Top of the big era

The next day, Masayoshi Son came to Silicon Valley.

The two parties walked around the US headquarters of Ziweixing and had a very happy chat. SoftBank also said that he knows a few outstanding young people who are very creative and passionate. He can introduce them to them later to see if they have the opportunity to join them.

It's all little things.

Zhou Buqi followed him to the office, accompanied by Lu Qi, Zhen Yu and Ning Lu. He mainly talked about the upcoming Helo of Ziweixing, which will promote Apple and Google to upgrade their respective mobile operating system technologies and add a message push function. Function.

Sun Zhengyi didn't quite understand. Didn't Mr. Zhou come to him to talk about the entertainment industry? Why did we talk about the Internet? It was such a trivial matter that was not worth mentioning.

"Push message...well, how about it?"

Son Zhengyi looked confused.

Zhou Buqi said: "This function seems simple, but it has epoch-making significance."

Lu Qi's eyebrows jumped slightly.

The message push function was proposed by him. The purpose is to allow Helo on the smartphone to receive prompts just like receiving text messages when receiving messages.

This requires cooperation from the operating system.

Boss Zhou has a lot of face, so it would be more appropriate for him to come forward to coordinate.

Unexpectedly, he was raised to such a height.

real or fake?

Deceiving people?

Um……

It doesn’t look like it!

There is only one truth, so there is no need to discuss it in advance. No matter from which perspective, the result is the same. But there are thousands of lies, and if you don’t blend them in advance, it’s easy to expose them!

If it was to deceive Masayoshi Son, why not communicate in advance and discuss the deception tactics?

Unless what Boss Zhou said is true.

He really didn't see that a small message push function would have such great industry significance.

Sun Zhengyi was obviously attracted by Zhou Buqi's "alarmism" and was surprised, "The epoch-making significance? How to understand this?"

Zhou Buqi said: "You know OTT, right?"

"Yeah, overhead pass."

Sun Zhengyi nodded. This term is relatively new, but it is not unfamiliar in the Internet field.

Traditional OTT is a basketball term that refers to an overhead pass. On the Internet, it is a "pass" between the platform and users, bypassing the defense of the "operator" in the middle.

The current Internet industry is still relatively early, and the concept of OTT has not yet been generally popularized. It mainly refers to the television field, targeting streaming media platforms such as Netflix and Hulu.

In the United States, there are two main television station models: over-the-air television and cable television.

Wireless TV means that users only need to buy a "pot lid" to receive signals, and then they can receive free channels from all over the United States and even the world. With one search, hundreds of TV stations can be found in all languages. , including domestic CCTV.

In this process, TV users only need to spend a sum of money to buy a "pot lid".

No additional overhead.

Generally speaking, some families who immigrated from third world countries or went to the United States to work, or lower-class families in the United States, will choose to watch TV in this way because it costs less.

But the vast majority of American users will not use this method.

Because the content of free TV stations is terrible and the signal is often unstable.

If you want to watch exciting TV, you still have to watch cable TV.

Cable TV means that it is connected by cables, and you need to find a TV operator like Comcast to install a set-top box. During this process, you need to pay a sum of money to the operator.

After installing the set-top box, you can watch many free TV stations for free, and you can also spend money to subscribe to some smaller paid channels.

Pay channels are the real place for high-quality content creation. The vast majority of middle- and high-income families in the United States mainly watch pay channels. However, paid channels are also different. For large-scale TV stations like HBO, in addition to the basic set-top box, they also need to install an 18-ban set-top box.

Every time you watch HBO, you have to turn on the 18-ban set-top box to prevent minors from accidentally watching it.

In short, watching TV in the United States is very expensive.

A middle-class family spends hundreds of dollars on TV channels every month.

Not only do we need to pay operators to pull TV cables and install set-top boxes; we also need to pay for paid channels to activate members to watch their high-quality programs, or to subscribe to sports events, etc.

"OTT" means that it can bypass TV operators!

Users can directly use the Internet platform without paying management fees, channel fees, and operating fees to operators. They can use streaming media to directly pay for film and television content or live sports events.

This is equivalent to completing a perfect overhead pass between the user and the Internet to the operator.

Why is Comcast rushing to spend huge sums of money to acquire NBC Universal?

It’s because I feel that times have changed.

They want to obtain the content, and while keeping some middle-aged and old user groups to continue watching TV, they also need to use the Internet to make their own streaming media to make up for the potential huge losses in the future of the TV operation business.

This is the fatal blow caused by the peer-to-peer Internet to traditional intermediary enterprises.

Comcast is very good and powerful. They can sense the crisis first and then quickly take action to save the crisis. However, the vast majority of traditional enterprises lack such a forward-looking strategic perspective and have died amid the changes in the industry in the great era.

However, the television industry is not within the scope of Son’s investigation, so he does not know much about it. He only knows that the OTT model may destroy the existing television industry business model.

Zhou Buqi explained the logic to him.

Not to mention Son Zhengyi, even Lu Qi and Zhen Yu felt like they were taking a breath of spring breeze.

No wonder!

No wonder Comcast asked Boss Zhou to be a consultant and invited him to join the advisory committee for Comcast's acquisition of NBC Universal... He really has a keen eye and can clearly see the changes of the current era!

Lu Qi admired him from the bottom of his heart.

You know, Boss Zhou is not in the United States all year round!

But he only comes here a few times a year and meets so many people, and he can understand several industries, from the Internet to mobile phones, from communications to television, from film and television entertainment to sports events.

This strategic vision is truly amazing.

Sun Zhengyi behaved relatively calmly. It seemed to him that Boss Zhou should be at this level. It was not surprising that he had such industry insight.

"Well, your words moved me. It seems that SoftBank's next investment direction should focus on the field of streaming media." Son looked like he was being taught.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Actually, it's not just streaming media."

"oh?"

"All OTT-related fields are the best investment directions in the current Internet field!"

He had no choice but to let go of his child and not be able to trap the wolf. In order to hold Son Zhengyi in check, Zhou Buqi could only show his sincerity, give him as much guidance as possible, and consecrate him with a vision beyond the times.

"what else?"

Masayoshi Son didn’t understand it for a while, because OTT is still a niche concept, mainly referring to the television industry.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "This is the message push function we just talked about."

Sun Zhengyi's expression changed drastically, and he was shocked, "You mean... you mean communications operators?"

Zhou Buqi said calmly: "This is certain. The Internet can bypass TV operators through streaming media. Of course, it can also bypass communication operators through other forms and introduce a wave of OTT to communication operators!"

"this……"

Son took a deep breath.

This can kill me!

At present, the first priority of SoftBank led by him is not to cooperate with Zhou Buqi to invest in the entertainment industry, but to acquire Sprint, a well-known American communications operator, with great fanfare.

This is really a bucket of cold water.

In fact, similar arguments have not stopped in the past few years. But those are all industry speculations, and the global communications industry has also responded to this.

It's different now, these words were said by Zhou Buqi!

The same words, spoken by different people, have different weights.

Boss Zhou’s words were enough to make Masayoshi Son break out in a cold sweat, because this is likely to affect the strategic direction of SoftBank Group.

Son Zhengyi lowered his head and drank coffee. He was silent for half a minute before calming down. He frowned and said, "Do you know the RCS agreement?"

"certainly."

Zhou Buqi nodded.

Facing the great changes of the times led by the ever-changing Internet, the elites in the communications industry must of course take action. What they launched is the new direction of RCS.

Simply put, it is to combine communications with the Internet to protect the interests of communications operators.

In fact, it’s exactly the same as Comcast’s acquisition of NBC Universal.

The general logic is that Internet companies have engaged in OTT, which has harmed the interests of operators. What should operators do? The only option is to build a set of Internet services yourself to replace Internet companies. At that time, even if consumers want to play OTT, it will be consumers and operators who join forces to play OTT, bypassing the Internet companies in the middle.

The money still has to fall into the hands of the operators.

Comcast wants to make its own streaming media, bypassing Internet streaming media; communications companies want to make its own chat messages, bypassing Internet social giants.

There is also a very famous RCS gameplay, which is 5g news.

After the emergence of the 5G concept, the market has been extremely hyped. The hot spot hyped by communication operators is 5g news. It is said that 5g messaging can not only replace WeChat, but also replace all mobile apps. It is so magical and powerful.

It's basically nonsense.

Son Zhengyi said: "Many communication operators in the world have joined the new RCS model and are looking for new directions."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "Sun, don't forget, you are an Internet investor. Is there anyone who knows the Internet better than you? Why did you make such a mistake? Operators are all traditional enterprises, how can they compete with the Internet? This is Fundamental conceptual differences cannot be solved by simple model transformation."

"Um."

Son Zhengyi looked serious.

Zhou Buqi said: "I also invest, and I also invest in wrong projects. This is normal. If I invest in the wrong project, it is a tactical failure. However, if I invest in the wrong track, it is a strategic failure. This is This cannot be tolerated. No matter what type of operator they are, they are destined to be beaten by the Internet in the future."