The world's first mobile internet company

21st Century Business Herald Zhang Yong Beijing reports

November 22, 2013, for Zhang Xiangdong and long state digital is not to be missed day.

On the day, at NASDAQ in New York City, he and the co-founder Deng Yuqiang and his partner Chang Yingming sounded the bell of the listing transaction and became the world's first listed company on mobile Internet. Persistence and determination of 10 years of business, and finally bear fruit.

Also this year, bicycle fanatic Zhang Xiangdong also completed his personal dream of riding on five continents, and then these marks on the road became the main content of his new book, "a short flight."

"I started thinking about this book on a road show aircraft and more than two-thirds of this book was written on airplanes.It is about forty-eight minutes a day or seven in a roadshow.I am a team physically My partner Yu Qiang probe into my computer on the plane my computer: so tired to write the book? He completely speechless, but I enjoy the writing process, just open the computer, open the folder to write "short flight" Suddenly all the busyness, anxiety, business model, etc. totally have nothing to do with me, and I am Zhang Xiangdong, another writer, who is the author of the book, "he said.

"Reading, travel and my business have a cross-reference, and promote the role." Zhang Xiangdong explained to me, tone relaxed. But none of this "restless" elements who walked in the identity of entrepreneurs, writers and walkers did everything easily and easily, often by what he called "the ebb and flow of inner seed ", Can not forget his day after tomorrow" Dingli "sentiment and action.

Have a fixed force before going

Ten years ago, Zhang Xiangdong and his Peking University classmate Deng Yuqiang founded Longbon Digital Co., Ltd., which was initially engaged in the operation of the 3G portal website, which was the first website in China that proposed the concept of free WAP.

This is not his first venture, graduation soon he felt entrepreneurship is a longing for heart, so he made a "solution" class RSS site, the name comes from the same name as the rock singer Cui Jian works. Due to the products are doing more advanced, but when China's Internet users only a few million, and finally ended in failure. That failure let Zhang Xiangdong learned the most important lesson, "a realistic idealist company can succeed."

Today, the completion of the long-listed digital listing can not be unsuccessful. On March 26, the company announced its first earnings report since its listing. As of the fourth quarter of 2013, the GO series of its strategic products ranked the third in the world in terms of total downloads of Google Play, second only to Facebook and Google, of which global GO desktop users Reached 269 million, 70% of users from overseas. It also made GO desktop one of the most important distribution platforms for domestic mobile applications.

Zhang Xiangdong comment on his own long-range digital from doing 3G portal (WAP site) to betting "mobile phone heart" (mobile phone software running in Saipan system), and then do "GO desktop" (mobile desktop APP running in Android system) Said: "The trend is right."

He is not without emotion, "The reason why we go a long-term, on the one hand is that we have a long-term goal to know where to go because the industry changes too fast, you do the present thing, it may be worthless two days The other is to address the reality of the situation.As we 10 years ago to do the 3G portal, then do mobile reading, do application software, based on Android platform, GO desktop series applications, are based on each stage of time Made to the real world, so our company survives and makes money. "

Among the three business lines of Longbon Digital, the GO Launcher, launched only by the end of 2010, is the latest, but the fastest going has become an important and promising growth driver for the company. GO desktop revenue in 2013 was 4.5 times that of 2012. In the words of Zhang Xiangdong, mobile Internet is entering the monetization stage.

As of December 31, 2013, the total number of global GO desktop users exceeded 269 million, with monthly active users growing to 46 million. Developed over 10 native replacements and enhancements around GO Launcher, providing Android users with a wide range of personalization and productivity enhancements and building a complete product matrix. GO SMS, GO Lock, GO Weather are all 50 million apps on Google Play, and currently no more than 50 non-gaming apps at this level. This set of product matrix support each other synergies, has been able to fully cover the entire localization of mobile phones, forming a cross-dimensional portal network.

To do "the personalized entrance to the mobile Internet" and take the "exploration of Internet companies from China and serve the world" is a clear direction for Zhang Xiangdong and his team to explore step by step. It is also their goal of keeping the force going.

And the world from "enemy" to "reconciliation"

"21st Century": Do you think, long Bangdang digital company in the industry what is the label?

Zhang Xiangdong: Tags have begun to emerge gradually, that is, the personalized entrance of the mobile Internet, of course, step by step to clear.

First of all, GO Launcher is a universal mobile Internet product, and secondly, it defines the operation experience of a personal mobile Internet terminal. And we not only have a desktop, but also lock (lock screen), the global coverage of this product even higher than the desktop.

Personally, I personally think that there are at least two good points for the Internet development process in China. One is that we are the pioneers of the mobile Internet. The other is that we are the first company to cover Chinese products globally. Our source of income In the global market. Everyone will gradually find that we are exploring the Internet companies from China and serving the world, and this exploration will continue to go further and broader.

"21st Century": How do you maintain "fixed force" in the process of product, company management and literary creation and riding?

Zhang Xiangdong: I think the premise of the force still have the opportunity in them. A lot of things, many people are in the young when a seed in mind, in the beginning, it formed a number of genes in it. In the process of growing up, if you continuously reflect on yourself and reflect on the direction of your life, you will not avoid these seeds.

In my own opinion, literature was the largest world of my childhood and being a writer was my biggest dream of that time. And this seed has also taken root in my heart and has become the "fixed force" where I maintain my writing habits and use words to communicate with the world.

Soon after I graduated from college, I decided to start an undertaking. At that time, I only thought that only entrepreneurship could accommodate and satisfy the dynamism in your heart. Coupled with my good luck, from the very beginning met such good partners as Deng Yuqiang, a good team, we come together now and then. Human character, but not to say that anyone insisted on what will be achieved.

Reading, travel and my business have had a cross-reference, promote the role. The first two can make me at times out of the complicated, trivial entrepreneurial journey, to maintain some freedom, self-life. It may seem like something contradictory to me living right now, but I enjoy it.

"21st Century": In the germination of your life, growth, have been disturbed it? Have you ever given up on the idea?

Zhang Xiangdong: Let me give a bicycle example. In the past, I was unable to accept halfway to give up while riding. It was not only for me but also for my teammates to behave like they were on a backup car. But last year when I was riding, the road was bumpy and under heavy rain, I was wondering if I wanted to block the car so that I could finish the arrangement later. This is a chance for you to make it clear that you should not stick to certain forms in reality, but to follow the process of doing things so that there is no obstacle in your heart.

"21st Century": What is the inner motivation that has kept you moving forward all these years in these seemingly contradictory states?

Zhang Xiangdong: I did not know at first, but as I recently chatted with my friends and wrote "a short flight," I came to realize that it was the desire and the pursuit of uncertainty. Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of personal career uncertainty ah. I also like to ride a bicycle departure, to unfamiliar cities, did not walk the route to explore. Maybe, I just do not want to verify what other people have already verified, and always want to explore belongs to my new moment.

"21st Century": You said that "making money, starting a business and moving around these dreams" is the enemy of the world. When did you feel yourself victorious, completed the original intention and began a further pursuit? Now what do you think of completing a reconciliation in your new book and thinking about your future vision?

Zhang Xiangdong: After the birth of a person, whether it is a rebellion in adolescence or a juvenile unrest, it represents an impulse and desire to conquer the world. Conquering the world is another form of "war," as if it is a process of confrontation between the individual's noumenon and the outside world. This is an explanation of "being an enemy of the world."

We start a business, is not to change the world? Go out to ride, not to conquer the world, the world step on the foot it? But when you have experienced and thought of some things, you will find that man is only a tiny dust in this world. And this process of understanding also represents a kind of reconciliation. Perhaps, human life can be divided into two stages, one stage is desperate to prove that they have existed, that is, people say "to find themselves"; then, people will enter the "selfless" stage, for me this stage is more important Some, learn to enjoy the opportunities that life gives you.