在搜索之外 谷歌已經有了另一項快速增長的業務

In five years, Google Play has gone from being an upstart marketplace for mobile phone apps to a mammoth media hub.

在五年的時間裏，谷歌應用商店Google Play已從新興手機應用市場成長爲大型媒體中心。

On Thursday’s second-quarter earnings call, Google’s outgoing Chief Business Officer Nikesh Arora all-but-said as much. In addition to apps, it now sells now sells digital movies, TV shows and music to the more than one billion people worldwide who own Android phones and tablets.

上週四，在谷歌（Google）第二季度收益電話會議中，即將離職的谷歌首席商務官尼科什o阿羅拉表示。除應用外，Google Play現在還向全球10億多Android手機和平板用戶銷售數字電影、電視劇和音樂。

It “continues to grow at breakneck speed,” Arora said on the call.

阿羅拉稱，Google Play平臺“仍在飛速發展”。

Google doesn’t break out numbers for just how well Google Play is doing. But sales have steadily grown into the second largest source of revenues behind the company’s long-standing cash cow, advertising.

谷歌並未公佈Google Play的具體業績。但該業務的銷售額一直穩步增長，現已成爲谷歌的第二大收入來源，僅次於該公司一直以來最賺錢的廣告業務。

Finding alternative sources of revenue is critical to Google as it tries to offset the inevitable slowing growth in its online ad business. Selling apps and entertainment for mobile device can be an important way to keep Wall Street investors happy along with making its operating system more attractive to consumers and device manufacturers.

谷歌在線廣告業務的增長放緩不可避免，要抵消這一不利影響，關鍵在於尋找新的收入來源。而銷售針對移動設備的應用程序和娛樂產品，不僅能令華爾街的投資者滿意，同時也能增加谷歌操作系統對消費者以及設備製造商的吸引力。

Citigroup analyst Mark May predicts Google Play’s annual revenues will grow from $1.3 billion in 2013 to $5.2 billion in 2017. Those figures remain a fraction of the $10 billion in iTunes sales Apple reported last year, but Android’s momentum is undeniable.

花旗集團（Citigroup）分析師馬克o梅預測，到2017年，Google Play的年收入將從2013年的13億美元增至52億美元。相比蘋果去年公佈的iTunes的100億美元銷售額，Google Play可謂相形見絀。但不可否認的是，Android的發展勢頭十分強勁。

Nearly four out of five smartphone owners worldwide have an Android device – twice the market share Android had three years ago – according to IDC. Apple’s iPhone, meanwhile, has a 15% market share.

據國際數據公司稱，全球智能手機用戶中，近80%的人擁有Android設備，這個比例比三年前翻了一倍。而蘋果iPhone的市場佔有率爲15％。

That’s seriously impressive for an operating system some have criticized for being less polished and unified than Apple’s. Android’s strengths have been its ability to be customized by phone makers – something that Amazon , with its forthcoming Fire Phone, and HTC with its “Sense” software – have tried to take advantage of.

Android取得這一成績實屬不易，因爲它常被人指責品質和統一性不如蘋果操作系統。Android的優勢在於，手機制造商能根據自身需要對其進行定製，亞馬遜（Amazon）即將推出的Fire手機以及宏達電（HTC）的“Sense”軟件都利用了這一點。

But that same “open” nature breeds complications because there are hundreds, if not thousands, of different phones, using different variations of Android, a situation referred to as “fragmentation.” Users of some versions of Android can’t upgrade their phone’s software at the same speed other users can. It’s because of fragmentation that Android security remains what one tech writer colorfully called a “toxic hellstew.”

然而，Android的開放性也帶來一些問題，因爲有上百成千款手機採用不同版本的Android，這種情況被稱爲“碎片化”。某些Android版本的用戶無法與其他用戶一樣快速升級自己的手機軟件。由於碎片化問題，有科技作家稱Android的安全性“一塌糊塗”。

But such quirks and challenges will do little to block Android from steamrolling mobile around the world. And Google Play’s rise as a serious source of revenue for Google is just more evidence of that.

但這樣的嘲諷和挑戰也將無法阻止Android操作系統在全球手機市場上攻城略地。Google Play成爲谷歌重要的收入來源也證實了這一點。

Google Play’s chronology is a bit convoluted. It launched in 2008 as an app store called Android Market. In 2012, it merged with Google Music and was renamed Google Play.

Google Play的成長過程頗爲曲折。2008年，谷歌推出名爲Android Market的應用程序商店。2012年，Android Market與谷歌音樂合併，並更名Google Play。

The Play store had 1.5 million apps available as of June, more than the 1.2 million offered by Apple’s own App Store. In terms of entertainment, the sprawling marketplace offers many recent movie releases and TV episodes for rental or purchase, bestselling e-books, periodicals and music. The goal is obvious: Android users should be able to access as much of their digital content as possible from the Play Store wherever they are, tapping and swiping among Disney’s Frozen, George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones or Lorde’s chart-smashing Pure Heroine album on a dime.

截止今年6月份，Google Play平臺上有150萬個應用程序，超過了蘋果應用程序商店中的120萬。在娛樂方面，用戶可在廣闊的Google Play平臺上租賃或購買新近上映的電影、電視節目、暢銷電子圖書、期刊和音樂。Google Play的目標很明確：讓Android用戶無論身在何處，都能通過該平臺訪問儘可能多的數字內容，包括迪士尼（Disney）的《冰雪奇緣》（Frozen）、喬治o馬丁的《權力的遊戲》（Game of Thrones）以及洛德橫掃各大排行榜的《天生英雄》（Pure Heroine）專輯。

In the call Thursday, Google bragged about landing deals for more content in Play including access to television programs from CBS and Viacom . Google takes a commission on all sales through Play and gives the rest to app developers or copyright holders.

在上週四的電話會議上，谷歌稱已達成相關協議，將在Google Play平臺上引進更多內容，包括來自哥倫比亞廣播公司（CBS）和維亞康姆（Viacom）的電視節目。谷歌對於通過Google Play銷售的內容抽取一部分佣金，其餘收入則歸應用程序開發者或內容版權持有人享有。

Google CFO Patrick Pichette, credited “apps and content” for helping lift sales in the company’s “other revenues” in the quarter by 53% year-over-year to $1.6 billion. “Other revenues” include services for businesses along with sales of its Chromebook computers.

谷歌首席財務官帕特里克o皮切特稱，“應用程序和內容”業務使谷歌“其他收入”項的營收在二季度同比攀升53％，增至16億美元。“其他收入”包括企業級業務，以及Chromebook電腦的銷售。

“I think its important to step back and look at what the Google Play team has achieved,” explained Arora. “I mean its — it come from nowhere. It’s a phenomenal platform which provides services, apps, content around the world.”

阿羅拉解釋稱：“我認爲我們應當退一步來審視Google Play團隊已經取得的成績。Google Play曾經默默無聞，而如今，它已成爲向全球用戶提供服務、應用程序和內容的重要平臺。”