新的国际货币IPhone?比黄金更值钱？

前言

When traveling to a foreign country, the exchange rate may not always be in your favor, but your iPhone is as good as gold -- and with the markup you can charge, it may be better than gold.

当你去异国他乡旅行时，你可能不会满意那里的货币汇率，但是你的IPhone却像金子一样值钱 --甚至IPHONE比黄金还有更多的涨价空间。

When Americans jet set around the world, why should they carry cash in their pockets when they can have iPhones in their suitcases? These days gold iPhones are as good as cash, maybe even better, depending on what country you're in. They also make great gifts for greasing the wheels of overseas business partner relationships.

当美国的飞机球游世界时，有了皮箱里的IPHONE口袋里为什么还要携带现金？现在黄金般的IPHONE跟现金一样，甚至比现金还值钱，这取决于在哪个国家。IPHONE可以作为非常不错的礼品，它可以很好的促进(贿赂)与海外商业伙伴的合作关系。

"For as long as I've been traveling, there are certain luxury goods that do well in certain places," says CEO Kyle Wiens of iFixit, a distributor of spare parts and provider of free repair advice.

iFixit是一家提供免费维修资讯的零配件经销商，CEO Wiens提到 “我旅行到过很多地方，一些奢侈品在一些特定的地方价值更高”。

"You should be able to take anything from the United States, smuggle it in with your luggage and sell for 10 percent over what you paid, because you're bypassing import duties and taxes," Wiens says.

“你应该可以带任何东西从美国去异国旅行，把它们偷偷藏在旅行箱里带出国至少能多卖10%的价钱，因为你逃掉了官税。”

Some high demand items, such as the iPhone, can be sold well over 10 percent of cost. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, an iPhone 5S with 16GB that costs $700 in the United States can be resold for $1,196 in Brazil, $1,012 in Greece, $998 in Italy. A gold iPhone 5S with 32GB that costs $815 in the United States goes for $1,130 in Italy. It's quite a big markup considering paltry blue-collar wages of locals in these countries.

一些高需求产品，如IPHONE，可以卖更高的价钱，不止多10%。根据Bloomberg Businessweek的报告，一个IPHONE 5S 在美国是$700，在巴西能卖到$1196，在希腊能卖到$1012，在意大利能卖$998。一个32GB土豪金版IPHONE 5S在美国卖$815，在意大利能卖到$1130。对于在这些国家蓝领工人微不足道的工资来讲，这算是很大的利润了。

用你的IPHONE可以买任何东西

Americans also trade iPhones for services, such as housekeeping and maybe even SCUBA diving. Wiens, who travels the world researching the flow of material goods, was on a diving trip in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, when the boat's captain proposed a trade: sell him iPhones from the United States at retail cost in exchange for a few SCUBA trips on Wiens' next visit.

美国人也用IPHONE交换一些服务，如家政服务等，甚至交换潜水娱乐的机会。Wiens在墨西哥卡波圣卢卡斯的一次潜水旅行后跟船长用iphone换了几次潜水的机会用于下次再来。

Wiens does sell a few iPhones at U.S. retail cost to his business partners in China whenever he goes, as a goodwill gesture. It's not always iPhones, either. On his last trip to South Africa, he was asked to bring Leatherman Wave tools, which sell for around $100 in the United States and $200 over there.

Wiens也曾以美国零售店的价格卖给过中国合作伙伴一些IPHONE以示友好，当然不仅仅只是IPHONE。在他上次去南美旅行时，曾被请求带一些莱泽曼海浪多功能刀具。这个在美国仅$100，在南美却翻了一倍$200。

Apple iPhones are some of the best U.S. luxury items to trade due to the relatively high probability that the iPhone is legit. Apple comes out with a new iPhone only once a year, and so most potential iPhone buyers have read about the latest model and its new features. With lesser-known phones, such as LG phones, people aren't as familiar with models and update cycles. Knowledgeable buyers are harder to trick, whereas confusion in the marketplace makes knock-offs easier to peddle.

由于IPHONE的相对较高合法性，IPHONE是可以用来交易的非常好的商品。苹果公司每年仅发布一次IPHONE新品，并且大多数潜在的IPHONE购买者了解它的型号和功能。对于那些不知名的手机，像LG手机，人们就不是很了解它的型号和更新周期。虽然很难欺诈经验丰富的购买者，但是混淆的市场中让假冒产品更容易卖出。

"With iPhones, you also have a shrink-wrapped box that's pretty much as good as cash, because people can identify and trust the packaging," Wiens says. "It's easy to tell that it's not a counterfeit."

“全新塑封的IPHONE更受欢迎，因为人们容易识别和相信它的真实性。”

IPHONE在中国独树一帜，击败大量竞争者

Of course, this isn't to say that knockoffs don't exist, especially in China, the copycat capital of the world. With any product that has a high black market resale value, copycats will ply their trade with vigor. Last year, China was awash with really bad iPhone knockoffs and even fake Apple stores.

当然，这不是说假冒产品不存在。尤其在中国，世界山寨之都，很多产品在其黑市中有一个很高再次销售价格，山寨产品也混的如鱼得水。去年，中国出现了大量高仿假冒IPHONE，甚至假冒的苹果商店。

When Apple comes out with a new iPhone, lines form around the corner, and many people in those lines are being paid $50 to buy two iPhones to be smuggled into China where they're marked up by several hundred dollars. Such high demand has created a sort of pirates' haven. Some shopping malls in China have floors of vendors selling fake iPhones, smuggled iPhones, unauthorized electronic parts and repair services.

当苹果公司发布了一个新的IPHONE产品，门口会排起长长的大队，有些投机取巧的人们会给正在排队中的购买者$50让他们带买，然后把这些IPHONE走私到中国换取更大利润。高需求创造了投机取巧的天堂。一些中国的商场有一层一层的零售商卖假冒的或走私的IPHONE，未授权的电子产品和维修服务。

Nevertheless, iPhones are fast becoming a hot commodity around the world, even in countries such as Cuba, where Raul Castro lifted a prohibition on Cubans having cell phones in their own names in 2008. Black market iPhone repair services have cropped up, as well as the number of iPhones, according to SFGate.

然而，IPHONE以最快速度成为了世界范围的日常商品，在古巴也一样，即使在古巴在2008年就颁布了一项禁令政策：古巴人的手机上必须刻有他们的名字。黑市的IPHONE维修服务也突然出现，跟IPHONE的数量一样多。

In an ironic twist, it's easy to imagine smuggled U.S. iPhones being traded for Cuban cigars.

讽刺的是，人们很容易联想到走私的IPHONE交换古巴雪茄。

原文：http://www.cio.com/article/748744/Are_iPhones_the_New_International_Currency_?page=2&taxonomyId=3220