樂視美國舊金山盛大首秀遇意外
LeEco, the Chinese tech group, announced its arrival in the US at a splashy but haphazard event in San Francisco on Wednesday, unveiling a suite of connected TVs, smartphones and a new video streaming service, as well as concepts for a virtual reality headset and electric cars and bikes.
中國科技集團樂視(LeEco)週三在舊金山舉行了一場盛大但略帶波折的落地美國發佈會。樂視在會上揭幕了互聯網電視、智能手機和新的視頻流服務，以及概念款虛擬現實頭盔、電動汽車和自行車。
However, LeEco’s planned climax to its two-hour press conference had to be scrapped at the last minute after one of its prototype electric cars was involved in a crash during its drive from Los Angeles to San Francisco.
但樂視爲這場兩小時新聞發佈會設計的高潮在最後一分鐘卻不得不放棄。一輛原型電動車在從洛杉磯運往舊金山的途中遇到了一場車禍。
Another prototype was flown over from London, where it is appearing in a forthcoming Transformers movie directed by Michael Bay, but the flight was delayed, missing the beginning of the show.
另一輛原型車用飛機從倫敦調運——這部原型車會出現在即將上映的由邁克爾.貝(Michael Bay)執導的《變形金剛》(Transformers)中——但由於航班推遲，錯過了發佈會開場。
Instead of being driven on stage by an autonomous car, LeEco’s founder YT Jia ran up on foot.
樂視創始人賈躍亭原本計劃乘坐電動汽車登臺，結果改成跑上臺。
Our path to development [of the company] has been full of obstacles, he joked in Chinese. It shouldn’t be me who is running out here because that is really not too exciting.
他用中文開玩笑道：LeEco的發展之路充滿坎坷……我不該跑出來的，這樣真的不夠刺激。
The prototype Le SEE car, which has adjustable seating and a steering wheel that disappears into its dashboard, arrived later and was shown to attendees after the stage show ended.
Le SEE原型電動車於稍晚時間抵達，並在發佈會結束後向觀衆展示。這款車擁有可調節座椅，方向盤隱於儀表盤中。
LeEco said last month that it had raised $1bn for its electric car venture alone.
樂視上月表示僅電動汽車項目就籌集到10億美元資金。
It is also partnering with US-based Faraday Future, a secretive but well-funded developer of autonomous cars in which it is also an investor, to build LeEco’s mobile and content services into Faraday’s vehicles.
樂視還與美國公司法拉第未來(Faraday Future)合作，計劃將樂視的移動和內容服務嵌入法拉第未來的車輛中。法拉第未來是一家神祕但資金充足的自動駕駛汽車開發商，樂視也投資了法拉第未來。
Despite LeEco’s own car failing to appear on stage, Mr Jia revealed that Faraday Future would perhaps unveil its first production car in January at the Consumer Electronics Show.
儘管樂視電動車未能現身舞臺，賈躍亭透露法拉第未來或許會在1月份消費電子展(Consumer Electronics Show)上發佈首款量產電動車。
That announcement appeared to come as a surprise to a Faraday Future executive sitting in the audience, who was shown shaking his head and seeming to gesture to Mr Jia that he did not want the news — shared privately before the stage show began — made public.
賈躍亭宣佈這一消息時，坐在觀衆席裏的法拉第未來的一名高管面露詫異，他搖了搖頭，似乎示意賈躍亭他不想將該消息公之於衆。
The executive smiled politely as Mr Jia, addressing the audience in Chinese, went ahead anyway.
發佈會開始前該消息在私下傳過。不過賈躍亭繼續用中文對觀衆講了下去，這名高管也禮貌地微笑着。
LeEco is the latest Chinese consumer electronics group to cross the Pacific, following DJI’s drones, Xiaomi’s smart TV boxes and mobile accessories, Yi’s action cameras and Huami’s fitness trackers.
樂視是最新一家跨越太平洋的中國消費電子集團，此前進軍美國市場的有大疆創新科技有限公司(DJI)的無人機，小米(Xiaomi)智能電視盒子及移動配件，小蟻(Yi)運動相機和華米(Huami)健身追蹤器。
With its broad challenge to Apple, Google, Samsung and Amazon, LeEco claims that its differentiator is providing a consistent experience across its ecosystem of devices.
樂視對蘋果(Apple)、谷歌(Google)、三星(Samsung)和亞馬遜(Amazon)形成全面挑戰，該公司聲稱自己與衆不同的地方是讓用戶在由其各種設備構成的整個生態系統中擁有無縫鏈接的體驗。
It is also aggressive on pricing with its LeMall ecommerce store, which will sell a 7ft ultra-high-definition television for $5,000 and a flagship smartphone for $400, with extra discounts offered through its LeRewards loyalty programme.
此外樂視商城(LeMall)在定價方面做法大膽，該平臺將推出每臺5000美元的7英尺超高清電視，以及每部400美元的旗艦智能手機，並將通過LeRewards忠誠用戶計劃提供額外折扣。
The ambition is eye-watering but history shows that breaking into the US market is a fearsome task, said Ben Wood, analyst at CCS Insight.
此番雄心令人折服，但歷史表明，進軍美國市場是一項艱鉅任務，技術諮詢公司CCS Insight的分析師本.伍德(Ben Wood)說，他們將不得不燒掉天量資金纔能有一定作爲。
They will have to spend ridiculous amounts of money to move the needle. Rob Chandhok, LeEco’s chief R&D officer for North America, said the company was reconstructing the value chain of electronics and media, while providing a more elegant and intuitive bridge that will solve the problem of a fragmented user experience.
樂視北美首席研發官羅伯.錢德霍克(Rob Chandhok)表示，樂視正在重構電子產品與媒體的價值鏈，同時提供一座更優雅、直觀的橋樑來解決用戶體驗分散的問題。
However, Mr Wood said that consumers may find the large number of different LeEco products and brands confusing, despite the very punchy pricing.
然而，伍德稱，消費者或許會覺得樂視大量不同的產品和品牌令人迷惑，儘管定價非常有力度。
LeEco’s online video service in China has 730m users and it has sold 70m smartphones there in the past year.
在中國，樂視的在線視頻服務擁有7.3億用戶，並且樂視在過去一年銷售了7000萬部智能手機。
To prepare for its US move, it recently acquired US television set manufacturer Vizio for $2bn and purchased 49 acres of office space in Silicon Valley from Yahoo, where it intends to house 12,000 employees.
爲進軍美國，樂視最近還斥資20億美元收購了美國彩電製造商Vizio，並在硅谷從雅虎(Yahoo!)手中購買了49英畝的辦公場所，計劃容納1.2萬名員工。
Executives from film studio Lionsgate, media group Vice and chipmaker Qualcomm appeared on stage at Wednesday’s event.
獅門影業(Lionsgate)、傳媒集團Vice以及芯片製造商高通(Qualcomm)都有高管現身週三發佈會的舞臺。
Each is providing content and technology to LeEco.
這幾家公司都在爲樂視提供內容和技術。
Mr Jia said America was LeEco’s top priority before expanding to the rest of the world.
賈躍亭表示，美國是樂視在全球最爲重要的市場，只有成功打開美國市場，樂視才能進軍世界其他地區。
Some say that LeEco is the Chinese Netflix and some say that it is Apple, Others say LeEco is crazy to come to the back yard of these companies to get their piece of the pie on, Netflix, Tesla and Disney all together, he said.
他說：有人說，LeEco是中國的奈飛(Netflix)，也有人說，LeEco是蘋果＋特斯拉(Tesla)＋亞馬遜＋奈飛＋迪士尼(Disney)等等，還有人說，今天LeEco居然要來到這些偉大公司的主場打擂，肯定是瘋了……
The path is long and arduous — but isn’t the meaning of life perpetually trying to explore the unknowns of the world?
前路漫漫，荊棘重重，但，生命的全部意義不就在於永不停歇地去探索未知世界嗎？
