After leaving the industrial park's venue.
Zhang Dalong couldn't help but say, "The Young Lady, this move of yours was truly brilliant. Once we successfully pull off this Weibo debut, it will become a benchmark case. When we go on to negotiate deep collaborations with other brands, or even push for an upgrade of the platform's advertising system, we'll have the most convincing case study."
Liu Yutong smiled faintly. "The essence of the internet is connection, and the future of business lies in building an ecosystem. Weibo cannot just be a bustling public square; it must become a fertile soil capable of nurturing all kinds of possibilities. Helping Suiyan succeed is our way of showing everyone the value of this soil. In short, we must take things one step at a time, but our gaze must remain fixed on the long term."
Zhang Dalong nodded in deep agreement, genuinely acknowledging The Young Lady's profound insight from the bottom of his heart.
Just then, Liu Yutong suddenly remembered something and turned her head to ask him, "You're going to see your former boss at the Internet Conference tomorrow. Do you have any special thoughts about that?"
Zhang Dalong paused for a moment, then shook his head. "Nothing in particular, really. I just didn't expect to be expressing my own views on such a grand stage so soon. It still feels quite surreal."
"In the past, at my old company, a lot of us internally were mostly just imitating, especially with foreign models. We were always thinking about how to follow up faster and how to localize things better. Now, working on Weibo with you, I feel completely different. I feel like we are actually trying to define things ourselves."
"So, do you think Weibo counts as an imitation?" Liu Yutong pressed.
Zhang Dalong shook his head decisively. "At the very least, we are innovating a lot of things, like the 'like' button, light apps, and so on."
Liu Yutong asked, "Engineer Zhang, if I told you I wanted you to build an instant messaging app to defeat your former boss, would you dare take on the task?"
"Instant messaging? The Young Lady, are you sure you aren't joking?" When Zhang Dalong said this, he felt his throat go dry.
If he remembered correctly, before he joined Wanlong Group, The Young Lady had mentioned this idea, though they ended up doing Weibo instead.
Now that Weibo had just taken its first successful step, she was suddenly bringing up the old topic. She hadn't given up on it!
"Yes."
Liu Yutong nodded. "And it will be a mobile-first instant messaging app. We won't even bother with a PC version."
"This..." Zhang Dalong instinctively wanted to shoot down the madness of this idea, but he swallowed the words before they left his mouth.
Having followed Liu Yutong for a while now, he had developed a conditioned reflex: The Young Lady never spoke without a target in mind. Perhaps she already had some brilliant idea or plan?
After thinking it over seriously, he spoke cautiously, "From a technical standpoint, developing a basic IM app does present challenges for our current team, but it's not impossible. The biggest problem is that massive mountain in our way. The Young Lady, you know how strong Koukou's user stickiness is. If we launch a frontal assault, it will be very hard to win."
Liu Yutong replied, "What if Koukou's infrastructure is starting to show cracks?"
Zhang Dalong frowned. As a former employee, he knew Koukou's strengths all too well. What cracks could there possibly be?
Still, he asked humbly, "What do you mean?"
Liu Yutong countered with a question, "Do you think Nokiya's defenses are solid?"
Zhang Dalong didn't understand her point, but he nodded anyway. "Of course. They are the absolute king of the feature phone era. Unbreakable."
Liu Yutong took a phone out of her bag—a phone that hadn't been officially released in the country yet, with a clear fruit logo printed on the back—and handed it to Zhang Dalong.
"Now, do you still think Nokiya is unbreakable?"
As soon as Zhang Dalong took the Fruit phone, he felt that it was completely different from the usual Nokiyas or Motorolas. It had a larger, thinner screen, and its overall design was incredibly minimalist, brimming with a futuristic feel.
As a tech guy, he obviously knew about the Fruit phone. When it was announced in 2007, it caused a sensation in the industry. It just hadn't been officially released domestically, so many ordinary people didn't even know this brand of phone existed.
But now, holding the actual device in his hands, he suddenly felt that he might have spoken too soon.
Nokiya didn't seem as indestructible as it appeared on the surface. In fact, it might be standing on the edge of a cliff.
"A Nokiya can make calls, send texts, play Snake, and listen to music, but beyond that, it doesn't seem to have any other functions."
"Now look at the Fruit phone in your hand. Besides making calls and sending texts, it can browse the internet and handle emails much more conveniently. It offers a relatively complete web experience... Essentially, it is entirely fair to call it a pocket-sized microcomputer."
"Nokiya's empire was built on the era's consensus that a mobile phone is primarily a communication tool. But the Fruit phone, or rather, the smarter phones of the future, are redefining what a mobile phone is. When this new definition is accepted by more and more people, when network speeds get faster, when data costs drop, and when more apps and services are built around these smartphones, the world will undergo an earth-shattering transformation."
"The same goes for Koukou. Its impregnability is built on the era's consensus that instant messaging is primarily about PC desktop social networking. But as smartphones like the Fruit phone become widespread, the primary arena for communication and social networking will irreversibly migrate to mobile."
"Just like the transition from chat rooms to Koukou back in the day."
Zhang Dalong's heart skipped a beat. He suddenly recalled that during numerous meetings about Weibo, The Young Lady had repeatedly emphasized mobile experience. At the time, he thought it was merely a supplementary feature for Weibo. Now he realized her ambitions went far beyond that.
Liu Yutong paused for a moment before continuing, "We are never going to just copy a mobile version of Koukou."
"What we are going to build is a new species of communication and social networking—born on mobile and raised on mobile. It needs to be lighter, faster, and more tailored to mobile usage scenarios. I believe that in the early stages, we can even abandon Koukou's flashy features and just focus on doing one thing perfectly: allowing information to be presented among acquaintances in the most natural and simple way possible."
"..."
Zhang Dalong swallowed hard again. He truly felt that The Young Lady was becoming more and more unfathomable. She was simply too visionary and forward-thinking.
This wasn't just racing Big Goose on the same track; this was clearly anticipating the next intersection way in advance and preparing to lay down a completely new set of rails.
However, pulling this off would still be quite difficult. There was no way Big Goose wouldn't develop a mobile version of Koukou, and their massive user base would very likely stick with them.
"The Young Lady, I understand your idea, but the promotion costs and the difficulty of shifting user habits are a bit steep. Plus, once Big Goose realizes we're trying to flank them, I'm afraid they'll strike back with everything they have..."
"That is exactly why we cannot rush this, but we must start laying the groundwork early."
"Weibo will continue to advance at its current pace. After the New Year, you will slowly begin handing over the daily operational tasks. Of course, this is not to strip you of your authority. You are still the leader of the Weibo project; you just need to delegate the trivial matters to others while you steer the overall direction. Your main energy needs to be shifted to our new project."
Zhang Dalong felt the burden on his shoulders grow heavier. "Understood, The Young Lady! I will assemble a new development team as soon as possible."
He suddenly realized that The Young Lady had brought him to the conference this time not merely to have him give a speech on stage, but more importantly, to have him personally declare war on his former boss.
"Bring it on, President Ma."
"I am coming to take you down!"
