評論
打印
Do-it-yourself apps
自己做的應用程序
Make your own Angry Birds
做自己的"憤怒的小鳥"
Homebrew apps have arrived
私人制作的軟件已經來臨
LAST year Eddie the pig took Chile by storm. The iPhone game "ePig Dash", featuring Eddie, dislodged "Angry Birds" to become the number-one paid game on the Chilean App Store. By itself, the story of a cute, if flatulent, pig pushing a bunch of irate birds off the top spot is nothing unusual. What is odd is that the creator of "ePig Dash", a conjuror and economics teacher, knew little or nothing about programming. Instead he used GameSalad, a do-it-yourself tool for app-makers.
去年，小豬愛迪（Eddie the pig）在智利風靡。擊敗"憤怒的小鳥"后，以愛迪（Eddie）為主角的iphone游戲"ePig Dash"成為智利蘋果應用榜上排名第一的付費游戲。就游戲本身而言，它沒什么不尋常：以可愛角色為主角，小豬脹氣后，將把一群憤怒的小鳥推下頂座。奇怪的是"ePig Dash"的作者是一名魔術師兼經濟學教師，他對編程可謂知之甚少，甚至一無所知。但是他使用了一款可以讓程序作者自己動手做應用的工具GameSalad。
DIY is hot. In May Research in Motion, the maker of the BlackBerry, unveiled a kit that allows people with no programming skills to create a working app within minutes. Apple, too, has applied for a patent indicating it is also building a DIY tool for iOS, its mobile operating system. And in March the Massachusetts Institute of Technology released a beta version of App Inventor, which allows even simpletons to make apps for Android phones.
"自己動手做"（DIY）很流行。五月份，黑莓的制造商RIM（Research in Motion）公司就發布了一套允許全無編程經驗的人在數分鐘內創造出能正常運行的應用的工具。蘋果公司申請的一項版權同樣表明它在建造一款自家的iOS平臺上用的DIY工具。在三月，麻省理工學院也發布了一套測試版的應用構建器。它能以傻瓜式的方式構建安卓手機應用。
Several start-ups already offer DIY app services. Conduit, a firm which was valued at $1.3 billion after J.P. Morgan acquired a 7% stake for $100m earlier this year, allows people to build mobile apps themselves with a simple graphical interface. AppMakr, a similar service, has helped to create some 10,000 apps. Users include individuals, small businesses and the Harvard Business Review. AppMakr also offers its users help in bringing apps up to standard before submitting them to Apple's picky App Store. Other services publish to Android and Windows, or bypass Apple altogether by creating web apps.
有一批新成立的公司已經提供自己動手做應用的服務了。今年早些時候，摩根大通以1億美元價格收購Conduit 7%的股權后，該公司的價值直奔13億。這家公司便可以讓用戶通過簡單的圖形界面構建移動應用。一家與其類似的服務公司——AppMakr則已經幫助創建了約10000款應用。其用戶包括個人，小型企業和《哈佛商業評論》。在用戶要將應用提交給挑剔的蘋果在線商店前，AppMakr也可幫助用戶提高應用軟件的水平，使其符合標準。其他服務公司則發布安卓和Windows平臺的應用程序,或者通過創建網頁應用徹底繞開蘋果平臺。
Custom-made apps can cost $10,000 or more. By contrast, DIY apps are free to create, with a subscription for continued support. Prices vary, typically from about $30 to $80 a month. Magmito, an app-building service that targets small and medium businesses, has a plan that costs as little as $50 a year. AppMakr offers a free, ad-supported service.
定制的應用成本高達10000美元或更多。相反，DIY應用則可以免費創建，還可購買后續支持。價格一般在每月30~80美元的范圍內波動。Magmito是一家定位中小企業的應用構建服務公司。它計劃著一年僅收取50美元的費用。AppMakr則提供免費的帶廣告服務。
Small businesses and tech-savvy amateurs have been the most enthusiastic early creators of DIY apps. But they can also be a profitable business. GameSalad allows users to make 2D games for smartphones, which some choose to sell. According to Steve Felter, GameSalad's boss, some developers even make a living designing apps on its platform.
小企業與有卓見的科技愛好者都是早期最有熱情的DIY應用創建者。但為這些人提供的服務也有可能是盈利的。GameSalad讓用戶能為智能手機制作2D游戲，其中一些人還會銷售它們。根據GameSalad經理Steve Felter的說法，一些開發者甚至在它的平臺制作應用維持生計。
The democratisation of technology is not without drawbacks. Apple's App Store already has some 550,000 apps. Google offers 450,000 for download on its Android operating system. The coming deluge of apps made by amateurs will see those numbers swell.
技術普及化也不是沒有缺點。蘋果在線商店已經擁有550000款應用。谷歌也在它的安卓平臺上提供450000款應用供下載。由愛好者制作的應用將如泛濫般襲來，上述數字也會增長。
Not all will shine. "There's a lot of garbage on YouTube. But once in a while you find a gem and everybody passes it around," says Ted Iannuzzi of Magmito. Professional app-makers may not be shaking in their boots just yet. But the clever ones, like AppMakr, are moving from creating stuff for mobile phones to creating the stuff that creates the stuff for mobile phones. App-creating software could be the machine tools of the mobile world.
不可能所有的都是精品。Magmito 的Ted Iannuzzi 說："YouTube里有大量的垃圾作品，但是精品從被發現到被人們廣泛傳播也是一瞬間的事兒。"專業的應用作者還不會感到有壓力。可是像AppMakr這樣明智的企業正從為智能手機創造應用轉向為智能手機創造制造應用的應用。制造應用的軟件將會成為移動世界中的機床。
