有些事物我們總是要親身遭遇，才能體會其力量所在；中國的實時通移動應用程序“微信(WeChat)”就是一個最好的例子。 提起微信并不是因為我覺得它比才剛被 Facebook 以190億美元收購的 WhatsApp 更好用，它引起我注意的原因是其快速崛起的程度就像是中國的縮影。一年前，中國的微型博客網(wǎng)站新浪微博(Sina Weibo)在當?shù)仫L靡一時，而今年我在中國的所有朋友以及見過的人都在用微信；微博迅速退燒的狀況是顯而易見(而且?guī)缀蹩烧f很驚人)的。 我在一年前見到中興(ZTE)旗下手機品牌努比亞(Nubia)CEO倪飛，談的都是他在微博上有數(shù)百萬粉絲的話題；他致力于透過互聯(lián)網(wǎng)銷售該品牌的智能手機，因此需要在微博上擁有高能見度。而最近我們再次見面，倪飛在被問到關于微博的問題時，他淡淡地笑著說：“最近沒有人會上微博了?！? 倪飛解釋，現(xiàn)在微信在中國是親朋好友間聯(lián)系與維持關系的主要工具，人們喜歡它。那微信是否有能讓努比亞宣傳的空間呢？他說：“我們還沒真正搞清楚，人們似乎比較喜歡看到微信上沒有廣告或是商業(yè)消息?！? 微信是中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)業(yè)者騰訊(Tencent)旗下的產品，在2012年10月17日開始服務，提供免費文字短信、語音短信以及視頻通話功能；基本上微信是 SMS的一種，結合類似Skype的服務，并將Twitter、LinkedIn、Facebook、Foursquare與Instagram等各種社 交網(wǎng)站的功能結合再一起，此外它還支持在線支付，使用者能進行購物、付費游戲甚至金融活動。 我來中國不過四天，但幾乎每一場采訪所遇到的產業(yè)高層，無論是來自新創(chuàng)公司、老公司或是芯片業(yè)者、系統(tǒng)業(yè)者，都不可避免地提到了阿里巴巴(Alibaba)或騰訊。 中國的科技業(yè)者似乎相信，他們最優(yōu)先要做的就是取得如阿里巴巴或是騰訊等中國最活躍網(wǎng)絡業(yè)者的支持；他們試圖說服網(wǎng)絡業(yè)者將新服務搭配他們的新技術，認為只要那些網(wǎng)絡服務受歡迎，他們的芯片或系統(tǒng)產品就會跟著受歡迎。 讓 微信幾乎在中國無所不在──近6億使用者──的原因之一，是它在今年農歷春節(jié)推出了一個“新年紅包”的應用程序。中國在農歷春節(jié)有發(fā)紅包的傳統(tǒng)，微信就讓用戶能上傳裝著數(shù)字現(xiàn)金的虛擬紅包，這種策略成功讓微信用戶的親友也跟著加入微信，因為只要按鈕就能隨機抽到不同金額的數(shù)字現(xiàn)金。

微信的新年紅包應用程序
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在 今年長達九天的中國農歷新年假期中，就有超過800位新用戶加入微信，而且有大約400個數(shù)字紅包被發(fā)送出去。這個微信的新年紅包活動有點類似彩券，有些 人得到的獎金不到1美元，有些人則拿到20美元以上；不過我的一位中國朋友說，金額大小沒什么關系：“主要是好玩，每個人搶紅包的動作要很快?！? 本文下一頁：輿論指責中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司模仿西方業(yè)者，但是…

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• 如能搞定制約因素，移動支付“錢景”可期vaPesmc

{pagination} 微 信還能幫忙用戶叫出租車；只要輕觸屏幕上的功能按鍵，就能在手機上看到附近有多少出租車經(jīng)過，以及有多少臺可以響應叫車需求。當出租車有響應，用戶能透過 微信發(fā)出一個叫車消息，也不用告訴司機該怎么走，因為乘客所在位置已透過GPS顯示；在等車期間，用戶也能從手機上看到出租車還有多遠。

微信的叫出租車服務
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而 除了方便，有些中國朋友喜歡微信的原因是它的“私密性”──不同于多數(shù)社交網(wǎng)絡的設計是用戶“一對多”的消息傳播，微信能讓用戶保有更多私密性，只將消息 傳給一小群特定朋友；在一對一的通訊之外，微信也支持消息群發(fā)，用戶能建立自己的群組，那些只是朋友的朋友、不是真正朋友的人，無法看到使用者在群組中的留言。 微信的功能還包括“永遠保持上線，不注銷”，因此用戶不用擔心會漏掉消息；用戶不必一直不定期開啟PC或是智能手機檢查應用程序，也不必像用Facebook那樣，花幾個小時在個人消息涂鴉墻上一則一則看那些其實很多來自陌生人或無用的消息。 此外現(xiàn)在中國還有2億人口將自己的銀行 卡與微信綁定，根據(jù)一篇來自Quartz.com的報導引述Nomura International分析師Chao Wang的研究，微信現(xiàn)在是最會從用戶身上賺錢的實時通訊服務；不同于WhatsApp主要營收來源是用戶免費使用一年之后需繳交1美元年費，微信則是藉 由銷售游戲以及整合在線支付功能，鼓勵用戶透過該應用程序在線購物。 輿論很容易指責中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)公司模仿西方業(yè)者如 Google、Facebook與Twitter的創(chuàng)意，然后又刻意限制競爭對手在中國市場的活動；這些指責有一些是真實的，但許多中國產業(yè)高層指出，中國網(wǎng)絡服務業(yè)者的創(chuàng)新速度更快、更有新意，因為他們深知什么是最好的，也能根據(jù)本地市場需求調整服務；微信的新年紅包就是一個最佳例證。 在此同時，中國科技業(yè)者──包括芯片與系統(tǒng)供貨商──也決心將自己定位在這個食物鏈的更上層，好更接近中國的網(wǎng)絡業(yè)者。 舉 例來說，放眼全球的中國應用程序處理器大廠全志(Allwinner)，在去年第三季搭上了中國OTT (over-the-top)在線視頻市場熱潮；中國OTT在線視頻市場是因為阿里巴巴開發(fā)了視頻應用程序、推廣OTT機頂盒，并推出免費的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)隨選 視頻而蓬勃發(fā)展，全志的雙核心應用處理器就成功進駐了阿里巴巴的機頂盒以及熱銷的“小米盒子”。 此外聯(lián)發(fā)科(MediaTek)為了推廣其近距離無線通信技術Hotknot，也優(yōu)先考慮將支持Hotknot的手機在中國市場普及；該公司的計劃就是讓阿里巴巴或騰訊的在線商務服務，能在支持Hotknot的手機上使用。 本文授權編譯自EE Times，版權所有，謝絕轉載 編譯：Judith Cheng 參考英文原文：Yoshida in China: Why 'WeChat'，by Junko Yoshida

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• 中國移動利潤14年首次下滑的罪魁禍首
• 中國人喜歡用什么方式與朋友分享內容？
• 如能搞定制約因素，移動支付“錢景”可期vaPesmc

{pagination} Yoshida in China: Why 'WeChat' Junko Yoshida, Chief International Correspondent SHENZHEN, China — Sometimes, the significance of an event happening outside your own personal universe doesn't really hit you 'til you travel, hear what locals are saying, and encounter it firsthand. WeChat in China is a good example. I bring up WeChat here, not because I think China's WeChat is so much more wonderful than WhatsApp, which was recently acquired by Facebook for $19 billion. WeChat tickled my fancy because, due to its astonishingly quick rise, it is a microcosm of China. People here, and Internet companies, jump on a social phenomenon en masse, as soon as they sense it's starting to catch fire. A year ago, Sina Weibo, China's micro-blogging site, was all the rage in China. This year, every friend I have in China and the people I'm meeting for interviews are on WeChat. It's palpable (and almost scary) how quickly Weibo seems to be cooling off. During our meeting a year ago, Ni Fei, CEO of Nubia, ZTE's sub-brand for high-end smartphones, was all about the million followers he has in Weibo. The Nubia CEO, committed to selling its smartphones through the Internet, needed to be highly visible on Weibo. In our interview this week, when Ni was asked about his micro-blogging on Weibo, he laughed dismissively: "Nobody goes to Weibo these days." Ni explained that WeChat is all about communications and relationships among friends and family. People like it. Asked if there is room to promote Nubia on WeChat, he said, "We haven't really figured it out. People seem to like having no advertising or commercial things on WeChat." Owned by China's Internet company Tencent, WeChat, whose services only began on Oct. 17, 2012, offers free texting, voice messaging, and video calls. Essentially, it's SMS on steroids -- combined with services similar to Skype calls. It functions as Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Foursquare, and Instagram all melded into one. Plus, it's tied to users' credit cards. WeChat lets you shop, game, and even bank. I've been in China for only four days. But in every interview so far, the executives at startups and established chips/system companies in China inevitably mention Alibaba or Tencent. The technology companies here seem to believe their highest priority is to get China's dynamic Internet players -- chiefly, Alibaba and Tencent -- on their side, talking them into pairing new services with their new technologies. As the services get popular, so will their chips and boxes, they think. Red envelopes What pushed WeChat into near-ubiquity -- close to 600 million users -- is the creation of a "red envelope" app on WeChat for this year's spring festival in China. Red Envelope app on WeChat. Taking advantage of the tradition in China of handing out red envelopes, containing cash gifts, for the Lunar New year, WeChat invited users to upload virtual red envelopes full of digital cash. This tactic neatly inveigled friends and family members to join WeChat, where they could then hit a button and receive a randomly selected amount of digital cash. Within nine days of the spring festival, more than 8 million people joined WeChat and some 4 million red envelops were distributed -- digitally. The lottery-style gimmick in WeChat's red envelope promotion meant that some family members got less than a dollar, while others got $20 or much more. The amount, however, didn't really matter, according to my Chinese friends. "It was fun, and everyone had to act quickly" in order to get his or her share of the cash from a red envelope. Hail a cab WeChat also eases the chore of hailing cabs. Hit the cab button on WeChat, and you see on your mobile screen how many taxis are driving around nearby, and how many are receiving your request. When one responds, you seal the deal on WeChat. The driver needs no directions, because you're both on GPS. While waiting, you follow the taxi's approach on your handset. Hail a Cab app. (Source: EE Times/Junko Yoshida) Compare this to hailing a taxi at midnight in Manhattan, and you can really appreciate WeChat. Besides its convenience, some of my Chinese friends like WeChat because it's "intimate." Intimate and relevant Unlike most social networks designed for one-to-many broadcast, WeChat is ideal for more intimate and relevant messages to a specific circle of friends. Beyond one-on-one contacts, WeChat offers group messaging. You make your own groups. Those who are simply friends of your friend, but not your own friends, cannot see comments you post to your group. WeChat's features also include "always on, no logouts." That means you never have to miss a message. No need to occasionally open up this or that app on your PC or smartphone to check on favorite social networks. No need to spend hours scrolling through the inevitable drivel posted on your Facebook wall by strangers and weirdos. Today, 200 million bank-card users are tied to WeChat. A story on Quartz.com reported: In terms of making money from its users, WeChat comes out on top, according to Chao Wang, an analyst with Nomura International in Hong Kong. In contrast to WhatsApp -- whose main revenue source is an annual subscription fee of $1 after one free year of use -- WeChat makes money by selling games and integrating online payment functions that encourage shopping through the app. It's easy to criticize China's Internet companies for piggybacking on innovations by Western companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter, while limiting their Western rivals' services and activities in China. There's some truth to this complaint, but many local executives point out that the speed of innovation by Chinese Internet service companies is lightning fast and exceptionally creative because they know the territory best and they tailor their offerings to the local market. The red envelope app is a great example. Meanwhile, China's technology companies -- suppliers of chips and boxes -- are also determined to position themselves further up the food chain, much closer to China's Internet companies. For example, Allwinner, China's leading apps processor supplier for the global tablet market, caught the explosive growth of China's over-the-top (OTT) market in the third quarter of 2013. China's OTT market flourished when Alibaba developed video apps, promoted OTT boxes, and rolled out free video-on-demand services to consumers via the Internet. Allwinner's dual-core apps processor drives both Alibaba's boxes and Xiaomi's boxes. In its strategy to promote Hotknot, the company's proprietary proximity technology, MediaTek sees its priority as spreading Hotknot-enabled handsets as far and wide as possible in the Chinese market. The grand plan? MediaTek wants to enable Alibaba and/or Tencent to conduct their e-commerce through Hotknot-enabled handsets.