未来五年苹果将引领便携游戏市场？

　　At its media event in early September, Apple threw down the gauntlet to Nintendo Co. and Sony Corp. Dedicated gaming gadgets like the Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable 'seemed so cool,' said Phil Schiller, Apple's head of marketing, but 'they don't stack up against the iPod touch.' Now an industry research firm has come out with numbers that back up Apple's challenge.
　　在9月上旬的活动中，苹果(Apple)向任天堂(Nintendo)和索尼(Sony)下了挑战书。苹果营销负责人席勒(Phil Schiller)说，任天堂NDS和索尼PSP等专门游戏机看起来很酷，但在iPod touch面前，它们就相形见绌了。现在，一家行业研究公司的数据也支持苹果的这一说法。

　　A study by DFC Intelligence, released on Friday, predicts that games for the iPhone and iPod touch (an iPhone without the cellular capabilities) will be the principal drivers for growth in the overall portable and mobile gaming market in five years.
　　DFC Intelligence公司10月20日发布的一项研究报告预测，iPhone和iPod touch（没有手机功能的iPhone）上的游戏，将成为未来五年整个便携与移动游戏市场的首要增长推动力。

　　DFC, which is based in San Diego, estimates that the overall market will grow by just 8% to $11.7 billion by 2014 from $10.9 billion in 2008. The bulk of that-about $6.3 billion-will still come from dedicated portable game devices like the DS and PSP, but that market will shrink by about 27% from 2008 over that period.
　　总部位于圣迭戈(San Diego)的DFC估计，到2014年，整个市场将达到117亿美元，较2008年的109亿美元仅增长8%。这当中的主要部分──大约63亿美元──仍将来自于NDS和PSP等专用便携游戏设备，但这一部分的市场将在这一时期萎缩约27%。

　　Revenue from iPhone and iPod touch games, however, are expected to soar to more than $2.8 billion in 2014, compared with a mere $46 million in 2008.
　　而来自iPhone和iPod touch游戏的收入，预计到2014年将达到28亿美元，较2008年的区区4600万美元大幅上升。

　　DFC also found, in a survey of over 8,000 game players, that 45% of respondents in North America and 36% of respondents in Europe had purchased an application for their mobile phone in the past year. About 15% of respondents overall owned an iPhone or iPod Touch, compared to 29% who owned a Nintendo DS.
　　DFC同时发现，在一项针对8000余游戏玩家进行的调查中，北美地区45%的受调查者及欧洲地区36%的受调查者，在过去一年里为其手机购买了应用软件。所有受调查者中，约15%的人拥有一部iPhone或iPod Touch，拥有任天堂NDS的比例为29%。

　　'Dedicated portable game systems are not going to go away, but Apple is really driving the growth,' said David Cole, an analyst with DFC.
　　DFC分析师科尔(David Cole)说，专用便携游戏系统不会消失，但苹果是事实上的增长推动者。
　　
　　Yukari Iwatani Kane