Grass-roots entrepreneurs usher in spring or trap

Shanda, Tencent, Taobao, Thousand oak, Baidu ... Internet companies, which dominate one side of the field, now have a much more similar strategic goal: open platforms. Even after Apple and Google, Yahoo is poised to use an open platform to scramble for Chinese developers. The industry has largely praised the open platform and likened it to "the spring of grassroots entrepreneurs".

Open platform Dengau: Come on, give you wealth. Millions of developers are racing ahead, but they still have to weigh three questions: so many open platforms, who to choose? Can you earn more money? Can you develop it for long?

Developer Puzzle 1

The face of the platform, hesitation lingering

Now, SNS social networking site's open platform is just a taste. Because, 2010, Taobao, Tencent, Shanda, Baidu has launched a similar strategy.

"But being valued doesn't mean looking for an open platform," a small game developer told reporters, when there was only one open platform, it might be better to choose, but as the open platform increased, "the choice became rich but difficult."

In fact, to online games for the main business of Shanda, SNS social networking site Renren, instant messaging software QQ's owner Tencent, Chinese search engine Baidu, their open platform strategy in the game field of multi-level crossover, not to mention the direct existence of the competition of Renren, happy Net, 51.com and other SNS sites.

For the above reasons, multiple open platforms will compete for developers. "The brand appeal of the open platform itself and the amount of revenue that can be given to developers is critical", there are people in the industry, in terms of brand influence, Baidu, Tencent, Taobao may have unparalleled advantages, but Shanda, SHS in the field of social entertainment and gaming has a unique advantage, thus, single view of the open platform brand, traffic , developers will still be stuck in the right and left swing. Perhaps Baidu and Tencent are an exception, "After all, they have the most headaches for competitors two products, Baidu Search and QQ software, Baidu Open platform has begun to strengthen the search engine stickiness, that is, the search is used for any developer is a temptation, and Tencent is still relatively conservative.

But generally speaking, open platforms that already dominate one side of their respective areas have a similar impact on the user's brand, and the most direct reason for developers to make decisions is what kind of cooperation conditions and price tag the open platform offers. "Of course we want to promote our products on all development platforms, and it's generally fair to see if the agreement with the open platform is reasonable," the developer told reporters.

In fact, the power gap between capital and visibility makes most small and medium developers really vulnerable. The developer said, "the cooperative agreement is basically made up of open platform, developers do not have much bargaining power", more crucially, whether the strength or psychological advantage of the difference, developers can only passively accept.

"What else can you do, you disagree, some other small and medium developers in the queue, the open platform at all do not have to worry about no partners." ”

Developer Puzzle 2

It's hard to make a lot of money.

"Internet entrepreneurs should have a long-term vision, not only short-term benefits," many industry bosses often give this "proverbs" to the fledgling entrepreneurs.

But the logic of the general principles can not always be taken to justify the dilemma. "Brand influence of course to pay attention to, but we are now more concerned about how much revenue to get", in only tens of thousands of yuan development fund developers eyes, survival is more important than the position.

But the reality is brutal. Even the all-powerful Apple App Store is in doubt about giving developers benefits. Famous Telecom analyst Tommy T. Honning even shelled Apple's App Store for only 3000 dollars per capita income for developers in two years, and "99% of Apple developers are doing business in tears". Another Chinese developer has said that 70% of Chinese Apple developers are struggling to survive, even if the share of Apple's app stores is as high as 37 (developers get 70% of the proceeds). The same criticism that "developers are less profitable" is also aimed at Apple's rival, Google.

China's internet companies are now mimicking Apple, but the overall share of the open platform is still grim. The information shows that Baidu will be divided into 37 with developers, Tencent and China Mobile will be on the mobile harsh on its partners to charge developers a 70% commission, and Taobao App Store will be more than 150,000 yuan developers in accordance with the proportion of 45:55. But the industry revealed that the overall revenue share of China's platform is lower than the foreign platform, China is about 50%-60% or less, abroad is 70%.

It is worth mentioning that even if a developer can get a high percentage of the split, it does not mean that they can get high absolute returns. "Open partnership is not a common poverty, and it is hard to imagine an open platform for China to help developers make money," says analysts, although some open platforms offer 3 forms of cash-for-pay, donations and advertising. But it is unclear whether users and advertisers will buy it. "Most developers who wait too long will not be able to afford the cost of research and development and the cost of upgrades, and if only a modest gain is achieved in a significant amount of time, developers will probably struggle to survive even with a 99% per cent share," he said. ”

This may explain why the 4399 chairman of the Games website, Cai, has been worried that the "open platform will retain users without giving developers greater benefits".

Developer Puzzle 3

Inevitably fall victim to the 28 rule.

Developers at Apple's App Store have been worried: "It's so big, it's so rich, it's possible to upload an app, and it'll be flooded in a few minutes." "How to rush out of the thousands of applications and the fate of developers, how to help developers, especially small and medium-sized developers are not necessarily open platform positive response."

The emergence of an open platform has made the growing number of developers face a dilemma. "The open platform is likely to work with rivals," says Xingping, founder of 4399. Developers, of course, dare not take such risks, and rivals know it. So, 4399, 7k7k These small game sites are put into the embrace of open platform.

In this regard, some analysts believe that openness means opportunities, but also means more fierce competition. The strength of the opponent in the above spread PK; How the open platform balances the interests of large and small developers is particularly important. But now, it seems, most open platforms are more like the ancient Roman Colosseum's aristocratic spectators, allowing the strength of the gap between the size of the developers fight.

This caused a lot of small developers complained, "before the edge of the internet there is room for survival, but into the open platform, to be forced to PK, come to the conclusion of the Life-and-death." More crucially, the open platform now looks more like a feast for scale developers, where it has been more prominent before, and it is harder for small developers to survive.

Even the industry has blasted the view that the open platform will exacerbate the Internet industry's 28 rules (20% of the minority control 80% of the resources), the creation of wealth will be increasingly concentrated in the hands of a handful of big players. Small and medium Web sites and developers will eventually degenerate into this pattern of foil, "in a sense, even to the industrial innovation disadvantage", more frightening is that even some development platform as a director and actor, further squeezing the growth of small and medium-sized developers space.

"Knowing that there is no chance but having to go that way", analysts with pessimism point out that small and medium-sized developers are like hypnotized stray lambs, open platforms "fraud". Commercial newspaper reporter Rotin Zhang Yiwang/Wen