Rebirth 08: Can a mobile game company also build a tech empire?

Lin Bing's finger paused for a few seconds on the cover of "ZUI: A Deeply Customized System Solution Based on Android".

He had just casually flipped through it.

I plan to quickly skim through this "startup proposal" in five minutes.

But the overview on the first page made him sit up straight.

"The stock Android system is not well-suited to the Chinese market."

It's because there's no input method that suits the habits of Chinese people.

There is no local app store.

There is no optimization for the Chinese network environment.

Furthermore, it lacks functional designs that cater to the usage habits of Chinese users…

Lin Bin turned to the second page.

Page 3.

Page 4.

His reading speed slowed down, and his gaze became more and more focused.

The office gradually quieted down.

Everyone else noticed Vice Dean Lin's unusual behavior.

Lin Bing was completely absorbed in the plan.

They even forgot about their next task.

Call recording function?

Yes, the domestic business environment definitely requires it.

"Quick Contact Search?"

Yes, this feature is very useful.

Application classification?

We discussed this feature in a previous meeting…

Lin Bin's breathing became slightly rapid.

Every feature proposed in this plan.

None of them are wild fantasies.

Rather, it is a practical solution proposed based on a deep understanding of Chinese users.

Some of these ideas are even more mature and creative than the solutions being discussed internally at Google.

"Manager Wang!"

Lin Bing suddenly looked up.

Who sent this proposal?

"Ah? It's a young man named Lu Chen."

He is the owner of a company in Hangzhou called ZhengTu Technology.

Manager Wang was somewhat surprised by Lin Bin's reaction.

"Professor Lin, is there a problem with this plan?"

"question?"

Lin Bing shook her head, her eyes shining.

"On the contrary,"

This plan answers many questions I've been pondering lately.

He glanced at his watch; it was 3:10 PM.

"Please help me contact this Mr. Lu."

For example, Lin Bing from Google China wanted to meet with him to have a chat.

He decides the time and place.

The sooner the better!

……

A day later, in a quiet cafe in the HD district.

Lu Chen arrived twenty minutes early and chose a window seat.

He ordered an Americano and looked out the window at the traffic in Zhongguancun.

Lu Chen is still recalling the scene when he received the call from Manager Wang yesterday.

Lu Chen had already returned to the hotel by then.

I'm about to buy my return ticket.

Then Manager Wang called.

It gave him a huge surprise.

To be honest, Lu Chen never expected this.

This best plan actually managed to attract Lin Bing's attention.

This is Lin Bing, after all.

His resume is impressive.

I worked at Microsoft for eleven years, from 1995 to 2006.

He rose through the ranks from software engineer to engineering director.

He has participated in the development of core products such as Windows Vista and IE8.

He also served as a research and development manager at Microsoft Research Asia.

From 2006 to 2010, he joined Google China and served as the Vice President of the Engineering Research Institute.

He co-founded Xiaomi Technology with Lei Jun in 2010 and is the number two person in Xiaomi.

Lin Bin leveraged his connections and reputation built at Microsoft and Google.

Key members of Xiaomi's early core team, such as Hong Feng, Zhou Guangping, and Huang Jiangji, were all introduced or recruited by Lin Bin.

The importance of these three individuals to Xiaomi in its early stages is self-evident.

It can be said that without Lin Bing, there would be no future for Xiaomi.

Lu Chen is about to meet Lin Bing.

At this moment, he was constantly rehearsing what would happen after the meeting in his mind.

I tried my best to persuade Lin Bing to participate in the project.

It was exactly 2 PM.

A middle-aged man wearing a dark gray sweater and glasses pushed open the door and entered.

His gaze swept around the coffee shop, quickly locking onto Lu Chen, and he walked straight over.

"Mr. Lu? I'm Lin Bing."

"Dean Lin, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Lu Chen stood up and shook hands.

After the two sat down, Lin Bing did not exchange pleasantries.

He took the somewhat crumpled plan directly from his briefcase.

"Mr. Lu, I spent two nights carefully studying this proposal."

Lin Bing got straight to the point.

"Many of the ideas inside surprised me."

It's not that I'm surprised by their technical difficulty,

Rather, we were surprised by the depth of your understanding of the needs of Chinese users.

Lu Chen responded with a smile:

Android is a good system.

Open source, free, and the ecosystem is growing rapidly.

But it was born in America after all.

Many design principles are based on the usage habits of Western users.

If we directly apply this method to China, it will definitely not be suitable.

"This is exactly the question our team has been thinking about recently."

Lin Bing leaned forward slightly and said earnestly:

Google headquarters plans for a globally unified version of the Android system.

They believe that GMS services can meet the needs of various regions.

But those of us on the front lines know that,

Chinese users need much more than just GMS.

Lu Chen nodded.

Indeed, Google's GMS (Google Mobile Services) will do very well in the future.

It includes the Google Play Store, Gmail, Google Services Framework, and more.

However, there is a fatal problem that only Lu Chen knows about at the moment.

That means Google will withdraw from the Chinese market in 2010.

GMS is completely unusable in China.

Lu Chen did not mention this question.

After all, this is something that hasn't happened yet.

So he changed the subject and said:

"The core idea of ​​ZUI is based on the open-source native Android system."

Build a system that belongs to Chinese users;

What we're doing isn't just customizing the appearance.

Instead, from the system architecture level,

Rethink what an operational system should look like.

Over the next two hours, the two engaged in an in-depth technical conversation.

Lin Bin raised one question after another:

"How exactly do you plan to categorize the applications you mentioned?"

Currently, all Android apps are displayed flatly on the home screen, which is indeed quite cluttered.

"We can mimic the format of a folder."

Lu Chen drew a diagram on a napkin.

"Users long-press the app icon"

Drag one icon onto another icon.

The system will automatically create the folder.

Multiple applications can be placed in the same folder.

Users can also rename folders.

"This is a great method!"

Lin Bing imagined it for a moment.

This does indeed make classification and management easier.

This greatly enhances the user experience.

"What about cross-application data flow?"

Lin Bing deliberately made things difficult for Lu Chen here.

The person in front of me is so young.

He looks like a recent college graduate.

He didn't believe that Lu Chen had come up with all of this.

Features include personalized wallpapers, call recording, and quick contact search.

That's something a normal person could think of.

But features like cross-application data transfer, intelligent notification categorization, and dual-app functionality are also available.

It leans towards complete imagination.

After all, being one step ahead is genius, being two steps ahead is madness!

"My thoughts on data flow are as follows."

Lu Chen answered fluently without any hesitation.

"Let's take the verification code that we often have to fill in as an example."

Lin Bing nodded, listening attentively.

"Upon receiving the verification code, the phone has already recognized it and saved it to the clipboard."

Users can simply long-press on the window to paste the verification code with one click.

No more manual input required.