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."

    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.

    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