MIUI Yellow Pages Product Evolution history: From the Number Finder tool to the life service

in Chinese daily life

"Yellow Pages" is intended to be the phone number book.

In the early years, some places after the installation of fixed telephone, the family will send home a thick booklet, from the back to the end can find the city's phone number. Now this big book in the Chinese People's daily life has been difficult to find a trace-foreign to the "Yellow Pages" use is still more frequent, but by the printed booklet moved to the Internet.

However, there is still the need for the number of the search.

So three years ago Miui early start to do "Yellow Pages" function, our internal use of the code is actually called "Super Phone Book", the external single app is also very grounded gas-"service number", mainly used to check the number. At that time, users in the Dial-up interface with T9 search, you can search for "Wang" Such a contact, you can also find "McDonald's" some of the public numbers-they are not your saved contacts, is MIUI preset in the phone. At that time, we collected about 200 or so numbers, and did not think much, is convenient for users.

But we have always felt that in the mobile internet era, this thing should be able to do better. How can it be better? We put the function of the address book aside, from the most common use of the phone to start thinking.

Beginning with number marking and number recognition

People receive a lot of calls every day, some from the contacts you keep, and some are strangers.

In daily life, someone came to your house, "thump" to knock at the door, you must ask "who ah?" "Or look through the cat's eye and make sure who it is that will open the door." However, a strange number to call, before you answer, completely do not know who the other side, to find you to do. This is like a stranger to visit the house, you open the door to invite him into the room and ask, who are you? It's too dangerous.

Can you put a "cat's eye" on the phone? Help you determine your identity when you call.

We thought of a way to let the user tag the number themselves. For example, I received a call to a strange number, answered after the question is to sell money, I can mark that this number is a sales number. With a lot of people like me, this number is public--and then someone calls the number, and the system directly prompts the number to be a sales call, at least 340 people think so.

Just at that time Sogou number pass in doing this work, and the market response is also very good, we from the fall of 2012 for the first time contact with them, at the end of March 2013, officially launched the function of the number tag. Later, some other data sources such as touch-treasure, telephone help and so on were introduced.

In this function promotion process, we further discovered that in fact many marked numbers, are likely to be "recognized" directly. For example, a number No. 400 code, I actually very clearly know that it is such a bank, such insurance company. You don't have to tell me how many people mark it as "insurance," and I can tell you that this is a certain insurance company.

At the end of April 2013, MIUI began to formally organize the identified numbers. We have found a lot of reliable data sources and asked them to provide high quality public numbers. For example, to find the public comments to the restaurant data, looking for art dragon to hotel information, to find the courier company to express the telephone (even The courier's head and surname) ... This work has been going on, and we've got about 20 or more data sources now. Counting the numbered numbers marked, our current statistic is that nearly 50% of the calls can be identified.

Yellow Pages are a handy tool for finding services

In the process of number identification, we have new findings: in People's daily life, the frequency of active dialing these public numbers is much higher than the answer to them.

What does that mean?

First, people really have a strong need to dial certain phones. For example, the power supply hotline, I have not played for many years, but this number is still one of the most frequently dialed number. For example, one night back home, the window thunder and lightning, the whole building suddenly power, this time it is natural to think, I would like to call the repair, but where do I find the power station phone? Looking in the Yellow pages is probably the quickest way.

At that time, a lot of users in the forum feedback that you can identify so many numbers, that can give us a place, let us check these numbers? Well, this is the "Yellow Pages" The origin of the product name: I give you a super phone book, commonly used numbers for you, you check it inside. So we made three tab pages, one page is the call record, one page is the contact person you know, a page is a public number. This is a natural extension of the Address book function.

Second, looking for the Yellow pages is not the ultimate demand of people, to find services is the goal. For example, you give Shun Fung Express call, not to talk with the operator, but to say "I want to send a courier", "my Express to where." You call the operator, in addition to some customer service requirements, more likely to want to know "how much money I have left on the phone", "I want to fill the value"-these are the real demand behind the call.

We want to do a complete user experience: Originally, in order to solve a problem, you want to find the number to make a phone call, but I directly in the side to provide a way, so you do not have to call, so do your own things to do. So at the end of 2013 we online Yellow pages, the direct addition of the phone recharge, express query such functions, in fact, these features have been recognized by everyone.

From the end of 2013 Yellow Pages products online to now, we have added to find a driving, game recharge, online registration, movie ticket purchase, taxi, send Express, buy train tickets, hotel and other services. Also did some peripheral query functions, such as looking around the bank network, around the food, and even with the EMS cooperation, in the MIUI to help candidates to inquire about the delivery of admission notice. And thanks to partners who provide these services, the content and services of the yellow pages are so plentiful.

(Editor's note: This is similar to the micro-credit public platform, Baidu "light application" such a service connection platform. ）

These are added services that are truly convenient for the user's life. For low frequency applications (except IM, most apps are not required every day), you want to enjoy their services, no longer need to stand on the street, with less than a month of package flow to App Store download app, directly open the yellow pages, in the inside a car, buy a movie ticket, book a hotel on the line. Of course, for those who have professional needs, such as a long-term business trip to stay in the hotel, we still recommend you to use the hotel app.

What should be the future Yellow Pages product form?

It has been more than a year since the beginning of the number recognition. In this time, the number identification and Yellow Pages function has become a lot of mobile phone system "standard." Now many handset manufacturers gradually in their own operating system to add the Yellow Pages function. We feel very happy, flame, everybody together to do will let the Yellow pages this market become better, also can make the handset user life more convenient.

At present, including us, embedded in the yellow pages of the vendors, have invariably adopted with third-party service providers to develop the way. This is the yellow pages of the development of an inevitable choice: whether the Address book software or operating system, in fact, the vertical areas of the services are not good enough, and users need the best service. Whose service is good, then I will invite who to provide this service to the user. From this perspective, the Yellow pages actually play a role as a service navigator, like the traditional 114 or 12580 or more Internet version-a bit like hao123, helping them find the right content or service when they need it.

But to tell the truth, in my opinion, now all the Yellow pages in the market are still in a relatively early stage.

is the yellow page just a library of numbers and a hodgepodge of internet services? This is a question that a colleague has brought to me. I would like to go, I am afraid to say, I am sorry, for a period of time is indeed the case. Because it takes a lot of effort to make a so-called "hodgepodge"--at least a lot more than we think before the people we walk through.

The first is the experience of numbers. With a mobile phone than open the site, the number of translation is real-time and direct, then how to ensure that all the numbers are true and trustworthy? How do I keep the number updated? How do I identify more public numbers? Even if all this is solved, if a liar forged number calls or text messages? The second is the experience of service. Yellow Pages Embedded services, is not enough? Is it fluent enough to be available? Is it integrated into the system? After the number and service tuning, does the user really love this set of features?

If we have successfully overcome the challenge of the number experience and service experience, the yellow Pages will inevitably evolve to a deeper level. Let's go back to the source of this thing: mobile phone is your connection with the World tool, is your life assistant. There are two ways in which we can start to daydream--is it possible to make it easier for people to connect with the institutions behind public numbers? Is it possible to be smarter and more natural to advise you in life?

There is no end to the discussion of these directions, and perhaps even beyond the scope of the "Yellow Pages" product. The yellow pages are not still in the Address book, is also as a number of the image appears, or even as an independent product image exists, are waiting for time to answer the question.