VOA慢速英語:An Taxi-Hailing Apps Launches In Johannesburg

From VOA Learning English, this is the Technology Report.

這里是美國之音慢速英語科技報道。

Getting a taxi ride in New York city is as easy as standing along a street and raising your hand high in the air. In Johannesburg, getting a taxi ride just got even easier, thanks to a new software application. SnappCab lets users call a taxi simple by touching the screen of their smartphone.

在紐約打車很容易，只用站在街邊揮揮手。在約翰內(nèi)斯堡打車更加容易，這要?dú)w功于一款新的軟件應(yīng)用程序。SnappCab使得用戶叫出租車只用觸摸他們智能手機(jī)的屏幕。

Anton van Metzinger is the managing director of SnappCab. He and two partners launched their smartphone app in September. He explains how it works.

Anton van Metzinger是SnappCab的董事長。他和兩位合伙人于今年9月推出了他們的智能手機(jī)應(yīng)用程序。他解釋了這款程序如何工作。

"You open the app. And you literally with two clicks of a button you can order a cab. Using your GPS, you click the button, you electronically hail the cab, it connects you to the closest cabs in the area. So I get the cab driver's name, I get the cab driver's company ID he or she works for, their vehicle registration details and the vehicle description. So I know, as the passenger I know exactly which cab is coming to me and I can now track it on my smartphone," said van Metzinger.

他說，“打開這款應(yīng)用，通過GPS系統(tǒng)，簡單地點(diǎn)擊兩次就能電子化地叫車，它會聯(lián)系該地區(qū)最近的出租車。這樣你就能知道出租車司機(jī)的名字和他(她)就職的公司名稱，車輛的登記信息和車輛描述。作為乘客，我就知道哪輛車過來接我，并在手機(jī)上跟蹤它。”

When the vehicle arrives, the app sends a message to the passenger. When the ride is done, He or she can either pay the driver directly, or pay using the smartphone.

當(dāng)車輛到達(dá)時，該應(yīng)用會給乘客發(fā)一個消息。當(dāng)打車完成時，乘客可以直接付款，或使用智能手機(jī)付款。

"We've been in the market only for about a month now and we already see that the credit card payment option is very popular, in fact more popular than we expected initially... People are getting used to the idea of online shopping, they're getting used to the idea of mobile. We predict that a year down the line, the majority of our transactions will be by credit card," said Metzinger.

“目前我們進(jìn)入這個市場只有一個月左右，我們看到信用卡支付選項(xiàng)非常受歡迎，實(shí)際上比我們最初預(yù)期的更受歡迎。人們逐步習(xí)慣于網(wǎng)上購物，習(xí)慣于手機(jī)。我們預(yù)計(jì)，接下來的一年大部分的交易將會通過信用卡完成。”

But critics say the move to financial transaction through mobile apps has been slow. Arthur Goldstuck is managing director of World Wide Worx, he also marks as a writer who specializes in South African technology. He says many South Africans are not get ready to make online purchases by telephone. He says they lack trust in the technology.

但批評人士稱，通過移動應(yīng)用程序進(jìn)行金融交易的進(jìn)展非常緩慢。Arthur Goldstuck是World Wide Worx公司的董事長，也被認(rèn)為是擅長于南非科技的作家。他說，許多南非人都沒做好通過電話進(jìn)行網(wǎng)上購物的準(zhǔn)備。他說，人們對科技缺乏信任。

"There's a phenomenon in this country and probably across Africa, that we call the digital participation curve. And it shows that the average Internet user needs to have been online for five years or more before they're ready to start transacting online," said Goldstuck.

他說，“在南非，甚至可能在整個非洲都存在一種現(xiàn)象，我們稱之為數(shù)字化參與曲線。該曲線顯示，一般的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶需要在線5年或更長時間，才會做好進(jìn)行網(wǎng)上交易的準(zhǔn)備。”

But there have been success stories. An app called Powertime was launched in 2009, it sells pre-paid, or pay-as-you-go electricity. Before Powertime, power users would have to go to a fueling station or store to buy pre-paid electricity.

但南非已經(jīng)有一些成功案例。一款名為Powertime的應(yīng)用程序于2009年被推出，該應(yīng)用出售預(yù)付電費(fèi)。在Powertime推出之前，電力用戶不得不到加油站或商店購買預(yù)付電費(fèi)。”

"What I find that is working in South Africa, is if you build an app that is relevant to the country because it solves a local problem. Kind of a local app for a local problem. And I think that was part of the success of Powertime. It was a very, very significant issue in South Africa to buy pre-paid electricity,"said Lacour.

“我發(fā)現(xiàn)在南非如果開發(fā)和該國相關(guān)的應(yīng)用就會成功，因?yàn)樗鉀Q了一個本地的問題。有點(diǎn)像是本地應(yīng)用解決本地問題。我認(rèn)為這是Powertime成功的部分原因。在南非購買預(yù)付電費(fèi)是一個非常顯著的問題。”

With the group of dependable customers, Powertime has now moved into paying for other services, like water bills and airtime for mobile phones.

有了這群可靠用戶，Powertime現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)進(jìn)入其它服務(wù)支付領(lǐng)域，像是水費(fèi)和手機(jī)話費(fèi)。

There are an estimated 14.7 million smartphones registered with South African telecom networks. That number is sure to grow as local smartphone prices drop below $100 and as South African technology companies began launching smartphones of their own.

預(yù)計(jì)有1470萬用戶在南非電信網(wǎng)絡(luò)注冊。隨著本地手機(jī)價格降到100美元以下，以及南非的科技公司開始推出他們自己的智能手機(jī)，該數(shù)字無疑會繼續(xù)增長。