亞洲果迷排隊購迷你iPad,蘋果大不如前?大綱

APPLE fans lined up in several Asian cities to get their hands on the iPad mini yesterday, but the device, priced above rival gadgets from Google and , attracted smaller crowds than at the company's previous global rollouts.
在亞洲城市的蘋果迷們昨天排着隊搶購迷你iPad，但該設備，價格高於來自谷歌和亞馬遜網上的競爭對手的產品，吸引的人羣沒有該公司先前的全球發佈會上的人多。

Apple Inc's global gadget rollouts are typically high-energy affairs drawing droves of buyers who stand in line for hours. But a proliferation of comparable rival devices may have sapped some interest.
蘋果公司的全球電子產品發佈通常是吸引大批買家排隊數小時才能獲得的費力事。但競爭對手的一種類似產品可能已經削弱了某些興趣。

About 50 people waited for the Apple store in Sydney to open, where in the past the line had stretched for several blocks when the firm debuted new iPhones.
在悉尼約50人等待蘋果商店開門，在過去當公司推出新iphone時隊伍已經繞了幾條街。

At the head of yesterday's line was Patrick Li, who had been waiting since 4:30am. Li was keen to buy the new 7.9-inch model.
昨天排在隊伍最前的是帕特里克•李，他從早晨4點半就開始等。李渴望購買到新的7.9英寸的模型。

"It's light, easy to handle, and I'll use it to read books. It's better than the original iPad," Li said.
“它很輕，容易拿，我將用它來讀書。它比原來的iPad更好，”李說。

There were queues of 100 or more outside Apple stores in Tokyo and Seoul when the device went on sale, but when the company's flagship Hong Kong store opened staff appeared to outnumber those waiting in line.
當該產品上市銷售時東京和首爾的蘋果商店有100或更多的人在排隊，但當公司的旗艦店香港商店開門時員工似乎比那些排隊的人還多。

The iPad mini marks Apple's first foray into the smaller-tablet segment, and the latest salvo in a global mobile-device war that has engulfed combatants from Internet search leader Google Inc to Inc and Microsoft Corp.
迷你iPad標誌着蘋果首次進入了平板電腦市場，這在全球移動設備戰爭市場上的最新出擊威脅到了來自互聯網搜索領頭羊谷歌、亞馬遜公司和微軟的競爭者。

Microsoft's 10-inch Surface tablet, powered by the just-launched Windows 8 software, went on sale in October, while Google and Amazon now dominate sales of smaller, 7-inch multimedia tablets.
微軟的10英寸平板電腦由剛剛發佈的Windows 8軟件作支持，10月上市，而谷歌和亞馬遜現在主導着7英寸平板多媒體電腦的市場。

Unveiled last week, the iPad mini has won mostly positive reviews, with criticism centering on a screen considered inferior to rivals' and a lofty price tag. The new tablet essentially replicates most of the features of its full-sized sibling, but in a smaller package.
上週公佈，迷你iPad已經贏得很多積極的評價，而批評定聲集中在屏幕被認爲不如競爭對手的以及一個高昂的價格標籤。新平板電腦基本上覆制的大部分全寸電腦的特性，除了以一個更小的樣子。

At US$329 for a Wi-Fi only model, the iPad mini is a little costlier than predicted but some analysts see that as Apple's attempt to retain premium positioning.
329美元對於一個只有wi-fi模型，迷你iPad比預計的有點貴，但一些分析人士認爲蘋果正試圖保留着溢價定位。

Some investors fear the gadget will lure buyers away from Apple's US$499 flagship 9.7-inch iPad, while proving ineffective in fighting the threat of Amazon's US$199 Kindle Fire and Google's Nexus 7.
一些投資者擔心這個小產品將吸引買家從蘋果499美元的旗艦產品即9.7英寸的iPad中撤離，在威脅亞馬遜199美元的Kindle Fire和谷歌的Nexus 7時卻被證明無效。