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Zhou Buqi has long given up on the Korean market.

Except for Ziweiyun, other businesses under Ziweixing International are not developing well in South Korea.

Yahoo's Korean assets were packaged and sold to Samsung.

Regarding the development of Helo in South Korea, Zhou Buqi has long been mentally prepared and is not optimistic about it at all. Otherwise, he would not have invested in Kakao and provided financial, technical and other support for Kakao's development in South Korea.

Now, Kurian says it's possible to keep some of Helo's business in South Korea.

Why not?

At least try.

If it fails, nothing will be lost. If it succeeds, it will provide a new idea for Helo's future global development.

Helo cannot monopolize the social communication market in every country in the world.

Just like Japan.

The current product structure of Helo is very unsuitable for Japanese user habits, so Zhou Buqi specially established Ziweixing Japan. There is a dedicated Helo product team, which has made a large degree of product modifications to Helo and launched the Japanese version of Helo. .

However, not every country has a population as large as Japan and a consumption power as strong as Japan.

There are many small countries that are simply not worth tailoring specifically for them.

And even if it is tailor-made, the opportunity has been missed.

This means that Helo will inevitably encounter fierce competition in some markets, and will even be in a weak position in the competition... How to retain user stickiness when competition fails and users are gradually lost? The payment Kurian proposed is probably an idea!

The paid model will definitely not have too many users, but at least it can keep the fire!

With fire, there is the possibility of a comeback in the future.

In fact, WhatsApp used this strategy in its previous life. WhatsApp is a free product, but in some countries and regions, you need to pay to use it. At one time, there were rumors that people in Hong Kong and Taiwan would have to pay, which caused quite a bit of controversy. Because WeChat is competing on Hong Kong Island and Line is widely used on Baodao, WhatsApp is not competitive enough. However, it caused a lot of controversy, and later it was settled and the free model was adopted.

But once it operates for free, it will be impossible for WhatsApp to make money in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and it will have to pay to operate.

Tang Binchen said bluntly: "I'm not too optimistic about this idea. It's too un-Internet-like."

Kurian said: "At least give it a try. Instead of sitting back and watching Helo completely withdraw from the Korean market, adopting some special measures might work. Again, payment is the best way to increase user stickiness."

Zhou Buqi said, "Then try it in South Korea. It doesn't matter if you fail."

Tang Binchen nodded, "Okay."

Zhou Buqi looked at Kurian and said strangely: "Aren't you going to target Microsoft?"

Kurian said calmly: "There is nothing specific or not. The most important thing is to make the choice that is most beneficial to the long-term development of Helo. The current Helo is a completely free product and there is no paid service. This makes me a little worried. . Now Helo is the most popular social product in Europe and the United States, we don’t deny this.”

Tang Binchen smiled and said: "Helo is currently the app with the most users and the highest daily activity in the world!"

"Indeed, it is a very proud achievement." Kurian looked solemn, "But I have also paid attention. There are too many products similar to Helo in the market, and there are a variety of communication products. Even in our company , there are also similar products like Ucgram and Snapchat.”

Tang Binchen said "hmm".

Kurian said: "Helo is now the most popular App in the world. We should take advantage of this good situation to make Helo's strategic structure more complete and stronger. Relying solely on the free model and social advertising will not help us in the long run. It seems that there are huge hidden dangers. Once another communication product that is recognized by the public appears on the market, Helo lacks the means to attract users, which will make us passive. "

Zhou Buqi agreed, "Europe and the United States are different from China. WeChat doesn't need to worry about many things, but Helo must take all precautions in overseas markets."

Don’t worry about WeChat.

Because domestic methods can be more ruthless.

If a new popular app wants to appear in the market, it must have "fission" promotion, that is, viral promotion. The best way to achieve viral promotion is the WeChat social circle. If one person recommends it to his circle of friends, and his friends recommend it to his circle of friends... it can explode in a short period of time.

Do not be afraid at home.

Because WeChat can directly block this source of fission and prohibit other parties from using WeChat for promotion in the name of "security", "anti-fraud", "prevention of pyramid schemes", etc. This channel is locked, and it will be too difficult for a new national-level app to appear in the market.

This is not the case abroad, as this is not allowed.

This is vicious competition that takes advantage of a monopoly position. If Helo dares to block competitors, it will be subject to lawsuits. Therefore, there will definitely be many competitors who will continue to be promoted through the Helo platform.

This is the hidden danger.

How can we ensure that when new and more interesting competitors emerge, users will not choose them but stay with Helo?

This requires further improving Helo's user stickiness.

Tang Binchen said: "Helo provides more and more services, the product experience is excellent enough, and there is also the core competition of Helo payment and Helo intelligent assistant. In this regard, we have a great advantage."

Zhou Buqi said: "Even so, relying solely on social advertising is too single."

Kurian said: "Helo is a free software, and this positioning cannot be changed. However, we can provide some paid value-added services for some specific groups of people. Only paid services have greater stickiness. Just like Microsoft's Skype. It’s a terrible piece of software, but it’s been very successful for so many years. No matter how hard Helo tries, he can’t beat them, didn’t you realize? Because of Skype’s paid nature.”

"Skype?" Tang Binchen suddenly realized and was a little surprised, "Are you eyeing Skype?"

Kurian asked, "Why not?"

Tang Binchen took a deep breath, "This is really a major change!"

Kurian said: "Helo is the best Internet product. Do we need to be afraid of Skype? No matter how open Microsoft is, it will never be able to transform into a real Internet company. We have the greatest advantage in the free model. In other words, in It’s impossible for Skype to compete with us in Helo’s strengths. As long as we show value in Skype’s strengths, we have a chance to defeat Skype!”

Zhou Buqi understood what Kurian meant.

In fact, it's not like he hasn't considered this idea in the past two years.

Among current communication products, Helo ranks first in terms of users.

The second-ranked company is not Facebook Message owned by Facebook, but Microsoft’s Skype.

This is very illogical.

Why Microsoft?

Can Microsoft be better than Facebook in mobile communication products?

Because of the paid nature of Skype.

Skype has the function of making calls. This is not like a WeChat call, where one WeChat user calls another WeChat user... but a Skype user who can dial directly and directly transfer to the operator's phone channel through the mobile Internet channel and directly call Dial the other party’s mobile phone number or landline number.

This is so convenient!

Call charges through Skype will be lower than normal phone charges, especially for cross-border calls. In many underdeveloped regions and countries, cross-border phone calls are very expensive. Using Skype's paid calling service is both convenient and saves money.

This is Skype's biggest competitive advantage.

The live broadcast area has also had the idea before, and wanted Helo to also promote this business.

However, after considering it several times, I gave up due to many reasons.

The main reason is biting off more than one can chew.

At that time, Ziweixing International had not yet been listed, and its strength was not strong enough. It was already facing a head-on confrontation with Facebook. The competitive pressure was already great, so there was no need to provoke Microsoft anymore, and there was no need to start a war with enemies from both sides.

Times have changed and the situation is different now.

Ziweixing International is already a listed giant with stable operations!

The latest market value even surpassed Microsoft, becoming the world's third largest technology giant in market value after Apple and Google!

Facebook no longer poses much of a threat.

Microsoft has also changed its CEO and is in its weakest period.

Helo is now more powerful than ever and is not afraid of powerful enemies!

Kurian said: "Although Helo is the App with the most users in the world, its coverage is still too small. What can truly cover every user must be the mobile phone number of the operator. If you want to truly complete the full coverage of social products, There must be a paid dial-up function. If a Helo user can dial a non-Helo user, in order to save money, he can call the other party and ask him to download and install Helo, and then the two of them can use the dedicated network line through Helo. Free call."

Zhou Buqi agreed, "Indeed, dial-up paid services can not only open up new strategic space for Helo, but also find a better way for Helo to split. It is impossible for any App to cover everyone, and mobile phones It can achieve maximum popularity through the fission of mobile phone numbers. In terms of products, Helo is much better than Skype. The value of Skype lies in its dialing function. Can reduce the need for Skype to exist!”

Kurian said in a deep voice: "During this period, Microsoft has been very dishonest. Especially Microsoft Cloud has introduced a number of strategies against Ziwei Cloud, and has shamelessly poached many people from us. If not If I try to fight back, many people in the company will be aggrieved. At the same time, the outside world will think that we are weak and can be bullied, which will easily lead to internal and external troubles.”

Zhou Buqi thought he was a bit exaggerated, but the truth was right.

If Kurian is weak, how can he create cohesion among the Indian-American community? Only by taking a heavy blow to Nadella can he raise his banner among the Indian community again.

“I agree with Helo’s launch of dial-up paid value-added services.”

Zhou Buqi gave his answer without thinking much.

He had thought about this idea many times.

Now is the time!

It’s time to do it!