WeChat launches alternative to Apple App Store
微信“小程序”在iPhone发布10周年之际上线
广州程序翻译公司：腾讯称这一时间安排是为了向苹果和乔布斯致敬，但此举可能被视为挑战，目标是苹果在app领域的主导地位。
Chinese tech giant Tencent has chosen the 10th anniversary of the unveiling of the iPhone to launch a rival to Apple’s App Store.
中国科技巨擘腾讯(Tencent)选择在iPhone发布10周年之际推出与苹果(Apple) App Store竞争的服务。广州程序翻译公司。
WeChat, China’s most frequently used mobile app, today started offering “miniprograms” within the app from third-party developers. Users can now book a shared ride with Didi, order a gift from JD.com, or rent a bicycle from Mobike — and use over 100 other “apps within the app” — without leaving the WeChat platform.
中国人气最高的移动应用微信(WeChat)昨日起在该应用中提供来自第三方开发商的“小程序”。用户现在无需离开微信平台，就可以预订滴滴(Didi)的拼车服务，从京东商城(JD.com)订购礼物，从摩拜单车(Mobike)租自行车，或使用100余个其他“app内的app”。
The new miniprogram function makes WeChat, or Weixin in Chinese, the first big platform to provide an alternative to the App Store from Apple, which has tightly controlled what programs can be installed on an iOS device.
这种新的小程序功能使微信成为提供苹果App Store替代品的首个大平台；苹果严格控制在iOS设备上可以安装什么程序。
While Tencent said the launch of the feature was timed to pay tribute to Apple and Steve Jobs, it is likely to be seen more as a challenge by the US company to its smartphone app dominance.
尽管腾讯表示，小程序功能的推出时间是为了向苹果和史蒂夫•乔布斯(Steve Jobs)致敬，但此举很可能在更大程度上被这家美国公司视为一个挑战，目标是后者在智能手机app领域的主导地位。
WeChat's miniprogram platform adds to the list of threats that Apple is facing in China. Its profits in the region fell a fifth in the year to September 2016, and last week it buckled to Chinese government pressure to remove the New York Times app.
微信的小程序平台意味着苹果在中国面临的威胁的清单更长了。在截至2016年9月的一年里，苹果在该地区的利润下降了五分之一；就在上周，该公司屈服于中国政府的压力，撤下了《纽约时报》(New York Times)的app。广州程序翻译公司。
Apple has responded to Tencent’s move by saying its rival is not allowed to call miniprograms “apps”, according to Pony Ma, Tencent’s chief executive.
据腾讯首席执行官马化腾(Pony Ma)介绍，苹果已经对腾讯的举动作出回应，不让腾讯把小程序叫做应用号。
The miniprograms can be used almost instantly and provide stripped-down functions compared to the original full apps.
小程序几乎立即可以使用，并提供与完整的原始app相比较为简洁的功能。
Rather than the 30 per cent cut that Apple takes from App Store purchases, developers have not been asked to give any cut to WeChat, according to Matthew Brennan of the tech consultancy ChinaChannel.
据科技咨询公司ChinaChannel的马修•布伦南(Matthew Brennan)介绍，开发者没有被要求向微信提供任何回扣，而不像苹果那样从App Store购买提取30%的佣金。
In addition, miniprograms are “device-neutral”, meaning they will run in exactly the same way on Android and iOS.
此外，小程序是“设备中立”的，这意味着他们将以完全相同的方式在Android和iOS上运行。
“Platforms for app distributions have been attempted before — Google and Baidu attempted to do this from their search engine interface — but we've seen limited attraction,” said Sandy Shen of tech research firm Gartner.
“以前也有公司尝试过应用分发平台——谷歌(Google)和百度(Baidu)曾试图通过各自的搜索引擎界面做到这一点——但我们看到的吸引力有限，”技术研究公司高德纳(Gartner)的沈哲怡(Sandy Shen)表示。广州程序翻译公司。
Creating in-app platforms for app distribution is attractive to companies and third-party developers because of the flow of user time, payments and user data through the parent app.
创建app内的app分发平台对于公司和第三方开发者是有吸引力的，因为用户的时间、付款和用户数据都通过父应用流动。
WeChat's captive audience makes it a more plausible candidate to crack open in-app app distribution. The platform accounts for 35 per cent of all time spent on mobiles in China, according to QuestMobile, the tech research lab. More than 750m people log into WeChat daily, and half of them use it for more than an hour and a half each day.
微信的现成受众使其更有希望在app内分发app方面取得突破。根据技术研究实验室QuestMobile的统计，微信平台占中国全部移动端使用时间的35%。超过7.5亿人每天登录微信，其中一半每天使用时间超过一个半小时。
“Tencent is winning the mobile war. Miniprograms will come to have a material impact on Apple’s App Store revenues; around 15 per cent of China’s mobile market are iOS users. Tencent is Apple’s number one source of income from the App Store globally,” said Mr Brennan.
“腾讯正在赢得移动端战争。小程序最终将对苹果的App Store营收产生实质性影响；中国移动市场的15%左右是iOS用户。全球而言，腾讯是苹果App Store的头号收入来源，”ChinaChannel的布伦南表示。广州程序翻译公司。
In-app purchases made through WeChat’s miniprograms are directed through Tencent’s mobile-payment system.
通过微信的小程序进行的app内购买，由腾讯的移动支付系统处理。
“We don’t even have personal privacy to start with, so it’s actually safer if our personal data are in the hands of big companies like Tencent rather than small apps,” said Carol Shao, an arts industry professional and WeChat user.
“我们本来就没有个人隐私，所以如果我们的个人数据掌握在腾讯这样的大公司（而不是小app）手中，实际上更安全，”艺术行业专业人士、微信用户Carol Shao说。
Additional reporting by Sherry Fei Ju
俱菲(Sherry Fei Ju)补充报道
