赌城电子展里的中国身影
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仿佛就在去年，拉斯维加斯一年一度的消费电子展（CES）还被人开玩笑说，CES应该是“中国电子展”的缩写。然而今年，庞大展厅里的中国公司相当低调。据香港《南华早报》报道，前往CES注册的中国供应商数为1,211家，比2018年的1,551家减少了20%。 尽管数量下降，中国公司仍占参展商超过四分之一，而且数量只比美国公司少。CES组织者表示，今年参展的中国企业数量较少并不代表很多中国公司放弃，只是主办方决定留给大型供应商更宽敞的场地。在今年的展会上，阿里巴巴、百度、大疆、京东和联想等中国大型科技公司更加高调。不过，全球科技媒体普遍认为，参展的中国公司不仅数量减少，积极性也远不如去年。华为、中兴、小米等著名企业均未参展。 今年1月初，苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克称，一季度盈利预测下调是因为中国经济低迷以及“中美之间贸易紧张局势升级”，也引发市场对苹果的担心。但库克的判断直接引发中国分析师和用户的批评，他们认为苹果真正的问题在于新机型价格过高，而且创新方面没跟上国内竞争对手。很多人指出，苹果在推出高性能相机，双卡双待功能和其他功能方面落后于中国的华为、小米、Oppo和Vivo等竞争对手。 与此同时，埃隆·马斯克在上海郊区投资50亿美元的新Gigafactory破土动工，一扫中国市场的阴霾。马斯克表示，预计夏天工厂即可完工，年底前开始为中国市场生产Model 3，到2020年实现“大批量生产”，每年可出厂多达50万辆。对马斯克来说，在中国建工厂堪称巨大的成功。实现在中国生产后，特斯拉可以免除进口关税和运往中国的费用。目前中国是世界上最大的电动汽车市场。而且，特斯拉是赶上中国投资新规的第一家美国汽车制造商，根据新规外国汽车制造商可在中国独资建厂，不必与本土合作伙伴分享利润和技术。 然而就像苹果一样，特斯拉将面临激烈竞争，主要来自比亚迪、蔚来、小鹏汽车和吉利等策略灵活的国内同行。若想在中国市场成功，马斯克还得充分发挥自己的创业天才。（财富中文网） 译者：冯丰 审校：夏林 |
Was it only last year that wags at the annual gadget-fest in Las Vegas joked that what CES really stands for is the “Chinese Electronics Show”? This year, Chinese companies at the sprawling event are lying low. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post reports that the number of Chinese vendors registered to exhibit at CES totaled 1,211, a 20% decline from the 1,551 Chinese vendors who signed up in 2018. Chinese companies still account for more than a quarter of the conference’s exhibitors, and are outnumbered only by firms from the United States. CES organizers said the smaller number of Chinese firms participating this year reflects a decision to allocate more space to larger vendors, not a Chinese retreat. Many of the big Chinese tech firms—including Alibaba, Baidu, DJI, JD.com, and Lenovo—increased their presence at this year’s show. Even so, in the global tech press, the general consensus is that Chinese exhibits are not only fewer in number but feel far less exuberant this year than last. Concerns about friction between the U.S and China cast a pall over Apple too last week as CEO Tim Cook blamed a sluggish Chinese economy and “rising trade tensions with the United States” for a sharp downward revision in the company’s first quarter profit estimate. But Cook’s assertion drew immediate criticism from analysts and customers in China who argued that Apple’s real problem is that its new phones are overpriced and haven’t kept pace with the innovations offered by domestic competitors. Many have noted that Apple has lagged Chinese rivals like Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo in rolling out high-performance cameras, dual SIM card capability, and other features. In Shanghai, meanwhile, Elon Musk defied the China gloom by breaking ground on a new, $5 billion Gigafactory on the outskirts of that city. Musk says Tesla expects to complete construction of the factory in summer, begin producing Model 3 vehicles for the China market by year-end, and shift to “high volume production” of as many as 500,000 vehicles per year by 2020. The factory is a huge coup for Musk. Producing vehicles in China will spare Tesla the expense of import tariffs and shipping to a crucial market; China is, by far, the world’s largest market for electric vehicles. Tesla is the first U.S. auto manufacturer to take advantage of a new change in Chinese investment rules allowing foreign carmakers to have full ownership of Chinese plants, meaning the company won’t have to share profits and technology with a local partner. And yet, like Apple, Tesla will face stiff competition from nimble domestic players including BYD, NIO, Xpeng, and Geely. Winning in China will require every ounce of Musk’s entrepreneurial genius. |
