WiFi in the end where the real business value

Recently, a company called WiFi sharing elves get millions of dollars in financing news detonated the concern of the Internet industry, which also let the outside world began to open the unknown of WiFi insider battle.

"Commercial WiFi, the next mobile portal," the reference was loudly launched, and in this up to hundreds of millions of markets, operators, Internet industry chiefs, grassroots entrepreneurs are gathered in this attempt Nuggets WiFi hidden Infinite commercial value.

Compared to the hot competition before the hot home, WiFi contention is undoubtedly more meaningful. Take a look at the development of the Internet world, the connection between people and information, the connection between people and transactions, the connection between people and information has created the BAT three big giants in the Internet industry, and the future greater Blue Ocean lies in people and services, people and objects, Objects and objects, such as smart home trying to solve the connection between people and objects, but all of these connections require the support of WiFi, which is the meaning of WiFi in the entrance.

Some people even joked that in the Internet era, Maslow's hierarchy of needs needs to increase the demand for WiFi and the demand for electricity under its original five-tier demand. Although joke so far, but in the end where the true commercial value of WiFi in the end, different players have different positioning and what kind of difference, in the end what kind of route could create future winners?

WiFi: The commercial value of entrance scramble

WiFi is a technology that wirelessly connects terminals such as personal computers and handheld devices to each other. In fact, it is a high-frequency radio signal, the brand of wireless network communication technology is held by the WiFi alliance, so it has become synonymous with wireless network signals.

In this era of mobile Internet where ubiquitous Internet is needed, WiFi is becoming a pig on the veil.

WiFi includes home WiFi, corporate WiFi, and WiFi, a commercial WiFi that is free for public use, are three types of commercial WiFi currently available on the market.

The development of commercial WiFi market background, the most important point is that the three operators leaving the market WiFi WiFi layout gap, and smart city construction is only a little far, failed to meet the needs of users.

As early as five years ago, the three major carriers began laying a large area of ​​WiFi hotspots, which operators call WLAN. A few years later, operators have laid millions of WLAN hotspots. However, this is far from China's goal of needing 50 million WiFi hotspots.

For operators, the laying of WiFi hot spots, each hot spot will be costly with its investment focus has been placed on the 4G backbone network construction, it is difficult to come up with extra funds. Even if you can come up, I believe operators will not be willing. Because building a smart city is a national strategy, operators as businesses have their own business considerations. Extensive laying of free WiFi will inevitably reduce the user's mobile traffic, which is precisely the operator's fee. Therefore, it is hard to imagine both Left and right hand each other's projects can exist in the same system.

WiFi Sharing Wizard CMO Secretary Xinying believes that the major cities in the early, including the operator's flagship "smart city" and so on, the reason for the low penetration rate is the technical obstacles, of course, and 12306, of course, only the operator until the point, Not according to the needs of users and promote, let alone the depth of demand.

As a result, outside the carrier's system, commercial WiFi market space was left out. Data show that there are tens of millions of domestic laying WiFi demand business, but the industry is estimated to have covered less than 100,000.

While businesses choose to deploy WiFi, in addition to serving as a service to consumers, in all walks of life to explore the online and offline collaborative and win-win development of O2O era, WiFi apparently still has a deeper level of importance.

Taking China Gome and Suning, the two traditional retailers that are focusing on the transition, as examples. Both companies emphasized the O2O layout and mentioned the in-store WiFi settings. Consumers can enter the store for free on-site WiFi , At the same time with WiFi, you can also better play different functions and values ​​of online and offline, such as providing consumer feedback online, detailed description of performance and usage, and so on.

Of course, as an important path to O2O, the value of WiFi is not limited to this. Because WiFi is an Internet portal, it is directly related to the big data in the Internet era. It can analyze user behavior, provide traffic to businesses, Conversion statistics, you can also define the user base, and even intervention in the field of mobile payments.

In addition to macroscopic data analysis, WiFi signal can follow customers 'movement across different in-store counters to accurately understand different customers' staying time at different counters and interested products, laying a solid foundation for precision marketing.

Interestingly, since users can only choose one when they use WiFi, which makes the meaning of its entry level infinitely magnified. Whoever masters this entry, who has mastered the largest big data of this Internet age, is either WiFi contention The most important significance lies.

Contention and positioning of the interests

Competitors entering the WiFi space, including carriers, Internet giants, Internet upstarts, O2O companies and a variety of entrepreneurs. Professionals Wang Guanxiong will be divided into five major sects, each with its own style of play. However, the most competitive among the three categories.

The first category is BAT three major Internet giants "housekeeping homes faction" This formulation is very image, plainly Baidu, Ali, Tencent acquisition of WiFi access in the layout, because WiFi is the most basic Internet Network facilities, but also with the Internet's big data and its derived O2O, precision marketing is closely related to the BAT can not let go, which is the layout of the international Google and Facebook have a similar taste. Only the two play differently.

"Ali co-operation with the tree bear, Baidu launched a small WiFi, Tencent is also investing in related businesses, but basically are based on investment.Its layout are based on the unity of the Internet on the basis of the strategy."

The second category is through commercial WiFi WiFi business layout hardware, the typical representative Mai Mai Di, in addition to information such as the state, although the tree also take the hardware route, but due to the cooperation with the giants, the play will be with other Some differences in business.

To put it simply, the hardware route is to connect to merchants by providing them with devices and providing network maintenance and data accounting services, and consumers connect to the "what-if" log-in page they provide. There will be some advertising and APP distribution opportunities, such as Maidi Di's business model is to find manufacturers custom hardware, and then develop the design of the router's software system, to the business of selling commercial routers, in the process of maintaining the network WiFi, WiFi access Pages on the sale of advertising and flow diversion, to undertake commercial and third-party brand master ads, known as mobile "Focus Media."

However, Mai Mai Di has recently won the Millet Department of C round of financing, millet share of 20%, Mai Di and millet combination, coupled with the introduction of 360 WiFi hardware, so WiFi battle has a more intense gunpowder flavor.

The third category is to share the network "WiFi Sharing Wizard" as the representative of the software route, mainly through the installation of computers, mobile phones and other devices to provide WiFi software to share, through a key set, the notebook into a wireless router, so WiFi mobile phone and PAD to share Internet access, do not need server support, can send and receive messages. As long as you have a WiFi network in your area, you can share data with others over the wireless network. Its style is to focus on the vertical and emphasize the rapid occupation in this area with the power of capital.

There are, of course, some big masters in this space, and some O2O companies are trying to implement hardware-based distribution of merchants on the move of ants. However, they may be neglected in the competitive situation or may fall into the above category directly.

For soft and hard routes which one is better, well-known self-media person Wang Guanxiong that this is a bit like the Internet phone wars that year, when the Internet chiefs will be bet on the pre-installed mobile phone products, Tencent has launched a foothold Service and application WeChat, and through the WeChat Tencent got the first Chinese mobile Internet tickets, became the control of mobile entry Gangster.

Software adapts hardware, a software takes all hardware, and different users each have brand preferences for different hardwares.Therefore, a single hardware vendor is difficult to dominate, but the software cost is low, Iteration fast, can be combined with the needs of users to do in-depth development , Able to solidify the user habits, but who can develop habits who can not change. "Wang Guanxiong said.

[Big brother to vote or go it alone? 】

Since entry-level hegemony war, BAT bigwigs will certainly not give up, look to the international market, Google and Facebook are also in-depth layout of this area, which makes the domestic market three or four hundred players a melee sign of tricks .

Cooperation with the Internet Gangster, you can get the resources tilted Gangster, but also become a chess piece in its layout, not with big brother, then there will be fierce competition, the company's strategic positioning in the end there is no market The gap, enterprise resource management in the end can support the brutal fight and so on, are testing these emerging entrepreneurs thinking and vision.

In this situation, the Cubs seem to have chosen the cooperation rationally with Alibaba, and soon with Alibaba's Lynx brand to launch a strategy of using WiFi for precision marketing. For example, if a user used a mobile phone to spend on the brand's Lynx store, when he came to the brand store, the wireless router in the store would identify the user's mobile phone and perform accurate marketing based on the consumer record.

Tencent is also not far behind. By using the WeChat advantage, WeChat acts as an intermediary for the Yeahwifi project. As long as the user pays attention to the public number of the store, the merchant can still push the new products and special offers to them after leaving the store. Of course, Baidu is no exception, but also waiting for investment in related industries.

However, there are also people in the industry to "China Business" reporter Tucao said Yeahwifi project is a high-Peng following projects, high friends have been marginalized in the following Tencent, so these cooperation also can not mention Tencent's strategic level, Tencent is still prepared in the WiFi Investment opportunities. This, of course, also suggests the risk of working with big guys.

The co-ordination effect of WiFi on merchant O2O strategy seems to be obvious, but the problems follow one after another, such as user privacy protection, information security and payment security.

Technical experts point of view: commercial WiFi technology itself is very low threshold, as long as the purchase of the corresponding device software, network services can be built to achieve, therefore, can not rule out hackers will borrow self-built fake WiFi network to provide free WiFi to attract user connections, Way to steal the user's payment account and password.

It is noteworthy that the current WiFi marketing products after another, but some of them too quick success, and advertising-based WiFi marketing there is the market threshold is too low, the model is too simple, reproducible, and the user privacy can not be protected Many problems.

"Unlike hardware vendors in the WiFi space, software development, while requiring significant investment, does not cost as much money as hardware investment, nor does it consume human resources and erode operating costs in hardware layouts, so software investments can More directly to meet the needs of users. "Zhang Qi, chief of WiFi sharing wizard said.

Zhang Qi believes that, WiFi is more important to do the service, not the country layout tools, as technology advances in the WiFi above can derive more and more services, such as better access to the signal, more flexible access Into the way, and security services.

However, the idea is good, but in a lot of money in China's Internet market, do not go to rely on Gangster, pick the banner in the end how to fund-raising, how to settle the game with the big game?

Insiders said that an innovative product to establish a firm foothold in the country, the cost of funds is about 8 to 10 times the foreign, on the one hand with the domestic capital surplus, on the other hand also with the domestic enterprises follow the imitation and Irrational about. However, this is an unavoidable living environment for domestic Internet companies, and a single enterprise can not be changed.