The traditional internet big company accelerates the sprint toward the mobile channel

Absrtact: The end of the capital feast for mobile internet entrepreneurs, traditional Internet companies began to accelerate the sprint toward the most valuable part of the market. A project, two or three people, do four or five weeks, rushed in six or seven VC, investment can talk about a

With the end of the capital feast for mobile internet entrepreneurs, traditional Internet companies are starting to accelerate their sprint to the most valuable part of the market-mobile channels.

"A project, two or three people, do four or five weeks, rushed in six or seven VC, investment can talk about a pretty." "In the June 2011, the Mobile Internet business Circle circulated such a slightly teasing jokes, but it is a lot of the real experience of the entrepreneurial team."

But from the second half of 2011, the wind suddenly changed, investors began to slowly become low-key and conservative, more than one product in the angel investment or even a round after the next financing failure.

The industry is starting to think about the grim reality of mobile Internet: It's hard to profit. Mobile advertising, electric dealers and games are known as the mobile end of the most easy to get revenue of the 3 areas, can be 2011 years of mobile advertising development is not satisfactory, the electrical business to become the traditional electric dealers hunting ground, small team of products to choose to do shopping guide Most of the success is difficult. And the game, after the explosive influx of many products, is becoming a complex and gradually diluted profit business.

More importantly, there is still great uncertainty about the development of mobile Internet. When technologies such as mobile phones, mobile operating systems, communications networks, and even maps, voice, NFC communications, and amplification are in hand, any uncertainty can lead to the collective death of a certain category of products.

Huge innovation explosion and the infinite possibility of product direction, actually contain extremely high risk, VC already sniffed the air of gunpowder. The capital feast for the mobile internet is ending, and the need for capital to feed the mobile product has been elusive.

However, not all business on the mobile internet is uncertain. In the last year, just a little attention, you can find Baidu, Tencent, 360 of these internet "big guys" are carrying money to stride the layout, and their contention is the focus of mobile channels.

Competitive speed of mobile channel

November 15, 2012, Baidu to brush machine tool Zhuo Master Strategic investment nearly 50 million yuan, but also has the news, Baidu also invests (acquires) the innovation Workshop under the Android ROM and the desktop product company Dim sum.

Not long ago, in August 2012, 360 chairman Zhou said Tencent had wholly acquired the Brush Machine Wizard-the latter in April to accept 360 about 18 million yuan of shares, but has been bought back. Tencent allegedly invested tens of millions of in the Le Frog rom in July, and Le Frog is an android ROM product with MIUI, a snack and millet company. In fact, in March, Tencent also acquired the main products for the magic of mobile phone Butler (Android mobile phone PC management software) Hangzhou Magic, and responsible for the QQ mobile phone Butler products.

As early as last year, 360 has begun to cooperate with the Fujian Network Dragon Company, the network Mirs under the 91 mobile phone assistant is China's first mobile application download market. The founder of iOS 91 mobile phone helper Xun Jun After leaving the net Dragon to create a jailbreak version of the iphone and the ipad mobile phone market "synchronous push", and the introduction of synchronization assistant, and Innovation Factory chairman and CEO of Kai-Fu Lee and well-known investors Cai at the same time investment.

Mobile channels have been rapidly occupied by large Internet companies in a year, and this is just the beginning of a fragmented and cluttered market. If the mobile product itself is the foundation of a firm's footing, the mobile channel determines the new World's voice and the relationship with others.

No matter what products, the end of the channel to connect users, which is full of uncertainty in the mobile Internet the largest quantitative.

Why is mobile channels important? The development of traditional Internet and PC clients may be a glimpse. Flow is called the "blood" of various products, and the Internet of Chinese characteristics, traffic entry is an important but complex topic. Whether it is the default software installation and Web site shortcut in the pirated Windows operating system, browser navigation, or search engine, they are through the user and traffic guide, access to a variety of web sites and clients of the right to speak and become a big business. Not only that, master the flow of the entrance means to master the product growth of the "soil", so that their products have been directly used by a wide range of users.

Especially when the mobile product is very uncertain, mastering the mobile channel means that when the product direction is determined, the new product can occupy the market in quantity at the first time. Similarly, if there are other new excellent products available, their own access to the channel, it may become excellent products have to embrace the "thigh." From this point of view, not by people think of the video site has just arisen, the families have to give Baidu "send Shares" story, because Baidu in the traditional internet is the king of traffic.

Four major Battlefield

Unlike the traditional Internet in the PC era, mobile users ' main networking is through a variety of applications (APPS), while the most important form of mobile channels is not search or URL navigation, but App store.

By 2012, there were more than 1.3 million smartphone apps in Apple's iOS, Google Android and Microsoft's Windows Phone system, with iOS topping 650,000. According to Iris data, 2012 China Mobile Internet user size 430 million, mobile internet users 56.7% will download applications.

In the 2nd quarter of 2012, only Android apps downloaded 5 billion times in China. The huge number of applications and vast numbers of users have spawned many channels, the most mainstream of which is the App store. The power of all the chains of mobile phones wants to be imported through app stores, such as Samsung Apps, Nokia has Ovi, Lenovo Music Store, telecom operators, China Mobile has mobile app Store, China Telecom has Sky wing space, Unicom also has the Wo store. But in contrast, the largest third-party application stores, such as 91, Android, Tencent application Bao, pea pod, Jifeng market and 360 mobile phone assistants. So far, third-party mobile app store users have reached 150 million, an increase of 247.7% year-on-year.

By default, most app stores are based on the Android operating system, and only 91, a few stores or sync tools, such as synchronous push, support iOS. This is due to the rapid growth of Android phones (which is expected to be over 170 million shipments in 2012) and, on the other hand, the openness and confusion of the Android system, which gives the app store more room to grow.

As a result, the scramble for app stores extends to the focus on Third-party app stores that compete for Android. Because the barriers to doing shops are not high, like many other industries, this is an extremely fragmented market. "This year there are signs of a growing store, but even the top app store has less than 10% per cent of the market." According to the specific application, some applications of the download, the number one shop even less than 5% of the total. "A well-known mobile product promotion director said.

Third-party mobile stores are divided into two, one in the form of applications installed on the mobile phone, such as the Android Market, the Jifeng market, and the other is in the form of clients installed on the PC side, such as Pea pod, 91 mobile phone assistants. For the top-ranked stores, the two are generally both and mutually compatible.

In addition to the store, the Android Brush Machine market is another battleground, and this is more like the traditional PC era place. Because Android native systems are not easy to use for most Chinese users, "Brush ROM" has become a broad user requirement for a better experience. It's much like a pirated Windows system installed when buying a PC, the difference being that it's not so gray, the free and open Android system is easy to reinvent itself, and in principle, the user is free to turn the phone over to different ROM versions of the OS, as long as it has the hardware authority. In fact, from Google to mobile phone hardware manufacturers are also very difficult to control.

Baidu's investment in dim sum and Tencent's investment is such a ROM, and 360 also has its own 360 mobile desktop. On the one hand, they try to optimize the native system, and use the localization to give the user a better experience; On the other hand, they replace Android as the system layer between the handset hardware and the software, and it becomes a logical thing to preinstall and manage the application. When more ROM is available, even the channels for installing the ROM are valuable, such as Master Zhuo (Baidu) and The Brush Machine Wizard (Tencent).

In addition, there are two mobile channels for battle positions, one for the original mobile phone pre-installed, the second for mobile phone management software. The former is mainly in Shenzhen with the majority of mobile phone manufacturers "resources cooperation", some large applications even to a machine 1 yuan to buy the installation, because each machine will be sure to bring a real user, the latter is the traditional era of some PC management software ideas.

These parts together constitute the main body of the current mobile channel. While the mobile internet bubble has led to an increase in product marketing costs, which in turn has increased the value of these mobile channels, the mobile channel itself is worth the struggle of big companies even if it is not making money-they are not short of money, just a more determined mobile internet future.

"After the Spring festival in 2012, several large companies grew significantly faster in the channel." "In particular, 360 and Tencent," said a senior mobile internet investor to business value. "In the" double 11 "period, the relevant people said because Alibaba's three-dimensional marketing strategy, the cat's mobile client download is very large, but even if the channel dispersed, only 360 related to the mobile channel for its 10% of the amount," 360 in the mobile channel this piece can be said to be the strongest. "

And in the second half, with Baidu Mobile Internet strategy of exerting force, the traditional Internet traffic giant began to enter with a strong posture. It can be expected that the future of the mobile channel competition will be in the three traditional internet giants.

Acquisitions plus self research, they will quickly pull up the threshold of mobile channels. After 2012 years, new players will find it difficult to access the channel.

Channel Integration: After the preface

"China's PC market is different from that of foreign countries, there is a significant gap between high-end users and users, and the product user curve does not rise smoothly." "Sogou Company CEO Wang Xiaoquan once to" business value, said, "through a variety of channels, products can be accumulated in the initial user, access to direct access to the main users of the opportunity, which makes it will have a jump-type upward curve. ”

In the mobile channel, although the play has a difference, but "direct even the masses of users" has not changed the nature. And the so-called mass users, is the main body of Android phone shipments, that is, "thousand-yuan Intelligent machine" users. This is the area where mobile channels cross over.

Baidu, Tencent, 360 on the move began to layout all started in 2011, in 2012 from the capital and resources level obviously exerting force. More importantly, in addition to the application of stores, brush machines, pre-installed and management of these four methods, as they will move channels and their products further docking, the dominant power of the mobile channel will be further strengthened, and each has a different mobile channel competitive strength.

Baidu launched the mobile platform on June 29, 2011, and then moved to the mobile application platform in November. Six months after May 2, 2012, after the mobile search of the bottom of the integration completed, Baidu's mobile search results began to show priority mobile applications, and can be directly downloaded-Mobile search flow Direct link mobile channels.

And Baidu's "search flow docking" Different, Tencent because of the product itself in the strong strength, took a "single point breakthrough, multi-point integration" road. April 2011, Tencent upgraded mobile software Center for Tencent Application Center, November, its channel client unified renamed as Application Treasure. June 2012, Tencent Unified all the brands for the application of Bao, and its huge users of mobile phone QQ, mobile browser, mobile phone butler and other products in the integration of application downloads, and unified point to the application of the treasure. Application treasure in the year when the total amount of download is 3 billion, download users over billion.

360 followed the "security Guardian + software Butler" approach, with strong management-oriented client with application management, and from application management with the application store, has a very high user conversion rate. 2011 360, namely with the network Dragon cooperation, integration of the mobile end of the most powerful channel operators. Then in September 2011, in the mobile phone defender Riga 360 box, September 16, the official release of the PC version of the mobile phone assistant, greatly optimized the application on the PC side of the management, download and update the ability. March 2012, 360 with Android, Jifeng, 3G portals and other cooperation to start the 360 mobile phone Security Market Alliance, into the domestic mainstream application stores upstream. April 2012, mobile phone assistant joint launch mobile version, become 360 mobile phone defender outside the second handset side support point.

For these ordinary developers can not be expected to the "giant" class players, Baidu, Tencent, 360 are mobile channels to form the end of their own has been the core competitiveness of irreplaceable advantages. While they have not been able to change the barbaric growth of mobile internet channels for a short time, the pillars pattern is forming in the long run.

Just as any complex problem begins with a fixed constant, the starting point for the mobile Internet is the channel. Perhaps in the future, any mobile product that wants to get a lot of success at home will be difficult to circumvent, but for entrepreneurs, the reduction of variables and the increase in quantity are not bad.

Over the past two years, the mobile internet bubble, so that the market has been thousands of application channels, brush volume and other difficult to bring any value of the behavior has become the industry's default unspoken rules. The proliferation of channels and the lack of rules and regulations, to encourage the developers of the impetuous, everyone is looking for "the pan" became ironic but sad reality.

When the bubble bursts, and the chapter of channel integration begins, it will help mobile application developers refocus their operations back to the product itself-even if they are likely to face competition from giants, rather than simply pursuing data and fast money.