Russia’s Entry Into the Smartphone Market Is Slow to Catch On
俄國在智慧手機市場落後
By Neil MacFarquhar

MOSCOW – Few people looking to buy a smartphone would think about a Russian model, but the makers of the YotaPhone aspire to change that.
很少人買智慧手機時會想到俄羅斯的廠牌款式，不過YotaPhone的製造商很想改變這一點。

The start-up’s quest to break into the global market for cellphones got a boost from President Vladimir V. Putin, who has renewed a push to make innovation the next big thing for Russia. The idea of an “innovative Russian consumer gadget” tends to provoke jokes.
這家新創公司尋求打進全球手機市場，而總統普亭也幫了一把，重新推動以創新為俄羅斯下一個開拓新局的重要目標。這個「俄羅斯創新消費裝置」似乎為世人引為笑談。

After throwing off the yoke of Soviet central planning, Russia failed to translate its wealth of scientific and engineering talent into marketable products.
在擺脫蘇聯中央計畫的束縛後，俄羅斯未能將科學與工程方面豐沛的人才與資源轉化成可行銷的產品。

Dmitri A. Medvedev, the president between Mr. Putin’s two times in office, championed a $4 billion project to cultivate a Russian Silicon Valley. Starting in 2009, a graduate technological research university and a state-backed innovation foundation were established. It never blossomed, and Mr. Putin has shown scant interest in the project.
在普亭兩個任期之間當過總統的麥維德夫，支持一項40億美元的計畫，要打造俄羅斯的矽谷。計畫開始於2009年，設了一所科技研究大學和一個國家支持的創新基金會。計畫從未大放異采，普亭也意興闌珊。

Last year, however, he resurrected innovation as a key objective after the crisis in Ukraine prompted Western economic sanctions. Mr. Putin has said that the current tensions will wean Russia from Western goods and technology.
然而，去年烏克蘭危機引發西方經濟制裁後，他重新發起以創新為一項主要目標。普亭曾說，目前的緊張情勢將使俄國不再依靠西方貨品科技。

The phone’s creator, Vladislav Martynov, 45, had been working abroad when a friend lured him back to Moscow in 2008 with the idea of building a better smartphone. While inspired by gifted Russian software developers, Mr. Martynov subscribed to a main tenet of globalization: Few products emerge from one country alone. “Today, there is no nationality when you create a globally competitive product in the high-tech sector,” he said.
這支手機的創造者，45歲的弗拉迪斯拉夫．馬帝諾夫，原本一直在海外工作，直到2008年一名友人用打造一支更好的智慧手機的構想，吸引他回到莫斯科。雖然俄羅斯優異的軟體開發人才讓馬帝諾夫深受激勵，他卻也認同全球化的一個重要原則：很少產品是由單一國家崛起的。他說：「今日，你在高科技領域創造一項具全球競爭力的商品，是沒有國籍之分的。」

The YotaPhone project’s roughly 100 employees include software engineers in Russia, Finnish hardware designers and multinational engineers who established the production line in Singapore.
YotaPhone計畫約有百名員工，包括在俄國的軟體工程師，在芬蘭的硬體設計師，以及在新加坡建立產品線的多國工程師。

The YotaPhone prototype introduced in 2012 impressed international tech conferences with its novel two-screen design, with one face acting like a standard smartphone and the other like an e-reader. The second screen supports various functions without draining the battery, such as keeping a boarding pass handy.
YotaPhone原型機2012年在國際科技會議亮相時，以新穎的雙螢幕設計令人印象深刻，一個螢幕如同一般智慧手機般運作，另一則為電子閱讀器。第二個螢幕在不大量耗電的情況下支援各種功能，像是讓登機證隨手可得。

In April, Mr. Martynov introduced a white version of the YotaPhone 2, hoping to create the kind of cachet – and sales – that has proved elusive, even in Russia. The loudest applause greeted his introduction of a line of colorful rubber bumpers. Previously, dropping a YotaPhone often meant breaking it.
今年4月，馬帝諾夫推出YotaPhone 2的白色版，希望創造名聲及銷售量，而這已證明十分不易，即使在俄國。當他推出一系列彩色橡膠手機殼時，獲得最大掌聲。此前摔落YotaPhone通常就會摔壞。

That underscored a critical problem hindering new Russian products: Developers tend to work in isolation. Mr. Martynov appealed for developers to create applications for the second screen. There are now roughly 40, he said, compared to the million or so for the iPhone.
這凸顯了妨礙俄羅斯新產品的一項關鍵問題：開發商傾向獨力作業。馬帝諾夫呼籲開發商為這第二螢幕創造應用程式，他說目前約已有40個，iPhone卻有100萬個左右。

Many experts trace the problems with innovation to the Soviet Union. The attitude that change starts with an order from the top persists. Finding investors locally is not easy. Private venture capitalism is deemed too risky, and failure is considered an unacceptable outcome for anything funded by the government.
許多專家把創新碰到的問題追溯至蘇聯時期，改變始於頂層下達命令的態度依然根深柢固。尋找在地投資人並不容易，私募創投資金被認為風險太高；而任何由政府資助的事業絕不容許失敗。

“In general, Russians are very skeptical about themselves and their ability to create something good,” Mr. Martynov said.
馬帝諾夫說：「一般而言，俄羅斯人對自己本身，以及自己創造東西的能力都非常懷疑。」

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/world/europe/a-russian-smartphone-has-to-overcome-rivals-and-jokes-about-origin.html

2015-06-02聯合報/G9版/UNITED DAILY NEWS 莊蕙嘉譯 原文參見紐時週報七版下