Sebastian Thrun, former head of the Google X — the advanced projects lab set up to make big bets on the future — knows all about technological¹ ambition. Driverless cars, high-altitude balloons providing internet access and contact lenses that monitor blood sugar levels were all products that flowered under his leadership.

谷歌(Google)成立先进项目实验室Google X是为了对未来进行重大的投注。该实验室前负责人塞巴斯蒂安•特伦(Sebastian Thrun)深谙什么才是科技雄心。无人驾驶汽车、提供互联网接入的高空轻气球以及监测血糖水平的隐形眼镜，都曾是他领导的研发项目。

But when it comes to the Android operating system for mobile devices, Mr Thrun says this is not the time for Google to pursue bold new visions. With smartphone wars well advanced, he believes it is now all about smaller incremental² advances, as Apple and Google slug it out for global advantage.

但对于面向移动设备的Android操作系统，特伦说，现在不是谷歌追求大胆新愿景的时候。随着智能手机的竞争不断深化，随着苹果(Apple)和谷歌激烈争夺全球优势，他认为，现在的关键在于小步快跑。

“You can have great visions, but change takes implementation³, it takes small steps,” Mr Thrun said last week, after watching the opening presentation at Google I/O, the group’s annual technology showcase event. “What I saw was Android playing out, Android getting into the mature phase.”

在看过上周谷歌年度科技展示大会(Google I/O)的开幕演讲后，特伦说：“你可以有伟大的愿景，但改变需要执行，需要走小步……我看到的是Android正在竭尽全力，正在进入成熟阶段。”

Sameer Iyengar, a former Google employee who is now a co-founder of app maker⁴ Beautylish, questioned whether Google was being bold enough in laying out its tech vision: “The thought leadership is maybe absent, compared to where it was in the past,” he suggested.

谷歌前员工、现为应用(app)制造商Beautylish联合创始人的萨米尔•延加(Sameer Iyengar)，质疑谷歌在阐述其科技愿景方面有足够的胆略：“与过去相比，思想领导力可能相对缺乏，”他提出。

However, he credited Google with taking a lead in at least one area: machine learning — a form of artificial intelligence that the company says is being used to enhance its mobile software and make apps on Android work better.

然而，他认为值得肯定的是，谷歌至少在一个领域保持领先地位：机器学习。该公司称，这种人工智能正被用于增强移动设备软件，并使Android平台上的应用更好运行。

Applications of AI were among the most eye-catching⁵ demonstrations⁶ at last week’s event, underlining Google’s aims of using its massive computing⁷ base and advanced algorithms to make its services far more relevant and useful.

人工智能的应用是上周大会上最受关注的演示之一，凸显谷歌的目标，即利用庞大计算能力和先进算法，使其服务更具相关性和有用性。

On at least one measure, Android has been a spectacular success. Conceived by Google as a defensive⁸ strategy to ensure its internet services were not locked out of mobile handsets by companies such as Apple or Microsoft, the software has turned into the dominant⁹ smartphone platform, accounting¹⁰ for about 80 per cent of the market worldwide.

至少从一个方面衡量，Android已经是一个巨大的成功。当初谷歌研发Android系统是作为一种防御性策略，目的是确保其互联网服务不被苹果或者微软(Microsoft)等公司的移动设备挡在门外。如今该软件已成为占主导地位的智能手机平台，占全球市场约80%的份额。

But there is a hard slog ahead. With a disparate group of handset makers¹¹ in the Android camp, the platform has struggled to match the more polished set of services and hardware that Apple has built around the iPhone, such as Apple Pay and, more recently, Watch.

但前方的路也很艰难。由于Android阵营包括形形色色的手机制造商，该平台一直难以赶上苹果围绕iPhone打造的、更为精致的服务和硬件，如Apple Pay以及最近的苹果手表(Apple Watch)。

Also, to make money, Google needs to reinforce the prominent position of its own services at a time when the open-source Android world threatens to break apart. Hardware makers, ranging from Amazon to Xiaomi, are now looking to use Android as a platform for their own app stores and services — displacing Google.

此外，为了创收，谷歌需要在开放源的Android世界有分裂危险之际，加强自身服务的突出地位。从亚马逊(Amazon)到小米(Xiaomi)，很多硬件制造商正希望利用Android作为自己应用商店和服务的平台，取代谷歌。

“They have to make sure Android doesn’t just degenerate¹² into low-end devices and fragmentation,” says Al Hilwa, an analyst¹³ at IDC, the tech research firm.

科技研究公司IDC的分析师阿尔•希尔瓦(Al Hilwa)说：“他们必须确保Android不会就此沦为低端设备和割据状态。”

If that were not enough, Google has to deal with the consequences of its own, expansive vision. This has taken Android into a broad array of new markets, from “smart” home appliances to cars. “Where Apple is always very focused on a few product categories, Google wants to be in everything,” says Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. “It’s hard for Google to keep making meaningful progress across all those different domains¹⁴ and keep up with Apple.”

如果这些还不够，谷歌还必须应对其广阔愿景带来的后果。这一愿景已将Android带入了一系列新市场，从“智能”家电到汽车。“苹果永远紧紧聚焦于几种产品类别，而谷歌什么都想涉猎，”Jackdaw Research的简•道森(Jan Dawson)表示。“谷歌很难在所有这些不同领域都不断取得有意义的进展，赶上苹果。”

Winning the hearts and minds of app developers — the focus of Google I/O last week, and the rival Apple developer conference next week — has become a key part of the battle. Creating a marketplace where app developers can make money has been at the heart of Apple’s formula for encouraging them to do their best work first for its mobile devices.

赢得应用开发者的拥护和支持——上周Google I/O大会以及苹果下周的开发者大会的主要焦点——已成为这场竞争的关键部分。创建一个应用开发者能够从中赚钱的市场，一直处于苹果模式的核心，为的是鼓励他们首先尽心尽力为苹果的移动设备开发出最好的应用。

But the Android world has been catching up. For most developers, the calculation is now finely balanced. Like many, Mr Iyengar says his app reaches far more people on Android devices but, on an individual basis, iOS customers are more profitable for his company.

但是，Android世界在紧紧追赶。对大多数开发者来说，如今两边的份量差不多。和许多人一样，Beautylish的延加称，虽然其应用面向多得多的Android设备用户，但就每个用户而言，iOS用户为其公司带来的利润更多。

Google’s Play Store had been gaining ground as a source of income for developers, but the momentum¹⁵ in recent months turned back to Apple. Tero Kuittinen, managing director of Magid Associates, a consultancy, and an adviser¹⁶ to several gaming companies, says app makers were “taken aback” by the shift, which followed the launch of larger iPhones. However, according to at least some industry estimates, the sheer weight of numbers is finally starting to play in Android’s favour — even if Google is not the only beneficiary.

谷歌的Play Store作为开发者的收入来源一度取得进展，但最近几个月势头又转回了苹果。咨询公司Magid Associates董事总经理、为几家博彩公司提供咨询的特罗•库伊蒂宁(Tero Kuittinen)说，这一转变是在苹果推出更大的新款iPhone之后发生的，应用制造商对这种转变“大吃一惊”。然而，至少某些行业评估显示，数量优势终于开始有利于Android——即使谷歌不是唯一的受益者。

Apple’s App Store accounts for around 45 per cent of the revenue that developers make from apps, compared to 29 per cent for Google’s Play, according to Digi-Capital. But, counting in the income from handsets in China where Google’s apps are blocked — meaning it makes no money — pushes the overall Android share to 52 per cent, Digi-Capital calculates.

精品投资银行Digi-Capital的数据显示，开发者从应用获得的营收中，约45%来自苹果App Store，29%来自谷歌Play Store。但是，根据Digi-Capital的统计，若加上来自中国的手机的收入（谷歌的应用在中国遭封锁，意味着谷歌本身无钱可赚），Android的整体市场份额将升至52%。

Last week, matching and trying to surpass Apple was a strong subtext of Google’s pitch to developers. New features included Android Pay, a rival to Apple Pay and a fresh attempt to break into mobile payments after the disappointment of Google Wallet.

上周，赶上并试图超越苹果是谷歌传递给开发者的强大潜台词。新的功能包括与Apple Pay竞争的Android Pay，这是自Google Wallet令人失望之后谷歌进军移动支付领域的新尝试。

A new Google Photos app, with the promise of software that can automatically organise¹⁷ libraries of pictures, also echoed capabilities¹⁸ that are already offered by Apple.

一款承诺可自动整理照片图库的新款谷歌照片应用Google Photos，也呼应了苹果早已提供的功能。

But in other areas, Google seemed unprepared. While smartwatches based on last year’s Android Wear technology have been put in the shade by the recent launch of Apple Watch, Google had little new to show off in response. This was a sign that it is surrendering early leadership in wearables to Apple, according to Carolina Milanesi, an analyst at Kantar Worldpanel.

但在其他领域，谷歌似乎毫无准备。虽然近期Apple Watch的推出使基于去年Android Wear技术发布的智能手表相形见绌，但谷歌没有任何新技术作为回应。Kantar Worldpanel分析师卡罗琳娜•米拉内西(Carolina Milanesi)表示，这标志着谷歌正向苹果让出可穿戴设备领域的早期领先地位。

Yet some of the latest attempts to extend the Android universe clearly play to Google’s strengths. Its new photos app, for instance, offers free storage for an unlimited¹⁹ number of pictures, echoing the launch of Gmail, the company’s free email service, in 2004, although the cost of storage has fallen greatly since then and has become less of a competitive differentiator²⁰.

然而，最近一些扩展Android世界的尝试显然有助于发挥谷歌的优势。例如，谷歌新的照片应用可提供无限量的免费图片存储，呼应了2004年谷歌推出Gmail免费电子邮件服务之举，尽管自那以来存储成本已大幅降低，不再是那么大的竞争差异化工具。

Sucking in large volumes of photos also presents a new opportunity for Google to add to its already substantial mass of data about users. Company executives say they have not made plans to scan the pictures for advertising²¹ purposes but make no secret of the fact that a person’s photo library comprises a highly valuable source of information about them.

吸收海量的照片也为谷歌提供了新的机遇，可扩大其已拥有的大量用户数据。谷歌高管表示，他们并没有为广告目的而扫描图片的计划，但并不掩饰这样一个事实，即一个人的照片库包含有关他/她的极有价值的信息。

Meanwhile, to improve the experience of using Android handsets in emerging markets, where low-end hardware and unreliable networks often hamper²² performance, Google has announced new ways of using its services offline. These included the ability to view maps and directions while not connected.

同时，为了改善在新兴市场中（低端硬件和不稳定的网络经常妨碍性能）使用Android手机的体验，Google发布了离线使用其服务的新方法，包括在没有网络连接的情况下查看地图和导航。

They all represent attempts by Google to shift more of the value to its own services rather than embed²³ it in the Android open-source software, says Mr Hilwa — a way to ensure that Google remains²⁴ at the centre of the Android universe.

IDC的希尔瓦说，这些都表明谷歌试图将更多的价值转移到自己的服务中，而非嵌入在开放源代码的Android软件中，以此确保谷歌始终处于Android世界的中心。