There is a busy scene in the Penguin Group's office building at the moment. [Full text] The expressions on the faces of the employees who occasionally walked through the corridor were not very good. The continued decline in performance made them vaguely aware of the crisis of layoffs.
Yes, life on QQ has not been easy recently.
Since the launch of Future People 1.0 chat function last year, the number of active users of QQ has been showing a weak trend. The person in charge of the QQ project department was almost exhausted and could not think of any good way to win back the victory.
What? You say user stickiness? That's right, when your relatives, friends and even netizens all use QQ, it's really not easy for you to change the chat tool. But when most of your relatives, friends and netizens have Futureman 1.0 installed on their mobile phones, and Futureman 1.0 happens to come with a chat function, is QQ really irreplaceable
In particular, Futureman Technology has used a very "Y-damaging" trick, friend synchronization technology!
WeChat and QQ can synchronize mobile phone contact lists, and Futureman 1.0 synchronizes the friend lists of WeChat and QQ very domineeringly. That is, any user who has downloaded Futureman 1.0, QQ, and WeChat at the same time can synchronize friends in the list of Futureman 1.0 with one click and intelligently group them according to user habits.
This move made the head of the QQ project department so angry that he scolded his mother, but he couldn't help it. Futureman Technology did not violate any laws. It copied unilaterally with the consent of the user, which did not have any impact on the normal operation of QQ, and did not violate relevant laws restricting vicious competition.
At least half of the mobile communication software market share has been taken away by Future People Technology. Fortunately, QQ is still supported by the PC version, but WeChat, which has always been good at performance, is in dire straits.
The foundation that supports the building of the Penguin Empire is the QQ account, and any of its products are built on this foundation.
And now, Future Man 1.0 has begun to reach out to the building itself.
"Boss, Futureman Technology has made new moves." A secretary wearing square glasses walked into the office and gently placed a document on Ma Huateng's desk.
Lao Ma sat at his desk with a serious face, his eyes never leaving the laptop screen.
That was an article reproduced by a news network.
[The closed beta of the virtual reality masterpiece "Godly Continent" has begun. Futureman Technology invites two thousand players from all over the world to board a luxury cruise ship.]
Future Tech has been building momentum for virtual reality these days. Ma Huateng was very skeptical. Future People's technology is so overwhelmingly promoted. In the end, will it be able to earn back the cost of publicity
He still knows something about virtual reality technology. Although China has made some achievements in the field of virtual reality, there is still a big gap compared with Internet giants such as Microsoft and Google.
Even foreign virtual reality online games are in their infancy. Why are you rushing forward in such a hurry? When someone eats R, take back the leftover rice and stir-fry it. Isn’t it delicious? Why do we have to research, innovate and invent? Anyway, in this 1.3 billion market, copyright is just a P.
Just stupid. Tsk tsk, you can’t do business.
Ma Huateng shook his head.
But having said that, Futureman Technology's actions still caused a lot of trouble for Penguin Company. If the virtual reality online game that has entered the internal beta stage is as mysterious as they boast, it will undoubtedly be an unprecedented breakthrough for any "traditional online game" on the PC and mobile terminals.
What is distressing is that the test site of "Godly Continent" was chosen in the Pannu Islands. Media interviews were not accepted, and no photos were leaked. Penguin had too little information.
Is it a traditional somatosensory VR device or a legendary immersive VR device? There is a lot of controversy even online. Many people who claim to be beta testers (submarines) post that it is actually a somatosensory device. But there are also people who claim to be beta players. Futureman Technology has developed the legendary immersive device.
The so-called no-picture statement, because no photos were leaked, made everything in the god-level continent seem confusing.
"Boss?" the secretary asked tentatively.
"Are there any well-known virtual reality companies in China?" Ma Huateng sighed.
"Wanghai Lexiang Technology Co., Ltd. launched a virtual reality device last year that uses Samsung's 1080p full HD screen with a refresh rate of up to 75hz and a wide viewing angle of 120 degrees. It performed well at last year's CES show."
"Send someone to discuss the acquisition." Ma Huateng waved his hand and said.
"Yes." The secretary nodded, turned around and walked out of the door quickly.
The acquisition should not be very difficult. The domestic virtual reality industry has been tepid, and tepid means that there is little capital to pursue it. If anyone is willing to pay for their creativity. I believe they will be happy to monetize the technology they have.
Ma Huateng stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window of the office.
Overlooking the street scene of Shenzhen City and his reflection on the floor-to-ceiling windows, his eyes narrowed slightly.
very good. Now that your future technology has announced that it has entered the era of virtual reality, I am here to play with you!
... ...
The so-called Icarus Paradox refers to the fact that companies with monopoly positions are afraid of change and are unwilling to update management, technology, and business models. This will make it difficult for them to adapt to the rapidly changing environment and lose their advantage in new competition.
So what is the Ikanos effect? That is, companies that already have a monopoly position in the current market will spare no effort to use the resources at hand. to prevent this change from happening. Just like energy giants withdrawing investment from new energy development and hostile acquisitions of new energy vehicle companies.
However, the ownership structure of Futureman Technology is rock-steady and its operating conditions are extremely good, which makes many Internet giants feel that they have no choice but to take action.
At this moment, Microsoft headquarters is far away in Seattle.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was sitting at his desk, staring at the coffee on the table in silence, listening to the assistant's report with some distraction.
"... Sales volume in July overall increased by 27%."
When he heard this, he came back to his senses.
, is a 10-frame holographic glasses designed by Microsoft. The market response has been good since its release in 2016, but such obvious sales fluctuations are indeed rare.
"... As of the close of trading, Nasdaq's virtual reality sector has risen across the board. Affected by the virtual reality business launched last year, our company's stock also experienced a 3% increase."
The 3% increase that day was a big surprise for Microsoft, which is a behemoth. This is already a very objective increase.
Nadella closed his eyes.
"Establish a subsidiary to be responsible for operating the project and immediately issue a development announcement about 2."
The assistant stared at Nadella with wide eyes and disbelief.
"But it has just been launched... Could it be—"
Nadella glanced at his assistant and said nothing.
He knows what he wants to say. Build a shell. An announcement is made and the subsidiary is listed. This is the rhythm of preparing to find a successor.
But the future of virtual reality is bright, so why do it
"The board will not agree," the aide cautioned.
"Don't think too much, I'm just making preparations." Nadella stood up. "I will explain it to the board of directors, and I also need to ask Gates for his opinion."
After speaking, Nadella left the office, leaving behind a shocked assistant.
Holding the document in his arms, the assistant stood there for a long time.
He didn't understand why, with Microsoft's strength, it needed to make two preparations.
... ...
Inside the office building of 361 Group.
"God-level continent? Virtual reality online game? Ha, interesting."
While browsing the web pages on the laptop screen, Zhou Hongwei was amazed.
"Boss, you don't seem to be in a hurry?" Standing next to the desk, his right-hand man Zhang Jianfeng said with a wry smile.
"Why are you so anxious?" Zhou Hongwei glanced at him. He leaned on the office chair and said, "Did this thing come out in a hurry? It's been more than half a year, and the future people have almost updated to 2.0. The project department responsible for cracking has not produced any results yet. It's really a group of people. waste."
Thinking of this, Zhou Hongwei became angry.
Although 361 and Futureman Technology have project cooperation, Zhou Hongwei has never stopped cracking Futureman 1.0.
However, just some time ago, he completely gave up on cracking Future Man 1.0 and disbanded the project department responsible for cracking Future Man 1.0. He knew very well that his company was definitely not the only one making this choice. Future Man 1.0's confidentiality measures were as hard as a tortoise shell, making it impossible for him to swallow it.
I remember that at the beginning of the year, he found an old friend who worked in the patent office and asked him to help copy some patent documents applied for by Futureman Technology from the data room. However, his old friend expressed helplessness. People from their patent office have tried hard to persuade Futureman Technology to submit detailed technical information as soon as possible and what are the benefits of applying for a patent, but the answer from the CEO of Futureman Technology is still so unreasonable.
-unnecessary.
A good one is not needed.
This is so disrespectful to those programmers who are working hard to face the future people 1.0.
But now, Futureman Technology has thrown out another virtual reality smoke bomb. Zhou Hongwei couldn't help but cursed in his heart: Can't you guys slow down and throw out new technologies? The previous ones haven’t been cracked yet, so here you come up with a new thing. Even with such big strides, I’m not afraid of holding on to my balls!
"Boss?" I saw the boss's face turning green and white. Zhang Jianfeng asked tentatively.
Taking a deep breath, Zhou Hongwei recovered from his distraction.
"I want to hear your opinion."
Zhang Jianfeng nodded. It was obvious that he came prepared. When his boss asked about his opinion, he immediately stated his opinion.
"There are probably two paths before us now. One is to acquire existing virtual reality technology companies to see if we can take advantage of the virtual reality craze set off by Future People's technology. The other is to let this time go. Opportunities, after all, there is still a lot of room for development in the mobile phone and PC markets. If all capital goes to chase the virtual reality industry, this will be a good opportunity for us to expand our market share in the mobile phone and PC fields."
Zhou Hongwei closed his eyes and thought for a long time.
After a while, he sighed.
"I prefer the second option."
Zhang Jianfeng breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think so too."
Regardless of whether the technology of the future is crazily building momentum for virtual reality online games, whether taking such a big step will be a waste, but if 361 follows such a big step, there is almost no doubt that it will be a waste.
It's better to be more stable.
Even if virtual reality becomes magical, it is impossible to replace mobile phones. Compared with the Big Three of BAT, there is still a big gap in the strength of 361. Even if Zhou Hongwei wants to fight with them, he is afraid that the chance of winning will not be very high. Funding is one aspect, and technology is another aspect. 361 has no advantage in either aspect.
What it should do most at this moment is not to follow the trend, but to take advantage of the influx of capital into the virtual reality industry to do the opposite and expand its market share on the mobile side. Now, hasn’t 361 Search gradually shaken Baidu Search’s market share? If we put more effort into this and let the big hooligans fight against future technology, we little hooligans will still be safe.
After all, because of the Lingyu Technology incident last time, the cooperation between 361 and Futureman Technology is still close.
Zhou Hongwei sighed.
To be honest, he was really unwilling to make such a choice, but there was nothing he could do about it.
What he didn't know was that just a few months later, he would be glad for his choice. (.)