Didi Chuxing, China’s largest ride-hailing company, has made no secret of its admiration for Apple. The company’s official name, Xiao Ju Keji, which means Little Orange Technology, is a reference to the US technology group. Visitors to Didi’s campus in Beijing are told how Cheng Wei, its founder, was looking at the logo on an Apple store and thought, “If I can’t be an apple, I can be an orange”.作为中国仅次于的微信应用于公司，滴滴上下班(Didi Chuxing)表露出自己对苹果(Apple)的倾心之情，该公司法定名字“小桔科技”就是参考了这家美国科技集团的名字。人们参观滴滴上下班在北京的公司园区时会被告诉，其创始人程维曾在一家苹果商店看著那个标识心想，“我当不了苹果，可以当桔子嘛。”That admiration seems to be working in both directions: Apple invested $1bn in Didi last week, its biggest minority investment ever.而这种倾心之情或许是双向的，上周苹果向滴滴投资10亿美元，这是苹果目前为止为少数股权做出的仅次于单笔投资。

The deal is not a huge outlay for a company that has net cash of $153bn but it is an unusual move given that Apple has previously shied away from using its cash to invest in start-ups. Unlike other big tech companies, such as Google and Intel, which have active venture arms, Apple has a longstanding tradition of incubating new ideas in-house.对于一家坐拥1530亿美元现金的公司来说，这笔交易算不上巨额投资，但考虑到苹果此前不愿动用现金投资于初创企业，这是一项不奇怪的行径。谷歌(Google)和英特尔(Intel)都有活跃的风投部门，但苹果与其他科技巨头有所不同，它具有从内部产卵新创意的历史悠久传统。

The Didi investment also points to the growing list of challenges facing Apple in China, a country that has become increasingly important to its growth prospects. It could have wide ramifications for Apple’s efforts to move beyond the iPhone into services, say analysts.对滴滴的这笔投资也体现出有苹果在华所面对的更加多的挑战；中国市场对其快速增长前景于是以显得日益最重要。分析师们回应，苹果正在扩展关注点，使其打破iPhone，转入服务范畴，此举也许对这方面的希望有普遍影响。

For several years, China had been a key source of fresh demand for Apple as iPhone penetration reached saturation in more developed markets such as the US. But this reversed dramatically in the most recent quarter, when sales in greater China dropped 26 per cent, contributing to Apple’s first drop in revenues in more than a decade.近年来，随着iPhone在美国等较繁盛市场普及率超过饱和状态，中国仍然是苹果新的市场需求的主要来源。但上季度该局面再次发生了戏剧性反败为胜，大中华区销售上升26%，在一定程度上导致苹果十几年来首次营收上升。The disappointing sales figures were just the latest bad news out of China for the US group, at a time when the government has become increasingly restrictive towards foreign tech companies.令人沮丧的销售数字只是这家美国公司从中国传到的近期坏消息，中国政府对外国科技公司的态度于是以显得更加严苛。

Following the passage of new laws on internet content this year, Apple’s film and book services were blocked in April. And this month, the company lost a lawsuit against a Chinese group that uses the word “iPhone” on leather cases and accessories. Apple has also tussled with Beijing over data.时隔中国政府今年实施新的互联网内容管理规定后，苹果的电影和图书服务在4月被打压。本月该公司又赢了一场商标抢注官司，无法制止一家中国企业在皮套和皮革配件上用于“IPHONE”名称。

苹果与中国政府还在数据方面有争吵。Carl Icahn, the activist investor who had been one of Apple’s biggest shareholders, pointed to the company’s challenges in China as a key reason behind his decision to sell all his stock. He told CNBC a day after the disappointing results that Beijing could “come in and make it very difficult for Apple to sell there”.维权投资者卡尔伊坎(Carl Icahn)曾是苹果仅次于股东之一。

他认为该公司在中国面对的挑战是他要求出售所所持全部股票的主要原因。他在苹果公布令人沮丧业绩的次日对财经新闻频道CNBC回应，北京方面可能会作出各种动作，“使苹果很难在那里销售”。Apple may hope to benefit politically from its alliance with one of China’s leading start-ups. “The policymakers in China have been more and more open,” said Jean Liu, president of Didi, in a media briefing on Friday. “There’s a very good foundation where we can help each other in many ways.”苹果有可能期望利用与中国领先的初创企业之一结盟，取得政治上的礼遇。

上周五，滴滴总裁柳青(Jean Liu)在新闻发布会上回应，中国的政策制定者更加对外开放，两家公司有十分好的合作基础，可以在很多方面互相帮助。Apple’s investment in Didi, its first publicly disclosed funding of a transportation company, which valued the Chinese group at $25bn, underscores how the company is looking beyond hardware and toward services.苹果对滴滴的投资让这家中国企业估值超过250亿美元，这也是苹果首次公开发表宣告投资一家运输公司，突显苹果于是以谋求从硬件扩展转入服务。Apple’s $3bn acquisition of Beats Electronics, the headphone maker and music service, in 2014, was instrumental in the launch of streaming service Apple Music a year later.2014年，苹果以30亿美元并购了耳机制造商和音乐服务供应商Beats Electronics，一年后以那笔并购为相结合，发售了流媒体服务苹果音乐(Apple Music)。

Meanwhile Apple has been working on a secretive car project, though the company has never publicly acknowledged this. Several of Apple’s recent acquisitions have been of small start-ups with technologies that could be useful in an intelligent car.与此同时，苹果仍然在神神秘秘地前进一个汽车项目（该公司未曾公开发表否认这个项目的不存在）。在苹果最近展开的并购交易中，有几家小型初创企业的技术可以用作智能汽车。

Asked on Friday about whether Apple and Didi could go beyond ride sharing — to work jointly to develop their own smart or driverless cars, Ms Liu was coy. “We are confident that we will benefit each other on product, on technology, and on many other levels,” she said.上周五，柳青被问到苹果和滴滴不会会打破微信服务，合作开发它们自己的智能汽车或无人驾驶汽车，她不愿具体问，只回应：“我们坚信彼此将在产品、技术以及其他许多层面上互惠互利。”Ms Liu would not disclose specifics of how Apple and Didi would collaborate, but she said product integration, marketing and data science were possible areas.柳青不愿明确透漏苹果和滴滴未来将如何合作，但她回应有可能的领域还包括产品构建、市场营销和数据科学。

Geoff Blaber, an analyst at CCS, says: “It’s about diversification into services and learning about what is becoming a very segmented automobile market.” As it gets into services, Apple will need to better understand local markets, he adds, and the Didi partnership could help.CCS分析师杰夫布拉韦尔(Geoff Blaber)回应：“关键在于多元化，转入服务领域，并理解正在显得高度割据一方的汽车市场。”他补足说道，随着苹果投身于服务领域，它将必须更加充份地理解当地市场，与滴滴的合作伙伴关系有可能有协助。

Didi has joined a strategic partnership with fellow Asian car hailing apps Ola in India, GrabTaxi in Southeast Asia, and Lyft in the US, in what some say has come to resemble a global coalition against Uber, Didi’s main competitor.滴滴早已与印度的Ola、东南亚的GrabTaxi等亚洲微信应用于企业，以及美国的Lyft结为战略伙伴关系；有人说道，这类似于抗衡优步（Uber，滴滴在中国的主要竞争对手）的全球联盟。Apple’s cash arrives at a crucial time for Didi, as it is locked in an expensive subsidy war with Uber China, as well as two other Chinese ride-sharing start-ups, Yidao and Shenzhou. Didi has raised more than $2bn from investors as part of this fundraising round, including the funds from Apple, bringing its total funds raised to more than $6bn.对于滴滴来说，苹果这笔现金远比正是时候，该公司于是以陷于一场便宜的补贴大战，另一方是优步中国(Uber China)，以及不易到(Yidao)和神州(Shenzhou)两家中国共计乘应用于初创企业。还包括苹果此次投资在内，滴滴在此轮融资中已从投资者筹得20多亿美元，令其其筹资总额提升到60多亿美元。Travis Kalanick, Uber’s chief executive, said he had heard of the Apple deal only on the day it was announced even though the companies worked together. “We have a partnership with Apple,” he says. “We have done so many things with them and continue to partner with Apple in ways that move the industry forward and get us excited.”优步首席执行官兹拉维斯卡兰尼克(Travis Kalanick)回应，自己是在苹果宣告消息当日才听闻这笔交易的，尽管两家公司有合作关系。

他说道：“我们与苹果有合作伙伴伙伴。我们与苹果早已一起做到了很多事，并将之后与他们合作，推展产业前景，令其双方都为此鼓舞。”For Apple, a single investment in Didi is not going to make its challenges disappear overnight, particularly when it comes to privacy issues.对苹果而言，对滴滴的一次投资会让其面对的挑战一夜间消失，尤其是牵涉到到隐私问题。

“Certainly their various services beyond hardware will continue to face a lot of pressure here,” says Mark Natkin, managing director at Marbridge Consulting in Beijing. He adds that privacy is a thorny issue for any foreign tech company. “If you are not very comfortable giving the government access to your data you can’t do business here.”北京迈博瑞咨询(Marbridge Consulting)董事总经理马克纳特金(Mark Natkin)回应：“在中国，他们在硬件以外获取的各项服务认同将之后面对相当大的压力。”他补足说道，隐私对任何外国科技公司都是一个棘手的问题。“如果不愿让中国政府采访你的数据，那你就无法在这里经商。

”At the same time, Didi is facing its own political challenges in China, as Beijing is preparing new regulations on ridesharing that could radically reshape its business. Those rules, first issued in draft form last October, are being revised and have come to be seen as a litmus test in the struggle between the government’s pro-innovation and conservative forces.与此同时，滴滴自身在中国也面对政治方面的挑战，北京方面正在打算实施针对微信的新法规，可能会完全重塑其业务模式。这些规则（去年10月发布了草案）正在展开修改，它们已被视作检验政府内部反对创意的力量与保守势力之间对决的试金石。

While Didi already has the backing of China’s most powerful tech companies, including Tencent and Alibaba, which are both investors, the relationship between these tech giants and the state-owned sector has at times been an uneasy one.虽然滴滴早就取得中国实力最强劲的科技公司——还包括腾讯(Tencent)与阿里巴巴(Alibaba)，两家公司都是滴滴的投资方——的反对，但这些科技巨头与国有部门之间的关系有时也不是过于人与自然。But the race for the Chinese ridesharing market continues. Didi says it is still fundraising for its current round, and has not yet disclosed who its other investors are.但对中国微信市场的争夺战仍在之后。

滴滴回应，该公司仍在为本轮融资筹集资金，目前仍未透露还包括哪些投资者。Additional reporting by Charles Clover and Richard Waters查尔斯克洛弗(Charles Clover)、理查德沃特斯(Richard Waters)补足报导How is Didi likely to spend the $1bn from Apple?滴滴将如何利用苹果的10亿美元投资？Didi says the money will be invested in products and new technology. But some experts say it will be needed to fuel its battle with US-based Uber for market share in China, writes Charles Clover.滴滴称之为，将利用这笔资金投资产品和新技术。但是一些专家称之为，这笔钱不会被投放滴滴与总部坐落于美国的优步争夺战中国市场份额的竞争。

China’s car-hailing wars have seen both sides spend billions of dollars funding discounts for customers and subsidies to drivers.在中国的微信服务之战中，双方皆开支数十亿美元向顾客获取优惠，向司机获取补贴。In March Didi’s chairman, Cheng Wei, told the website QQ Tech that the company had set aside $4bn raised since last year to spend on what he called “market fostering”. It was not clear how much of it had already been spent, though estimates based on a financial presentation made last year suggest Didi could have lost $1.4bn last year mainly on subsidies. Uber lost $1bn last year in China according to chief executive Travis Kalanick.3月，滴滴的首席执行官程维告诉他腾讯科技，该公司早已腾出了自去年以来融资的40亿美元，用作他所谓的“市场培育”。这笔钱早已花费了多少不得而知，不过基于去年一份财务陈述的估算指出，滴滴去年有可能亏损了14亿美元，主要用作补贴。

优步首席执行官兹拉维斯卡兰尼克回应，优步去年在中国亏损了10亿美元。Ge Jia, an influential tech blogger, says he believes Didi may be spending more on subsidies than it lets on — Didi is three or four times the size of Uber in China and drivers who work for both say the rate of subsidies is roughly the same. “Didi cannot afford to lower subsidies or that will just be surrendering its users to competitors.”具备影响力的科技博主葛佳（音）称之为，他坚信滴滴在补贴上的花费也许远超过了打算——滴滴的规模是优步的三到四倍，为这两家公司工作的司机称之为，双方的补贴亲率差不多一样。“滴滴忍受不起较低补贴，否则就不会将自己的用户让给让出竞争者。

”Didi will not disclose its financial losses but it said it was spending less on subsidies than Uber and was breaking even in more than half of the 400 cities it operated in. “Investors wouldn’t have shown such support had we not shown them a clear path towards profitability,” she said.滴滴会透露其财务亏损，但是一名发言人称之为，它在补贴上的花费多于优步，同时其运营的400个城市中多达半数构建了收支平衡。“如果我们没给投资者呈现一条具体的盈利路线的话，他们是会展现出出有如此反对的，”她回应。

As for how Apple’s money will be spent, she added: “All investments are going to be focused in product and tech innovations as we see more and more cities pass the break-even point.”至于苹果的钱将如何花费，她补足称之为：“随着我们看见更加多的城市构建收支平衡，所有投资将集中于用作产品和科技创新。

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