In software, if a company is growing fast enough, all else is forgiven.
在软件领域，如果一家企业成长足够迅速，所有其他问题都会被原谅。
Xiaomi has extended this principle to hardware. The company raised its last round of capital at a reported $40bn valuation, on the back of becoming the biggest smartphone vendor in China.
小米(Xiaomi)则将这一原则扩张到了硬件领域。在有望成为中国最大的智能手机生产商之际，该公司在最新一轮融资中被估值400亿美元。
On Monday, Gartner released its quarterly smartphone market report. It did nothing to dilute the Xiaomi growth frisson. The company has more than 5 per cent of the global market, putting it in fourth place between Huawei and Lenovo. Its 16m units shipped in the quarter was 12m more than last year; only Apple came close, with 8m units added.
周一，高德纳(Gartner)公布了智能手机市场的季度报告，遮不住小米亮眼的强劲增长。该公司占全球市场的份额超过5%，处于华为(Huawei)和联想(Lenovo)之间，位居全球第四。三季度小米出货量1600万部，比去年同期增长1200万部。在出货量的增长上，只有苹果(Apple)的800万部与它最接近。
It is reassuring to find that Xiaomi makes money too. Last month the Wall Street Journal reported figures that the company presented to its lenders. They include $4.4bn in sales, and $566m in net profit last year, and a target of close to $1bn in profit this year. A margin of nearly 13 per cent is better than Samsung, the number one vendor by volume, manages (Samsung had an 18 per cent margin in mobile last year, when sales were higher).
小米的盈利状况也令人放心。上个月，《华尔街日报》(WSJ)曾报道过小米提交给银行的数据，显示去年小米实现了44亿美元的销售额、5.66亿美元的净利润，今年盈利目标则接近10亿美元。近13%的利润率比销量第一的生产商三星(Samsung)更高。（去年，三星在移动领域曾实现18%的利润率，当时其销售额也更高一些。）
The profits are nice; they do not matter much. When Xiaomi comes to the public markets — the numbers show that it could float at will — it will not need to prove that it can make money. If you sell lots of handsets, you can make a profit. Plenty of companies have done it. Motorola, BlackBerry and Nokia all spring to mind. A strong gross margin is enough to prove the point; at this early stage, Xiaomi should be focused on investment rather than net profit. Justifying a monster valuation will instead require evidence that customers will stay loyal to Xiaomi. Only one company has managed this for long: Apple, using a strong brand and a suite of services that increase switching costs.
小米的盈利状况虽然很不错，但盈利本身却没有那么重要。当小米公开上市时，它将无需证明自己的盈利能力——而以上数字显示，只要它愿意，随时可以上市。如果你能卖出很多手机，就具备盈利的能力，而许多企业都能做到这一点，我们马上就能想到摩托罗拉(Motorola)、黑莓(BlackBerry)和诺基亚(Nokia)。强劲的毛利足以证明盈利能力；在现在这样的早期阶段，小米的注意力更应该集中于投资，而不是净利润上。而巨额的估值要想站得住脚，就必须证明客户会保持对小米的忠诚度。只有苹果一家企业长时间做到了这一点，它凭借的是强大的品牌以及一整套服务，后者会提高顾客转投别家的成本。
Xiaomi’s brand is hot in China. It has a popular messaging app, and it is investing in services and content.
小米在中国人气很高，拥有一款广受欢迎的消息应用，还在投资于服务和内容。
It will take a few product cycles to know whether all this has made Xiaomi’s customers as sticky as Apple’s, despite the proliferation of alternatives at the low end of the market. A $40bn valuation makes sense for China’s Apple. China’s Nokia will be worth much less.
上述所有因素，是否在低端市场替代产品层出不穷的情况下，让小米获得了与苹果一样的用户粘性？这个问题的答案需要经过几个产品周期才能揭晓。如果是中国的“苹果”，400亿美元的估值是合理的。如果是中国的“诺基亚”，估值会低得多。