Behind Google's hooligan application is what kind of rivers and lakes?

Philosophers have an obsession with "tools" - the difference between humans and animals is that they either use tools or create tools; biologists say that there is no species difference, but the brain regards tools as part of the body.

If this argument is mapped to the operating system, LBE Zhang Yong will no doubt favor biologists' views. He believes: " Any tool product appears because the operating system is incomplete. " But obviously, this view has nothing to do with business. What makes the tool software even worse is:

The lack of factors of production makes the user's acquisition cost almost zero; combined with the vendor-specific free strategy, the basic knowledge of “pay for service” has basically evolved into a torture of personal feelings.

To be realistic, this is very unreliable. In the precarious situation where there are priceless markets, "advertisement" may be the best choice.

Decent

The article “Fu Shengbao Change” tells the story of Fu Sheng’s decision to make “internationalization”. His vision is impressive :

In Silicon Valley, instrumental products are basically the world of foreign brands. The core of these products is tools that are not strongly related to culture. And as long as the user with the tools it OK, right price, not cultural differences, on the line.

There are four categories of mobile phone application market in the United States. Games, social, communication, tools. The first three have their own leaders and their head effects are obvious. The only tool scattered, no leading brand, this is a blue ocean.

The world is flat. In the past, the obstacle of internationalization was that it was difficult to get local promotion channels. However, AppStore and Google Play are global sharing channels. Unlike in the country, the mountains are everywhere and the giants contain it.

Brands, markets, and channels have rapidly increased their body mass, and profitability is very simple for internationally accomplished cheetahs . Financial report shows:

In 2015, Q4 Cheetah’s total revenue was 1.13 billion yuan, of which 1.034 billion yuan came from online marketing services, and in online marketing services, the advertising business accounted for 74%.

In this connection, a media article said: Cheetah Mobile is changing from a security company to a mobile advertising company. The latter was very fond of this and Vice President Chen Yong once stated that the current goal of Cheetah is: "In two years, it will become the world's third-largest mobile advertiser after Facebook and Google."

The tangible reality is that there is a gap between Cheetah and Facebook and Google - content. Therefore, even if it is desired, there will be at least two orders of magnitude difference between the third and the second. Can the tool complete the upgrade and counterattack?

"I don't think China has any companies that can do it, including BAT," said Zhang Yong. But there is no doubt that Cheetah is the most successful case, or the most decent case.

“Some time ago, Google Play blocked a batch of Chinese apps from the list.” Industry source Dong Ye told materialism, “The reason is simple and bad.”

bad

The logic verified by Cheetah is not short of followers. For a time, countless teams are doing antivirus, cleanup, and power saving . But what is embarrassing is that, for products that are highly substitutable, the disadvantages of latecomers are very clear, and commercialization may never be done :

"Products such as cleanup, antivirus, or power saving are inherently high-frequency operations, but users have a short stay. It is not enough to be a basis for commercialization. In other words, advertising will not be effective."

How to do? Smart manufacturers think of a way - charging lock screen:

“When charging, we have a charge-accelerated interface, what we call 'quick charge' and 'trickle charge'. Everyone knows it’s fake, but it has two things. First, it’s very often displayed and the user charges it. The second point is the most important, and the user does not know who is playing. "

In response, Google made two adjustments:

First, add a logo or product logo on the main interface to let users know who is playing.

Second, there must be a clear switch so that the user can turn it off;

Can such a confrontation end "rogue"? Dongye holds a sad view:

“Before the notification column was used, everybody started locking screens after the notification bar was banned. Now that the lock screen has been banned, everyone will find other methods. Let’s just say this, many companies and teams that went to the sea or went to the sea Really want to be a good product? This is actually a big question mark, so this status will remain for a long time."

As a follower of the cannon fodder, of course, there must be interests to support, even if this kind of interest is a one-hit sale, even if this benefit does not come from the user. The real black humor lies in: To B, To C, some projects are To VC.

"Only if the capital market gets worse, it will lead to many items 'naked swimming'."

Of course, if you are not afraid of shame, this entrepreneurial risk is almost zero. Of course, not all tool application teams do this.

FREE

At the product level, there are two Chinese companies with a wide range of products and high reputation: Tencent and NetEase. As we all know, both are called "game companies" and are not bad money. Obviously, this is a causal relationship.

"The company's demand for good work is by no means a requirement for the game. The game accounts for about 90% of Netease's total income. Other departments must support themselves and assume responsibility for their own profits and losses," said Liu Youlei, vice president of market intelligence, Lei Feng network.

Even so, there are only two of the dozens of apps that are currently available, and they do not include Douglas notes with more than 43 million users.

"Tools are our foundation, and we have to make money for advertising, but in the future more space is Netease's online education and enterprise cloud services."

The reason why there is such a sense, on the one hand, the Way dictionary has proved that the path is established; on the other hand, Liu Ronglei is very clear that in China as a tool, if you rely on user charges to achieve profitability, it is almost impossible.

"We compete with Evennote. The biggest advantage is free."

Tencent Product Deputy Director Wu Zhigang also expressed similar views to Lei Fengnet:

“Some businesses are obviously not suitable for making money. Why do we still need to make money? We (Tencent) have a lot of money-making businesses that can easily squeeze out the money you earn from such a team.”

This kind of attitude is both internal and external. The former makes the internal atmosphere more pure, while the latter pushes startup companies to the brink. Because in those important strategic positions, the giants need to occupy the pit even if they do not make money.

end

At the end of each interview, Lei Fengwang (searching for the "Lei Feng Net" public concern) will ask everyone the same question, and the answer is astonishingly consistent:

"How does a tool startup company break through?"

"First, whether the user has this need; Second, there is no good business model."

One of them added: "But no matter how good the business model is, it's free."