????阿里巴巴集團周一宣布，對魅族投資5.9億美元。盡管魅族在中國知名度和市場份額較弱，但在很長一段時間內，魅族是國內最聰敏的電子設備制造商之一。在本世紀的頭十年里，魅族推出過熱門MP3播放器和中國最早的智能手機之一，當時該公司將其稱為“iPhone殺手”。

????這筆巨額投資讓阿里巴巴獲得了魅族的少數(shù)股份，但具體數(shù)量尚未披露。8個月前，阿里巴巴整體收購了中國最大的移動瀏覽器公司優(yōu)視科技。此舉是阿里巴巴意欲分食中國蓬勃發(fā)展的智能手機市場的首個信號。

????在中國，智能手機用戶超過5.5億，是一個利潤豐厚的市場。舉例來說，蘋果公司的iPhone等產(chǎn)品最近被評為中國大陸首選高檔禮物。在中國的十幾家初創(chuàng)智能手機廠商中，最成功的是小米。在于去年年底完成融資后，小米的估值達到了460億美元，成為世界上價值最高的私人初創(chuàng)企業(yè)，而它從2011年才開始銷售智能手機。

????市場研究公司Counterpoint Research董事尼爾?沙哈認為：“這次（對魅族的）投資和其他類似行為都是在‘押注未來’，而押注的對象是有一定前途，而且可能在智能手機競爭中成為黑馬的公司。實際上，阿里巴巴斥巨資鎖定了一些很酷、很搶眼的品牌，以擴張自己的生態(tài)系統(tǒng)。”

????同時，阿里巴巴在競爭中正迎頭趕上。它的對手騰訊已經(jīng)通過參股金山軟件以及奇虎360和小米成為合作伙伴，并于去年12月向深圳智能手機廠商酷派投資4億美元。如果以此為標準，阿里巴巴已經(jīng)處于落后位置。

????魅族手機目前使用免費的谷歌安卓操作系統(tǒng)。阿里巴巴表示，它的阿里云OS移動操作系統(tǒng)將集成到魅族手機中。有幾家很小的中國手機廠商使用阿里云OS，但該系統(tǒng)在國內基本處于默默無聞狀態(tài)——中國80%的智能手機都使用安卓系統(tǒng)。推廣自己的操作系統(tǒng)是阿里巴巴對亞馬遜Kindle Fire業(yè)務的借鑒。由此，阿里巴巴可以打造一個平臺，讓消費者的手機和阿里巴巴的購物和娛樂網(wǎng)站實現(xiàn)無縫對接（只不過阿里巴巴在這方面沒有亞馬遜走的那么遠，它把制造手機的工作留給了魅族）。

????阿里巴巴首席技術官王堅在一份聲明中表示，“投資魅族代表著阿里巴巴集團生態(tài)系統(tǒng)的一次大規(guī)模擴張。”該公司女發(fā)言人拒絕對這次投資發(fā)表其他評論。

????阿里巴巴為自己的操作系統(tǒng)找到了新的（而且是更大的）使用者，魅族則有機會通過阿里巴巴的一系列電子商務平臺提高自己的銷售規(guī)模，這對一些品牌來說是生死攸關的大事。去年雙十一期間，阿里巴巴的電商平臺成為網(wǎng)購首選，小米手機則在24小時內實現(xiàn)了2.5億美元的銷售額。魅族發(fā)言人稱，這次投資將讓魅族在定價和產(chǎn)品線方面變得更大膽，從而實現(xiàn)今年2000萬美元的手機銷售目標。

????借助阿里巴巴的操作系統(tǒng)，魅族強勢回歸，而這有可能再次點燃熄滅已久的戰(zhàn)火。兩年多以前，谷歌曾指責阿里云OS使用了安卓源代碼。當時宏碁（Acer）宣布將推出基于阿里云OS的手機，谷歌隨即表示強烈抗議，理由是宏碁已經(jīng)同意不采用“非兼容”的安卓版本。阿里巴巴則回應稱，阿里云OS由自己的技術人員用了三年時間開發(fā)而成。但基于阿里云OS 的宏碁手機并未上市。

????從那以后，這一戰(zhàn)事便淡出了人們的視線。但Counterpoint Research董事沙哈指出，阿里巴巴攜手魅族“可能極大地改善阿里巴巴的產(chǎn)品結構和零售市場布局，以及產(chǎn)品的整體清晰度”。而更高的產(chǎn)品清晰度有可能再次引起谷歌的關注。

????眼下，這筆5.9億美元的巨額投資讓這家電商巨擘在智能手機領域獲得了一席之地，也讓中國市場的競爭變得比以前更加激烈。（財富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：Charlie

????審稿：李翔

????Alibaba Group announced Monday that it invested $590 million in one of China’s lesser-known smartphone makers, Meizu, a company with small market share but a long history as one of the country’s smartest device makers. In the 2000s it turned out popular Mp3 players and one of China’s first smartphones it called an iPhone-killer.

????The big investment, which earned Alibaba a minority but undisclosed stake in Meizu, comes eight months after Alibaba bought outright China’s largest mobile browser company, UCWeb. That purchase was the first signal that Alibaba wanted a piece of China’s booming smartphone landscape.

????China’s more than 550 million smartphone users represent a lucrative market. Apple’s iPhone and products, for instance, were recently named the top luxury gift to give someone in Mainland China. Xiaomi, the most successful of China’s dozens of smartphone startups, raised money at a $46 billion valuation late last year to become the highest-valued private startup in the world—after only selling phones since 2011.

????“The (Meizu) investment like any other is ‘future betting’ on a company which has some promise and could be a dark-horse in the smartphone race,” says Counterpoint Research director Neil Shah. “Alibaba is essentially locking-in cool and bright brands to expand its ecosystem with its investment spree.”

????It’s also catching up with the competition. Rival Tencent has a partnership with Xiaomi through their mutual stake in software maker Kingsoft and Qihoo, another Chinese Internet player specializing in security, invested $400 million in Shenzhen-based smartphone maker Coolpad in December. By those standards, Alibaba has been behind the game.

????Alibaba said its mobile operating system, YunOS, will be integrated into Meizu’s phones that now run on Google’s free Android operating system. A handful of tiny Chinese smartphone makers use YunOS, but the system is basically unknown in China where 80% of smartphones run on Android. In pushing its own operating system, Alibaba is taking a page from Amazon’s playbook and creating a platform on which consumers are seamlessly plugged into its shopping and entertainment sites through their phone. (Only Alibaba isn’t taking the concept quite as far as Amazon—it will leave building the phones to Meizu.)

????“The investment in Meizu represents a significant expansion of the Alibaba Group ecosystem,” said Jian Wang, Chief Technology Officer of Alibaba, in a statement. An Alibaba spokeswoman declined to comment more on the deal.

????While Alibaba gets a new (bigger) host for its operating system, Meizu gets a shot at greater sales across Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms, which can spell life or death for brands. On the biggest online shopping day last year in China, Single’s Day in November, when Alibaba’s platforms become the de facto shopping destinations, Xiaomi sold $250 million worth of phones in 24 hours. A Meizu spokesperson said the investment will help the company get more aggressive in pricing and product lines to reach its sales goal of 20 million phones this year.

????A strong comeback for Meizu, using Alibaba’s operating system, could resurrect an old fight. More than two years ago Google protested that YunOS, also known as Aliyun, was ripping off Android’s source code. When Acer announced a phone based on the operating system, after Acer had agreed not to ship “non-compatible” Android versions, Google cried foul. Alibaba responded that its engineers spent three years developing the operating system. Acer’s phone was never released.

????The arguments haven’t been raised since. But Shah of Counterpoint says for Meizu, the Alibaba tie-up “could significantly improve its product portfolio, retail presence and overall visibility for its products.” That greater visibility could also bring renewed scrutiny from Google.

????For now, Alibaba’s $590 million splurge on Monday earns the e-commerce giant a play in smartphones and makes the China market even more competitive than it was.