关注社会:台湾帮得了宏达国际吗?

Three little letters. So much anxiety.

区区三个英文字母，却又如此让人不安。

Worries over the state of once-celebrated Taiwanese handset maker HTC have been soaring since Taiwan's Economic Minister Shih Yen-shiang urged the local public last week to buy more cell phones from company in an effort to turn what was once a fashion statement into an act of patriotism.

台湾经济部部长施颜祥上周敦促台湾民众购买更多宏达国际电子股份有限公司(HTC co.，简称：宏达国际)生产的手机，将曾经的时尚宣言变成爱国行动。自此之后，外界对这家昔日大名鼎鼎的台湾手机生产商现状的担忧就一直在加深。

Central bank Gov. Perng Fai-nan also said Taiwan should help bolster the company, despite having been spotted playing with an Apple iPhone at previous press conferences. Mr. Perng did own an iPhone the previous year as part of an effort to better understand Apple products, the bank said in a statement Tuesday.

台湾央行总裁彭淮南也说，台湾应该帮助宏达国际，尽管有人曾看到他此前在多场新闻发布会上使用苹果(Apple)的iPhone手机。台湾央行周二发表声明说，彭淮南上一年确曾有一部iPhone手机，但那是为了更好地了解苹果的产品。

The government's cheerleading efforts are understandable given HTC's troubles recently, but can the patriotism play save the company from sliding further?

鉴于宏达国际最近遇到的困境，台湾政府的加油鼓劲之举是可以理解的，但爱国主义戏码能够挽救宏达国际使其免于进一步走下坡路吗？

Formerly the pride of Taiwanese tech companies, HTC's share of the global smartphone market was a respectable 11% in the second quarter of 2011. Since then, the company's market share has fallen by half. In its most recent earnings call, HTC indicated that third-quarter revenue is likely to drop to half its year-earlier levels.

宏达国际曾是台湾科技公司的骄傲，2011年二季度它在全球智能手机市场的份额高达11%。但该公司目前的市场份额已经较那时下滑了一半。在近期的收益电话会议上，宏达国际暗示三季度营收可能较上年同期下滑一半。

HTC's hopes of becoming the world's leading smartphone maker were long ago quashed by Apple and Samsung, which have poured billions of dollars in marketing to differentiate themselves in a market where almost all phones carry advanced and similar features, analysts say.

分析人士说，宏达国际成为世界上最大智能手机生产商的希望早就被苹果和三星(Samsung)粉碎了。苹果和三星斥资数十亿美元用于产品营销，以便让自己的手机在几乎所有手机都拥有先进且类似功能的市场上别具一格。

The Taiwanese firm had hoped its 'killer' One series smartphone, which features a high-performance camera, would turn things around in the first half of 2012. But a report from technology research agency Gartner dated Tuesday showed that HTC's ranking in the global handset market in the second quarter slipped further to the eighth place, a notch lower than a year ago.

2012年上半年，这家台湾公司曾希望自己的“杀手口”One系列智能手机──该系列智能手机的主要卖点是配有高性能摄像头──能够扭转公司的颓势。但科技市场研究公司Gartner周二的一份报告显示，二季度宏达国际在全球手机市场的排名进一步下滑，至第八位，比上年降了一位。

Institutional investors have exited en masse: HTC's share price in Taipei is now around US$8, less than a fifth of its all-time high US$43 just 16 months ago. The company has been likened to beleaguered Blackberry maker Research in Motion and was even recently rumored to be a takeover target.

机构投资者已经大批撤离。宏达国际在台北上市的股票目前约为每股8美元，不到16个月前的历史最高点每股43美元的五分之一。人们将其与陷入困境的黑莓(Blackberry)生产商Research in Motion相提并论，最近甚至有传闻说宏达国际成为了收购目标。

Over the past several years, when banana or orange prices in Taiwan dived due to either production gluts or warm weather, the government would buy thousands of metric tons of locally-grown produce to help the farmers, and urged the public to consumer more fruit. But analysts are skeptical the same gambit will work in HTC's case.

过去几年中，在台湾香蕉或橙子的价格因产量过剩或天气过于温暖而大幅下跌时，台湾政府会买进数千吨本地产农产品来帮助农户，并呼吁民众消费更多的水果。但分析人士怀疑同样的方法对宏达国际是否会有效。

'HTC phones are not oranges. If HTC phones are Taiwan's 'wax apples' and are unique, even if they are slightly expensive, people will love them and the government doesn't have to say anything,' said Chen Po-chih, head of a private economic research agency Taiwan Thinktank.

民间经济研究机构台湾智库(Taiwan Thinktank)负责人陈博志说，宏达国际的手机不是橙子，如果宏达国际是台湾的莲雾并且是独一无二的，就算略微贵一点，人们也会喜欢的，政府什么都不用说。

The island's social media users were likewise skeptical.

台湾社交媒体用户也持类似的怀疑态度。

'I will give HTC another chance only if it really improves,' wrote Facebook user Chuang Chia-wei. 'It's a free market.'

Facebook用户Chuang Chia-wei写道，只有宏达国际真的改进了，我才会再给它一次机会，这是一个自由市场。

Some analysts said HTC's domestic popularity tumbled further in January, after Chairwoman Cher Wang said touched a political nerve in Taiwan by referring to HTC as 'a Chinese brand.'

一些分析人士说，今年1月，宏达国际董事长王雪红称其是一个“中国品牌”，这触动了台湾民众的政治神经，该公司在台湾的人气进一步暴跌。

Taiwanese people's general preference of foreign brands is also another problem facing HTC domestically, they said.

分析人士说，台湾民众普遍喜欢外国品牌，这是宏达国际在台湾面临的又一个问题。

Then there's the question of how much impact Taiwanese consumers, who number 23 million, can have on a company that ships between 30 and 35 million handsets a year.

此外，对于一个手机出货量每年在3,000万到3,500万部的公司来说，台湾2,300万的消费者能带来多大帮助也是个问题。

In a bid to boost employee morale and prioritize areas that need to be improved, HTC Chief Executive Peter Chou told staff in an internal email obtained by Dow Jones Newswires on Wednesday that the 15-year-old Taiwanese company will have to work on its products, quality, brand awareness and internal communication.

为鼓舞员工士气，厘清需要优先改进的领域，宏达国际首席执行长周永明在一份内部电子邮件中对员工说，这家成立了15年的台湾公司将必须专注于产品、质量、品牌知名度和内部沟通。道琼斯通讯社周三拿到了这份电子邮件。

Despite that, Mr. Chou told staff they 'have every reason to remain confident,' citing new products in the pipeline and the company's strength in innovation, and urged them not to be influenced by market talk.

尽管如此，周永明对员工说，鉴于公司正在研发的新产品和公司的创新优势，员工完全有理由保持十足的信心，他还敦促员工不要受市场传言的影响。