传苹果洽购Beat：或“密谋”抢占可听设备硬件市场

    上周，《金融时报》（Financial Times）报道称，苹果公司（Apple）正商谈以32亿美元收购耳机潮牌兼音乐流媒体服务商Beats Electronics。这笔交易至今尚未得到苹果或Beats公司的证实，但已经引发了科技行业观察人士的不解和批评。

    首先，此次收购将是苹果迄今规模最大的收购案。而且，苹果作为备受尊崇的品牌，一贯收购较小型的企业。这次一反常态的收购另一家明星企业，似乎有些不符常规。新的问题随之浮现：苹果此举莫非是为了重振自己的先锋品牌形象？还是为了再度涉足音乐流媒体业务？还是说是为了Beats公司联合创始人——备受推崇的音乐制作人吉米•艾欧文？而据称艾欧文可能接管苹果的内容战略。

    又或者，Beats公司的技术路线最适合首席执行官蒂姆•库克不断提到的苹果新产品类别？

    市场调研机构弗雷斯特（Forrester）分析师詹姆士•麦克奎维说：“我着手分析的假设是，苹果是一家聪明的公司。他们豪掷30亿美元，不会是为了一家配件公司，也不会是为了某项音乐流媒体业务，而是为了一个更大的计划，旨在改变人们生活的大计划。历史表明，苹果喜欢、也有能力做这样的大事。”

    尽管苹果仍然现金充裕（苹果上季度利润为95亿美元），但库克可谓压力山大。因为苹果自2010年推出iPad后，一直再没有推出开创性的新产品，而是专注于优化现有的产品组合。可穿戴设备似乎是最有前景的新型消费技术，尽管有分析师认为，超便携设备的利润率太低，苹果可能看不上。

    但相关的证据层出不穷。上月，多篇报道称，苹果正不动声色地招聘时尚、健身和保健行业的专家。随后，耐克（Nike）首席执行官马克•帕克证实，耐克将终止FuelBand电子腕带业务，同时退出这个市场，至少是这个硬件市场。有人认为，此举表明，耐克作为苹果长期的合作伙伴计划支持苹果将推出的可穿戴设备。苹果于今年二月获得的专利涉及能跟踪性能指标并通过“耳机、耳塞或耳麦”积累生理学数据的设备。

    所谓的苹果iWatch传言由来已久，尤其是在竞争对手三星（Samsung）开始发售Galaxy Gear之后。但有分析师称，苹果的“可穿戴设备”可能与众不同。同科幻片《她》（Her）中的杰昆•菲尼克斯一样，有些人士大力推崇“可听设备”（即针对听觉的可穿戴设备）这一理念。自称“无线福音传道士”的尼克•胡恩写道，到2018年，“可听设备”业务的市值可能超过50亿美元。

    可穿戴设备公司Atlas Wearables联合创始人皮特•李表示，耳朵是无线传感器很好的着陆点。比如，通过耳朵可以获得更精确的生理学数据。

    Last week, the Financial Times reported that Apple (AAPL) is in talks to acquire the trendy headphone and music streaming service Beats Electronics for $3.2 billion. The deal, which has yet to be confirmed by either party, drew both befuddlement and criticism from technology industry watchers.

    For one, the acquisition would be Apple's largest to date. And the logic of one revered brand buying another seemed broken, based on Apple's history of acquiring smaller companies. New questions arrived quickly: Is this about reviving Apple's cool factor? Is it about Apple's reentry into the music-streaming race? Is it more about Beats co-founder Jimmy Iovine, a well-regarded music executive who could presumably take over Apple's content strategy?

    Or is the smaller company's technology and approach best applied to Apple's new product categories to which chief executive Tim Cook keeps alluding?

    "I start from the assumption that Apple is a smart company," Forrester analyst James McQuivey says. "That they wouldn't be spending $3 billion for an accessories company or a music streaming business, but that they would spend it as part of a bigger plan to change our lives in the way that Apple has historically shown it likes to do and can do."

    The pressure is mounting on Cook, even as his company continues to be flush with cash. (Apple made $9.5 billion in profit last quarter.) The company arguably hasn't introduced a pioneering new product since the iPad in 2010, instead focusing on refining its existing portfolio. Wearables seem to be the most promising new consumer technology, even as some analysts argue that margins for the ultra-portable devices are too thin for Apple's taste.

    But the evidence has begun to pile up. Last month, on the heels of various reports that Apple is quietly hiring experts from the fashion, fitness, and health industries, Nike CEO Mark Parker confirmed his company's discontinuation of its FuelBand electronic wristband and exit from the category, at least as it pertains to hardware. Some suggest the move is an indication that Nike, a longtime Apple partner, plans to support an Apple wearable device. And in February, Apple was granted patents on devices that track performance metrics and amass biometric data through "headphones, earbuds or headsets."

    A so-called Apple iWatch has been rumored for years, especially after rival Samsung began selling its Galaxy Gear. But some analysts say that a "wearable" to Apple may rely on an entirely different body part. Much like Joaquin Phoenix in the futuristic film Her, some have hailed the idea of "hearables," or wearables for your ear. Self-proclaimed "wireless evangelist" Nick Hunn writes that "hearables" could be worth more than $5 billion by 2018.

    The ear presents an interesting environment for wireless sensors, says Atlas Wearables co-creator Peter Li. For one, biometric data is more accurately measured through the ear.