蘋果推Apple Music 更新三大系統

SAN FRANCISCO — Apple’s iTunes has grown stale. It is difficult to use and feels dated when compared with online music services like Spotify and Pandora. Pick your critique, and Apple has heard it.

舊金山——蘋果(Apple)的iTunes越來越老邁。它很難用，而且和Spotify、Pandora等其他在線音樂服務平臺相比，感覺已經過時了。提出你的評論吧，蘋果已經聽到了。

But an overhaul of Apple’s music products, which includes an integration of the Beats music service that the Cupertino, Calif., company acquired last year for $3 billion, shows that Apple, if anything, knows it has to grab attention while playing catch-up.

但蘋果音樂產品的大幅改革——包括整合去年出資30億美元（約合190億元人民幣）收購的Beats音樂服務——表明蘋果其實知道，自己必須在迎頭趕上的同時吸引注意力。

In a thoroughly choreographed presentation at Apple’s annual conference for software developers, celebrities including the movie director J. J. Abrams and the rapper Drake helped Apple on Monday perform the nifty trick of matching competitors like Google and Spotify while still appearing to be on the cutting edge of the tech scene.

週一，在蘋果面向軟件開發者的年會上，包括電影導演J·J·艾布拉姆斯(J.J. Abrams)和說唱歌手德雷克(Drake)在內的名人，在一場精心安排的演示中幫助蘋果完成了一次聰明的宣傳，顯示蘋果在與谷歌(Google)和Spotify等競爭對手旗鼓相當的同時，看上去依然處在科技領域的前沿。

“We weren’t the first phone, we weren’t the first music player. That’s not where revolutions are made,” Eddy Cue, Apple’s head of software and Internet services, said in an interview after the event. “Revolutions are about bringing it all together and having the best product that actually works.”

“我們不是世界上第一款手機，也不是世界上第一款音樂播放器。變革不在於這些，”蘋果的軟件和互聯網服務負責人艾迪·庫伊(Eddy Cue)在會後接受採訪時說。“變革是要把一切整合起來，要有一個真的好用的最佳產品。”

The new music service was one part of a wide-ranging slate of announcements. Apple detailed new versions of its software systems for iPhones, iPads and Macs, offering features like public transit directions to its mapping software — a feature that Google and other mapping providers have supported for many years.

新版音樂服務是一系列新推出產品的一部分。蘋果詳細介紹了面向iPhone、iPad和Mac的新版軟件系統，提供的功能包括地圖軟件的公共交通路線——谷歌和其他地圖供應商多年前就已支持該功能。

For years, Apple’s strategy for selling iPhones and Macintosh computers has been to offer exclusive, high-quality software as a lure to reel people into buying its hardware. But the quality of its software started to slip last year, when the latest versions of the iPhone and Mac operating systems shipped with major bugs, including one that disabled the cell signal for a number of iPhone users last September.

多年來，蘋果銷售iPhone和Mac電腦的戰略一直是提供高質量的專屬軟件，以此作爲誘餌去吸引消費者購買其硬件。但去年，其軟件質量開始下滑，最新版本的iPhone和Mac操作系統推出時存在嚴重的缺陷，其中一個缺陷導致去年9月衆多iPhone用戶沒有信號。

To avoid a repeat, Apple on Monday introduced upgrades for its mobile and computer systems, iOS and OS X, with a strong focus on improving things under the hood, like stability, performance and battery life.

爲避免重蹈覆轍，蘋果週一推出了移動和電腦系統，即iOS和OS X的升級版本，着重改善軟件方面的表現，如穩定性、性能和電池壽命。

The new version of iOS, called iOS 9, expands on existing features like Siri, Apple’s voice-controlled assistant. The updated assistant can respond to commands like “Show me photos from last August” to load the specific photo roll taken that month.

新版iOS，即iOS 9，擴展了蘋果的語音控制助手Siri等現有功能。升級後的助手能執行對“顯示去年8月以後的照片”，或載入那個月拍攝的具體某個相簿等命令。

When a user is receiving a phone call from an unfamiliar number, a user can ask “Who is calling?” and Siri will search emails for that phone number to identify the caller.

接到一個不熟悉的號碼打來的電話時，用戶可以問“來電的是誰”，Siri就會在電子郵件中尋找那個號碼，以識別來電者的身份。

Apple also made changes to iOS that will significantly change the way iPads work. The company introduced a split-screen mode that allows multiple apps to run side-by-side, a big change from the current interface, which loads one app that takes up the entire screen.

還有一些變化將大大改變iPad的運行方式。新版iOS推出了一種屏幕分割模式，允許多款應用並行運行，而不是像現在這樣，運行一款應用便會佔據整個屏幕，這是一個重大的變化。

Apple made the change in anticipation of releasing a jumbo iPad that it plans to market as a device for professionals, according to a person briefed on the product.

據一名瞭解相關產品的人士透露，蘋果做出這一改變是在爲一款大屏iPad做準備。該公司計劃將其作爲一款面向專業人士的設備來推銷。

The new Mac system, called El Capitan, also focuses on refining existing features. Apple added a button to its Safari web browser that mutes sound that unexpectedly starts playing from a webpage. Apple also expanded its search feature, called Spotlight, to do smarter searches. Typing “SF giants,” for example, will bring up the game scores and games schedule for the San Francisco Giants baseball team.

新推出的Mac系統叫El Capitan，重點也在優化現有功能上。蘋果在Safari網絡瀏覽器上增設了一個按鈕，可以降低網頁上突然開始播放的聲音。蘋果還擴展了自己的搜索功能Spotlight，讓用戶進行更智能的搜索。比如，輸入“SF giants（舊金山巨人）”，搜索結果中會出現舊金山巨人(San Francisco Giants)棒球隊的比賽得分和賽程安排。

El Capitan also emphasizes improving performance. Apple said apps would start about one and a half times as fast as in the previous version of OS X, and switching between apps would also be much snappier. The free upgrades for both the Mac and iPhone operating systems system will be available in the fall.

El Capitan還強調改善性能。蘋果稱應用的啓動速度大約是在上一版OS X環境下的1.5倍，應用之間的切換也會快很多。用戶9月便可以免費更新Mac和iPhone的操作系統。

Many of Apple’s new features represent an effort to make iPhones smarter and more contextually aware of users’ daily rhythms and needs. In doing this, the company is mimicking features that Google’s Android operating system has had for years.

蘋果的很多新功能表明，它希望iPhone更智能，更能根據情景意識到用戶的日常節奏和需求。在這個過程中，公司正在效仿谷歌的Android操作系統多年前就已具備的一些功能。

Google Maps has long had public transit directions, for instance. Apple’s new personal assistant, which would use cues like location, time of day and user patterns to suggest specific apps to use at that moment, is similar to the Google Now assistant, which is available on Android devices and can be downloaded to iPhones through the App Store.

比如，谷歌地圖(Google Maps)早就已經支持公共交通路線。而蘋果新推出的私人助理會以地點、時間和用戶習慣等信息爲依據，在某個時候推薦用戶使用某個應用，這也類似於Google Now的功能，後者不僅可以在Android設備上使用，還可以通過App Store下載到iPhone上。

Siri’s expanded ability to search through photos is also similar to the new Google Photos software that the search giant unveiled two weeks ago at Google I/O, its own developer conference.

經過擴展後，Siri在照片中搜索的能力也與新面世的軟件Google Photos類似，後者是谷歌這個搜索巨頭兩週前在自己的開發者大會“Google I/O”上推出的。

“Developers need Apple to compete seriously with Google on these ‘intelligent’ features to keep users on the platform,” said Justin Kaufman, director of engineering in the West Coast office of Raizlabs, a company that builds mobile applications for both the iOS and Android platforms.

“開發者需要蘋果真正做到在這些‘智能’功能上與谷歌相抗衡，以便讓用戶留在自己的平臺上，”Raizlabs公司駐西海岸工程總監賈斯廷·考夫曼(Justin Kaufman)說。該公司在iOS和Android平臺上開發移動應用。

Apple expanded Apple Pay, its mobile payments service, to include a loyalty and rewards programs for some merchants. For example, users paying with Apple Pay at Walgreens and Dunkin’ Donuts can redeem points they have accrued through the retailer’s rewards program.

蘋果還擴展了移動支付服務Apple Pay，推出了針對部分商家的顧客忠誠度和獎勵項目。比如，若在沃爾格林(Walgreen)和唐恩都樂(Dunkin' Donuts)使用Apple Pay支付，用戶可兌換在這兩家零售商的獎勵活動中積累的積分。

The company highlighted the announcement of Apple Music, an app and music service that it developed with Beats Electronics. The new application includes features that have long been familiar to customers of subscription-based streaming services like Spotify and Pandora, but Apple executives say their offering is better because it takes a confusing torrent of different methods to listen to music and ties them together in one place.

Apple Music的推出是重頭戲，這是蘋果與Beats電子(Beats Electronics)共同開發的應用和音樂服務。對新推出的這款應用所包含的功能，Spotify和Pandora等流媒體服務的訂閱用戶早就司空見慣了，但蘋果的高管稱，他們的產品更勝一籌，因爲它結合了大量不同的聽音樂的方式，並將它們融爲一體。

“The music industry is a fragmented mess,” said Jimmy Iovine, the music executive who joined Apple after the Beats acquisition. The main difference with Apple’s offering is that a customer’s music downloads, the streaming music service and an Internet radio service can all be found inside the Apple Music app, he said.

“音樂行業一片混亂，支離破碎，” 在Beats被收購後加入蘋果的音樂業務高管吉米·艾歐文(Jimmy Iovine)說。他說，蘋果這款產品主要的區別在於，消費者的音樂下載、流媒體音樂服務和網絡電臺服務都可以在Apple Music裏找到。

Apple Music allows users to search for songs and stream them over the Internet, similar to Spotify. The streaming service makes recommendations for other playlists and albums for people to listen to. The service will cost $10 a month or $15 a month for up to six family members.

與Spotify類似，Apple Music允許用戶搜索並通過網絡傳輸歌曲。流媒體服務會向用戶推薦其他播放列表和專輯。該服務的收費是每月10美元，如果每月付15美元，則最多可有六位家人同時使用該服務。

The music app, which will be available June 30, also includes an overhauled version of iTunes Radio, the Pandora-like radio service Apple released in 2013. The radio service has added a live station, called Beats 1, that is curated by major names in the music industry, like the former BBC producer Zane Lowe.

該音樂應用將於6月30日面市，改良後的iTunes Radio也被融入其中。2013年推出的這項電臺服務與Pandora類似。此次iTunes Radio增添了一個名叫Beats 1的現場頻道，由諸如前BBC製作人贊恩·羅維(Zane Lowe)這樣的業界大腕負責。

Apple has also integrated social media elements into Apple Music, enabling artists to publish posts about their albums and concerts, and allowing customers to post comments.

蘋果還在Apple Music中融入了社交媒體元素，讓藝人能夠發表有關其專輯和音樂會的帖子，消費者則能發帖評論。

James McQuivey, a technology analyst for Forrester Research, said Apple was late to the streaming music party, but still has a chance to leapfrog the competition.

弗雷斯特研究公司(Forrester Research)的科技行業分析師詹姆斯·麥奎維(James McQuivey)表示，蘋果進入流媒體音樂領域的時間晚了，但依然有機會超越競爭對手。

“Can Apple beat Spotify?” he asked. “Yes, it can, not because its service will be any better, but because it can build its new music service into the hundreds of millions of devices that its loyal Apple users already love.”

“蘋果能打敗Spotify嗎？”他問道。“能，但不是因爲它的服務會略勝一籌，而是因爲它能把自己新推出的音樂服務安裝到數億臺設備上去，這些設備已經得到了忠實的蘋果用戶的喜愛。”

Apple also demonstrated a news-reading mobile app called News, which will allow users to load articles from media outlets including The New York Times, ESPN and Wired. The app reformats web articles into magazinelike formats, similar to Flipboard, the popular reading app offered on Apple and Android devices.

蘋果還演示了一款名叫News的新聞閱讀移動應用。用戶可以用它從《紐約時報》、ESPN和Wired等媒體機構下載文章，它會將網絡文章轉換成類似於雜誌的格式。這一點與頗受歡迎的閱讀應用Flipboard類似，後者在蘋果和Android設備上均可使用。