谷歌收购旅游品牌Frommer's

Google Inc. for years swore it wasn't interested in creating content, choosing instead to point people to information on the Web. Google also championed the vox populi, letting crowd-sourced opinions bubble to the top when users search for answers online.

谷歌公司(Google Inc.)多年来曾一直坚决表示，对创建内容不感兴趣，它想要做的是指引人们在网上获取信息。谷歌也是公众舆论的支持者，当用户利用谷歌搜索引擎在网上寻找答案时，谷歌会把最热言论推到最靠前的位置。

Slowly, though, the experts have been moving up in Google's eyes, and its business.

不过，专家在谷歌眼里及其业务中的地位却在渐渐上升。

On Monday, Google said it is acquiring the Frommer's travel-guide business in a bid to attract more advertising dollars tied to online-travel bookings and local-business information. Google is buying Frommer's from publisher John Wiley & Sons Inc.

谷歌周一说，正在洽购Frommer's旅行指南业务，以吸引更多与在线旅行预订和本地商业信息相关的广告收入。谷歌将从出版商John Wiley & Sons Inc.手里收购Frommer's。

Google paid around $25 million for Frommer's, according to a person briefed on the deal, which hasn't yet closed. But the deal is more significant for its strategy than its price tag.

据一位了解该交易的人士表示，谷歌已向Frommer's支付了大约2,500万美元。这笔交易现在还没有结束，不过，这一交易之所以重要，并不在于收购价格，而在于其战略意义。

By owning Frommer's travel-guide content and showing it in search results, Google could sell travel-related ads against it and provide more tools for people to book travel arrangements.

若拥有了Frommer's旅行指南内容并能在搜索结果里显示出来，谷歌就可以出售与旅行相关的广告，为人们提供更多预订旅行安排的工具。

The Frommer's deal follows Google's 2011 acquisition of Zagat Survey, whose reviews and ratings of millions of businesses have since been incorporated into Google+ local-business listings. Google said Monday that the Frommer's brand would be melded with the Zagat brand. Frommer's data about local businesses around the world could boost the Google+ business listings─where both Zagat ratings and individual customer reviews are displayed─and Google Maps.

收购Frommer's之前，谷歌曾于2011年收购了餐厅点评公司Zagat Survey。自那之后，Zagat对数百万家餐馆的点评和评级便被整合到Google+本地商业列表中。谷歌周一说，Frommer's品牌将与Zagat品牌融合到一起。Frommer's有关全球各地企业的数据可能会扩大Google+的企业名录（Zagat对餐馆的评级和个人客户对餐馆的点评都显示在这里）和谷歌地图(Google Maps)的范围。

With Zagat and Frommer's, Google is betting it can become a trusted guide for travel and local-business information by using expert ratings and aggregating online comments from thousands of customers, the way Yelp.com and TripAdvisor.com do.

凭借Zagat和Frommer's，谷歌有望提供值得信赖的旅行指南和本地商业信息，而方式一是利用专家给出的评级，二是数千名客户的在线评论进行汇总，这也是Yelp.com和TripAdvisor.com等网站的运作方式。

Frommer's is more evidence that Google has grown fonder of professionally produced content. There are other examples: It recently took an equity stake in Machinima Inc., which creates video content mainly for Google's YouTube video site.

收购Frommer's进一步表明，谷歌已经越来越喜欢专业人士制作的内容。在这方面还有其它例子：谷歌前不久入股了Machinima Inc.，后者主要为谷歌旗下YouTube视频网站制作视频内容。

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment.

谷歌发言人拒绝置评。

In addition, Google is investing more than $350 million to help create and market professional-grade videos for YouTube, located on special 'channels,' as the site upgrades its offerings from the simple user-generated videos of its roots.

除此之外，谷歌将投资逾3.5亿美元为YouTube制作并营销专业级视频，以特殊“频道的方式推出，而且，YouTube还对其用户生成视频产品进行了升级。

A separate content effort, though─Google's Knol online encyclopedia, which took contributions from experts─wound down this year as Google CEO Larry Page killed off some underperforming services.

不过，谷歌另一个内容创建项目──在线百科全书Knol的步伐今年放慢了下来，因为谷歌首席执行长佩奇(Larry Page)“枪毙了一些表现欠佳的服务。Knol本身包含专家提供的内容。

In addition to owning content, Google also is trying to become 'vertically integrated' in terms of mobile devices. Google's strategy for years was to allow manufacturers to use its free Android operating software, helping them compete with Apple Inc. gadgets and ensuring that its search engine would be built into the devices. But Google recently bought handset maker Motorola Mobility and has embarked on an effort to build its own mobile devices.

除拥有内容外，谷歌还努力在移动设备方面做到“纵向整合。谷歌多年来的战略曾一直是允许制造商免费使用其操作软件安卓(Android)，帮助这些制造商与苹果公司(Apple Inc.)的产品进行竞争，确保那些产品会内置谷歌的搜索引擎。但谷歌前不久收购了手机制造商摩托罗拉移动公司(Motorola Mobility)，开始着手生产自己的移动产品。