On humanistic care and self-righteous scientific and technological paradigm

On May 14, Shenzhen-based Zhiwo Technology announced that it would enter the smart home market with the brand "ZIVOO". In the eloquent speech of its CEO Zou Chao, it is easy to screen out the vague praise of its own brand in the speech, focusing on the brand positioning and product content, but surprisingly, there is very little praise. In fact, the reason for focusing on positioning and products is very simple. There are many big players in the smart home market. Each product seems mysterious, but in fact, it is highly homogenized. To be honest, I am not optimistic about this kind of "head-to-head" business war of fast-moving consumer goods with the same positioning. To put it bluntly, positioning is both strategy and product is both tactics. Strategy determines the foundation, and tactics determine success or failure. The question of "Where is Dad Going" must be clarified, otherwise you will fall into the pit after taking two steps.

At the press conference, CEO Zou's words "Use technology to make the relationship between family members closer" made me tremble all over and climax instantly. ZIVOO believes that a smart family must first have the charm of entertainment and sharing for the whole family, secondly, it needs to change the family lifestyle, and thirdly, the health of family members. In this way, there is a complete relationship change process of sharing → interaction → influence → change. At this time, the title of this extremely long-winded article suddenly came out in my mind, on humanistic care and self-righteous technology style, why do I say this? Let's listen to the analysis later; by the way, mentioning family and building family relationships, is it better to change Zhiwo Technology to "Zhi We" Technology?

Do you remember the war between PS2 and WII? PS2 has excellent graphics, many games, and exciting operation. It can be said to be the king of games in that era, but parents can't play it! When they see you, they will say that you are wasting your time! WII has average graphics, inaccurate body sensing, few games, and a lot of problems. It can be said to be a tasteless product of that era (compared to Sony), but parents can play it together! When they see you, they will praise you for being filial!

The purpose of giving this example is very clear, that is, I look down on those gamers, otakus, and hackers who immerse themselves in their own world all day long. The money you earn for fun comes from your family, but you keep it all to yourself. Do you feel ashamed?

As for ZIVOO's concept, it is like peeing on a bull ball, which gives me the feeling of first love. Looking at the entire market, whether it is a famous big name or a copycat brand, they are all deeply trapped in the quagmire of "technology", "function" and "configuration". It always feels that each company has a different name, and the things they make are only for the entertainment of electronic control and IT geeks and to satisfy their spiritual needs. Of course, it does not mean that the demand for pretending cannot create a big market. Isn't Apple the originator of something inside? But the problem is, is the focus of smart home smart or home, and where the pronunciation focus falls, this is a big problem. Do we really need a "smart water cup" to record how much water we drink? Do we really need a "smart treadmill" to record how many steps we run? Not necessarily. But when the whole family gets together, singing songs and playing games through the box, this is different. So I think that other people's homes are called smart homes, and ZIVOO's should be called home smart devices. To borrow a phrase from Lao Luo, what I have said above is that this me (the wise me) is a person with humanistic care.

Therefore, ZIVOO does not start from a single product, but directly targets the construction of family life, which is still very impressive. This is like a sudden group fight in a single challenge. You can deal with the technical geeks in the family, and ZIVOO can deal with the rest of the family. OK, three to one, buy ZIVOO. Now everyone is learning from Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs reinvented the mobile phone. Similarly, smart home should also reinvent the "home" to be the kingly way. Smart home that does not take home as the core is just a hooligan. However, although the direction is beautiful, the path is bound to be tortuous. Judging from the products released by ZIVOO, its construction of family relationships is still in the exploratory stage. Most of the applications currently connected to ZIVOO's "Smart Box" have been simplified and adapted in UI, and the focus is on the scene of "family members' joint entertainment", but whether it will be more popular with the elderly and children remains to be seen. In addition, the karaoke module has added functions such as rankings and private rooms, aiming at the goal of karaoke community, which is also consistent with the original intention of building a "smart home entertainment center". But the next soft construction of "family relationships" outside of products may be a big challenge for ZIVOO. It is undeniable that Xiaomi has been tit-for-tat on the mobile phone side, one geek and one humanities. But the operation of Xiaomi's group community (such as Mi Fans) is also commendable, which means that Lei Jun is not blind to the importance of interaction between people, but that this aspect is too difficult. ZIVOO still has a long way to go in the implementation of family relationships, especially how to include the middle-aged and elderly groups into its own ecosystem is worth careful consideration. In this regard, ZIVOO has made some attempts. ZIVOO's smart router is equipped with a 1TB large hard drive, the smart switch is used as a WiFi relay, and a family member account system is also set up. This NAS looks more beautiful than Xiaomi's.

Maybe ZIVOO can learn from its peers. I recently saw a popular social networking app for middle-aged and elderly people called "Friends and Family Circle". It also captures the social relationship chain in the family. It is said to be a bit like Tencent WeChat. Mr. Zou might as well pay a visit. In the last sentence, I hope there will be more companies with humanistic care, so that those of us who like to play and show off can have a better way to show off, instead of having to work hard to set up a mobile phone remote control curtain, and then show off to my mother, "First click this program, enter this menu, check this option, and then turn on the 802.11ac standard infrared controller on the table, and then click this button to open the curtains."

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.