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英語流利說 第16天

帶著問題聽講解

Q1: 如何理解“計劃報廢”

Q2: “反託斯拉”是什麼意思?用英語如何表達

Q3: 你覺得罰款對於規範蘋果和三星公司的企業行為有效嗎

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Apple and Samsung fined for deliberately slowing down phones

Apple and Samsung are being fined €10m and €5m respectively in Italy for the “planned obsolescence” of their smartphones.

An investigation launched in January by the nation’s competition authority found that certain smartphone software updates had a negative effect on the performance of the devices.

Believed to be the first ruling of its kind against smartphone manufacturers, the investigation followed accusations that operating system updates for older phones slowed them down, thereby encouraging the purchase

of new phones.

In a statement the antitrust(反托拉斯) watchdog said “Apple and Samsung implemented dishonest commercial practices” and that operating system updates “caused serious malfunctions and significantly reduced performance, thus accelerating phones’ substitution”.

It added the two firms had not provided clients adequate information about the impact of the new software “or any means of restoring the original functionality of the products”.

Samsung told owners of its Galaxy Note 4 phone to install a new version of Google’s Android operating system intended for the more recent Galaxy Note 7, but which users claimed rendered the old model sluggish.

Likewise, Apple told iPhone 6 owners to install an operating system designed for the iPhone 7, leading to problems for owners of the older model.

The Italian antitrust authority opened its investigation following customer complaints around the same time as a similar probe in France, which has yet to conclude.

A Samsung spokesperson said the company was disappointed by the decision and intends to appeal the fine: “Samsung did not issue any software update that reduced the Galaxy Note 4’s performance. In contrast, Samsung has always released software updates enabling our customers to have the best experience possible.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

蘋果和三星因故意讓手機變慢遭罰款

由於“計劃報廢”自家生產的智慧手機,蘋果和三星在義大利分別被處以 1000 萬歐元和 500 萬歐元的罰款。

義大利反壟斷部門在 1 月份啟動的一項調查發現,某些智慧手機軟體的更新對裝置的效能造成了負面影響。

該調查被認為是第一個針對製造商“計劃報廢”智慧手機的處罰決定。這項調查開始前,有指控稱老款手機上作業系統的更新會導致手機變慢,以此來鼓勵消費者購買新款手機。

反壟斷監管機構在一份宣告中表示,“蘋果和三星採取了不誠實的商業行為”,同時,作業系統的更新“造成了手機嚴重的功能失常,顯著降低了效能,從而加速了舊手機的替換”。

這份宣告補充說道,這兩家公司沒有向客戶提供足夠的資訊,說明新的作業系統的影響“或任何恢復產品原有功能的手段”。

三星讓“Note 4”型手機使用者安裝為更新款手機“Note 7”設計的谷歌安卓新版作業系統,然而使用者聲稱新版作業系統讓“Note 4”手機的速度變慢了。

同樣的, 蘋果讓“iPhone 6”手機使用者安裝為“iPhone 7”設計的作業系統,導致了老款手機使用者的一系列問題。

義大利反壟斷機構在接到客戶的投訴後展開調查。法國也在幾乎同一時間展開了類似的調查,該調查尚未得出結論。

一位三星發言人表示,該公司對此決定感到失望,並打算對這項處罰提出上訴:“三星沒有釋出過任何降低‘Note 4’效能的軟體更新。與此相反,三星一直在釋出能夠使我們使用者獲得儘可能最佳體驗的軟體更新。”

蘋果沒有立即對此事的評論請求作出迴應。