谷歌(Google)的智能家居(smart home)

To understand why Google has just paid $3.2bn for a company that makes thermostats and smoke detectors, you need to look at some of its earlier attempts to invent the “smart home”.

要弄明白谷歌(Google)爲何剛剛斥資32億美元收購了一家生產自動恆溫器和煙霧報警器的公司，你有必要考察一下它早些時候在發明“智能家居”(smart home)方面所做的一些努力。

These were more than simply object lessons in what not to do. Past efforts, though resulting in failure, highlight the range of Google’s capabilities – and why, following this week’s acquisition of Nest Labs, it looks to have taken a formidable lead in a tech market that has barely been invented yet.

那些努力不僅僅是一些表明什麼不該做的實例教訓。儘管谷歌過去的努力未獲成功，但它們卻凸顯出兩點。第一點是谷歌的能力範圍。第二點是爲什麼在上週收購了Nest實驗室(Nest Labs)之後，谷歌似乎已在一個迄今幾乎還未被創造出來的科技市場取得了難以撼動的領先地位。

Google’s first attempt, five years ago, took the form of an internet service called PowerMeter. This was an online service for monitoring home energy use. It turned out that most people had better things to do than track their energy consumption on a website.

五年前，谷歌的第一次努力表現爲一個名爲PowerMeter的互聯網服務。這是一個監控家裏能源使用情況的在線服務。不過事實證明，大多數人還有更重要的事情要做，沒工夫在網上跟蹤家裏的能源消耗情況。

Next came a software platform known as Android@Home, which was aimed at other manufacturers that want to build the “smarts” into internet-connected objects for the home. The first of these products was meant to be an LED lightbulb that could be turned on using a smartphone app. The manufacturer abandoned the idea before it was launched.

接着，谷歌推出了一個名爲Android@Home的軟件平臺。這個平臺針對的，是其他想在家居聯網設備中嵌入“智能”的生產商。首個此類產品原本會是一個可用智能手機應用點亮的發光二極管(LED)燈泡。但生產商在推出這一產品前放棄了該創意。

An internet service and a software platform were fine ideas as far as they went. The missing ingredient was a truly useful piece of intelligent hardware. Or, to be precise, an appealing, easy-to-use consumer product that bundled a desirable set of capabilities with an intuitive interface: software, hardware and online service working in concert to make life around the home better.

就其本身而言，互聯網服務和軟件平臺都是不錯的創意。缺失的元素是真正有用的智能硬件——或者確切地說，是有吸引力而又易於使用的消費產品。這種產品應該把一系列人們想要的功能用直觀的界面包裝起來：軟件、硬件和在線服務能協同工作，令家居生活更美好。

So who better to turn to than Tony Fadell, whose claims to fame include being lead inventor of the iPod and founder of Nest? Apple’s music player was the gadget that launched the modern consumer hardware revolution. Pleasing in itself, the iPod would have been nothing without the software and online store that brought the digital music business to life.

那麼，還有誰是比託尼•法代爾(Tony Fadell)更適合的整合人選呢？法代爾名氣很大，他既是iPod的首席發明家，又是Nest的創始人。iPod是蘋果(Apple)的音樂播放器，正是這款小型電子產品開啓了現代消費類硬件的革命。不過，儘管iPod本身的樣子很討喜，但如果沒有讓數字音樂業務煥發生機的軟件和在線商店，它可能什麼都不是。

Mr Fadell went on to embed his iPod lessons in Nest’s thermostat, right down to the wheel-like control for programming the unit. (Honeywell has fired off a legal challenge, claiming that the circular control unfairly copies one of its own inventions.)

法代爾隨後將他在iPod上取得的經驗融入到Nest的自動恆溫器中，就連後者的編程界面也沿用了前者的那種環狀控制器。（不過，霍尼韋爾(Honeywell)發起了一項法律訴訟，稱這種環狀控制器剽竊了該公司的一項發明。）

A Nest thermostat taps into online weather forecasts and information from its own sensors about a user’s movements to guess the best temperature to set.

Nest的自動恆溫器能利用在線天氣預報和其自身傳感器獲取的用戶移動信息，來推測應設定的最佳溫度。

This is where Google comes in. While it may take a product visionary such as Mr Fadell to come up with the idea, the device is nothing on its own. In an interview with the Financial Times, the Nest founder was forthright about what is involved: 80 per cent of the work behind his company’s products goes into building and running the infrastructure on which they depend.

這正是用到谷歌的地方。儘管提出這一創意可能需要像法代爾這樣對產品有遠見的人，但這種設備單靠自身其實發揮不了什麼作用。在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時，這位Nest創始人坦率地談到了需要做的工作：在該公司產品背後，80%的工作都是建設和運營其產品所依賴的基礎設施。

There are few better infrastructures to plug into than the one operated by Google. It is not just the scale of its data centres or the capacity of its broadband networks: the internet company could also be in a good position to turn data collected by Nest’s devices into valuable intelligence.

就Nest產品所連接的基礎設施而言，沒有哪一家能比谷歌運營的設施更好。這不僅僅是因爲谷歌數據中心的規模或其寬帶網絡的能力，還因爲這家互聯網企業能夠輕易地將Nest設備收集的數據轉化爲極有價值的情報。

In this it can bring two assets into play. One is Google’s own vast trove of data. Combining Nest’s data with information from its other services promises to give Google unrivalled insights into your preferences – not just the temperature you like to wake up to, but how long you linger over breakfast before heading to work and what route you take to get there.

從這點來說，谷歌可盤活兩大資產。其一是該公司自己擁有的海量數據庫存。谷歌如果能將Nest的數據與自己旗下其他服務獲取的數據結合起來，將有望對用戶的偏好形成最爲透徹的認識——不僅能知道你醒來時喜歡的室溫，還能知道你上班前會在早餐上消磨多長時間，以及你會走哪條路上班。

The other important asset is the skills needed to make use of all this data, such as developing algorithms that will turn it into intelligence that can be used to inform useful services. If Google could anticipate when you were about to leave home in the morning, it could alert you to up-to-the-minute commuting conditions, and make sure your home was properly secured.

另一個重要資產是對以上所有數據加以利用所必需的技能，比如研發算法的技能——這種算法可把數據轉化爲情報，通報給一些有實用價值的服務。如果谷歌能預判出你早晨大約什麼時候離開家，它就能向你提示精確到分鐘的通勤狀況，並確保你的住宅得到妥善保護。

Privacy fears are certain to raise their head. But a smart home that truly understands and can respond to your needs might overcome those concerns. And if Google tried to use data from around the home to serve up even more relevant adverts, it would be part and parcel of the tacit compromise its users have long accepted.

當然，這一定會引發隱私方面的擔憂。不過，一個能夠真正理解並響應你需求的智能家居系統，可能會讓你把這種擔憂放在一邊。即使谷歌試圖利用從你家中得到的數據向你展示更多相關廣告，也不能算是突破了其用戶長期以來已經接受的一種心照不宣的妥協。

At least that is the theory. There is much to do to prove that it can work. Making smart household objects desirable will not be easy. Customers of Nest’s smoke alarms talk far less enthusiastically than those of its thermostats.

至少從理論上說是如此。要證明這種方式能夠奏效，還有很多事情要做。生產人們喜歡的智能家居設備不會是件容易事。Nest煙霧報警器受到的追捧就比自動恆溫器少得多。

Google also has to show that it can make serious money as it moves deeper into hardware, where profit margins are lower. But if it can get all the parts of the smart home working together while also coming up with hit new gadgets, it may be hard to match.

谷歌還必須證明，隨着它更深入地涉足硬件領域，它仍有能力賺取可觀利潤，畢竟硬件領域的利潤率要低一些。不過，如果谷歌能在有效整合智能家居系統各種元素的同時推出令人印象深刻的新型電子產品，它將很難找到對手。