When Zhou Xin heard Bill Gates complain that users think you should pay for using your Internet service, he couldn't stand it anymore.
Because there will indeed be a large number of similar Internet applications in the future, not to mention Didi Taxi, Pinduoduo, and various electronic payment software, the customer acquisition cost will start at least 200.
These are basic operations, because paying users is in the form of subsidies, which means that you need to have real transactions to use their subsidies to enjoy services that are much higher than the price you actually pay.
In the craziest era of the mobile Internet, some short video platforms would give you money as long as you watched them. They would give you as much money as you needed for as long as you watched. You just had to browse. There are also apps that pay users to watch ads, and they eventually went on the market.
Zhou Xin thought to himself, you are right. When Internet companies realize the importance of users, in order to obtain users, they are willing to pay high prices to buy traffic and subsidize users.
After Bill Gates finished speaking, Zhou Xin wanted to say a few words, so he said: "Microsoft is also doing Internet services. Bill just said that they do MSN, Hotmail, message, etc., and they are different from other Internet companies. Microsoft has no immediate need to make money.
The Windows operating system can bring a steady stream of cash flow to Microsoft, so they are not very eager to explore the payment model.
They just need to copy the good products on the market and use the user base that comes with the Windows operating system and Internet Explorer browser.
After copying it, just wait and see how the leading companies achieve profitability. Therefore, I think Microsoft does not have to worry about failure or falling behind in the Internet era.
Microsoft's cash flow and talent base determine that they will be one of the largest players in the Internet era, unless people no longer need operating systems in the future. "
Bill Gates frowned after hearing Zhou Xin's words, because the subtext of Zhou Xin's words was to accuse Microsoft of sitting on its own merits and copying the profit models of other companies. It does not need to contribute to the development of the Internet and only needs to enjoy the results.
Although this is an Internet conference held in China, the content of the conference will be spread all over the world by the media, especially since the forum speakers are all big names.
This session named Peak Dialogue is also the most watched session of the entire Internet Conference. Before it started, China, as the organizer of the Internet Conference, had considered whether to arrange for Chinese entrepreneurs.
The result was forget it, because China couldn't provide an equivalent entrepreneur, and if it was a government official, it wouldn't be suitable. And Zhou Xin can be regarded as a representative of China.
Bill Gates retorted: "I disagree with Newman's words. This is a bias against Microsoft. Microsoft also has a need to make profits, and investors and the board of directors also have requirements for Microsoft's profits to grow.
Global users have limited demand for operating systems and are severely affected by piracy, while the profits that Internet services can bring are unlimited.
Quora alone can bring more than $100 million in revenue to Time Warner every year, and with the opening of electronic payments in Europe, Asia and other regions, and Quora's global layout, this number will continue to grow.
Quora is only a small part of Internet services that can have such huge growth, but what about others? What about other Internet services in more fields?
Microsoft will not give up its exploration and investment in the Internet field, nor will it give up its exploration of the Internet profit model.
Including that we will launch our own home game console in the next two years and expand Microsoft's business territory into the hardware field. Microsoft has very ambitious plans, and we hope to better provide users with more services. "
One of Time Warner's main businesses now is Quora, and the major shareholder behind Time Warner is Goldman Sachs. Even though Goldman Sachs is selling off shares of Internet companies, they have reduced their holdings in Time Warner very little.
Therefore, with Goldman Sachs behind Quora, Goldman Sachs has been working hard in Europe, hoping to promote the formulation of electronic payment bills as soon as possible, and Goldman Sachs hopes to gain more shares in NewPay.
Even though the Nasdaq index fell by more than 10%, Goldman Sachs' vice president Jarrell has been trying to chat with Zhou Xin.
Every time he made an appointment with Zhou Xin, Jerrel would come up with various reasons, including wine tasting, playing golf together, Goldman Sachs’ high-end summit, etc., but the final core was still that Goldman Sachs wanted to lead NewPay’s next investment. round of financing.
After Zhou Xin expressed that he was not short of money, Goldman Sachs said that he could lead the investment with Zhou Xin and dilute the shares of other shareholders. At the same time, Goldman Sachs would help NewPay obtain electronic payment licenses in Asia and Europe.
After Bill Gates finished speaking, the audience in the audience had only two words in their hearts: envy. Microsoft is involved in all fields from hardware to software.
A thought flashed through Pony Ma's mind: Compared with the big guys, our structure is still too small. We only hope that qq can reach the scale of ICQ in the future, and we will also use qq to build products in all fields.
Dreams are always beautiful, but the gravity of reality will pull people from the air back to the ground. Pony Ma thought that he had not even raised the first round of financing, and his lofty ideals disappeared instantly.
Zhou Xin realized that what he had just said was an attack on Microsoft. Bill Gates’ participation in the Internet Conference in Yanjing was largely to give him face. Zhou Xin explained: “Bill, what I mean is that it is easy for Microsoft to enter other fields. Technical barriers and user loyalty are also very low.
However, it is very difficult for other Internet companies to enter the operating system field. Technical barriers are on the one hand. Windows user loyalty is much higher than that of other Internet services.
Even Quora, which has the highest user loyalty according to data, cannot compare with Windows in this regard. "
This is a survey conducted by the New York Times not long ago. They surveyed more than 10,000 users and asked them which Internet application they could not leave the most.
Quora topped the list, followed by Yahoo, and MSN ranked only seventh. This list does not include windows.
Probably because Windows can be used without an Internet connection.
Zhou Xin has always wanted to build an operating system, and he has asked Simo to find companies with experience in operating systems to acquire.
What he wants is not the company itself, but the company's team with experience in operating system development. Starting from matrix's first mobile phone, it will develop an operating system specifically for mobile phones.
As Microsoft's competitors in most areas of the Internet, both Jerry Yang and Gerald Wright are happy to see Bill Gates suffer.
"Yes, in the early days when Yahoo was just famous in Silicon Valley, what we were most worried about at that time was Microsoft, worried that Microsoft would produce products similar to ours.
Later, Microsoft did launch a portal. Microsoft has its own advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that Microsoft has many excellent engineers, sufficient funds, and a large number of promotion channels.
These are Microsoft's unique advantages compared with startups, but Microsoft also has its own big company problems. It is difficult for them to deeply understand what users really want.
Even if the underlying product managers can understand what users want, it is difficult to truly convey the needs to the management.
This is also the problem that Yahoo is facing now. With the expansion of Yahoo's market value and the rapid growth of its personnel, it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to make products that truly meet the needs of users.
This is probably why, after Internet companies develop to a certain stage, they will mainly focus on acquisitions, acquiring companies with innovative products. We do this, Microsoft does this, and Time Warner does the same. "
Gerrard complained: "Unlike the three of us, Newman specializes in making products like this and selling them to us."
Bill Gates said: "I want to correct Jerry's statement. Microsoft is not building the portal because Yahoo is very successful in the portal. It's just that we think that in the process of IE browser competing with Netscape, we think that IE browser There needs to be a homepage, and users need to have a guide when using the IE browser.
In addition, Yahoo is not the earliest portal website. Yahoo is only a relatively successful portal website developed after 1995. You are far from being the pioneer of portal websites. Moreover, Yahoo has no right to blame Microsoft in this area. After the launch of Riot Electronics Community, Yahoo directly transferred the content of Riot Community. "
The image of Microsoft and Bill Gates in Silicon Valley is somewhat similar to the image of Goose Factory in China in later generations, they are old villains.
Zhou Xin saw that something was not going well. He didn't want this peak conversation to turn into a peak fight, with the four people present exposing each other's shortcomings.
The popularity will definitely be overwhelming, but it will be impossible to invite these people to participate in future Internet conferences.
If this was the Wuzhen Summit hosted by Jack Ma ten years later, Zhou Xin would have wanted to fight them. It would not be too big a deal to watch the excitement.
"Bill, Jerry, it doesn't matter. We are all entrepreneurs. Ideas are the least valuable. A single idea is too replicable, and there is no patent for an idea, let alone any threshold.
Therefore, whenever an excellent Internet model appears, many start-up companies will enter this field, such as portals, mailboxes, e-shopping, and now Q&A communities.
This is a normal business phenomenon. It is not just a problem for large Internet companies. Startups will also copy the Internet models of other startups.
You are all leaders in the Internet industry. Do you have any experience to share with the audience, most of whom are Internet practitioners in China? "
Jerry Yang said: “I think you need to choose the right model, especially when the entire Internet environment is questioned and the market value of Internet companies plummets, you have to think about what kind of people you want to serve at the beginning of your business.
How to achieve profitability is very important.
In the future, it will be increasingly difficult to get money from investors, and a clear business model will increasingly be needed. "
Originally, the editor-in-chief who appeared on the home page today strongly recommended it and wanted to update it more, but it turned out that I didn’t get home until almost eleven o’clock.
I have a meeting at 9:30 tomorrow morning, which is really annoying.
(End of chapter)
