Apps for the old

面向老年人的應(yīng)用

Silver screens

大屏幕

SHANGHAI

The next big growth market for China’s tech ?rms

中國(guó)科技公司的下一個(gè)巨大的成長(zhǎng)型市場(chǎng)

Soon after dinner time, Xiangyang Park in central Shanghai transforms into a ballroom. Loudspeakers pump out old pop songs as elderly folk sway under the plane trees. A picture of geriatric nostalgia—until you meet Ms Shi and Mr Zhou, a couple in their 70s whose enthusiasm for the waltz is matched only by that for their smartphones. Mr Zhou reads online novels. Ms Shi watches far-?ung Chinese parks come alive with their own group dancing on Huoshan, a short-video app favoured by teens. Both love WeChat, a messaging app. “I can go without food, but not without my smartphone,” Ms Shi confesses.

晚飯后不久，位于上海市中心的襄陽(yáng)公園變成了一個(gè)跳舞場(chǎng)。伴隨著揚(yáng)聲器里播放著舊時(shí)的流行歌曲，老人們?cè)谖嗤?shù)下跳著廣場(chǎng)舞。但直到你遇見(jiàn)施女士和周先生，你就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)這是一幅屬于老人們令人懷舊的景象；他倆是一對(duì)70多歲的老夫婦，他們對(duì)華爾茲（廣場(chǎng)舞）的熱情只有對(duì)智能手機(jī)的熱情能與之媲美。周讀網(wǎng)絡(luò)小說(shuō)。石女士通過(guò)“火山小視頻”來(lái)觀看屬于她們的廣場(chǎng)舞，即使與屏幕另一端的公園相距甚遠(yuǎn)，他們自己的團(tuán)隊(duì)在火山跳舞?！盎鹕叫∫曨l”是一款深受青少年喜愛(ài)的短視頻應(yīng)用。兩人都喜歡即時(shí)通訊應(yīng)用——微信。石女士坦言道：“我可以不吃飯，但我不能離開(kāi)我的智能手機(jī)。”

詞匯

Ballroom/舞廳；跳舞場(chǎng)

Geriatric/老年人；老頭子

Nostalgia/鄉(xiāng)愁；懷舊之情

far-?ung/遙遠(yuǎn)的；廣泛的

confesses/承認(rèn)；坦白；懺悔

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She and her husband remain unusual. Less than one in three Chinese over 50 reported owning a smartphone in 2016, the latest year for which the Pew Research Centre, a think-tank, has data, half the share in America. A survey by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Tencent, which owns WeChat, found that only 17% frequently paid for purchases with mobile phones; close to half had never done so.

但她和她的丈夫依舊與眾不同。2016年，不到三分之一的50歲以上中國(guó)人擁有智能手機(jī)，這是智庫(kù)皮尤研究中心(Pew Research center)擁有的最近一年的數(shù)據(jù)，占美國(guó)智能手機(jī)市場(chǎng)份額的一半。中國(guó)社會(huì)科學(xué)院和運(yùn)營(yíng)微信的騰訊公司聯(lián)合進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn)，只有17%的人經(jīng)常用手機(jī)購(gòu)物;而將近一半的人從未用手機(jī)購(gòu)物過(guò)。

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Tech companies want to lure more Ms Shis and Mr Zhous online—and take a bigger slice of the 7trn yuan ($1trn) that Chinese seniors are expected to spend on consumer goods in 2020. To tech ?rms, the disconnectedness of China’s 250m-odd old, or 18% of the population, is an opportunity. Unlike the young, whose fragmented attention is fought over by thousands of apps, retirees are up for grabs. And once on the internet, they splurge. In 2017jd.com, a big e-commerce ?rm, found that they spent 2.3 times as much as the average user. Their typical deposit in Yu’E Bao, an online cash-management service controlled by Alibaba, a giant internet ?rm, is 7,000 yuan compared with 4,000 yuan across all ages.

科技公司希望吸引更多的石女士和周先生這樣的老年人上線，并在2020年渴望在7萬(wàn)億元人民幣(1萬(wàn)億美元)這一中國(guó)老年人在購(gòu)買(mǎi)消費(fèi)品中的預(yù)期消費(fèi)中分得更大的份額。對(duì)科技公司來(lái)說(shuō)，中國(guó)2.5億多老年人(占總?cè)丝?8%)的斷層是一個(gè)機(jī)遇。與年輕人不同的是，年輕人碎片化的注意力被成千上萬(wàn)的應(yīng)用程序爭(zhēng)奪，但退休人員的精力則是可以被爭(zhēng)奪。一旦上了網(wǎng)，他們就會(huì)大肆揮霍。2017年，大型電子商務(wù)公司京東發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們的花費(fèi)是平均用戶水平的2.3倍。他們?cè)谟囝~寶(由互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭阿里巴巴控股的在線現(xiàn)金管理服務(wù))的存款一般是7000元，而在全部年齡段的人存款的平均水平是4000元。

詞匯

Retiree/退休人員

Splurge/揮霍；賣(mài)弄

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Early adopters may be better-o? than a typical senior, rattled when shops refuse cash. But startups see rich pickings. “I Have A Partner”, a grey-dating app, debuted last year with bold fonts and voice messaging for slow typists. Tangdou Guangchang Wu (“Jelly Bean Square Dance”), which started out posting dance videos (with ?lters to iron out wrinkles), aspires to be a one-stop shop for the old. It reports over 200m downloads since its launch in 2015.

早期支付寶（老年）用戶可能比通常的老年人更富有，當(dāng)商店拒絕支付現(xiàn)金時(shí)，老年人們會(huì)感到惱火。但如今創(chuàng)業(yè)者們看到了老年領(lǐng)域的富裕的前景?！拔矣幸粋€(gè)伴侶”，一個(gè)去年推出的灰色約會(huì)應(yīng)用程序，為打字速度慢的人提供粗體字和語(yǔ)音信息?！疤嵌箯V場(chǎng)舞”(Jelly Bean Square Dance)最初是發(fā)布舞蹈視頻(用濾鏡抹去皺紋)，它立志成為老年人的一站式商店。據(jù)報(bào)道，自2015年推出以來(lái)，其下載量超過(guò)2億次。

詞匯

Rattled/擔(dān)憂的；緊張的；惱火的

Debut/初次登臺(tái)

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The big generalists hope to lock the oldies in early. The over-60s use four-?fths of their mobile data on WeChat, against 7% for those aged 18-35. In 2017 Tencent made a video of old-timers rapping about their confusion over tech to encourage children to set their parents up with WeChat Helper, an app assistant. People over 55 are now WeChat’s fastest-growing cohort. Last year Taobao, Alibaba’s online emporium, introduced a “pay-for-me” option for elderly customers to use with family members.

大的通才們希望能盡早鎖定老歌。60歲以上的人將其移動(dòng)流量五分之四花費(fèi)在微信上，而18-35歲的人只有7%。2017年，騰訊制作了一段老人們饒舌的視頻，講述他們對(duì)科技的困惑，鼓勵(lì)孩子們?yōu)樗麄兊母改柑峁?yīng)用助手微信幫助。55歲以上的人現(xiàn)在是微信增長(zhǎng)最快的群體。去年，阿里巴巴(Alibaba)旗下的在線商城淘寶推出了一項(xiàng)“親情付”服務(wù)，供老年客戶與家人一起使用。

詞匯

generalists/有多方面知識(shí)和經(jīng)驗(yàn)的）通才；多面手

emporium/商場(chǎng)，大百貨商店（復(fù)數(shù) emporiums或 emporia）

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The site broadcasts daily over 1,000 livestreaming shows aimed at them. Ele.me, a food-delivery service bought by Alibaba last year, is trialling meal and medicine deliveries for the elderly, and one-o? help with things like changing light bulbs. With the over-60s’ share of the population expected to double to one-third by 2050, there is wisdom in this strategy.

該網(wǎng)站每天播放超過(guò)1000個(gè)面向他們的直播節(jié)目（這里應(yīng)該是指淘寶直播）。阿里巴巴(Alibaba)去年收購(gòu)的外賣(mài)服務(wù)“餓了么”正在嘗試為老年人提供送餐和送藥服務(wù)，以及更換燈泡等一次性服務(wù)。到2050年，60歲以上人口的比例預(yù)計(jì)將翻一番，達(dá)到三分之一，而在老年網(wǎng)絡(luò)市場(chǎng)上創(chuàng)立一番事業(yè)是相當(dāng)明智的。

詞匯

Trial/試驗(yàn)，試用