谷歌與三星角力互聯網電視軟件
Google and Samsung sought to stake out their claims to dominate the market for software that powers internet-connected television at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
谷歌(Google)和三星(Samsung)在拉斯維加斯舉行的年度消費電子展(Consumer Electronics Show)上展開較量，尋求主宰聯網電視機的軟件市場。The duelling announcements intensified a tech rivalry as the “internet of things” picked apart the close partnership that the two companies have used to rule the smartphone market.
帶有決鬥意味的宣佈加劇了科技巨擘之間的一場角力，“物聯網”拆散了兩家公司聯手統治智能手機市場的密切合作夥伴關係。
The US technology group announced that Android TV, its latest attempt to break into smart TV software after the flop of its initial Google TV technology, would be shipped on sets made by three manufacturers this year — Sony, Sharp and TP Vision, the former TV division of Philips. Reinforcing its deepening alliance with Google in living-room technology, Sony also said it would sell speakers embedded with Google Cast, enabling users to stream music direct to speakers. Google’s Cast technology was developed to stream video to TVs, but the company announced partnerships this week to extend it to music, rivalling Apple’s Airplay technology.
美國技術巨頭谷歌宣佈，Android TV將搭載在3家制造商——索尼(Sony)、夏普(Sharp)和TP Vision（原飛利浦(Philips)電視部門）——今年生產的互聯網電視上。在最初的Google TV技術失敗後，Android TV成爲谷歌進入智能電視軟件行業的最新一次嘗試。索尼正在加強與谷歌在起居室技術上的聯盟關係，該公司還表示，將出售搭載Google Cast的音箱，讓用戶將音樂以流播形式直接傳送至音箱。谷歌Cast技術的研發目的本來是將視頻發送到電視上，但該公司本週宣佈了幾項合作計劃，將其擴展至音樂，與蘋果(Apple)的Airplay技術展開競爭。
Meanwhile, Samsung highlighted plans to put its Tizen operating system on all of the internet-connected TVs it makes this year. The software was developed for smartphones as a way to reduce Samsung’s reliance on Google’s Android operating system, but has yet to make a mark in the handset business.
同時，三星重點介紹了將在今年生產的所有聯網電視上搭載Tizen操作系統的計劃。該軟件原爲智能手機研發，以此降低三星對谷歌Android操作系統的依賴，但至今未能在手機業務上打開局面。Instead, it has been included in other connected devices, including a version of Samsung’s Gear smartwatch. But including Tizen in smart TVs marks its first use in a mass-market device.
相反，Tizen已經在其他連接設備上應用，其中包括三星智能手錶Gear的其中一款。但是，Tizen應用於智能電視，標誌着該軟件首次用於大衆市場設備。Compared with the smartphone world, which is dominated by Google and Apple, the nascent market for software for smart TVs has already become fragmented. LG, Samsung’s South Korean rival, laid out plans at CES to focus on its smart TV software, the WebOS operating system it acquired from Hewlett-Packard in 2013.
與谷歌和蘋果主宰智能手機世界相比，爲智能電視而設計的軟件的新生市場已經呈現割據的格局。LG是三星的韓國競爭對手，其在消費電子展上宣佈了將專注研發其智能電視軟件WebOS操作系統的計劃，該系統是2013年LG從惠普(Hewlett-Packard)收購的。Samsung accounts for about a quarter of annual smart TV sales, according to Strategy Analytics, compared with the roughly 15 per cent market shares of LG and Sony.
據Strategy Analytics的數據，三星佔智能電視年銷量大約四分之一，而LG和索尼的市場份額大致爲15%。
