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Chapter 1103: Chapter 963 "WeChat" Project Initiation
Tang Qing entered the classroom.
Since he arrived too early,
there was no one else inside.
He sat in his designated seat at the back row, and bored, he took out his mobile phone.
He started watching a video, a BBC documentary about the flora and fauna of African jungles, which had such superb picture quality that it was commendable. It must be said that this professional spirit is the real attitude towards accomplishing tasks.
Now, Tang Qing had a wide range of interests.
As long as it wasn’t too boring, he could get into it.
Speaking of documentaries,
Tang Qing remembered a project Comet Films had initiated about the inheritance of traditional Chinese crafts, which was expected to go online next month with its first part; it was a ten-episode documentary series about the inheritance and factions of Chinese painting.
It wasn’t premiered in cinemas but on the Comet Video website.
Originally,
Tang Qing wanted to initiate a movie project to showcase Chinese culture to the world, but the duration of a movie really couldn’t cover too much content, so he decided to start with a documentary.
The movie project was temporarily shelved.
Tang Qing heard that the TV premiere of this documentary had already been bought by CCTV, and the cost hadn’t been recouped yet, but Tang Qing didn’t care—how much money could a documentary expect to make?
Enriching Comet Video’s copyright library was a good move, and this type of self-produced video significantly benefited the reputation of the video website.
By now,
Comet Video’s self-produced dramas already had a large number of loyal viewers.
Finance, entertainment, sports, variety, education, comedy... Comet Video had a self-produced program in almost every category, with professional hosts and professional studios.
These were powerful tools for enriching the content of the website.
Plus, with plentiful content, some were weekly, and some were daily. Novel viewpoints, unique perspectives, and many significant speeches by prominent figures had won unanimous praise from the audience.
It also introduced a large number of third-party original video service providers.
Comet Video
had already become the preferred choice for watching videos nowadays.
It had completely secured its position as the top video platform.
Even though Tencent Video was now imitating and learning in large amounts, it still couldn’t compare. With such exemplary precedents, Tencent Video would find it challenging to catch up, especially since Tencent Video was also engaging in differentiated competition recently.
Facing off against Comet Video directly.
They thought it wasn’t wise; after all, with Penguin’s vast scale, their related enterprises were almost invincible - having users meant having advertisements; after all, they couldn’t lose.
Previously,
Tang Qing had his uncle set up an investment company.
He also suggested investing in emerging industries like the internet, and what surprised Tang Qing was that his uncle had invested in BAT, spending over twenty billion, although he controlled only a minor share, it still counted as a significant personal shareholding.
At this moment, Tang Qing was considering a matter.
That was,
whether to launch WeChat ahead of time.
WeChat.
The technological architecture was very simple.
Really simple, and extremely easy to imitate. Functionally, WeChat and Penguin were vastly different; the inertia of usage compliance was minimal, and in positioning, WeChat and Penguin were entirely different things.
At that time,
he could completely "copy" it.
The name definitely wouldn’t be WeChat, it would need a change, and in terms of user volume, with Comet Video’s millions of user data and Sky Eye’s user base, it could gain tens of millions of users upon release.
This is still now.
If it were to wait two years,
this number could possibly exceed thirty million.
Hmm.
This is worth pursuing.
Saying this,
Tang Qing recorded it on his work pad and planned to discuss it with his team that evening; Tang Qing didn’t intend to entrust the development of WeChat to his mobile company’s team to avoid leaks.
And in terms of software implementation capabilities,
his team was simply astonishingly strong, or... on Xiao Xiao’s mobile version, they could already start adding some "front-end functionality". Yes, Tang Qing recorded this again, and he would have his team expedite the development upon his return.
They could start by adding some basic life services, but it couldn’t be messy, just some simple life services like renting and second-hand items - Tang Qing didn’t plan to include those at all.
It couldn’t affect Xiao Xiao’s positioning – Xiao Xiao’s positioning would always be business management.
While thinking.
A voice snapped Tang Qing back to reality.
"Tang Qing!"
Very familiar.
He immediately recognized it. It was the counselor—Jing Xiang.
He looked up.
And saw Jing Xiang, dressed in a school teacher’s uniform, walk in holding a stack of papers he didn’t recognize; different from before, Jing Xiang was also wearing glasses today.
Had Jing Xiang become nearsighted over the summer vacation?
"Teacher," Tang Qing greeted with a smile.
"You’re really early."
Jing Xiang said as she placed the items in her hand on the podium and then walked over to Tang Qing, examining him closely. She noticed that over the summer vacation, Tang Qing’s aura had changed.
"I just got here too, teacher. I thought you didn’t have nearsightedness." Tang Qing was so scrutinized that he almost took out a mirror to check if there was something on his face, but his nerve telekinesis scanned and found nothing.
"I was nearsighted before, but only a little over a hundred degrees, so I didn’t pay much attention. This summer vacation I watched dozens of TV series, and it felt like my eyes weren’t working well, so I got glasses, over two hundred degrees now," Jing Xiang explained.
"..." Tang Qing was speechless.
That reason.
Seriously awesome.
Watching TV over the summer increased nearsightedness by a hundred degrees, what a move... Did you stick your eyes to the TV screen? He hadn’t expected Jing Xiang to be such a homebody; didn’t she have anything else to do over the summer vacation?
"Don’t get it wrong, you think I wanted to watch? I’m working on a doctoral degree part-time. This is for a paper I’m preparing to write, it’s killing me. They say there’s no master’s that doesn’t get extended, no PhD that finishes on time. I have to hurry."
Jing Xiang was amused by Tang Qing’s expression and quickly explained.
"I see."
Tang Qing understood.
PhD.
Hard to get in, hard to get out.
Inexpensive labor for the mentor, rarely graduating within the academic schedule; extending a year or two is the norm. Of course, this also depends on the field—if the mentor has no topics or projects and doesn’t need people, it’s still manageable.
"Where did you go for fun during the summer vacation?" Jing Xiang asked curiously.
"Sanya," Tang Qing answered truthfully.
"Is it fun there?" Jing Xiang asked further, she had never been to Sanya but had always wanted to go.
"It depends on how you see it. If you keep an open mind and don’t set your expectations too high, it’s alright; blue seas, blue skies, beach volleyball. But it’s quite commercialized, I think it’s fine just for a novelty," Tang Qing shared his opinion.
"How long did you stay?"
"A little over a month."
"You stayed that long and it wasn’t fun?"
"I only said the commercial area wasn’t much fun, not the private areas. Next summer vacation, if there’s a chance, I’ll invite you to our villa to hang out," Tang Qing said.
"Villa? Is there a beach?"
"Yes."
"Is there a swimming pool?"
"Yes."
"Is there... a yacht?"
"Yes."
"Alright, it’s settled then."
"..."
Strictly speaking.
Jing Xiang’s social experience wasn’t much more extensive than someone who had just graduated from university. Once familiar, she could be a bit juvenile, but she wasn’t malicious. Tang Qing was still judicious about that.
As they chatted.
Students gradually arrived.
Jing Xiang returned to the podium.
Meeting.
Distribution of books.
At noon, Tang Qing invited Zhong Liang and Lin Jiaxue’s roommates for a meal, and in the afternoon, he returned to the villa. By then, Ayman had already landed and was on his way to the villa.
The construction of the oilfield in Algeria was nearing its end.
Mining could have started earlier, but building the transport road deep in the desert was a slow process. Thus, it had always been the case of oil waiting for the road. Now, with the road almost through, it indicated that the oilfield project could finally turn a profit.
Ayman came over happily to bring the good news to Tang Qing.
While mooching a meal,
He also discussed some new business opportunities.
