Do-it-yourself apps
自己做的应用程序
Make your own Angry Birds
做自己的"愤怒的小鸟"
Homebrew apps have arrived
私人制作的软件已经来临
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，小猪爱迪（Eddie the pig）在智利风靡。击败"愤怒的小鸟"后，以爱迪（Eddie）为主角的iphone游戏"ePig Dash"成为智利苹果应用榜上排名第一的付费游戏。就游戏本身而言，它没什么不寻常：以可爱角色为主角，小猪胀气后，将把一群愤怒的小鸟推下顶座。奇怪的是"ePig Dash"的作者是一名魔术师兼经济学教师，他对编程可谓知之甚少，甚至一无所知。但是他使用了一款可以让程序作者自己动手做应用的工具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.
"自己动手做"（DIY）很流行。五月份，黑莓的制造商RIM（Research in Motion）公司就发布了一套允许全无编程经验的人在数分钟内创造出能正常运行的应用的工具。苹果公司申请的一项版权同样表明它在建造一款自家的iOS平台上用的DIY工具。在三月，麻省理工学院也发布了一套测试版的应用构建器。它能以傻瓜式的方式构建安卓手机应用。
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经提供自己动手做应用的服务了。今年早些时候，摩根大通以1亿美元价格收购Conduit 7%的股权后，该公司的价值直奔13亿。这家公司便可以让用户通过简单的图形界面构建移动应用。一家与其类似的服务公司——AppMakr则已经帮助创建了约10000款应用。其用户包括个人，小型企业和《哈佛商业评论》。在用户要将应用提交给挑剔的苹果在线商店前，AppMakr也可帮助用户提高应用软件的水平，使其符合标准。其他服务公司则发布安卓和Windows平台的应用程序,或者通过创建网页应用彻底绕开苹果平台。
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.
定制的应用成本高达10000美元或更多。相反，DIY应用则可以免费创建，还可购买后续支持。价格一般在每月30~80美元的范围内波动。Magmito是一家定位中小企业的应用构建服务公司。它计划着一年仅收取50美元的费用。AppMakr则提供免费的带广告服务。
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.
小企业与有卓见的科技爱好者都是早期最有热情的DIY应用创建者。但为这些人提供的服务也有可能是盈利的。GameSalad让用户能为智能手机制作2D游戏，其中一些人还会销售它们。根据GameSalad经理Steve Felter的说法，一些开发者甚至在它的平台制作应用维持生计。
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.
技术普及化也不是没有缺点。苹果在线商店已经拥有550000款应用。谷歌也在它的安卓平台上提供450000款应用供下载。由爱好者制作的应用将如泛滥般袭来，上述数字也会增长。
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 说："YouTube里有大量的垃圾作品，但是精品从被发现到被人们广泛传播也是一瞬间的事儿。"专业的应用作者还不会感到有压力。可是像AppMakr这样明智的企业正从为智能手机创造应用转向为智能手机创造制造应用的应用。制造应用的软件将会成为移动世界中的机床。