Chinese habit of using smartphones to pay for anything from utility bills to street food, and will serve as a template for transport systems across China. As such, the exclusion of iPhone is a blow for Apple.
这一升级合乎当今中国人使用智能手机付费(从水电费到街头食品)的习惯，并将作为中国各地公交系统的一个模板。因此，排除iPhone对苹果是一个打击。
The event shows just how badly the technology group is being beaten in mobile payments in China, the world’s largest with an estimated $8.8tn in transactions in 2016, according to iResearch.
这件事突显出，这家美国科技集团在中国移动支付领域的处境有多惨。艾瑞咨询(iResearch)的数据显示，中国移动支付市场是世界最大的，去年交易总额达到8.8万亿美元。
Apple was locked out of the Beijing public transit payment system because of its policy of reserving contactless payment — that is, the ability to pay for something by waving a phone in front of a terminal — to its Apple Pay app, rather than granting access to to third-party apps such as Yikatong’s, or popular payment systems such as Tencent’s WeChat Pay and Alibaba’s Alipay.
苹果之所以被排除在北京公共交通支付系统之外，是因为该公司的政策，即把非接触式支付(在支付终端前刷一下手机就完成支付的能力)留给Apple Pay应用程序，而不愿把接入权授予第三方应用，如一卡通或者腾讯(Tencent)的微信支付(WeChat Pay)和阿里巴巴(Alibaba)的支付宝(Alipay)这些非常普及的支付系统。
Android-based competitors such as Samsung, Huawei and Xiaomi do allow contactless payment that links to these apps.
基于Android的竞争对手，如三星(Samsung)、华为(Huawei)和小米(Xiaomi)则允许链接到这些应用的非接触式支付。
“[Apple’s policy] is counterproductive,” said Mark Natkins, managing director of Marbridge Consulting, a Beijing-based tech consultancy. “It potentially locks them out of a variety of initiatives, particularly the major push in China to introduce smart city initiatives.”
“(苹果的政策)适得其反，”北京迈博瑞咨询(Marbridge Consulting)董事总经理马克•纳特金(Mark Natkin)表示，“这可能会使他们被挡在各种举措门外，特别是中国推出智能城市举措的重大努力。”
WeChat Pay and Alipay are integrated into social messaging and ecommerce apps offered by Tencent and Alibaba, and are therefore extremely popular.
微信支付和支付宝分别融入腾讯和阿里巴巴提供的社交信息和电子商务应用，因此极度普及。
Moreover, Tencent and Alibaba’s payment systems involve scanning a QR code with a phone camera, rather than tapping something to make a payment. Chinese consumers are just more used to this system of code scanning, rather than Apple’s system of waving a phone in front of a cash register.
此外，腾讯和阿里巴巴的支付系统涉及使用手机相机扫描一个QR码，而不是刷手机付款。中国消费者更习惯于这种代码扫描系统，而不是苹果实行的在收银终端前刷手机的系统。
The upshot is that Apple, one of the first to offer contactless transactions in China, has been relegated to less than 1 per cent of China’s mobile payments market and is losing markets that embrace contactless payment.
其结果是，原本是中国首批非接触式交易提供商之一的苹果，在中国移动支付市场的份额已经跌至1%以下，正在失去拥抱非接触式支付的市场。
“It’s very ironic that iPhones are excluded [from the Beijing public-transit upgrade] given that Apple Pay is one of the trailblazers for [contactless] payments in China,” said Matthew Brennan, co-founder of digital marketing agency China Channel.
“鉴于Apple Pay是中国非接触式支付的开拓者之一，iPhone被排除(在北京公共交通一卡通升级以外)是非常讽刺的，”数字营销机构China Channel联合创始人马修•布伦南(Matthew Brennan)表示。
Apple’s offering, which was launched in China in early 2016, has not made it into the top 10 payment apps in the country.
苹果在2016年初在中国推出的支付服务，从未进入中国10大支付应用之列。
iPhone sales in Greater China fell during the past year while local competitors using the Android operating system stormed ahead.
过去一年里大中华区iPhone销量下滑，而使用Android操作系统的当地竞争对手取得长足进展。
Apple’s approach of guarding its contactless payment technology has not worked well in China, where Apple Pay occupies a small segment of the payments market and thus third-party app developers — such as Yikatong — can go ahead and develop alternative payment systems without co-operation from Apple.
苹果保护其非接触式支付技术的做法在中国收效不佳;Apple Pay在中国支付市场仅占一小块份额，而一卡通等第三方应用开发商可以在没有苹果合作的情况下，放手开发替代支付系统。
“The vast majority of subway travellers are going to be using Android phones. It totally makes sense to prioritise those users,” added Mr Brennan.
“绝大多数地铁旅客使用Android手机。优先考虑这些用户是完全合理的，”布伦南补充说。
