Wall Street Legend

Chapter 163 Public Beta (34)

Beta version means test version.

Ye Dongqing spent more than 20 million US dollars to acquire the Skype technology and patents from the Estonians. When he got it, it was nearly completed, but it was not yet stable. When he was actually testing it in Rome, some calls were unstable. question.

After a group of Facebook employees worked overtime day and night to make optimizations and improvements, it seemed that it was ready to enter the public testing stage. According to Ye Dongqing's idea, users only need to enter the corresponding Facebook account to call someone who has also opened a Skype account. Other users can use this to bundle it with Facebook and easily introduce Facebook users to Skype, avoiding secondary promotion and wasted money.

This is just the initial version right now. In the future, real-time text chat and video calling functions can also be added, turning Skype into a subsidiary independent of Facebook. Even if you don’t use Facebook, you can use it as an independent communication tool. Promote the platform.

He asked Mr. Alfred: "Is it open for download now? I can't seem to use it yet. The page doesn't respond after clicking."

"No, I need to ask for your permission first. I have specially hired a few young people to redesign the company's official website. It looks much neater than before, right?

If you agree to open testing, I can get people started on it now. The ads have been designed, and the promotion slogan is the one on the download page: a free calling program that will drive communication operators crazy. "

"It's quite bright, but I will definitely be targeted by those operators, but no matter what, those people make money without taking my points. Let's open it for testing and see how many users can be attracted to use it. Find more Ask people to improve it, and it would be great if it could be launched where several people can talk at the same time.”

Now that Skype is in hand, it will develop into online video calls. It is certain that it will offend a bunch of communication operators, but it is not a big problem.

Compared with this group of people, Ye Dongqing should be more worried about pressure from other parties. Recently, he has turned down too many requests to buy shares in Facebook. There is no guarantee that someone will not force him to give up part of his interests through underhanded tactics. Money can make people crazy.

This aspect deserves attention, but it is not a big deal. Every time, potential investors are told that they have no financing plans for the time being, and they do not say anything to death, giving them a little hope.

For example, the investment banks that hope to be listed on behalf of the company, such as Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, etc., all have contacts with Ye Dongqing. If it doesn't work, they can make some profits and ask them for help. There are many institutions that are optimistic about Facebook's potential. Whoever is arrogant enough to think that he can cover the sky with one hand will only push Ye Dongqing into the arms of others.

It sounds ambiguous, but that's what it means. At the moment, he just needs to increase his exposure and let more people know about himself. If he is pressed, he can learn from a certain real estate tycoon and use social platforms to expose shady stories. Under the pressure of public opinion, Ye Dongqing could do such a thing.

Mr. Alfred replied: "The technology for multi-person calls is not difficult. We will add it in the next update. Are you sure we will launch it today? I cannot guarantee that it will be able to support so many users at the same time. There is a big problem." There is a probability that the server will be paralyzed."

"Then open it to some users first. How to do it safely? Don't there still be funds in the account? There is no need to save money that should be spent. User experience is the most important."

Ye Dongqing opened the drawer and took out a cigar. He couldn't say he was nervous. After all, there were no competitors on the market yet. It was more like celebrating in advance. According to previous ideas, new Skype users would get one hundred hours of free calling time. , then you need to recharge.

The call fee is about one-third of the normal call fee, and he is still a little worried. In his previous life, the Skype call fee was almost one-tenth. He feels that it will not be too late to lower the price until competitors appear. He will have more advantages in international long-distance business, and the world All the same price.

While talking on the phone with Mr. Alfred, my mind has already gone to other places. Unlike Facebook, Skype is more like a troublemaker in Ye Dongqing's eyes. The kind that can easily get into trouble. It is certain that it will cause resistance, but still I don’t know how strong the resistance of those telecom operators will be. It’s hard to guess just by guessing. We’ll know after Skype spreads...

About half an hour later, many users of the English version of Facebook received an official push message.

Someone was using Facebook, and they clicked in out of curiosity to check out this new beta program called Skype. They thought Facebook was cool, so of course they thought the new product would be cool too.

Richard Rockefeller was one of them. He had just picked up a girl from Brown University at a party and was chatting on the phone with her. The phone was already hot. This did not prevent Richard from using Facebook to communicate with other people. A girl interacted under the photo.

In terms of the degree of chaos in his life style, Ye Dongqing is nothing compared to him.

At this moment, when he received the official push message, Richard clicked the mouse to check it out. After seeing the concise and clear product introductions, he couldn't help but find it interesting, so he downloaded it and told the female student on the other end of the phone about it.

In 2003, the network transmission speed was already pretty good. I quickly confirmed that the installation was complete. I entered my FB account and password according to the instructions, agreed to open Skype, and allowed some friends to view the numbers randomly assigned by Skype. The communication list inside was empty, and nothing had been added. people.

When he returned to Facebook, Richard found a green "SK" sign under his FB account, indicating that he was online.

He found it even more interesting and urged the female student to also register. While dialing on the phone, he also used Skype on the computer to make the call. He quickly plugged in the headphones. After hanging up the phone, Richard said: "Wow, you can hear Shall I speak? I’m calling you on this Skype, are you there?”

"I can hear, I'm sorry, my roommate just came back and I'm chatting with you on the balcony now. This app is so cool! When I finish the small tasks, I can get a total of 150 hours of free talk time. If My friends also use it, so I can save a lot of money on phone bills in the future, and you can use it as long as you have an Internet connection!”

Richard Rockefeller thought more. He sensed a strong business opportunity and said with a smile: "The boss of Facebook is a cool Chinese and very smart. I am not surprised at all that he can come up with such a good program. My only regret is It can only be used on a computer.

When the number of users increases, those communication operators will definitely be furious. They will spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build communication infrastructure. They originally planned to make money through phone bills, but they did not expect that they would benefit others and might get into lawsuits... …”