Apple Inc. is preparing to bolster its streaming-music business with a proposed $3.2 billion deal to acquire Beats Electronics LLC，the high-end headphone maker that recently launched the Beats Music subscription service，according to people familiar with the matter.
據(jù)知情人士透露，蘋果公司計劃以32億美元收購近期推出音樂訂購服務(wù)的高端耳機制造商Beats電子公司，以支持自身流媒體音樂業(yè)務(wù)發(fā)展。(《華爾街日報》)
The deal was characterized as a potential landmark for Apple. If completed，it would be the company’s biggest acquisition by far，and unusual in that Apple would be buying a company that already had a firmly established consumer brand.
外界認(rèn)為，這項交易可能是蘋果歷史上的一個里程碑。一旦完成，該交易將成為蘋果迄今為止規(guī)模最大的收購案，同時也將是一次不同尋常的收購，因為蘋果將收購的是一家已經(jīng)擁有穩(wěn)定消費者品牌的公司。(《紐約時報》)
Beats was founded by music producer Jimmy Iovine and the hip-hop star Dr Dre and until recently was best known for its headphones. It started a subscription-based music streaming service earlier this year. However，Apple already has its own iTunes store which is the world’s largest music download service. It also launched iTunes Radio last year. That has made some industry watchers question the move. James McQuivey，an analyst with Forrester，said there was a big overlap of customers between the two firms.
Beats由音樂制作人吉米·艾歐文和嘻哈歌星德瑞博士共同成立，此前一直以其生產(chǎn)的耳機聞名。今年早些時候，該公司開始提供收費訂購的音樂流媒體服務(wù)。不過，蘋果已有提供全球最大音樂下載服務(wù)的iTunes商店，也于去年推出了iTunes音樂電臺。這使得一些業(yè)內(nèi)觀察人士質(zhì)疑這項收購行動。Forrester研究所分析師詹姆士·麥奎維說，兩家公司的用戶群有很大程度的重疊。(英國廣播公司)
The reported price is also a huge premium on Beats’s previous valuation. Beats was valued at just $1bn after its last funding round in September，which saw it get a $500m investment from the Carlyle Group.
媒體報道的收購價格也大大超出了Beats此前的估值。繼去年9月從私募基金凱雷投資集團獲得5億美元的最近一次融資之后，Beats的市值被評估為僅10億美元。(英國廣播公司)
Investors are still struggling to make sense of why CEO Tim Cook would break Apple’s decades-long tradition of relatively minor acquisitions of about $200 million to $400 million. Most observers say it’s going after a mix of technology and music industry talent in an effort to revive digital music sales.
投資者仍想不通蘋果首席執(zhí)行官蒂姆·庫克為什么會打破蘋果數(shù)十年來只參與約2億到4億美元較小規(guī)模收購案的傳統(tǒng)。多數(shù)觀察人士認(rèn)為，蘋果正試圖結(jié)合技術(shù)手段和音樂產(chǎn)業(yè)的創(chuàng)新理念來重振數(shù)字音樂的銷售。(路透社)
長期以來，下載音樂文件一直飽受限制，而且成本較高，與在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上播放的流媒體音樂服務(wù)相比更是如此。盡管蘋果一直沒有公開就可能收購Beats公司的具體動向發(fā)表評論意見，但業(yè)界分析師還是聲稱，這一交易可能意味著蘋果公司也加入了音樂服務(wù)遷移的大軍之列。
The potential deal would provide Apple with an entree into two burgeoning markets：high-end headphones and subscription music. Services that charge a monthly fee for access to an unlimited amount of music are growing rapidly，led by Spotify AB，which counts more than 10 million paying subscribers world-wide，according to a person familiar with the matter.
這項可能的交易將為蘋果提供進軍兩大發(fā)展迅速的市場的機會：高端耳機和訂購音樂。據(jù)一名知情人士稱，每月收取固定費用、提供無限量音樂的服務(wù)正在快速增長，以瑞典流媒體音樂服務(wù)商Spotify AB為首，該公司在全球范圍內(nèi)擁有逾1000萬付費用戶。(《華爾街日報》)
By contrast，sales of song and album downloads have flattened recently，after years of explosive growth that made Apple‘s iTunes Store the biggest music retailer in the world. U.S. digital track sales fell 6% last year to 1.3 billion，while digital album sales were flat at 118 million，according to Nielsen SoundScan.
相比之下，數(shù)字音樂下載的銷售量近來有所下降。過去幾年的爆炸式增長使得蘋果的iTunes商店一躍成為世界最大音樂零售商。但根據(jù)市場研究公司Nielsen SoundScan發(fā)布的數(shù)據(jù)，美國數(shù)字單曲銷售量在去年下滑6%至13億首，數(shù)字唱片銷量持平于1.18億。(《華爾街日報》)
Apple，which transformed the music industry in 2003 with the iTunes store but has been hesitant to enter the streaming market，was finally taking the plunge. If Apple makes a major marketing push for Beats’s subscription model—or，even better，if Apple integrates Beats into its ecosystem of online services and physical products—it could mean a big lift for streaming.
蘋果在2003年用iTunes商店改變了音樂產(chǎn)業(yè)，但一直對進入流媒體市場猶豫不決，如今終于決定采取行動。如果蘋果對Beats的訂購服務(wù)模式進行大力營銷宣傳，甚至將其融入自身在線服務(wù)和數(shù)碼產(chǎn)品系統(tǒng)中，這可能大大提升流媒體的發(fā)展。(《紐約時報》)
Neither Apple nor Beats has confirmed the acquisition talks，at least officially，though they were confirmed by people briefed on the discussions who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
目前蘋果和Beats都沒有正式出面確認(rèn)收購談判的相關(guān)事宜，但已得到熟悉談判情況的匿名人士的確認(rèn)。(《紐約時報》)
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