首页   >   新闻   >   文章

彭博:谷歌又面临反垄断起诉
- 2023 -
09/12
07:32
零号员工
发表时间:2023.09.12     作者:Jingyi     来源:ShoelessCai     阅读:207

The Department of Justice building in Washington. Photographer: Getty Images


本篇为彭博推送,主要由百度翻译翻译。Jingyi 负责校对以及修正部分翻译。

翻译

01 谷歌与苹果的合作

现代硅谷的一种决定性关系是苹果和谷歌之间的互动。几十年来,这两家公司一直处于激烈的竞争中。苹果股份有限公司联合创始人史蒂夫·乔布斯曾威胁要对谷歌发动“热核战争”,因为谷歌通过积极的合作进入智能手机行业。自2005年以来,谷歌向苹果支付了数十亿美元,让其成为Safari浏览器的默认搜索引擎,这项交易使这两家价值万亿美元的公司走到了一起,这让华盛顿感到惊讶。“我们的愿景是,我们像一家公司一样工作,”苹果的一名高级员工在2018年的一次会议后向谷歌的一位同行写道,以帮助提高该协议的利润。

注:
1.向谷歌发起“热核战争”关于其进入智能手机领域 wage “thermonuclear war” on Google over its entry into the smartphone business
2.通过 …… 方式 in ways that ...
3.让整件事更有利润 make the pact more profitable

作为美国司法部针对Alphabet股份有限公司旗下谷歌的反垄断案的一部分,这条信息是一批潜在的内部通信的一部分。在该案中,政府指控这家搜索巨头通过与苹果的交易等方式冻结竞争对手。这场审判标志着自20多年前针对微软公司的案件以来,硅谷反竞争行为的指控首次在联邦法院得到解决。

注:
1.美国司法部针对 Alphabet 的反垄断法 the US Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Alphabet Inc.’s Google
2.freeze out competitors through 通过……方式冻结对手
3.be hashed out in federal court 在法庭得到解决

这一时刻标志着一个针对科技行业的反垄断新时代。司法部已经就谷歌的广告主导地位对其提起了第二起反垄断诉讼。联邦贸易委员会(Federal Trade Commission,FTC)是一家姐妹机构,在现任主席 Lina Khan 的领导下,该机构比最近任何时候都更积极,正在寻求解散Facebook母公司Meta Platforms股份有限公司。;预计联邦贸易委员会(FTC)本月还将起诉亚马逊股份有限公司违反反垄断法,而司法部对苹果的调查可能会在今年晚些时候引发另一场诉讼。

注:
1.这个时刻标志着反垄断时代的到来…… The moment marks a new era of trustbusting
2.probe into 调查。愿意是探头深入调查

这场为期10周的首次审判,只关注谷歌涉嫌垄断在线搜索市场的行为,但如果司法部获胜,它可能会寻求将Alphabet的搜索业务与其他产品(包括安卓和谷歌地图)剥离。这样的结果将是美国电话电报公司自1984年解散以来最大的一次被迫解散。不管结果如何,这场审判不仅有可能对谷歌造成损害,也有可能对苹果等商业合作伙伴造成损害,苹果的高管将被迫作证,他们的电子邮件将在公开法庭上被仔细查看。

注:
1.涉嫌垄断 alleged monopolization
司法部和代表美国各州或地区的52名总检察长指控谷歌支付数十亿美元,通过与科技竞争对手、智能手机制造商和无线提供商达成协议,维持其对搜索的垄断地位。谷歌达成了许多这样的交易,但它与苹果的协议显得最大(loom largest)。这些协议首次于18年前达成,使谷歌成为 Apple 的默认搜索引擎,同时给到 Apple 多达 50% 的谷歌通过搜索引擎赚取的共同收入,但这些搜索引擎必须是安装在 Apple Safari 浏览器。谷歌驾驭了 Apple 在移动端的成功浪潮,以及实施者(enforcer)表示,谷歌(这里用it做主语)占据了 90% 的搜索市场。与此同时,Apple 也因为这项业务每年可收入数十亿美元,毛估仅仅2022年就获得180亿美元,斯坦福 C. Bernstein & Co. 分析师说到。

注:
1.52 attorneys general representing US states or territories 52名总检察长
2.在搜索领域保持垄断,通过协议达成 maintain its monopoly over search through agreements with
3.loom 令人惊恐地出现
4.Apple 每年收获数亿美元,从这项业务中 ... Apple has pocketed billions of dollars annually from ...

司法部的指控折射了20世纪90年代末微软案的指控,聚焦于该公司在Windows操作系统预装 IE 浏览器,然后设置技术障碍,阻止计算机制造商或消费者安装竞争对手的浏览器,例如 Netscape 。谷歌拒绝接受这种比较。与微软默认的浏览器不同,谷歌这项交易协定没有纳入任何技术去阻止其对手浏览器,并且替换默认浏览器也很容易,Alphabet首席法律官Kent Walker表示。他说“人们只有被禁止使用谷歌搜索的时候,才会不用谷歌,他们使用谷歌是因为他们想。”。谷歌将这次搜索引擎的合作交易比作,谷物公司向杂货店老板争取黄金货架的位置。

注:
1.折射了…的案件 mirror those made in ... case
2.聚焦于 center on
3.在电脑上预装IE pre-installing its Internet Explorer browser on computers 在电脑上预装IE
4.“人们只有被禁止使用谷歌搜索的时候,才会不用谷歌,他们使用谷歌是因为他们想。” “People don’t use Google search because they have to, they use it because they want to,”
5.has likened 把……比作
6.黄金货架的位置 for prime shelf space

02 关注NFT市场

还记得NFT吗?你知道吗,那些表现人猿的数字作品,忽然开始出现在夜晚脱口秀上了?当然,如果你尚未完全认知这些事物的话,也不会被责备。正如彭博记者 James Tarmy 和 Olga Kharif 所说,他们正在下降::

  • 非无形代币,在记录在区块链上的数字商品市场非常火爆,这些商品包括数字艺术品以及其他收藏品。这些代币已然失去价值,一旦人们捕捉到关于虚拟货币狂热者下一个浪潮的想象。自2022年1月达到历史最高点以来,围绕 NFT 的炒作和“对落伍的恐慌” (FOMO, fear of missing out) 已经消退,让低迷的买家和卖家,挣扎着在投机资产中找到长期价值。

  • DappRadar的数据显示,2022年1月至2023年7月,NFT的月度交易量暴跌81%。同期,NFT的月销售额下降了61%。根据行业数据跟踪机构 NFT Price floor 调研,蓝筹 NFT 诸如 Bored Ape Yacht Club和CryptoPunks 底价处于两年多以来的低点。



注: 1.非无形代币 Nonfungible token
2.收藏品 collectible
3.记录在区块链上 recorded on crypto blockchains
4.这些代币已然失去价值,一旦人们捕捉到关于虚拟货币狂热者下一个浪潮的想象。 have lost most of their value after once capturing the imagination of crypto enthusiasts as the next big thing.
5.低迷的买家与卖家 beaten-down buyers and sellers
6.plummet 跳水
7.底价 floor price
8.处于两年以来的低点 at more than two-year lows

较小的玩家在做什么来应对?好吧,有些只是简单地关闭:

  • 由亿万富翁 Steve Cohen 支持的一个 NFT 交易市场 Recur ,由于 Cohen 开展了 Hello Kitty NFT 的合作关系。该市场声称,市场低迷是由于“商业格局中不可预见的挑战和变化”。Mark Cuban 和 Joe Lubin 所支持的基于 NFT 的社交媒体平台 Nifty's,在‪一些计划改变之前,与华纳兄弟(Warner Bros)关于 Looney Tunes-themed NFTs 有合作,也宣称正在关店,还正式投资机会“并未出现”。生存下来的平台和项目也没有过得很好。主要的NFT市场 Blur 已然见证其销量,用 Ether 衡量的话,在6-8月之间跌了 96% ,数据来自 Dune Anylytics。



注:
1.市场低迷 winding down 2.“商业格局中不可预见的挑战和变化” “unforeseen challenges and shifts in the business landscape.”

原文

以下标题为译者所加。

01 谷歌与苹果的合作

One of the defining relationships in modern Silicon Valley is the interaction between Apple and Google. For decades the companies have mixed intense competition—Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Jobs once famously threatened to wage “thermonuclear war” on Google over its entry into the smartphone business—with enthusiastic collaboration. Since 2005, Google has paid Apple billions of dollars to be the default search engine on its Safari web browser, a deal that’s brought the two trillion-dollar corporations together in ways that have raised eyebrows in Washington. “Our vision is that we work as if we are one company,” wrote a senior Apple employee to a Google counterpart following a 2018 meeting to help make the pact more profitable.

That message is part of a trove of potentially damning internal communications coming to light as part of the US Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Alphabet Inc.’s Google, where the government accuses the search giant of freezing out competitors through deals like the one it has with Apple. The trial marks the first time since the case against Microsoft Corp. more than two decades ago that allegations of anticompetitive behavior in Silicon Valley will be hashed out in federal court.

The moment marks a new era of trustbusting aimed at the tech sector. The Justice Department has already filed a second antitrust case against Google over its advertising dominance. The Federal Trade Commission, a sister agency that’s been far more aggressive under current chair Lina Khan than at any time in the recent past, is seeking to break up Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc.; the FTC is also expected to sue Amazon.com Inc. for antitrust violations this month, while a Justice Department probe into Apple could result in another lawsuit later this year.

This first trial, which is scheduled to take 10 weeks, focuses only on Google’s alleged monopolization of the online search market, but if the Justice Department wins, it may seek to break off Alphabet’s search business from other products, Android and Google Maps among them. Such an outcome would be the biggest forced breakup of a US company since AT&T was dismantled in 1984. Regardless of the result, the trial has the potential to be damaging not only to Google but also to business partners such as Apple, whose executives will be compelled to testify and whose emails will be pored over in open court.

The Justice Department and 52 attorneys general representing US states or territories accuse Google of paying billions of dollars to maintain its monopoly over search through agreements with tech rivals, smartphone manufacturers and wireless providers. While Google made a number of these deals, its agreement with Apple looms largest. First forged 18 years ago, it made Google Apple’s default search engine, while giving Apple as much as a 50% share of the ad revenue Google made from searches by users of Apple’s Safari browser. Google rode the wave of Apple’s successes in mobile, and enforcers say it now has a 90% share of the overall search market. At the same time, Apple has pocketed billions of dollars annually from the relationship—an estimated $18 billion in 2022 alone, according to Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. analysts.

The Justice Department’s allegations mirror those made in the Microsoft case from the late 1990s, which centered on that company’s practice of pre-installing its Internet Explorer browser on computers that ran the Windows operating system, then imposing technical obstacles to prevent computer manufacturers or consumers from installing rival web browsers such as Netscape. Google rejects such comparisons. Unlike Microsoft’s browser defaults, Google’s deals do not include any technical barriers that restrict switching to competing browsers, and the process is simple, according to Kent Walker, Alphabet’s chief legal officer. “People don’t use Google search because they have to, they use it because they want to,” he says. Google has likened its search deals to those that cereal companies make with grocery stores for prime shelf space.

02 关注NFT市场

Remember NFTs? You know, those digital pictures of illustrated apes that suddenly started appearing on late night talk shows? Well, you’d be forgiven if you hadn’t thought about them in a while. As Bloomberg’s James Tarmy and Olga Kharif note, they’ve been on the decline:

  • Nonfungible tokens, most popularly associated with the digital artwork and other collectibles recorded on crypto blockchains, have lost most of their value after once capturing the imagination of crypto enthusiasts as the next big thing. The hype and FOMO, or “fear of missing out,” around NFTs has faded since their all-time peak in January 2022, leaving beaten-down buyers and sellers struggling to find long-term value in the speculative assets.

  • Monthly trading volume for NFTs plummeted 81% between January 2022 and July 2023, data from DappRadar shows. Over the same period, monthly NFT sales figures have dropped 61%, per DappRadar. And floor prices for blue-chip NFTs like Bored Ape Yacht Club and CryptoPunks are at more than two-year lows, according to industry data tracker NFT Price Floor.



What are the smaller players doing to cope? Well, some are simply shutting down:

  • NFT marketplace Recur, which is backed by billionaire Steve Cohen and known for its Hello Kitty NFT partnership, said it’s winding down due to “unforeseen challenges and shifts in the business landscape.” Mark Cuban- and Joe Lubin-backed NFT social-media platform Nifty’s, which partnered with Warner Bros. on Looney Tunes-themed NFTs before changing strategy, also said it’s closing shop, citing investment opportunities that “didn’t pan out.” Surviving platforms and projects aren’t faring well either: Leading NFT marketplace Blur has seen its sales volume—measured in Ether—drop 96% between a late June peak and early August, data from Dune Analytics shows.





原文链接

长按/扫码,有您的支持,我们会更加努力!







TOP 5 精选
回到顶部   回上一级
写文章

最新资讯




直播笔记


热点话题


精品论文


有你的鼓励
ShoelessCai 将更努力





文档免费。保护知识产权,保护创新。