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专栏 - 苹果2_0

苹果iTV播什么?

Philip Elmer-DeWitt 2012年02月14日

苹果(Apple)公司内部流传着一个老笑话,那就是史蒂夫·乔布斯周围是一片“现实扭曲力场”:你离他太近的话,就会相信他所说的话。苹果的数百万用户中已经有不少成了该公司的“信徒”,而很多苹果投资者也赚得盆满钵满。不过,Elmer-DeWitt认为,在报道苹果公司时有点怀疑精神不是坏事。听他的应该没错。要知道,他自从1982年就开始报道苹果、观察史蒂夫·乔布斯经营该公司。
投资银行Jefferies的彼得•麦塞克深入研究了苹果电视获得高品质内容的难题。

    • 3)苹果直接与内容持有商签署非独家播放权:我们认为虽然对于较旧的视频内容,此方案肯定不在话下(类似于Netflix的模式),但对于热门内容,内容持有商们不大可能同意将其放在云端播放。一个原因是他们担心多业务运营商可能会为了应对新的视频竞争对手(苹果),降低数据通道的速度,最终损害用户的收视质量。

    • 优点:苹果能得到更多的内容控制权。

    • 缺点:内容持有商们犹豫不决。服务质量将取决于运营商和多业务运营商的数据通道。同时,运营商的有线视频网仅仅覆盖了美国小部分地区。

    • 4)苹果改进运营商可能与内容持有商就云视频服务达成的非独家播放交易:去年12月,路透社(Reuters)报道称威瑞森正就这种类型的服务展开谈判(例如,在光纤网覆盖范围之外提供视频传输);不过,Jefferies的电信服务分析师汤姆•赛茨认为这不大可能。

    • 优点:苹果无需支付任何费用。

    • 缺点:内容持有商们犹豫不决。服务的质量将取决于运营商和多业务运营商的数据通道。

    • 5)OTA(空中下载——译注)广播电视与云端IPTV播放相结合:尽管大多数人沉溺于有线电视和卫星电视,从无线广播电视向高清视频的转变使另一种选择成为可能。尤其是随着新型隐藏天线的发展(即不再有大大的难看的兔耳朵),尽管无法收看ESPN、Discovery以及Food Network等重要的有线电视频道,但其画面质量经常比付费电视还要好,这类实时电视内容可与往期电视节目以及点播电影一道,组成极为完备的产品系列。

    • 优点:对苹果而言成本较低。

    • 缺点:即便使用新一代天线,广播接收(效果)仍可能参差不齐,而苹果通常坚持给所有用户同样出色的用户体验。

    译者:项航

    • 3) Apple signs its own non-exclusive deals with content owners: while we believe this would be straight forward with older content (e.g., similar to a Netflix model), we believe the content owners will be recalcitrant to sell over- the-top rights to premium content. One factor is that the content owners fear that the MSOs would respond to a new video competitor (Apple) using their data pipes by degrading the speed of their data pipes, thus degrading the perceived quality of the content by users.

    • Pros: Apple gains more content control.

    • Cons: content owners hesitant. Quality of service depends on pipes owned by carriers and MSOs. The carriers' fixed line video footprint covers only a small part of the U.S.

    • 4) Apple leverages the carriers' potential non-exclusive deals with content owners for over-the-top video service: Reuters reported in December that Verizon was negotiating for this type of service (i.e., offering video service outside of its FiOS footprint); however, Jefferies Telecom Services analyst Tom Seitz views this as unlikely.

    • Pros: Apple does not have to pay anything.

    • Cons: content owners hesitant. Quality of service depends on pipes owned by carriers and MSOs.

    • 5) Combination of OTA broadcast TV and over-the-top IPTV catalog: while most people are addicted to cable and satellite TV, the transition of over- the-air broadcast television to high definition does allow for another option. Especially with the development of new low profile antennas (i.e., no big unseemly rabbit ears), oftentimes the picture quality is superior to pay-TV options though key cable channels like ESPN, Discovery, Food Network, etc., would be unavailable. This live TV content could be combined with archive TV and catalog movies for a fairly complete offering.

    • Pros: inexpensive for Apple.

    • Cons: broadcast reception, even with the new-generation antennas, can vary, and Apple usually insists on a uniformly excellent user experience.

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