Passage 4 Google Challenges IPhone with Launch of Nexus One Mobile
谷歌进军移动手机市场 《卫报》

[00:01]Google is expected to launch its hotly-expected new mobile phone today
[00:08]in its most direct challenge yet to Apple's hugely popular iPhone.
[00:15]The Nexus One, which boasts a highly-developed touch screen
[00:20]and other enhancements（提升）, is due to be unveiled
[00:25]at Google's headquarters in Silicon Valley.
[00:29]Precise details of the launch - including final prices
[00:34]and information on when it will go on sale in Britain
[00:40]are still unconfirmed, though people guess
[00:44]that most probably it will be priced at $530.
[00:51]The phone is based on Google's Android software,
[00:56]which it first launched two years ago as a way of moving sideways
[01:03]into the mobile market. Experts said that the phone
[01:09]was an improvement over other recent Google-based phones,
[01:14]particularly the Motorola Droid, which launched in the US before Christmas.
[01:22]While the handset may not be a revolutionary departure from its forerunners,
[01:29]Google has worked closely with the manufacturer HTC
[01:35]to make significant improvements that it hopes
[01:38]will help it break into the mainstream.
[01:42]The Nexus One boasts a 5 megapixel camera compared
[01:48]with the iPhone's 3 megapixels and has a 3.7in screen.
[01:55]The decision by Google to push forward on its own,
[02:00]rather than take a back seat to a more established mobile phone company,
[02:06]is perhaps one of the most significant steps.
[02:12]Despite a flood of Android handsets in the last year,
[02:18]developed by companies including Samsung and Motorola,
[02:24]Google decided to oversee the launch of the Nexus One itself.
[02:31]The project had been running behind closed doors for several months,
[02:37]but attempts to keep the launch secret fell by the roadside before Christmas,
[02:43]after thousands of Google employees
[02:46]were given the phones as gifts from the company.
[02:51]Early sightings of a mysterious new device led the company
[02:56]to issue a statement saying that staff were working to
[03:01]"test out a new technology and help improve it" .
[03:06]While the iPhone remains the acknowledged market leader in the mobile world
[03:13]more profitable and trend-setting than anything else in the mobile phone market
[03:20]for years - a rabble of challengers is closing in fast.
[03:26]Google hopes that it can get a foothold in the lucrative mobile phone market
[03:33]and by doing so build links to hundreds of millions of people around the world,
[03:41]and use the information they can provide it. As a result of these plans,
[03:48]the company has invested heavily in its Android mobile software,
[03:54]which it has been offering for free to phone manufacturers in an attempt
[04:00]to get them to use it.
[04:03]The timing of the event is clearly intended as a snub to the company's rivals.
[04:10]Apple is expected to announce its own new device
[04:16]rumoured to be a touchscreen computer later this month,
[04:20]while Google's chief rival, Microsoft,
[04:24]is due to open the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.