Li Shukai: Smartphones - New Cakes for Internet Companies?

Looking at the mobile phone market in recent years, it can be described as “ups and downs”. From the monopoly of several multinational companies to the crowds, and then to the cottage, until the iPhone turned out, people began to have new mobile phones. Know, and the mobile phone has really entered the "Intelligent Age."

In the era of rampant cottages, the brand market is dominated by Nokia, Motorola and other manufacturers, and there are not many opportunities for Chinese local brand companies. In the era of iPhone, the traditional strong teams in the mobile phone field such as Nokia and Motorola are not prepared for sudden changes. The market position has changed. In this context, some people in the industry once believed that local companies have had a hard time making progress in the field of smart phones. However, recently, the situation has suddenly changed. A number of Internet companies have entered the smartphone market with high profile, which has caused a great deal of success in the industry. The waves are good and they are bad. So, how big is the probability of success of these Internet companies entering the terminal market? We may wish to analyze it.

Apple closed many doors, but it opened another door for everyone iPhone, mobile phone field can be described as "unforgettable", in addition to many copycat enterprises, Nokia's leading boss is also not spared, it can be said that Apple gives intelligence The mobile phone has been redefined. All companies must adjust their strategies according to his new definition, otherwise it will be difficult to survive in the market.

According to Apple's definition, from the perspective of appearance, the mobile phones are all of the same length, that is, a large touch screen; from the inner point of view, a more simple humanized operating system, coupled with more than N such applications; from the perspective of the function, the traditional The call function is still preserved, which is the most similar function of the iPhone and previous mobile phones.

Under the new definition, the competition in the mobile phone market has changed. Everyone's phones look almost the same. Apart from Apple, most of them are Android operating systems, and various applications also come from the Internet. For a time, they feel smart. The mobile phone has entered the stage of homogenous competition, because there are not many points for innovation. But because of this, the smart phone industry has provided opportunities for more companies. After the Shanzhai era, mobile phones seem to have become an area that everyone can step into: similar industrial designs, open operating systems, and access to a large number of application. So, Apple closed another door and opened another door for everyone.

Why internet companies?

Compared with the iPhone in the previous iPhone era, smartphones represented by the iPhone are relatively “soft”. ​​Compared with his hardware, the competitive advantages of the iPhone’s IOS operating system and application platform are more obvious, and the hardware is relatively homogenized. Times, platforms and applications are even more important. In this context, Internet companies appear to be better suited to enter the smart terminal space than companies in other industries.

First of all, when it comes to platforms and applications, Internet companies naturally have inherent advantages because they themselves are the Internet operators of the platform. At the same time, they are always working to improve the user experience. This is also the future trend of smart phones. In an age where specialization is difficult to highlight, Internet companies can form individualized differences with other products through their own personalized platforms and services. For example, Alibaba Cloud mobile phones and Xiaomi mobile phone chat functions, and in the future, 360 may also launch “safety mobile phones. "This card.

Second, in addition to user experience and personalization, the advantages of Internet companies in terms of services are also obvious. In the era of mobile Internet, “cloud+end” has become one of the development trends, and how to provide a transportation service platform that meets the needs of consumers is the key to the development of many terminal manufacturers. For Internet companies, they operate a cloud platform, and most of them are public clouds. They only need to extend their Internet services to the mobile Internet.

Again, Internet companies have always been model-winning, and model innovation is naturally their strength. From the promotion strategy of Xiaomi’s mobile phone, Internet companies are well aware of the Internet, and the Internet’s control is also very familiar. Through microblog and other marketing methods, a new brand is accepted by consumers in such a short time with the lowest cost. With recognition, it can be seen that Lei Jun, who has fought for so many years in the Internet field, is definitely an Internet expert and an Internet marketing expert. In addition to the marketing model, the involvement of Internet companies has made the business model of the terminal market subverted. Many people think that the future mobile phone's earnings should be concentrated on content and services. However, apart from the operator's pre-stored calls for mobile phones, we do not see any major model innovations by terminal manufacturers. However, it is very likely that Internet companies will enter. As a result, this situation has changed. If some of the Internet's operating models are slightly adjusted to the terminal area, the existing traditional business model may be completely subverted. Imagine if there will be terminal manufacturers that rely on service profitability in the future? Will there really be a free mobile phone for consumers? I believe that if Internet companies use the Internet model to make mobile phones, these are possible.

In summary, Internet companies entering the terminal arena is not a simple spurt. They do have advantages that some traditional terminal manufacturers do not have, and their entry may bring fresh air to the terminal market. There are different experiences and choices.

In front of the Internet companies are cakes, or just flour and eggs?

As the market structure was broken, some companies lost their status as bosses, and Internet companies felt that they had a rare opportunity. Although Internet companies were involved in the smart terminal market in the era of mobile Internet, they had their own unique advantages, but they wanted to The cake in the imagination of the block is divided into hands, and a series of problems still need to be solved.

Into the mobile phone field can not be simply an equal sign with the mobile phone. Strictly speaking, the mobile phone is no longer a high-tech electronic products, as long as the funds allow, almost all Internet companies can do mobile phones, but want to really occupy the mobile phone market However, it is not easy.

First of all, although the mobile phone is a lot softer than before, but the mobile phone is after all a product of hardware and software, and the mobile phone itself also has more stringent technical indicators and performance requirements, although the current mobile phone replacement is very fast, but it is after all the terminal consumer goods, Not consumables. Therefore, durability, stability, and reliability are still important indicators for evaluating mobile phone products. However, as technology advances, most of these products have met these requirements, so it seems to be less important. For Internet companies, software and platform development are naturally one of their advantages. However, lack of experience in hardware has become a major challenge for Internet companies to enter the field of mobile phones. Recently, the millet mobile phone has been frequently exposed to quality problems, which is reflected in the lack of hardware experience. It can be said that the end product is very easy to do, but if you really want to do it well, you need to work hard. With the cumulative sales volume of Xiaomi’s mobile phones increasing, its usage time is constantly increasing. If quality is really a problem, it is likely to focus on outbreaks at a certain time in the future. This is undoubtedly a fatal problem for a mobile phone manufacturer. of.

Second, after-sales service is another big challenge. Looking at China's terminal electronics market, the end products are all large enterprises. Why? The reason is simple. Small businesses simply do not have the ability to establish a nationwide after-sales service system. Companies that do not have after-sales service systems can hardly survive in the end market. As the entry threshold for mobile phones decreases, it is easy for well-funded Internet companies to arbitrarily make some money to make mobile phones. However, to establish a perfect after-sales service system, it is not so simple. The cost of after-sales service system construction is very high, and the breadth and density of the service system should be proportional to the coverage of its products. In the early stage of enterprise development, the product coverage rate is not high, and a perfect after-sales system will bring huge cost pressure to the company. In turn, the imperfect after-sales system will adversely affect the sales of mobile phones. This dilemma is placed in front of Internet companies that have just entered the field of mobile phones. Of course, the after-sales problem may not surface so quickly, but with the increase in cumulative sales, the problem will become more severe, and after-sales solutions will not be good, will cause the product quality problems to be amplified, and thus form a vicious circle.

In short, if Internet companies want to enter the mobile phone market, they still need to do a lot of preparatory work. What they are facing is not a ready-made cake waiting for everyone to split up. In the field of smart phones, Internet companies have their own advantages and have some conditions to seize this market. However, what they need to do now is how to use their own advantages and work together to bring this feature of the smart phone market with Internet characteristics. The cake is done first, and then it is the stage of the cake.