216 Recent News (1/2)

Chapter 216: Recent News

Translator: _Min_Editor: Nou

Unlike the tense situation in the apocalypse, the development in the modern world had been smooth and steady. For newly emerging technology companies like Future Technology, the government had been supportive as they have given the green light to Jiang Chen in most areas of development.

Of course, the reason why the local government took a such a stance was obviously due to the hundred million in tax amount Future Technology paid each month.

Who wouldn't mind putting a money printer in their home? It was a political achievement. And Future Technology had only been formed how long ago? If it continues to grow, there will be a possibility that an internet giant, like Penguin, would form during their tenure.

On the other hand, because of the continuous growth of Future 1.0's user base, the domestic users had broken the 200 million mark, and the multi-language international users had broken the 400 million mark.

The rise of Future 1.0 drew in the attention of business elites from all industries who had an acute sense for the smell of cash, and all kinds of proposals for partnership came forth like snowflakes. Because of this, Xia Shiyu had been busy all over the place since the president of the company would always disappear...

Even people outside of the industry knew that in the internet age, traffic is king. This could be seen through ridesharing, take out, or other businesses using the O2O(1) model. Companies were willing to invest heavily in marketing just to draw in traffic.

But there was no need for Future 1.0 to spend that much since it was at the forefront of the artificial intelligence and performance enhancement industries. There were no competitors right now that could compete with Future Technology, so there was only one choice.

Because of their monopoly in performance enhancement, after operating for free for two months, Future Technology ”shamelessly” changed the service to a paid subscription model. New users would receive two months of free trial, but on the third month, if they wanted to continue enjoying the service, they must spend 10 RMB to upgrade to VIP1.

To put it in simple terms, if you wanted to enjoy the speed of a 2000 smartphone with a 1000 smartphone, then you better pay the 10 RMB subscription fee.

Would people pay for performance enhancement? The answer was, ”Certainly”.

Think of all the games and apps that are originally unable to run on your phone. Due to the performance enhancement service of the Future 1.0, your phone would no longer become a scorching brick when you play games, and neither would you have to worry about your battery life when you watch a movie. Would you be able to go back to that kind of phone experience?

A fee of 10 RMB per month was much cheaper than getting a new phone.

Of course, when the subscription service was introduced, the forums were filled with negative opinions. The users that hadn't paid for VIP voiced out that it was fraud—they didn't know there would be a fee when they downloaded. Some people even stated that if it changed to a paid service, they will delete Little White.

But that was only a small amount of people trying to shift the publics' opinion. Although there were a lot of users expressing their dissatisfaction, those came from a few IPs only. Even if they use their butts to think(2), it was obvious that they must be an internet army hired to shift the public's opinion.

A lot of paid users who upgraded to VIP1 stood on Future Technology's side:

”Is 10 RMB a lot? It's not even the price of a meal.”

”Service is not an obligation, why complain so much? Delete it if you want to, don't drag down the average user's intelligence.”

The users who haven't paid held an indifferent opinion. As long as the service was worth the price, they didn't mind spending the money. If they could afford a phone, why would they care about 10 RMB?

Would the people who were causing a fuss really delete Future 1.0?

The VIP1 domestic users who upgraded that month surpassed the 200 million mark, and the insanely high percentage of paid users destroyed the QQ membership service.

The market had given its answer.

As for the international market, it went relatively smooth. Since they were already used to paying for apps, and because no cracked version existed, most of the users accepted the fee of 2 USD a month.

Just one membership service in the app brought billions of revenue to Future Technology.

The insane ability to rake in money stunned Wall Street, leaving the venture capitalists who were unable to get a cut of this piece of pie in despair... all this despite Jiang Chen never mentioning that he would take in venture capitalists.

It was an honor. Jiang Chen became the first man to be in the headlines for Wall Street Journal twice in just half a year — a man from Hua, nonetheless.

On the other hand, although the performance of <New Era> paled in comparison to the stunning performance of Future 1.0, it was still able to achieve jaw-dropping results.