Smart routing bubble emerges more like a "small door" than an "entrance"

Since JiRoute took the lead in launching the concept of smart routing, domestic Internet and hardware giants such as Xiaomi , 360 , Lenovo , Baidu , TCL , Huawei, Haier, LeTV, and Meizu have followed suit. Most of them have already produced finished products, while some are still in the rumor stage. However, smart routing has become a battleground, and the concepts of "home network portal" and "smart home portal" have impressed too many manufacturers.

But in fact, smart routers are more like a "small door" to the home network, not an entrance, and more like a "remote control" integration for smart homes, which is not an entrance. Giants are chasing after smart routers, but smart routers can neither play the value of an entrance, nor have a clear monetization model for low-price momentum strategies, nor can they build a closed smart home industry chain. From this perspective, the market value is overestimated, and now is the time to pay attention to where the future lies.

Smart routing is not an entrance, it can only be considered a "small door" at best.

Smart routers are willing to call themselves "home network portals" because everyone understands the value of portals. BAT is one of the three major network portals, and the industry value is reflected in the market value. If smart routers can really become network portals, their future is immeasurable. However, can current smart routers really be considered home network portals?

If BAT is recognized as the three largest network entrances, then the operators are the gates that provide network connections. Operators are responsible for controlling whether there is network access. Once the gate is closed, the network entrance is closed. When the network gate is unblocked, the direction of traffic is not determined by the operators, but by network companies such as BAT. In more popular terms, operators are network gatekeepers, responsible only for controlling access, while BAT are network service providers, responsible for providing services.

From this perspective, it is more appropriate to regard the router as a "small door" sandwiched between operators and Internet companies such as BAT. The current router can determine the connectivity of the home network, but cannot determine the direction of traffic, so it only provides the function of a "small door". In the era of mobile Internet, smart routing is just a deluxe upgraded version of the home network "small door". It can only manage whether the network is unobstructed, but cannot provide network services. Therefore, it cannot be called an entrance for the time being.

If it can only be a "small door" to survive in the cracks, then the market value of smart routers needs to be re-evaluated. At present, although smart routers can provide very rich service functions, many of them also have independent mobile phone apps, but after connecting to the Internet, the mobile phone apps of smart routers cannot play the role of mobile phone network entrances at all, and PC network entrances are even worse.

Smart router and smart home remote control integration?

In fact, compared with being a network entrance, the smart home entrance has more room for imagination. Because smart routers are still in the exploratory stage, while smart homes are in the conceptual stage. The combination of "exploratory stage + conceptual stage" is so perfect that it is impossible to make an accurate market judgment, which provides ample market imagination space for smart routers.

From the current conception of smart home solutions, most of them are connected to the Internet in a wifi environment, and through the network interaction of smart routers, they can finally achieve the purpose of controlling various smart homes through mobile phones. For those old devices that cannot be connected to the Internet, a transitional solution is adopted to add sensors that can be connected to the Internet, smart sockets, or infrared functions to smart phones, so as to achieve the function of controlling the switches of home appliances. It is not difficult to see that smart routers are basically integrated central controls that help mobile phones become remote control functions. What is the value of the entrance?

Is it that each smart router has set a threshold, and only smart homes that meet the requirements of smart router manufacturers can access the network? In this way, smart home sales can be forcibly bound through smart routers. This is obviously unrealistic and impossible. Now is an era of openness. The closed system will not only not work, but will suppress the sales of manufacturers' router products. More realistically speaking, no one has this absolute dominance in the current domestic market.

In addition, the explosion period of the smart home market is still far away. The replacement frequency of large appliances is generally low. Although the replacement frequency of small appliances is higher than that of large appliances, the demand for smart appliances is not particularly strong. It will take some time for the smart home market to explode. Moreover, the so-called intelligence at present is purely "pseudo-intelligence". Using smart routers to turn mobile phones into universal remote controls, is this called intelligence? Iron Man's equipment is smart, right? The smart home market is not mature yet, and it is even more distant for smart routers to become the entrance to smart homes.

Don't treat the "small door" as a "door". If you go in the right direction, the security guard will have his day.

Instead of worrying about building an unattainable smart home entrance now, it is better to be practical and secure the status of the "small door" of the home network entrance. By controlling this small door, the right of access can be decided by the "doorman" at the door.

Judging from the current product features, smart router hardware itself is not the most valuable part of the market, and the APP installation brought by the hardware has inestimable potential value. Nowadays, smart routers have reached the level of fool-proof operation, and the experience of controlling routers through mobile phone APP has greatly improved the usability of smart router products.

Functions such as mobile phone control, remote download, wall penetration, and acceleration have improved the usability of smart router apps, at least ensuring that the smart router app will not be easily uninstalled, which gives smart routers the opportunity to control small doors. So the question is, where are the opportunities for smart routers?

Let me ask you a question first. When will you update the various apps on your phone? Most of the time, you will update them when you are at home in a wifi environment, right? It is an indisputable fact that few people use mobile data to update. Since the APP is updated in a wifi environment, and the wifi is provided by the router, the smart router APP can completely cut off the path of mobile distribution applications and take the role of mobile distribution itself. In this way, mobile distribution applications will have to shake, and the value of smart routers will naturally rise. It is worth noting that smart routers carry the mobile distribution function through APP, not through the hardware itself. From the perspective of the system stability of smart routers, the hardware itself is not suitable for providing distribution functions.

In addition to mobile distribution, mobile browsers are also a good direction. For the same reason, providing browser functions based on smart router APP is also a possible means to enhance the market value of smart routers. When users use the router APP, set a few news positions and make a few attractive headlines, which can bring a lot of traffic and gradually become a light browser, or guide the download of an independent browser. The most important thing is to activate the traffic and then monetize it.

To make money, make games. There is a lot of room for game distribution or self-development. If that doesn't work, you can be a game agent or joint venture. The value of the mobile game market is self-evident. Some heavy mobile games that consume a lot of traffic are "bed games" in a wifi environment, and they are highly dependent on network speed. With this selling point, smart routers can try to make some money in the mobile game market.

In addition, providing some surrounding yellow pages services is also a way to enhance the practical value of smart router APP. Smart routers still have a lot of room for expansion. The hardware itself is the basis for keeping the APP from being uninstalled. Under the opportunity that it will not be easily uninstalled, it should improve its own usability as much as possible. Whether it is mobile distribution, browsers, games or yellow pages, they are all ways to explore survival based on the smart router APP.

A good cook cannot cook without rice. Lack of operational capabilities and insufficient user volume are the biggest problems

The current dilemma is that most smart routers are from hardware manufacturers, and their operational capabilities in software, traffic, games, services, etc. are relatively poor. Without this capability, the above development directions can only be watched helplessly.

In addition, insufficient user base is also a key issue. For the smart router market with one device per family, the shipment volume cannot be compared with the smartphone market with one device per person. Moreover, the development time of smart routers is still short, and the accumulation of users is still very weak. If there is a lack of user base, there is no need to think about other things for the time being.

Judging from the above Internet gameplay, the smart router market is a competition of user volume. Whoever occupies the largest market share will occupy the most users, and with more users, other derivative development directions will follow. Xiaomi has laid the market foundation for MIUI through large-scale shipments, and smart routers follow a similar development routine. The next step is to compete with who has more shipments and who can win more user favor.

First, we should firmly occupy the "small door" of the network entrance and wait for the outbreak of the smart home era. Maybe the smart router will really come in handy at that time. In addition to the correct direction and position, it is also very important to get the timing right for the development of an enterprise.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.