《会说话的宠物》走红之路

    10月14日，在参加艾伦•狄珍妮主持的脱口秀节目时，因主演CBS（哥伦比亚广播公司）情景喜剧《破产女孩》(2 Broke Girls)而大红大紫的凯特•丹宁丝和贝丝•贝尔斯聊起了一种许多人或许都深有体会的感情：她们非常爱自己的宠物。此外，丹宁丝和贝尔斯还为这次谈话添加了一丝技术色彩。她们交口称赞一款相对较新的应用，它不仅可以帮助用户分享照片，还可以让宠物“开口说话”。

    《会说话的宠物》(My Talking Pet )是一个再简单不过的创意。用户先拍摄一张他们宠爱的狗或猫（或任何类似面孔的东西）照片，同时向这款应用输入动物面部特征的参数，然后录制一段音频。这款应用随即就会开始对照片进行动画处理，从而让宠物的眼睛、鼻子、嘴巴都动起来，并同步播放录制的音频。最终效果就是，你的宠物仿佛在说话。

    获得艾伦脱口秀节目的主动宣传之后，《会说话的宠物》立刻火了起来，成为整个10月份苹果iTunes商店下载次数最多的付费应用。直至12月初，它始终是排名前20的付费娱乐应用。

    这款应用的开发者是伊恩•贝尔德和彼得•沃斯。这两位居住在伦敦的老同学各有专长，一位擅长商业开发，一位精通移动应用开发。与其他的优秀创意一样，开发这款应用的想法源自贝尔德和几位朋友的一次酒吧聚会。那天晚上，他和朋友聊起了宠物（贝尔德和他的太太养了一只拉布拉多猎犬），一段“狗狗说话”的YouTube视频让他们捧腹大笑。他们希望开发一种操作简单的应用，让自己的宠物“开口说话”。

    “所有的想法开始融合在一起，”贝尔德说。不久，他把这个应用创意告诉了沃斯。两人相约在一家咖喱菜餐厅，一起讨论如何把这个有趣的想法转化为一款真正的应用。它的确可行。《会说话的宠物》开发过程历时数月。2013年初，这款应用首次在iTunes商店上架，当时的售价为0.99美元或69便士，每天能为这两位居住在伦敦的好友带来大约50美元的收益。

    自10月中旬以来，得益于两位美剧明星的宣传效应，《会说话的宠物》已经斩获10万多美元的收入。贝尔德说：“我过去几个星期通过这款应用赚的钱比半年的工资还要多。”他说，这款应用的成功完全是拜那期艾伦脱口秀所赐。“她们的加持彻底改变了我的生活，”贝尔德说。“我打算辞去我的工作，全身心地开发这款应用。”

    沃斯和贝尔德成立了一家名为WOBA Media的公司——公司名称是由两人姓氏的前两个字母组合而成。他们计划招募更多员工，进军安卓(Android)应用市场，同时为《会说话的宠物》增加更多应用模式。目前的想法包括“魔鬼模式”（它将为宠物照片增加一双红彤彤的眼睛）、“天使模式”（它将为宠物添加翅膀和光晕），以及许多讨人喜爱的生日功能，比如派对帽。此外，《会说话的宠物》正在开发一种能够切实捕捉人类面部表情的图像扩展功能。虽然这款应用最广大的用户群集中在美国和英国，但在澳大利亚、加拿大和日本等国，它也成功地俘获了一批全球用户。

    “许多人对它非常痴迷，”贝尔德说。“我认为，这款应用充分彰显了人与宠物的亲密关系，确实引发了不少人的共鸣。”（财富中文网）

    译者：叶寒     

    On Oct. 14, Kat Dennings and Beth Behrs, stars of the CBS sitcom "2 Broke Girls," joined Ellen Degeneres on her talk show to discuss an affection that many people can relate to: a love for their pets. Dennings and Behrs added a technological twist when they praised a relatively new app that not only helps users share photos, but also allows their owners to put words in their pets' mouths.

    My Talking Pet is a simple enough idea. A user snaps a picture of their beloved dog or cat (or anything resembling a face), tells the app where the parameters of the animal's facial features are, and then records an audio message. The app animates the picture, moving the pet's eyebrows, nose, and mouth, and plays the recorded message. The end result makes it seem like the animal is talking.

    After the unsolicited endorsement on "Ellen," My Talking Pet exploded, becoming the most downloaded paid app in the Apple iTunes store through October, and remaining in the top 20 paid apps in the entertainment genre through the beginning of December.

    The masterminds behind My Talking Pet are Iain Baird and Peter Worth, London-based former classmates with expertise in business development and mobile app development, respectively. The concept for the app began, like a few other brilliant ideas, while Baird met some friends at a local pub. That night, he and his friends had discussed pets in general (Baird and his wife have a chocolate lab) and laughed about a viral YouTube video featuring a "talking dog." They wished there was an easy way for them to make their pets look like they were talking.

    "All of the ideas were starting to merge together," said Baird. He brought the idea for the app to Worth a little while later. The two met for curry and talked about transforming a pint-infused funny concept into a real app. It worked. My Talking Pet took several months to develop, and when the London-based duo first put the app on the iTunes market in early 2013 at $0.99/69p, it made around $50 a day.

    Thanks in part to the celebrity endorsement, My Talking Pet has raked in over $100,000 since mid-October. "I've earned more from the last few weeks of the app then I have in six months at my day job," said Baird. He said that the app's success all comes down to its feature on "Ellen." "[The endorsement] absolutely has changed my life," said Baird. "I'm going to call it a day and go in on this full time."

    WOBA Media -- the name is a portmanteau of Worth and Baird's last names -- plans to expand by hiring more employees, breaking into the Android app market, and incorporating more modes into the My Talking Pet app. Current ideas include "devil mode" (which will add glowing red eyes to the photo), "angel mode" (which will add wings and a halo), and a number of cutesy birthday features like party hats. My Talking Pet is also developing an add-on for images of people that will realistically capture human facial expressions. While the app has had the most traction in the U.S. and the U.K., it has had global success with users in Australia, Canada, and Japan as well.

    "People are obsessed with it," said Baird. "I think it's really struck a chord with how close people are with their pets."