传苹果洽购Beat：或“密谋”抢占可听设备硬件市场

    皮特•李说：“从耳朵里肯定能获得更精确的生理学数据。尤其是心率这类信息，从安静的耳部获得数据要比从嘈杂环境中的手环容易得多。由于耳部毛细血管众多，数据的精度也大为提升。”

    现在业界已有不少成功案例。英特尔（Intel）开发了一款耳机，能跟踪用户的心率，并根据用户的跑步节奏自动选择歌曲。而LG公司的Lifeband Touch Activity Tracker耳机也能跟踪用户心率。

    可穿戴设备最大的挑战莫过于如何融入大众。谷歌眼镜（Google Glass）就被人批评太过于招摇；而腕表这类产品想必就平易近人得多。（当然，它的价格也只有谷歌眼镜的十分之一。）不过，耳机目前也已经被人们普遍接受，无论是在办公室里，还是在公路上骑行时，还是身处健身房，佩戴耳机都已司空见惯。最后要强调的是，Beats在高端耳机市场的份额高达70%。而且，它成功地将传统的工作室级包耳耳机变成了一种生活时尚。

    咨询公司Cowen & Co分析师蒂姆•阿库里称：“苹果所能收购的公司中，（除了Beats）没有谁真的有能力为它带来一系列高端产品，而且这些产品还能够对苹果正在开发的可穿戴设备产生积极作用。”

    阿库里补充道，Beats音乐流媒体服务的核心是个性化引擎。它结合了推荐算法和人工筛选，进一步论证了“人性化数据”理念的高明之处。Beats音乐于今年初推出，为了与Pandora及Spotify等对手竞争，这家公司耗费巨资进行了火力密集的市场推广。而且，Beats还眼疾手快地与美国电话电报公司（AT&T）达成合作协议，推出了家庭流媒体计划，同时还收购了Topspin Media，后者能帮助音乐人向粉丝推销自己的音乐作品。

    把所有这一切联系起来，我们不难想像，苹果将会推出新的耳机或是可穿戴设备，它们能根据用户的心率、位置或心情进行服务。（目前尚不清楚苹果是否需要与唱片公司就这项服务重新谈判许可条款。）

    阿库里称：“我认为，苹果会觉得这有可能改变内容交付的模式。Beats将音乐交付视为一种艺术，而非一门科学。这正是苹果公司的思维方式。”

    而且，它也符合苹果以用户为中心的跨平台技术路径。麦克奎维说：“人们愿意允许苹果公司介入自己的生活，而微软（Microsoft）或其它公司都享受不到这样的特权。”（财富中文网）

    译者：项航

    "You can certainly get much better biometrics from the ear," Li says. "Especially from a heart rate perspective, it's much easier to distinguish what your heart rate is without all the noise you get from the wrist. You also get much better resolution in terms of capillary in the ear."

    Today, Intel offers headphones that track a person's heart rate and select music based on the user's running pace and LG offers with its Lifeband Touch Activity Tracker headphones to track the user's heart rate.

    A formidable challenge for any wearable technology device is normalizing its use. Google's (GOOG) Glass headset has been widely lampooned for how conspicuous it is; electronic wristbands have been more widely accepted. (Though it certainly helps that they are about 10% of the price of Glass.) But headphones are already a socially acceptable mainstay at the office, in transit, and during gym workouts. By most accounts, Beats controls about 70 percent of the high-end headphone market, and has helped accelerate a redefinition of studio-size, over-the-ear headphones as a lifestyle item.

    "There's not really any company [other than Beats] that Apple could acquire that could bring a pipeline of high-end products, and that they could potentially leverage into other wearable products that are already being developed by Apple," says Tim Arcuri, an analyst at Cowen & Co.

    Arcuri adds that the personalization engine at the heart of the Beats Music streaming music service, which blends recommendation algorithms with human curation, as further proof that the deal underscores the "humanization of data." Beats Music launched earlier this year, and the company has mounted an aggressive campaign to thrust the service deep into the pool of music streaming competitors that include Pandora and Spotify. In short order, Beats partnered with AT&T (T) to offer family streaming plans and acquired Topspin Media, which helps musicians sell their music and merchandise to fans.

    Connect the dots and it's not unreasonable to see how Apple could make earphones or another wearable device that could serve up tracks based on the wearer's heart rate, location, or mood. (It is not clear if Apple would have to renegotiate licensing terms with music labels for such a service.)

    "I think Apple looks at it and say this could potentially change the paradigm around content delivery," Arcuri says. "The way Beats looks at music delivery is an art, not a science. That's how Apple thinks about things."

    And it plays into Apple's cross-platform, user-centric approach to technology. "There's a willingness," McQuivey says, "to give Apple permission to insert itself into our lives in a way that we don't give to Microsoft or other companies."