In fact, QQ and MSN that people often use are only part of instant messaging tools. This big family also includes Yahoo! Netease POPO, ICQ, Ali Want Want, Global Communication and many other members. Recently, a new member who is about to be "born", Baidu Hi, broke the family's peace, and it is not known whether the two brothers will meet in a short time. For the majority of netizens, it is unknown whether online chat will continue to "love" big brother Tencent QQ or "turn" little brother Baidu Hi.
Event: Baidu launches chat tool Baidu Hi.
On March 25th, after nearly 1 month of Baidu internal testing, Baidu Hi entered the open invitation testing stage. In just half a month, registered users have exceeded one million. Now, netizens can apply for experience rights by logging in Baidu Hi official website (im.baidu.com). Once approved, they will receive the test invitation and the download address of Baidu Hi installation file.
In fact, as early as 2007, there were rumors that Baidu would launch an instant messaging tool similar to Tencent QQ, and even its name was speculated as "Baidu Whispers". At the end of February this year, Baidu suddenly announced that the product began to be restricted for internal testing and confirmed its name as "Baidu Hi"; It is not clear when this round of public beta will last. It is reported that "Baidu Hi is ready to completely open users".
At present, Tencent QQ and Microsoft MSN have an absolute advantage in the instant messaging market in China. According to the China Internet survey in 2007, the instant messaging market in China has reached 4.75 billion yuan, and it is expected to reach 8.76 billion yuan in 2009, with an annual growth rate of over 30%.
Obviously, in the face of such a huge market, it is not surprising that Baidu, which started its search business, stepped in. Although it is still in the testing stage, the media and netizens can't wait to pay attention to what kind of interface Baidu Hi is and how powerful it is. Too much speculation gives us more room for imagination.
The reporter found a beta version of Baidu Hi on the Internet, and some netizens who were invited to participate in the public beta have already experienced it first, and shared screenshots such as installing and adding friends. From the screenshot, Baidu Hi uses Baidu account as login ID. As long as you register on Baidu related pages, you can get a Baidu account, which can be in Chinese or the same number as QQ number. Of course, registered accounts in Baidu Post Bar, Know, Space, etc. You can also log in to Baidu Hi directly. The biggest difference with QQ and MSN is that Baidu Hi integrates its core products-search and community functions, and can contact friends who publish it, know it and have space. At the same time, combined with Baidu search, it supports web search and image search.
Analysis: Competing with QQ for instant messaging websites
Although it is still uncertain about the final appearance of Baidu Hi, from the perspective of Baidu's entry into the instant messaging market, we have to feel that this market is really a piece of fat, and it is also surging. At present, in the instant messaging market share in China, Tencent QQ is the only one, reaching 70%, far exceeding other instant messaging software.
Interestingly, at the beginning of the birth of instant messaging tools, not many people were optimistic about this "gadget" for online paging. It is rumored that Tencent decided to sell QQ in 2000. However, at that time, the buyer was only willing to pay 600,000 yuan, while Tencent insisted on selling 654.38+00,000 yuan, which was finally lost because the price could not be agreed.
Today, QQ is no longer a simple instant messaging tool. Tencent has built a huge entertainment empire around QQ, and the revenue from virtual goods and member value-added services accounts for more than 60% of the company's total revenue. Billions of income also makes people outside the circle particularly jealous, arousing everyone's enthusiasm for investing in instant messaging.
Like Baidu, Google and Yahoo, which started as search engines, have already deployed their own instant messaging tools, namely Gtalk and Yahoo! Microsoft, on the other hand, has MSN for white-collar workers and has always had a relatively stable market share. Obviously, everyone undoubtedly took a fancy to the strong stickiness of instant messaging tools to users and the extensive product extensibility.
In the domestic market, in the past few years, several companies have also entered the field of instant messaging. Netease launched Netease POPO, trying to gain a place in the gap between QQ and MSN; Sina tried to build a combination of portal and instant messaging by acquiring Global Communications. Ali Want Want, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba, has sprung up everywhere and is now gaining momentum. At the same time, the number of online users has exceeded one million, second only to QQ and MSN.
Viewpoint: It is not easy to shake the monopoly position of QQ.
With the intervention of Baidu, it is still a mystery whether Baidu Hi can break the existing pattern under the integration of instant messaging and search engines. Comments on Baidu Hi on the Internet also exploded, and netizens expressed their opinions noisily. Some people "throw flowers", some "pat bricks" and some "watch the fun".
The reporter's investigation found that most netizens are full of expectations for Baidu Hi. Some netizens posted that Baidu's biggest advantage lies in its mature search community, which covers most netizens and has accumulated hundreds of millions of users through services such as space, posting and knowing. For the instant messaging market, Baidu's technical strength and user base are beyond doubt.
There are also many netizens who "pour cold water" on Baidu Hi. "QQ is already very powerful. Everyone is basically using QQ. The result of giving up QQ will be that you can no longer contact your friends on QQ unless you ask everyone to give up QQ. Think about it? " Some netizens posted that before MSN, Yahoo! , Global Communication, Netease Bubble, Ali Want Want, and Google's Gtalk, no one took QQ.
"Pay attention to Baidu Hi not because of how great she is, but because QQ is too powerful. Everyone is looking forward to a product that can shake QQ, and Baidu's strength is enough to give people such a daydream. Regardless of the final result, Baidu's intervention is conducive to breaking the original monopoly pattern in the field of instant messaging, and ultimately benefiting users. " Similar views seem relatively rational.
Indeed, many people don't like QQ, but they have to use QQ, which is the biggest "disadvantage" of monopolizing the market for users. According to the data of iResearch market survey; By the end of last year, the ranking of domestic instant messaging tools was Tencent QQ, MSN, Ali Want Want, Universal Communication, Netease POPO, Skype and Yahoo, among which QQ accounted for 72% of the market. Can the emergence of Baidu Hi change all this? We will wait and see.
Related Links >>& gt Users Expose Baidu Hi Experience
1. The main interface and dialog box are designed quite succinctly, with fresh colors, no extra buttons, no pop-up advertisements ... There are many sets of exquisite skins to choose from, and a special skin download page will be provided.
2. You can log in directly with Baidu account, or you can choose the associated email address. After logging in with Baidu account, you can immediately contact your space friends and check their latest developments.
3. You can send messages in groups, chat with many people, transmit large files, and support "close friend ranking"; It also supports video and voice chat, with smooth picture and good sound quality.
4. Baidu Hi panel combines Baidu search and supports web search, picture search, MP3 search, etc. You can use the Baidu search function of the search box on the panel without a browser.
5. Have a powerful function of "finding friends" to connect Baidu's huge community users, so that netizens can contact their friends in Post Bar, Zhihu and Space, and meet friends with the same hobbies.