电脑极客和明星好像是八竿子打不着的两类人，但是手机应用开发商越来越喜欢和诸如电视明星金·卡戴珊一流合作，以期找到在过分拥挤的市场中脱颖而出的新方法。
Since Apple’s App Store launched in 2008, many of the most popular apps for the iPhone or Google’s Android smartphones have been new franchises such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush Saga or Clash of Clans.
自2008年苹果推出应用商店以来，iphone或谷歌的安卓智能手机上的热门应用都将自己的品牌授权出去，如《愤怒的小鸟》、《糖果粉碎传奇》、《部落战争》。
But the recent success of games and utilities to which celebrities have lent their name, combined with the growing challenge of getting noticed in the App Store, is prompting more developers to seek new tie-ups with stars.
但是由于最近借用明星大名的游戏和应用取得成功，再加上应用商店崭露头角愈加困难，越来越多的开发商开始寻求和明星结盟。
Glu Mobile said last month that its celebrity tie-in game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood had made $1.6m in its first five days on sale. Would-be starlets can buy virtual haircuts, makeovers or kittens as they make their way up the celebrity rankings, with Ms Kardashian acting as their guide to life in the limelight. The game is currently fifth in the iPhone’s US chart of top-grossing apps.
GluMobile上月称，其推出的游戏《《金·卡戴珊：好莱坞》》在推出仅仅5天就带来了160万美元的收入。游戏中的用户可以进行虚拟理发和化妆，提高自己的明星等级，而卡戴珊则充当他们在聚光灯下生活的导师。目前，这款游戏在美国的苹果手机应用总排行中名列第五。
This week, actor Tom Hanks released a typewriter-style word-processing app for the iPad that immediately shot to the top of the App Store charts in the US.
本周，演员汤姆·汉克斯发布了一款iPad版的打字机风格的文字处理应用，很快就登上了美国应用排行榜的首位。
Hanx Writer recreates on a touchscreen the sounds of a manual typewriter.
这款名为Hanx Writer的应用在触摸屏上再现了人工打字机的声音。
Forrest Gump, the hapless character that brought Mr Hanks an Oscar, has found a new lease of life 20 years on, in a running game developed by Genera Mobile which is currently in the top 50 most popular US apps.
阿甘，这个让汉克斯捧走一座小金人的不幸角色，20年后在Genera Mobile开发的跑酷游戏中获得了新生。这款游戏目前在美国热销应用排行中跻身前50。
Mobile industry analysts and advisers say these are just the first in a coming flood of celebrity-endorsed and Hollywood-branded apps, as stars look to extend their franchises into the digital world. In a market overwhelmed with millions of apps, many small developers are looking to famous names to help their titles gain a following.
手机行业的分析人士和咨询师称这些只是小试牛刀，随着明星希望将自己的特许经营权拓展进数码世界，将会涌现大量名人代言和好莱坞冠名的应用。在手机应用多如牛毛的市场中，不少小开发商希望找到名头响亮的明星帮助自己的产品增加曝光度。
“If you have a licensed brand or intellectual property, that can really help” with getting downloads, says Mark Wilcox, analyst at Vision Mobile, at a time when many new apps go largely ignored.
Vision Mobile分析师马克·威尔科斯特(Mark Wilcox)表示，在一个很多新应用被无视的年代，如果你有授权的品牌或知识产权，那就能增加下载量。
“In the future, every movie, movie star and brand will have their own messaging apps just like they have their own websites now,” says Nico Sell, chief executive of secure messaging app Wickr. She is working with “numerous celebrities” and advisors from talent agencies IMG and ICM to develop branded apps.
安全短信应用Wickr的总裁尼可·舍尔称：“未来，每部电影，每个电影明星和品牌都会有他们自己的发短信应用，就像他们现在有自己的网站一样。”舍尔目前正和不少明星以及来自IMG和ICM人才经纪公司的咨询师合作，开发品牌应用。
Last week, Candy Crush Saga’s developer King cited the popularity of Ms Kardashian’s game as a reason for lower spending on its top-selling app.
上周，《糖果粉碎传奇》的开发商King表示卡戴珊的游戏火爆是造成《糖果粉碎传奇》收入减少的原因之一。
In a note entitled, “Kim Kardashian, the King Slayer”, Deutsche Bank analyst Lloyd Walmsley downgraded his rating on King from “buy” to “hold” last week, citing “intense” competition as with the apps “going after the same demographics”.
在一份名为《金·卡戴珊,King杀手》的报告中，德意志银行的分析师罗伊德 沃姆斯利将King的股票等级从“买入”降为“持有”，原因是同类游戏针对相同受众，竞争激烈。
However, King’s chief executive Riccardo Zacconi told the Financial Times that the company was unlikely to respond to this growing competition with a celebrity app of its own, as he was unwilling to pay the required royalties.
尽管如此，King首席执行官里卡多·扎科尼告诉《金融时报》，公司不会通过与明星合作的方式来应对日益激烈的竞争，因为他不愿支付相关的授权费。
Smaller developers, trying to build an audience, have no such reservations. Until recently, Hollywood agents or content studios were reluctant to hand over control of their properties to technologists. But alongside perfumes and clothing lines, these brands are now more willing to license their properties to app makers, too.
更小规模的开发商因为要争取用户，因此没有这方面的顾虑。直到最近，好莱坞经纪公司和工作室还不太愿意向技术人员发放授权。但与香水和服装业相比，这些品牌现在更愿意向应用开发商提供授权。
Tero Kuittinen, managing director at Magid Associates, a consultancy, says that while a few years ago a celebrity manager or rights holder might have demanded a $1m fee before the game even went on sale, today some are open to “five-figure” upfront fees or straight revenue splits that reduce the financial risks for developers.
咨询公司Magid Associates常务董事特洛·奎迪南表示，几年前明星经纪人或版权持有者在游戏发售前可能就要求拿到100万美元的费用，现在的预付款则降至五位数，或直接收入分成，降低了开发者的财务风险。
“You can see a lot of licence holders are changing their attitude to mobile games,” Mr Kuittinen says. “The hope in the [mobile] industry is that if you see a game affiliated with a star or a movie, the fact that it is familiar to you may pique your curiosity.”
奎迪南说：“现在很多版权持有人改变了对手机游戏的态度。手机行业的期望是通过游戏与明星或电影联合，利用对明星和电影的熟悉激起用户的好奇心。”
However, celebrity endorsements do not always lead to overnight success. Last year, Justin Bieber invested in Shots, a photo app dedicated to selfies. Use of his image in its App Store listing has not prevented Shots from dropping quickly out of the top download charts.
尽管如此，明星代言并不总能带来一夜成名。去年，贾斯汀·比伯投资了自拍应用Shots。但哪怕使用了他的头像做宣传，也没有阻止Shots快速跌出下载排行榜。
