????極具個人魅力的eBay首席執行官梅格?惠特曼于2008年離開該公司。eBay隨后開始陷入麻煩，這家電子商務巨頭的業務開始下滑。eBay的賣家仍然依賴該網站，但他們開始厭倦該公司不斷提高收費的做法。他們大聲甚至是犀利的表達自己的不滿。當該公司的財務業績開始受到影響（這在一定程度上是因為該公司計劃不周，斥資25億美元收購Skype），投資者們也開始感到厭煩。eBay股價暴跌，在2009年降至約10美元的低點。

????但后來情況大變。到2009年年底，eBay的收入從上年的85億美元增至87億美元。而且盡管麻煩纏身，該公司仍然獲得24億美元的利潤。2011年，eBay大獲成功，收入達到117億美元，而利潤更是高達32億美元，另華爾街震驚不已。eBay的股價也出現回升，從年初至今已大漲51％，達到45.85美元。去年，eBay的股價上漲了56％。eBay似乎打破了互聯網公司的宿命。

????那么，究竟發生了什么？

????答案是iPhone。巴克萊資本（Barclays Capital）分析師安東尼?迪克萊蒙特在致投資者的最新報告中寫道：“eBay搭上了移動互聯網的順風車。這股風潮為eBay帶來了源源不斷的客流，而其價格和利潤卻沒有損失（對于在線廣告則是災難）。”確實如此，根據尼爾森（Nielsen）的調查數據，整個6月份，47%的美國智能手機用戶（約4,500萬）使用了手機購物程序。其中，1,300萬獨立用戶訪問了eBay以購買商品，亞馬遜（Amazon）緊隨其后，吸引到了1,200萬獨立用戶。

????尼爾森數據發布前一個月，eBay曾向投資者報告稱，公司在移動領域的投資將獲得豐厚的回報。eBay總裁兼首席執行官約翰?多納霍在上月的營收會議上表示：“我們預計eBay和貝寶（PayPal）在2012年的移動交易量將分別創下100億美元新高，是2011年的兩倍以上。移動交易和支付發展極為驚人，而這一切在幾年前甚至還不存在。”

????貝寶發展喜人。eBay表示貝寶的活躍注冊賬號數在上月已達1.132億，比去年增加了13%。上季度，貝寶營收增長了26%，達到14億美元，幾乎可以媲美eBay的電子商務業務，后者上季度貢獻了16億美元的營收。

????當然，eBay曾經是世界頂尖的互聯網公司。競爭對手們已經把目光瞄準了eBay的核心業務。說到消費購物和移動領域，亞馬遜自然是eBay最大的競爭對手。在移動電子商務應用程序使用量上，亞馬遜緊隨eBay，排名第二，用戶們正在瘋狂使用這家電子商務巨頭的移動應用。更重要的是，亞馬遜市場允許商家們直接向消費者銷售自己產品。（這些產品有時是全新的，有些則是二手貨。）

????亞馬遜和eBay都在爭奪同樣的用戶。不過亞馬遜的資本更為雄厚。該公司去年營收480億美元，利潤6.31億美元。換句話說，亞馬遜非常龐大。迄今為止，還沒有哪家獨立公司能在營收或知名度上趕上亞馬遜。

????貝寶則是eBay的核心資產。不過，許多公司正在試圖挑戰貝寶，成為支付市場的主流廠商。例如，谷歌（Google）推出了Checkout——類似貝寶的在線支付平臺。該公司試圖引入近場通信技術，將Checkout與谷歌錢包相結合，打造新的移動支付方案。

????盡管如此，分析人士不一定認為eBay將在未來數月和數年遭遇困境。投資公司Baird分析師科林?塞巴斯蒂安上月將eBay目標股價從每股45美元提高至47美元，塞巴斯蒂安在告知投資者該變動的報告中寫道，eBay“在移動商務和支付領域仍屬于早期領導者，其他有些公司根本尚未站穩腳跟。”在塞巴斯蒂安之前，伯恩斯坦研究公司分析師卡洛斯?克金格也盛贊eBay，并在上月的一份研究報告中寫道，貝寶“擁有強有力的、難以挑戰的在線支付專營權”。

????譯者：項航

????The trouble began with the departure of a charismatic chief. After CEO Meg Whitman stepped down from her post at eBay in 2008, the online commerce giant's business seemed to sour. eBay sellers, while still reliant upon the site, grew tired of the company's penchant for raising fees. They became vocal, even trenchant, in their discontent. When the company's financial performance started to suffer, in part because of an ill-conceived, $2.5 billion acquisition of Skype, investors grew weary. The company's shares plummeted, hitting a low of about $10 in 2009.

????How things have changed. By the end of that year, eBay (EBAY) was able to grow revenue to $8.7 billion, up from $8.5 billion in the previous year. And despite its troubles, it still delivered a tidy $2.4 billion profit. In 2011, eBay shocked Wall Street with an exceedingly successful year, generating $11.7 billion in income and a $3.2 billion profit. eBay's stock has swung back, as well, jumping 51% since the beginning of the year to $45.85. In the last year, eBay shares are up 56%. eBay seems to have beat the Internet curse.

????So, what happened?

????Blame it on the iPhone. "Mobile is a tailwind for eBay, as the medium is allowing for incremental volume with no pricing or margin degradation (which plagues online ads)," Barclays Capital (BCS) analyst Anthony DiClemente wrote recently in a research note to investors. Indeed. During June, 47% of all U.S. smartphone owners -- about 45 million people – used a shopping application on their handset, according to Nielsen. Out of those, 13 million unique users accessed eBay to buy products. Amazon (AMZN), which attracted 12 million unique users, came in second place.

????That news comes just a month after eBay reported to investors that its mobile efforts are paying off in a big way. "We now expect eBay and PayPal mobile to each transact $10 billion in volume in 2012 -- that's more than double 2011, a staggering surge in mobile shopping and payments on devices that did not exist just a few years ago," eBay president and CEO John Donahoe said last month in an earnings statement.

????PayPal is surging. eBay reported last month that the service has 113.2 million active registered accounts, representing a 13% gain over the prior year. PayPal revenue was up 26% to $1.4 billion last quarter, putting it within striking distance of besting eBay's e-commerce business, which tallied $1.6 billion in revenue during the period.

????Of course, eBay has been on top of the Web world before. And its competitors have their sights set on its core businesses. When it comes to consumer purchases and the mobile world, Amazon is easily eBay's largest competitor. And Amazon is hot on eBay's heels for mobile e-commerce app usage; shoppers actively use the e-retail giant's mobile application. What's more, the Amazon Marketplace allows vendors to sell their products directly to consumers. (Sometimes, those products are brand new, sometimes used.)

????Amazon and eBay are gunning for the same consumer dollars. And Amazon has plenty of resources. The company last year generated a $631 million profit on $48 billion in revenue. In other words, Amazon is huge. And so far, not a single company has come close to matching it in sales or popularity.

????PayPal, meanwhile, is vital to eBay's business. But a slew of companies have designs on challenging it -- and becoming major players in the payments market. Google (GOOG), for example, already has Checkout, an online PayPal competitor, and is trying to jump on the near-field-communication trend with Google Wallet, a mobile-payment solution.

????Still, analysts don't necessarily believe eBay will suffer through tough times in the coming months and years. Baird analyst Colin Sebastian, who raised his eBay price target from $45 to $47 last month, wrote in a note to investors announcing the change that the company "remains an early leader in mobile commerce and payments, while some other companies struggle to gain a foothold." Sebastian's comments followed similarly glowing remarks by Bernstein Research analyst Carlos Kirjner, who wrote in a research note last month that PayPal "has a strong and hard-to-challenge online payments franchise."