CES热议平板电脑引发的电子产业三大变化

多媒体平板电脑(media tablets)无疑是 2011年国际消费性电子展(CES)期间最热门的话题；但实际上，今年CES的焦点并不只是平板电脑本身，而是一系列平板装置所带来的变化──由苹果(Apple) iPad 领头──正为整个电子产业开启一个庞大的新商机。 变化一：众人焦点突然从Google TV跳到iPad 产业界对 Google TV 商机的跃跃欲试，一下子被那些想把电视内容带到家庭中每个屏幕的、越来越强烈的企图所取代，平板电脑正是带来这种巨大转变的关键。 Cisco Systems资深产品经理Kip Compton表示，制造商为电视加入连网功能的努力(例如Google TV)，与服务业者目前试图将视频内容推到家中每个屏幕(包括平板装置、手机、PC与电视机)的行动(例如Comcast的线上视频服务Xfinity)是相对立的。 让电视能连上网际网络，是消费性电子厂商推动了多年的构想；但由于Google TV软件改版的延迟，连网电视产业看来并不那么容易实现。更糟的是，虽然有专为电视机量身打造的新使用者接口与Google的搜寻功能，对于那些已经习惯传统电视机操作接口的消费者来说，吸引力并不是很大。 而现在，苹果抢先Google一步解决了以上困境。随着iPad等平板电脑的崛起，消费者可以轻松地透过这样的装置观赏搜寻自YouTube的视频短片，同时还坐在客厅沙发上看自家的大屏幕电视。更重要的是，Comcast等业者已经开始推广线上视频服务，不需要同时安装他们的有线电视服务或是机上盒。 很多供货商都已经看到为电视机、PC、平板电脑、移动装置提供视频服务的商机，只需要透过一个通用的IP网络平台；包括Cisco的Videoscape。Comcast也在去年11月首度推出iPad专用的Xfinity应用程序，能为使用者提供电视节目表，以及当做可兼容数字录像机(DVR)的遥控器使用。 总而言之，平板电脑让网络视频服务业者能抢尽Google TV的风头；随着线上视频服务需求成长，消费者看来会花更多时间透过平板电脑观赏视频(以及上网浏览)，而把电视机冷落在一旁。 变化二：无线视频再度成为热门话题 平板电脑也让产业界重新燃起对无线视频的兴趣；那些推动WiGig (60GHz)、Wireless HD (60GHz)技术的芯片厂商，以及Quantenna Communications (4x4 MIMO 802.11n)、Amimon (5GHz的WHDI)，都开始加紧与平板电脑、smartbook与PC等产品开发商洽谈合作关系。 这无非是因为从现在开始，视频正被传递到消费者家中各种尺寸的屏幕，也让无线播放/分享这些内容的技术需求日益成长。过去众家无线视频技术开发商极力为自家技术推销各种使用者情境，例如在电视机与数字录像机之间的无线连结，以及能将PC上的网络视频传送到客厅大屏幕电视播放的、多房间的无线连结技术。 Quantena与Amimon 亦是积极抢攻此领域商机的两家厂商；前者是期望以电信业者等级(carrier-grade)的4x4 MIMO 802.11n芯片组，满足传递多重HD视频流至家中电视机、各种显示器的需求。Amimon则是为各种装置提供WHDI解决方案。 变化三：平板电脑为企业用计算机市场带来永久性改变 市调公司Accenture最近针对企业信息长(CIO)展开了一项调查，询问是否会以平板电脑来替代公司用的笔记本电脑或是台式电脑；虽然这项调查结果尚未出炉，但不可避免的，对各企业用户来说，像是 Android平板电脑安全性是否足够等问题也会接踵而来。无论如何，Accenture主管Mitchell Cline表示：“我们认为企业用户会逐渐接受这些新装置。” 根据Accenture表示，2010年是个人科技支出(平均1,100美元)首度超越企业平均每员工科技投资金额；消费性市场的技术更新速度比企业市场高出许多，因此后者势必会受到影响。而目前行动装置操作系统市场上已经看到百家争鸣的情况， 2011年也将会是PC市场“Wintel”模式开始崩溃的一年。 随着平板电脑的兴起，PC厂商需要开始思考，该如何将已经发生在家庭的运算典范转型，移植到办公室环境；而且这并不是接下来几年需要考量的投资项目，而是马上就会发生的。 《国际电子商情》授权编译自EE Times，谢绝转载！ (参考原文： CES Wrap: Blessings and curses of media tablets，by Junko Yoshida)

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{pagination} CES Wrap: Blessings and curses of media tablets Junko Yoshida Media tablets were the talk of the town at the Consumer Electronics Show this year. No question about it. The real story of the show – shown, discussed and hinted on the show floor and behind closed doors in hotel suites in Las Vegas last week – was not really about tablets themselves, but a host of changes tablets, especially pioneered by Apple’s iPad, are triggering big time in the entire electronics industry. Change #1: A great switcheroo from Google TV to iPad Gone is the industry’s ravenous appetite for Google TV, replaced by a growing excitement for bringing TV to every screen at home. Tablets are the key to this great switcheroo. TV manufacturers’ effort to bring Internet content to TV (a la Google TV) “stands as a polar opposite” to service providers’ initiatives (i.e. Comcast’s online video service called Xfinity, for example) to bring video on every screen (tablet, mobile, PC and more TVs) at home, observed Kip Compton, senior director, strategy and product management at Cisco Systems, Inc. Bringing the Internet to TV is an idea CE manufacturers have pushed for years. Amid recent delays in software revisions by Google TV, Internet TV has proven to be hard to implement. Worse, despite the revamped UI and Google “search” capabilities tailored for TV, it’s even harder to get traction with consumers accustomed to the conventional TV user interface. Now, Apple may be solving this dilemma, faster than Google. With the emergence of tablets like Apple’s iPads, a consumer can now easily search for a YouTube video clip on his tablet, while sitting on the sofa in a living room with a big- screen TV. More important, service providers like Comcast have begun pushing online video services -- neither tied to their physical cable plants nor cable set-top boxes connected to a big-screen TV. Many service providers see opportunity in piping video services to TVs, PCs, tablets and mobile devices, all off a common IP platform. Cisco, too, is pitching “Videoscape,” its own version of “network-is-the-platform” idea. Comcast also launched its first Xfinity iPad app in November last year, giving users a TV guide and the ability to use it as a remote control for compatible DVRs. In sum, tablets are enabling service providers to steal the show from Google TV. As online video services grow, consumers are likely to consume more video (and surfing the Net) on their tablets, while leaving the TV alone. Change #2: Wireless video is hot again Tablets are also renewing the industry’s interest in wireless video. Wireless chip vendors ranging from those pushing WiGig (60GHz) and Wireless HD Change #3: Tablets will change the enterprise computer market forever Accenture has begun to ask CIOs at corporations, including its own, if they have considered replacing netbooks and desktop PCs with a single device like a tablet. The survey results are not in yet. Inevitably, questions like whether Android-based tablets are secure enough for enterprise applications will crop up. But “we believe that they are going to be open to the idea,” said Mitchell Cline, managing partner at Accenture. According to Accenture, 2010 marked the first year that personal spending in technology ($1,100) surpassed that of the investment in technology per head at a corporation. The refresh cycles of technology are much faster in the consumer market, destined to affect the enterprise market. So much innovation is also taking place in tablets. As the whole market has already seen in the mobile OS market where a number of viable OSes are fighting it out, 2011 will be the year when the Wintel model in the PC market will finally start collapsing. “It’s free-fall,” said Kumu Puri, a senior executive in the consumer electronics practice within Accenture’s Electronics & High-Tech industry group. With the emergence of tablets, “PC companies need to be thinking about how to morph the computing paradigm shift already happening at home into the office environment,” she explained. “We are not talking about investments in a few years. This is the year that investment needs to be made.”