Chapter 160: The Leader
In 1994, after the Chinese connected to the intercom network and sent the first email to the outside world, China was officially recognized by the international community as entering the Internet era.
However, from the actual situation, the international Internet is still far away from ordinary people. After all, at this stage, the Internet is only in the hands of a few people. In China, specifically, the application of Internet technology is limited to a few elites from Tsinghua Park and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Fan Wubing's company has long been connected to the intercom network, but it did not go through domestic dedicated lines, but through its own satellites, and reached an agreement with the United States. It is not only fast, but also has relatively rich resources. Domestic experts currently have no comprehensive understanding of intercom. Most people just regard it as a new communication method that can communicate with the outside world, such as telephone, fax, etc.
If there is no change, the domestic private application of intercom should not start until two years later. The pioneers of Chinese Internet application led by Yinghaiwei will guide the Chinese into a new Internet era with full enthusiasm.
Fan Wubing still remembers a huge billboard erected in Zhongguancun, Beijing, which clearly stated on it, how far the Chinese are from the Information Expressway - 1,500 meters north. This billboard became one of the most popular commercial events in China that year, and also made Yinghaiwei and its founder Zhang Shuxin the focus of the year.
However, when Yinghaiwei started his business, Fan Wubing was still hanging out on the university campus. Wangtian's economic situation was only a relatively low among all provinces in the country. Even in provincial capitals, college students who studied computer majors at that time did not have much opportunity to get into practical applications, let alone have any understanding of new things like intercom.
The first time I heard about the term intercom was that their department head came back from the United States and translated a book about the information highway in the United States. It was mentioned when I was selling it to them. Although the department head who would occasionally say one or two words from the foreign languages ​​had a bit crooked mouth, there was one thing that was right, intercom would gradually enter our lives.
At this time, Fan Wubing recalled the department director and had a little impression. The thing he remembered most clearly was that when he was doing homework, he used html language code to design a website. At that time, the students in the class felt a little crazy because they didn't know how to do it. Finally, Fan Wubing made a relatively beautiful website, which also had simple database operations, as well as the popular counters and other application plug-ins, so his website became everyone's template.
Although it is a bit hindered to design, everyone is still very enthusiastic about copying, and it is not a problem at all. They just need to change the name and use it.
Two years have passed since intercom entered China and toward private application. This is certainly related to the high cost of Internet, but from the fundamental reason, it is still because the promotion and publicity cannot keep up.
There are not many people in the government who understand the significance of the Internet, but at the scholar level, they are just keen on taking advanced contact information into their own hands to show their unique nature. They know little about what changes the Internet can bring about in public life, or they are simply unwilling to think about this place.
Fan Wubing knew that by next year, the information highway project in the United States will be fully completed, and Americans will enter the Internet era from now on, thus giving birth to countless new economic industries, countless millionaires, billionaires, and countless high-tech industries and information industries.
China's intercom is now just from scratch and has no practical application. Although China is also building expressways in full swing, it is not an information expressway, but a highway with steel and concrete structures between cities. Developed countries have experienced this stage decades ago.
The gap is very large, but the market space is also very large. No industry can make its influence unparalleled. Fan Wubing licked his lips and found that he had found another career to operate.
Countless cases in the history of world business can prove that the first entrant in the industry may not be the winner who will last until the end. While he is the role of enlightener, he also has to play the role of pioneers.
As the saying goes, the Yangtze River pushes the waves forward, and the waves die on the beach. If you think about the pioneers who were trampled to death by the waves, you have to carefully consider where is the principle of doing this, where is the bottom line, and where is the profit point?
Yinghaiwei was the first Internet company in China, and it was an alien to the outside world, regardless of the business they were engaged in or the company itself. Their profit model was that users paid a certain fee to Yinghaiwei, that is, they could connect the computer to the Internet, conduct online chats, send and receive emails, and read electronic newspapers.
This is exactly the same as the operating model of American Online. The only difference is that at that time, American Online did not need to face competition from other giants in the industry directly. However, in China, there was a giant company called China Telecom, but it had not yet realized the market prospects of Internet access services. Therefore, before China Telecom entered this field, Yinghaiwei served as a pioneer in the market, and on the other hand, it also experienced a brief glory.
Yinghaiwei began to launch the Internet Enlightenment in China and acted as the leader of China's Internet. What no one expected at that time was that when Yinghaiwei had become a historical term several years later, the Internet Enlightenment he advocated was inherited, and China surpassed the United States to become the country with the largest number of netizens.
However, the gap between China and the United States is too big. Just when Yinghaiwei employees explained the difference between the Internet and Internet, Yahoo had already logged into the Nasdaq stock market with the concept of the Internet, and its market value reached more than 800 million US dollars on the day of its listing.
What exactly can the Internet do? What can it bring to society? It is something that Yinghaiwei must strive to explain to the public and relevant regulatory authorities.
What does the Internet mean? Is it media, communications or information technology? Who will manage this industry, the telecommunications industry? Or media? These situations were very vague at the time, and even pioneers were a little confused.
The pioneers of the market certainly had more opportunities. Just when everything was going well in Yinghaiwei, China Telecom, which realized the importance of Internet access services, suddenly began to enter this field. China Telecom significantly reduced the cost of Internet access, resulting in Yinghaiwei's huge losses and a large number of user losses, and then began to lay off employees and gradually faded out of the public's sight.
The overturn of the car ahead is the lesson of the car afterward.
Before Fan Wubing began to enter the Internet industry, he had to solve these problems. He had to have independent communication lines and absolute control over these communication lines. In this way, he could not rely on telecommunications lines. If he did so, he would just work for others.
However, if the existing communication lines are not used, fiber optic communication equipment with relatively high cost must be used.
But Fan Wubing also thought that although the cost of using optical cable lines and optical communication equipment to intervene in the Internet is higher, he undoubtedly has to bypass the monopoly of telecommunications. In addition, among his own companies, there are companies that produce optical cables, companies that specialize in the development and production of communication equipment, and a large number of relevant technical talents. It is necessary to set up an Internet service provider company.
The most important thing to do now is to get the postal and communication department, or bypass them and obtain a license to conduct Internet business in the mainland. Fan Wubing is more confident about this.
After all, the domestic Internet has not yet taken shape, and no one knows this thing. They can convince the government to agree to become the first domestic ISP by sacrificing some other interests. With their strong financial strength and full understanding of the Internet, they can easily gain a foothold and then promote it nationwide to become bigger and stronger.
If you do both ISP and ICP, you may not have many Internet companies that can surpass you. Fan Wubing can completely control the domestic Internet industry in his own hands. This is a very terrible thing.
But in order to do this, Fan Wubing now has to make some sacrifices and make concessions in some places. Fortunately, his future father-in-law suddenly appeared in the rare earth industry, so this matter can be borrowed and used.
So Fan Wubing issued an order to his rare earth joint enterprise, starting from now on, no longer sells products to the outside world, and all products will be put into inventory and make strategic reserves.
Once this news came out, the entire industry was in an uproar. If Fan Wubing made such a decision, it would be equivalent to paying himself to support all the employees of the rare earth joint enterprise. How much does it cost?!
The only company that can form competitiveness with Fan Wubing was also surprised and did not understand why Fan Wubing made such a irresistible decision? In this way, his company would have no competitors, and there would be a huge increase in the price.
Chapter completed!