I broke my promise. A few years ago, UC will stay focused, only as a mobile browser, but recently launched a PC browser and TV browser.
The industry attribute of the Internet is "forever invariable only change quickly"; Your company will lose without change. So my previous commitment was brutally defeated by reality, like a friend's classic remark: What I said was wrong.
I remember a few years ago when the mobile internet just had its embryonic form, everyone was thinking about a question, what is the relationship between mobile Internet and PC Internet? Some say the mobile internet is an extension of the Internet, and it is said to be two completely different models. Today, we are increasingly aware that the mobile Internet is reversing the integration of the PC Internet into a "real internet".
Technology is rapidly changing lifestyles. The "screen" we relied on was a newspaper, a magazine, and then a PC on a desk in the room, and the future of electronic, interactive screens will be more and more, not just in glasses, TVs, cars, but even in tables, refrigerators and classrooms. I believe that the screen will become a control of a variety of electrical equipment terminals, the mobile phone is to control the connection center of different screens, this is the embryonic form of the internet of things, but also many services from the line to the real beginning of the line.
Multi-screen ecology, mobile phone is the center
What changes are happening to the Internet?
First, the network will move from splitting to merging. Looking at some data from the US market, last year there were 6 to 7 screen devices per household, including televisions, notebooks, pad and mobile phones, across different terminals. For example, many users now buy or book tickets through the PC, check the Take-off time on the mobile phone, check-in procedures, this has become a very typical cross Terminal Services, in different networks and different time periods for integration.
Second, users from "demand" to "forever online." For example, we all have a deep experience, I am very afraid to eat with some friends, long time no see, was very happy, eating and eating everyone began to take mobile phone look. Mobile phone has been from the original need to think of pure communication products, become a constantly break our imagination boundaries of new products, all the times to attract people to use. What does this phenomenon ferment in China? I don't know, but I feel scared when I think about it.
So in the face of these changes, internet companies need to "rebuild the connection," last year I mentioned on a number of occasions. One is to rebuild the connection with the user, since the user is covered from the original young people to the elderly, from the 123-line urban residents to four or five-line residents. The second is to rebuild the connection with the product, according to the equipment fragmentation law, the user's different use scene and the custom, will own the business to carry on the specific improvement. In this background, it is necessary to get through all the screens including PC and TV, and build a multi screen ecology.
With PCs, mobile phones, flat panels, televisions and other wearable devices, multiple screens are dividing users ' time online. From the latest statistics of Business Insider shipping data, mobile phones have become absolute boss, and TV will be very potential for a screen. At the same time, there are some interesting new players in the global marketplace, such as glass, such as Google, or an internet car.
Among them, mobile phone as the earliest form, the largest shipments, the most portable characteristics of mobile equipment, will become the future of all the connection center, mainly reflected in two aspects.
The first is that mobile internet began to become the center of the Internet. More and more devices began to network, in addition to the common mobile phones, PAD, PC, TV, but also including automobiles, routers and other equipment, mobile phone-centric interaction, this is the mainstream trend.
The second is the mobile phone as the center, through the O2O many scenes. For example, the general public reviews the pace of development in the past is not fast, but recently began to accelerate significantly, because the mobile internet and smart phones to the entire O2O industry has been rapid development. Previously in the PC's public comments on the site can see the restaurant information, but later to form consumption is very troublesome. In addition, the enterprise also has no way to statistics whether you have been to the restaurant, because can not form payment. But now the mobile phone allows users to deal with information, from the search and decision-making, extended to the trend of consumption is very obvious.
The entrance of the multi-screen era
After the advent of the multi-screen interactive era, I think the browser will be the most important entrance. First of all, users in different devices, systems, screen size, to install, maintain too many applications is very difficult. The user's attitude toward the app is tending to be rational, it was a crazy download, and we had a user who said that there were thousands of apps on the phone, but it turned out to be the ones that were actually used.
In addition, business needs are changing. Internet companies originally divided into PC Internet manufacturers and mobile internet manufacturers, then in today's mobile Internet integration pc Internet, online and offline integration, there will be a very big change. It's your original content, you need to provide to different device vendors, targeted to make different styles, which is very painful for content providers.
The browser is a very large open platform on the Internet, it can also be considered as the largest open platform. Because the Web protocol is open, the standards are open, and there is a huge amount of content. A vertical type of app, may be in the content and services to achieve very good results, but in a number of screens, scenes to carry through, the cost is very high, difficult. Therefore, whether it is content richness, or adapt to different device screens, app and browser competition, in the multi-screen era will be in the downward.
Google has also recently made a series of changes to the browser's multiple-screen layout. We know that more than a year ago the Android business had been placed in the Chrome department, and we were expecting that 3-5 years from now, Chrome will make some deep changes with Android. But looking at the process is starting to accelerate significantly, see the new version of Android 4.4 changes, and chrome on the cross screen hardening will know. In the future years, Google will have a lot of interesting actions on multiple screens.
Multi-screen product thinking
A mobile-centric product experience, rather than simply synchronizing data, must be supported from the underlying architecture. This is a direction that needs new thinking.
To give a simple example, when UC began to do TV browser, I asked many friends in the industry, what is the main user requirements on TV? They don't hesitate to say it's video, maybe Education and games, and everything else is less important. But when we really did, we found that the user needs and use of the scene is much more than we can imagine, many of them are old people, and many are not how to watch TV men.
For example, we find an interesting demand is shopping, but open a shopping site on TV, you will find the remote control to operate very painful, why? Because the browser itself does not interact in a way that works on TV. UC hope to solve this problem through the way of mobile browser plug-in, the key to build this new interactive way is U3 kernel architecture, with mobile phone for connection Center design.
Even reading, there are great opportunities on television. TV has such a large screen, enough distance, will not have such a group of users, they want to read novels, newspapers and magazines on TV? I think there will be some in the future, and most likely the elderly.
Pad is UC three years ago in the mobile phone, began a multiple screen layout of the first step. Strictly speaking, pad browser is actually not a cross screen with the previous mobile browser, but a split-screen browser, because the mobile phone and pad interaction is very small. But there is a lot of interaction between mobile phones and televisions, pad and TV, mobile phones and PCs.
PC Browser is also the result of user demand. In the past, the PC browser is basically not too much innovation, just as a pure client in doing, not deeply into the cloud capabilities and multiple screen elements, is a simple synchronization of some data, it is easy to fall into the blood struggle channel, marketing cycle. In fact, in the interaction with other terminals such as mobile phones, PC browser users still have a lot of unmet needs. and true multiple-screen interaction must be supported from the underlying kernel architecture, and Google rewriting Chrome's blink kernel is a testament. From this point of view, the PC browser also has a lot of room for improvement.
Downwind and upwind
Having an interesting thought, I think it's easier to go to the PC with a successful enterprise on the phone. Why? Today many people say that the internet thinking, many traditional industry friends fear Internet thinking. In fact, the Internet companies need to face this problem-many companies, including early mobile internet start-ups, because there is no way to see the mobile Internet itself in the transition down. So the old Internet thinking in the new industry in the context of the same problem.
And if a company occupies the air outlet of the mobile internet, and then tries to innovate in an old Internet market, it will have a way of thinking and gene that is more consistent with the industry law than the PC Internet manufacturer. For example, UC made a PC browser, found that the previous mobile phone browser encountered difficulties, such as device compatibility, network compatibility, low memory, across the region, these are not a problem on the PC.
Of course, we also have a lot of places to learn from the seniors on the PC. But overall, from PC to mobile, I think it's a headwind; from moving to PC, it's downwind.