360 launch of the link between PC and mobile end of the Lightning search

Summary: Tencent Science and Technology Zong July 31 reported almost at the same time, a number of companies have targeted the application of the search field. July 16, Baidu announced 1.9 billion U.S. dollars to acquire 91 wireless, although there is no details of the cooperation between the two, but in mobile search, mobile phone assistants and application points

Tencent Science and Technology Zong July 31 Report

Almost at the same time, many companies are aiming at the application search field.

July 16, Baidu announced 1.9 billion U.S. dollars to acquire 91 wireless, although there is no detail of cooperation between the two, but in mobile search, mobile phone assistants and application distribution platform for the integration of the imagination space. Two days later, 360 launched a link between the PC and the mobile end of the Lightning search, this action has been plotting for a long time, in Baidu and 91 wireless mergers and acquisitions occurred immediately after the launch, see 360 in the application of the initial card position. Other application distribution platforms, such as pea pods and application sinks, have indicated that they will apply the search direction with their exerting force.

Known as the number one project Lightning search after the Spring festival this year, by 360 search product director Zhaojun LED research and development. Lightning Search integrates games, applications, music, wallpaper and many other categories, the initial integration of search and mobile phone assistant functions.

"A stronger sense of patchwork," after the lightning search on the line, an application store responsible for this evaluation. He believes that by the technical reserves, product operations and other factors, the current search results of lightning search is not satisfactory, the product is still in a very early stage, search results need to be further optimized.

"Major companies to do application search is mainly to facilitate users, through the search for the long tail effect of the optimization of the application of the discovery mechanism and update frequency." "A person who does the online channel says.

According to the owner of an App store, iOS and Android apps are currently around 2 million, and the range of editorial recommendations and list coverage is focused on the top 300-500 applications, but the use of search in mainland China can cover 400,000-600,000 of applications.

There must be an undercurrent in the giant's crowded place. From the application store's own development, Apple iOS and Google (Weibo) in the usual editorial recommendations and rankings such as "one-time", the application store urgently needs to evolve to the next product form, to recreate an application store to break through the existing bottlenecks. For the application distribution of the participating vendors, it is also necessary in the product shape evolution of the early precision of the card position, to ensure that the starting line is not lost.

"Whether from the strategic sense of the giant layout, or to solve the user's retention and active degree, application search is just needed." said the person.

This is indeed a delicate moment. In the Internet giants through mergers and acquisitions, self-research and other ways to divide the application distribution channels of the sphere of influence, the mobile Internet application distribution channels of the evolution of the direction is gradually clear and a number of competitors have the unanimous approval of the manufacturers.

Channel Evolution

Shangcong founder of the application of the recent discovery of an interesting phenomenon, from the application of the internal data to see that many users like to use the editorial recommendation, but now found that users with a special search, the amount of the increase in the search rate is far greater than the amount of editing recommended by the growth rate.

In contrast, many operators of the application store increasingly feel that the application of distribution arrival rate bottlenecks. This helplessness comes from both ends.

One end comes from an increasing amount of application. Google's Android business chief told the latest Android 4.3 and Nexus 7 conferences that the number of apps in Google's App Store has topped 1 million. The number has even exceeded the number of apps used in Apple's App Store--in June, Apple officially announced the number of App store apps topped 900,000.

The number of applications is growing, and the number of zombies is a headache. Earlier, Adeven, a mobile market analyst, reported that 579,000 of the 880,000 apps in Apple's App store were zombie apps, which accounted for 2/3 of the total. These zombies have never been seen in the Apple statistics list, and the downloads are small.

The other end, from the user. Looking for applications like a needle in a haystack, download is also difficult to find their favorite applications. The contradiction between user's demand and information recommendation mismatch is more and more obvious.

For users, want to download a desired application, or know the exact name of the application or developers, a search will be obtained. Or depending on the App store's editorial recommendations or rankings, but over time, most of the apps are downloaded by the user.

In the upper and lower game of the list, the brush list phenomenon repeated. The application of a huge user base continues to be on the list of recommendations and lists, and the Matthew effect has reduced the frequency of new applications and people cannot find new and useful applications for fun. Applications that have already been downloaded have also become the gateway to new applications, and people are less reliant on application stores. This is why the App Store business has been described as "one-time".

Getting users to form the habit of constantly returning to the App store to find apps has become an issue that app stores must address, and the App Store is at a time when it has to evolve.

This evolution has occurred in earlier Internet developments. Yahoo early development when the form only know website content, Google through the chain can analyze the specific pages of each site and content, users directly click on the content to enter the site to complete a key direct. Google's presence has led to a breakthrough in PC-side search.

Pea Pod CEO Wang Junyu that the current App store pattern is similar to Yahoo's early form, and that the app Store needs to change like this. After the transformation, users start from the natural needs, do not need to search the application name, but search the application function, based on the functional requirements of the transformation is taking place.

Black hole effect

A number of companies with the use of search, this can be seen as a self-reinforcing black hole effect, through the application of search to absorb resources to form a positive acceleration cycle of the vortex.

When Apple still searches for keywords and application names, Google's App Store search algorithm can index the application's description, and Google also takes into account the quantity and quality of the external links linked to Google Play, as one of the metrics for sorting results.

Apple's App Store has previously tried to improve its application discovery mechanism. Chomp, a company that specializes in app search services, can do app searches in iOS and Android stores, helping users match their search terms with their apps and find apps they want. Later, Apple bought Chomp, using its technology to improve its itunes search mechanism, after completing the application search technology grafting, chomp technology into Apple's own technology, lost the meaning of independent brands, last September 30, Apple closed chomp.

Google has opened Google Play's interface to Android apps, and app stores have targeted open search interfaces to other homes, making it easier to search external crawls than ever before.

Chinese Internet companies have also made a difference in application search. In recent days, Baidu and 360 have shown that they have seen the importance of applying search cards. In the recent earnings meeting, Baidu CEO Robin Li made clear mobile search, mobile application distribution, location Services (LBS) and mobile video is Baidu's four strategic directions on the mobile side.

Lightning Search initial display of PC and mobile resources to share the embryonic prototype. A large number of resources through the Lightning search crawl identification, through 360 mobile phone assistants to mobile phones. 360 is trying to achieve a PC-side advantage over the mobile end by lightning search and 360 assistants.

Specific to the resource crawl, people familiar with the news Tencent technology, lightning search on the PC side has 360 search, 360 mobile phone assistant search by other application stores to provide part of the interface. "360 Application assistants provide traffic to the application store, while the application store provides services for 360." ”

The open interface between channels is based on the result of input-output ratio concurrence. "Application stores generally intensive hundreds of applications, if all the applications by their own storage, layout server and other costs are too high, through the external search to capture other manufacturers storage applications, input-output ratio is relatively high." said the person.

The person pointed out that, similar to the PC-side search, the application of search is not a good technology to crawl as simple as the search quality and application display needs to require a large number of users request, the machine can be more than repeated learning to optimize, this is not a day of work.

"If you can continue to optimize the user search results, but also in the provincial traffic updates, incremental updates on the further, this can be based on the current basis to establish a certain threshold." "said the person.

Future value

"Application search can match more accurately, improve distribution efficiency, can do a lot of things." PC terminals like Google and Baidu do keyword bidding rankings, which is a very effective business model. The precision is very high, you can find the buyers you want, businesses are willing to launch the ads. ”

Shangcong that advertising, bidding rankings of these business models can also be used in the field of mobile application search, but only the time of the matter.

However, judging from the current status of application search development, it is still a little far from talking about business value. As Sogou CEO Wang Xiaoquan said, search is always late in the ecosystem of other business models mature, if other services immature do not make money, search is also unable to mature and make money.

"We value user values more than commercial value." "Wang Junyu said.

In the short term, he argues, there will be no clear commercial value until the application of the search pattern is accepted by the user. "I think it's been a few years since the user accepted that the developer can accept it and talk about business value." ”

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