微软和谷歌将为平板电脑市场带来哪些变化?

尽管苹果公司(Apple Inc.)的iPad仍然占据着平板电脑市场的主导地位，微软(Microsoft Corp.)和谷歌(Google Inc.)却采取了与苹果截然不同的战略。就这两家公司而言，微软的战略似乎更激动人心。

Google is going cheap, Microsoft high-end. The seven-inch, $199 Nexus 7 tablet from the search giant, released Wednesday, is set to duke it out for the bottom end of the market with Amazon.com's identically sized and priced Kindle Fire. Thus far, price has been the only way rival tablets have been able to take market share away from the iPad-which commanded 63% share in the first quarter, according to Strategy Analytics. Cheaper Android tablets had 32%. So, in that sense, Google is playing it safe.

相关报道谷歌推采取了低价策略，而微软则走了高端路线。谷歌周三发布了售价199美元的7英寸平板电脑──Nexus 7，这款产品将与拥有同样尺寸和定价的亚马逊公司的Kindle Fire在低端市场一决雌雄。截至目前，价格已经成了平板电脑市场竞争者与iPad争夺市场份额的唯一手段。根据市场研究公司Strategy Analytics的数据，苹果今年第一季度的市场份额为63%。售价低于iPad的安卓(Android)平板设备获得了32%的市场份额。因此，从这种意义上讲，谷歌的策略是以安全为重。

But Microsoft's Surface-at least the more expensive of its two versions-may be able to carve out its own niche when released late this year or early next year. With a clever keyboard on the flip side of its magnetic cover, ports for connecting other devices and, crucially, compatibility with enterprise applications including Microsoft Office, it is the first crossover tablet that could fully replace a laptop.

但是价格更贵的微软Surface（至少比谷歌的平板电脑贵）今年年末或是明年年初上市时，也许能够抢到一部分市场份额。这款电脑巧妙地在磁性保护套的反面配备了键盘，并具有多个与其他设备连接的端口，最重要的是，它可以兼容微软办公软件等企业应用程序，这些特色使之成为第一款可以完全取代笔记本电脑的多功能平板电脑。

Granted, Microsoft has a challenge to attract content and apps to its platform. But if it can do so, it may be able to flip the 'bring-your-own-device' trend that has so many corporate workers bringing iPads to the office. Instead, they may bring the Surface home.

毫无疑问，微软面临的挑战是，如何将内容和应用程序吸引到它的平台。如果微软能够做到这一点，它就有可能改变目前许多企业员工不得不带着自己的iPad到办公室使用的做法。相反，人们可以把办公室的Surface带回家。

Going higher-end also means Microsoft would dodge a potential threat to Amazon and Google. If, as is possible, Apple releases a cheaper, smaller iPad, the bottom of the market could gravitate its way as well.

走高端路线还意味着，微软可能会避开亚马逊和谷歌的潜在威胁。如果苹果推出一款更便宜、尺寸更小的iPad（这种可能性完全存在），低端市场也许同样会向苹果倾斜。