One sure bet with Apple products down the years has been their ability to innovate the interface in surprisingly usable ways.
关于历年苹果产品可以肯定的一点是，它们能够以意想不到的好用方法对界面进行创新。
Apple brought many of us into smartphones with the iPhone’s screen size and beautiful iconography, and of course made the computer usable with the mouse (yes and icons). The iPhone will ultimately be remembered as the UI that made mobile computing possible.
苹果（Apple）通过iPhone手机宽大的屏幕和漂亮的图形将我们中的许多人带进了智能手机世界。当然它创造的鼠标（不错，还有图标）也让电脑好用了不少。iPhone手机最终将作为使移动计算成为可能的用户界面而被铭记。
In the Galaxy S4, however, Samsung has preempted the next likely interface advances – gesture control and eye tracking.
然而，随着Galaxy S4手机的发布，三星已经在手势控制和眼球追踪等下一代操作界面上占得了先机。
Arguably it hasn’t done the latter particularly well, in the sense that it hasn’t found useful applications for eye control. But it has introduced both and it will now take a special effort on Apple’s part to advance its own interfaces without looking like a fast follower.
其实，三星在眼球追踪这项技术上做得不是特别出色，因为它没有为眼球控制找到合用的应用程序。但这两项功能都已由三星推出了，现在对苹果而言，需要付出特别的努力，既要提升自己的界面，但又不能看上去像个迅速的跟风者。
The iPhone S5 is rumored also to have wireless charging and even a stylus pen accessory. If that’s the case it is beginning to look very Samsung indeed.
据传闻称，iPhone 5S也具有无线充电功能，甚至还配有手写笔。若果真如此，苹果的确正开始向三星看齐。
Nonetheless, over the past few days Apple’s share price has more than shrugged off competition from Samsung and the S4 (it’s up 5% since the S4 launch but squeezed today despite rumors of a higher dividend).
然而，过去几天，苹果的股价早已摆脱了来自三星和Galaxy S4的竞争（自GalaxyS4发布以来，苹果股价上涨5%，但在有传言该公司将上调股息的情况下，股价反而略有回落）。
The share price had clearly factored in last Thursday’s event, prior to the S4 launch, but even so, it is tempting to conclude that what’s really driving the price is the belief among analysts that Apple will now have to introduce a low cost iPhone and pick up some of the revenue out there that’s going to Samsung. Recent supply chain movements suggest it is going to happen andwill include a plastic casing.
在上周四S4发布之前，其影响就已经清楚地体现到了苹果的股价上，但即便如此，我们很容易得出结论，真正推动股价上涨的是分析师们认为苹果将不得不推出一款低成本的iPhone手机并挽回一些将流向三星的营收。近期在供应链上发生的动作预示着，苹果将推出这类手机，而且将采用塑料外壳。
Leaving aside Apple’s likely move into Samsung’s core market, there is a strong sense in which Apple has been beaten to the punch with eye tracking.
撇开苹果可能进入三星的核心市场不谈，眼下还有一种强烈的感觉——在眼球追踪技术上，苹果已经被三星抢先了一步。
Even though the New York Times reports that Israeli start-up Umoove is offering a software solution to eye tracking, Apple already has patents in the area. Techradar runs this story on its application for a patent for eye tracking to create 3D depth, an area Samsung is also pursuing through its relationship with the Russian Academy of Science.
尽管《纽约时报》报道称，以色列初创企业Umoove正在为眼球追踪提供软件解决方案，但苹果早已拥有了该领域的专利。Techradar网站报道了苹果通过眼球追踪技术创造3D景深的专利应用，三星也在通过与俄罗斯科学院（Russian Academy of Science）的合作而在这一领域进行探索。
Apple has patented a 3D interface that detects and responds to the movements of your eyes to trick them into perceiving depth. The patent – spotted by The Register – has been granted to the Cupertino outfit and deals with the use of sensors to create a false 3D effect on your device.
苹果已经取得了一项3D界面专利，该专利通过探测眼球运动并对其响应，从而使眼睛产生景深错觉。《The Register》杂志挖掘出的这项专利已经授予了苹果公司，该专利还涉及利用传感器在设备上制造虚假的3D效果。
In fact Apple’s patents in eye tracking go back at least as far as 2007 according to this report from 2010. There was already speculation then that Apple would launch eye-tracking for the iPhone.
根据一篇2010年的报道，苹果在眼球追踪领域的专利实际上至少可追溯至2007年。那时已有推测称，苹果将为iPhone手机推出眼球追踪功能。
The questions for Apple don’t just stop at eye tracking. Samsung’s use of touch-free control through gesture is another Apple-like innovation. Of all the features announced last week, it is here that Apple will struggle to deliver the customary usability wow factor – remember touch screens, rubber banding, and the rest?
苹果面临的问题不只是在眼球追踪技术上。三星手机现在可以用手势进行非触摸式的操控，这又是一个“苹果式”创新。面对三星上周公布的那些令人眼花缭乱的新功能，苹果将很难一如既往地拿出可以提升使用性的法宝来——还记得触摸屏、“橡皮筋”（rubber banding）等技术吗？
The Fall could turn into a testing period for Apple’s reputation as an innovation leader not just because Samsung beat the Cupertino company to the punch but also because Apple could have been first. Clearly on this occasion the company has not managed its options anything like as well as it normally does.
此次挫败可能会变成对苹果创新领头羊形象的一场考验，这不仅仅是因为三星抢先了一步，还因为苹果本可以占得先机。很显然，这一次苹果没能像通常那样管理好它的选项。
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