華米智能手表：當今時代的卡西歐

Chinese tech companies are still struggling to get the international recognition they deserve. The latest example is Huami, a Beijing-based company of which you are unlikely to have heard — unless, that is, you were walking past the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, where a huge banner bearing its name was hanging to mark its initial public offering.

中國科技公司仍很難在國際上得到它們應得的認可。最新一例是總部位于北京的華米科技(Huami)——你很可能從未聽說過這家公司的名字，除非你在2月8日那天正好路過紐約證券交易所(NYSE)，看到了掛在那里的印有“華米科技”的巨大橫幅——那是為了慶祝該公司首次公開發(fā)行(IPO)。

Huami is, by some estimates, the world’s largest maker of wearable technology, outselling Fitbit and Apple Watch by global unit volumes. Most of its sales are in China, but in the US it just released the best-value smartwatch on the market. And with Thursday’s IPO, it now commands a valuation of $600m.*

按某些機構的估算，華米科技是全球最大的可穿戴設備制造商，其設備的全球銷量超過了Fitbit和Apple Watch。它的大部分市場都在中國，但它剛剛在美國推出了一款物美價廉的智能手表。IPO使該公司目前的市值達到6億美元。

Like camera-drone pioneer DJI and Ninebot, the maker of electric scooters and robots that bought Segway in 2015, Huami is a leader in its field without being a household name.

像航拍無人機制造業(yè)的先鋒企業(yè)大疆(DJI)、電動滑板車和機器人制造商納恩博(Ninebot)一樣，華米科技的名字雖然并非家喻戶曉，但它是自己所在領域的領導者。2015年，納恩博收購了美國制造商賽格威(Segway)。

Today, Huami’s business is still highly dependent on its partnership with Xiaomi, which is also a large shareholder. As the first of the Chinese smartphone brand’s more than 100 “ecosystem” companies, 82 per cent of the devices Huami sells are under the Xiaomi brand. That has not helped Huami to get the brand recognition it deserves.

如今，華米的業(yè)務仍高度依賴與小米(Xiaomi)的合作關系，后者也是前者的一個大股東。作為中國智能手機品牌小米旗下100多家“生態(tài)鏈”公司中的首家，華米的82%的設備都在小米品牌下銷售。這不利于華米獲得它應得的品牌認知度。

Nor, perhaps, does the peculiar fact that — as disclosed in its IPO filing — another Chinese company has trademarked Huami’s name as written in Chinese characters. Huami says that this does not matter much, given it mainly sells products under the Mi and Amazfit brands but it does admit in its prospectus that “consumers may be confused”.

另一吊詭事實或許也不利于華米獲得品牌認知度，即(正如在華米IPO文件中披露的)另一家中國公司已經(jīng)注冊了漢字“華米”商標。華米稱此事關系不大，因為它主要銷售Mi和Amazfit品牌的產(chǎn)品，但該公司的確在招股說明書中承認，“消費者可能會感到困惑”。

I first encountered its Mi Band visiting China in 2016, when I noticed a lot of people wearing the same wristband. It looked a little like a Fitbit, but with a distinctive oval aluminium sensor in the middle of the familiar rubber wristband. Unlike a Fitbit, whose step-counting wristbands typically cost about $99, the Mi Band cost only $15.

我第一次接觸小米手環(huán)(Mi Band)是在2016年我去中國的時候，當時我注意到很多人都佩戴著同樣的手環(huán)。小米手環(huán)看起來有點像Fitbit，但在大家熟悉的橡膠手環(huán)中間有一塊獨特的橢圓形鋁合金傳感器。Fitbit的計步手環(huán)通常賣99美元左右，而小米手環(huán)只需15美元。

Since then, Fitbit has tried to push upmarket with its Blaze and Ionic smartwatches, to challenge the Apple Watch. Huami’s strategy is the opposite: its products continue to be almost too cheap.

后來，F(xiàn)itbit試圖利用Blaze和Ionic品牌智能手表打開高端市場，以挑戰(zhàn)Apple Watch。華米的策略恰恰相反：產(chǎn)品繼續(xù)走超低價路線。

Take the Amazfit Bip, which has been on sale in China since the middle of last year and just arrived in the US. As well as the usual step-counting, it features GPS tracking, a heart-rate sensor and a reflective colour touchscreen that shows calls and texts from a paired smartphone. It weighs just 31g, a third of the Apple Watch’s weight, making it barely noticeable on the wrist. Its battery lasts for a whole month, which makes it good for sleep-tracking too. And, remarkably, it costs $99, a price that almost sells short its capabilities.

以去年年中在中國開售、最近剛剛登陸美國的Amazfit米動智能手表(Amazfit Bip)為例，除了常見的計步，它還有GPS追蹤功能、心率傳感器和反射式彩色觸摸屏(可以顯示來自配對智能手機的通話和短信)。這款手表重量僅31克，是Apple Watch的三分之一，戴在手腕上幾乎無感。電池可以續(xù)航一個月，這也使其可以更好地進行睡眠追蹤。令人驚訝的是，它的售價為99美元，簡直物超所值。

What is more remarkable is that Huami still manages to make a profit on this low-priced wristband, with net income of $3.6m in 2016 and $14.3m in the first nine months of 2017 (sales for the fourth quarter have not yet been reported).

更令人驚訝的是，華米仍成功地利用這款低價運動手表實現(xiàn)了盈利，2016年的凈利潤360萬美元，2017年前9個月的凈利潤為1430萬美元(第四季度的銷售業(yè)績尚未公布)。

I tested out the Chinese model of the Bip last year and while the plastic casing definitely makes it feel cheaper than the $270 Fitbit Ionic or $330 Apple Watch, it still seems good value.

去年，我對中國版米動手表進行了評測，雖然塑料外殼肯定會讓它感覺比售價270美元的Fitbit Ionic或330美元的Apple Watch廉價，但它似乎仍值得買。

Fitbit has rightly been praised for its devices’ battery life, which is an important factor in preventing wearables from being thrown in the back of the proverbial drawer. Huami’s device can last as much as nine times longer, depending on how much you use the GPS in workout tracking.

Fitbit一直因其設備的電池續(xù)航能力廣受好評，強大的電池是防止可穿戴設備被束之高閣的一個重要因素。華米手表的續(xù)航時間是Fitbit的9倍——取決于你在運動追蹤中使用GPS的多少。

The Bip is comfortable, smartphone notifications come through reliably, and the display is easily legible, if less rich than its more expensive rivals. 米動手表佩戴舒適，智能手機的通知推送可靠，而且顯示清晰易辨，雖然色彩不如價格更高的競品飽滿。

On the downside, the Bip’s touchscreen is not as responsive as Apple’s and the heart rate monitor does not take your pulse quite as often as Fitbit’s. It also lacks third-party apps and wireless payment capabilities.

米動手表的缺點是觸摸屏不像Apple Watch的那樣靈敏，心率監(jiān)控器也不像Fitbit那樣頻繁地測量你的脈搏。它還缺少第三方應用和無線支付功能。

Other Huami devices do offer such features in China, where wireless payments are more ubiquitous. There, its watches can be used to pay for public transport or even withdraw money from a cash machine, taking it beyond mere fitness tracking. Another of its heart-tracking wristbands has also obtained approval from Chinese regulators to be marketed as a medical device.

在無線支付更為普遍的中國，華米的其他設備確實提供了此類功能。在中國，華米的手表可以用來支付公共交通，甚至可以從取款機上取錢，功能遠不止健康追蹤。華米的另一款心率追蹤手環(huán)還獲得了中國監(jiān)管機構的批準，可以當作醫(yī)療設備進行營銷。

For those of us outside China, the Bip feels like the smartwatch that the now-defunct Pebble aspired to be: accessible, wearable and unpretentious. It is the 21st-century equivalent of the basic digital Casio that became ubiquitous in the 1980s. Announced earlier this week, the Bip has already sold out of its initial US stock.

對于我們這些生活在中國以外的人來說，米動手表感覺就像如今已經(jīng)停產(chǎn)的Pebble曾渴望打造的一款智能手表：價格親民、可穿戴且樸實大方。它是上世紀80年代風靡全球的卡西歐(Casio)電子表在21世紀的翻版。華米不久前宣布，米動手表在美國的首批庫存已經(jīng)售罄。

Chinese tech companies may be able to pull off amazing feats of engineering and price, but they are often let down by software and customer service. Huami, which has been operating in the US for a couple of years now, does better than most. Its accompanying Mi smartphone app lacks some of the bells and whistles of Fitbit’s, such as coaching and recommendations, but its display of fitness metrics is clean and simple.

中國的科技公司或許能夠做出物美價廉的產(chǎn)品，但軟件和客戶服務往往跟不上。已在美運營兩年的華米比多數(shù)中國企業(yè)做得都好。它搭配的Mi智能手機應用沒有Fitbit上的一些花里胡哨的功能(比如指導和推薦)，但其健康指標的顯示整齊、簡潔。

Huami is hoping that its IPO will help it to raise its profile, as well as give it extra financial capability to expand outside China. It could be too late for it to attain the brand recognition of Fitbit, which has become synonymous with fitness trackers in the US. Nonetheless, Huami is a reminder that hardware innovation can thrive far beyond the Silicon Valley bubble.

華米希望此次IPO能助其提升知名度，并給予其在中國境外擴張的額外財務能力。華米現(xiàn)在想要獲得Fitbit那樣的品牌認知度可能太晚了，后者在美國已成為健康追蹤設備的代名詞。盡管如此，華米提醒我們，硬件創(chuàng)新可以在遠離硅谷泡沫的地方蓬勃發(fā)展。