Following the WeChat mini program, the Alipay mini program is also here!

At the WeChat open class held on December 28, Zhang Xiaolong, vice president of Tencent and the father of WeChat, announced that the WeChat applet is planned to be launched on January 9, 2017. The WeChat applet will be able to be up to 1MB (1024KB) in the future, and can be scanned through WeChat When launched using a QR code, WeChat will optimize the bottom layer of the application to ensure the smoothness of the mini program.

For Ali, who has always had a social dream, adding various social elements to the Alipay APP has always been the current core. Although a series of attempts have been made, since the "Pay Bustard" incident some time ago, We can see Alibaba’s social ambitions. After Tencent took action, Alipay was unwilling to lag behind others. Recently, many screenshots of Alipay’s mini program developer tool page have appeared on the Internet. Judging from the screenshots, Alipay’s new developer-oriented platform is also named “Mini Program”. This section belongs to the Ant Financial system and still uses traditional front-end development technology.

Alipay officially stated that they began to develop applications similar to mini programs in September last year, which was more than half a year later than when WeChat first proposed mini programs. Although it lags behind, the experience may not be worse than WeChat mini programs. Alibaba itself With Weex as the basis, Weex announced that it was open source in April 2016. In less than a year, the number of Github stars has exceeded 10,000. With slight modifications, it can be directly applied to the current "mini program" , the experience and completion should be much higher than the WeChat mini program. At the same time, Alipay can make better use of its accumulated third-party payment scenarios for frequently used services (such as KFC and McDonald's, hotel reservations, restaurant reservations, ordering and checkout, parking by appointment).

What do you think of Alipay’s launch of “小program”?

        Seeing this risky move, Alipay is about to take a successful step in building a closed business loop on WeChat. How can it not Create your own business closed loop?If you don’t do it, Alipay will die.Zhang Xiaolong has made it very clear that in the future, the entrance to these mini programs will not be on WeChat, WeChat will be" Tools" to decentralize. He believes that the real world is the entrance to small programs, such as the QR code for ticket booking advertisements in subway stations. Scan WeChat and a small program will appear to quickly realize what users want to do.What Zhang Xiaolong wants to build is an AR world. Alipay actually has such ambitions, and you can see some clues by scanning the VR of the latest Alipay client update.

                                                                            # Infinitely possible future. Only by combining the virtual and the real can we achieve long-term development. Alipay cannot but do it, must do it, and do it better to achieve its own closed loop. The name of the specific program is another matter, Now ’s Alipay can still take the initiative, but Weibo has completely collapsed on the sofa, Baidu has gone straight to artificial intelligence without looking back, and NetEase is still working hard to develop high-quality apps. , this is the pattern. This is awareness.

Some of the author’s views on WeChat and Alipay launching mini programs

                                                                                                                                                Alipay is still slightly better than WeChat in terms of payment. Alipay is still a bit better than WeChat, but Alipay is at the forefront of social networking, time and time again The failure of Ali still does not allow Ali to see clearly its trump card of payment. WeChat can do payment, and it can indeed take away a piece of Ali’s cake, but WeChat’s payment service is not on the first-level menu, and it cannot be placed At the first level, WeChat is a communication software after all. Even on a mobile phone, the default interface when opening WeChat is your message, and payment is not convenient and fast. However, Alipay itself is positioned as a payment tool. The very obvious payment QR code button on the first screen does not seem obtrusive to users. Similarly, after Alipay is launched on the watch, the payment QR code is directly displayed, which is very convenient. Moreover, Alipay allows users to define shortcut entrances, and the functions are clearer than WeChat. When combined with mini programs, users can naturally put more commonly used services that do not want to install separate apps on the home screen for quick startup. So in terms of practicality, I think Alipay will be stronger than WeChat. WeChat just brought a group of users simply by relying on the number and stickiness of users. Although it is currently impossible to abandon either WeChat or Alipay, Alipay still has great hope of making a comeback.                       From the product level, small programs are the work of the system and can easily become cannon fodder.

Whether it is a small program or a hot patch, the final reason is that the system is not good enough. It's great that application manufacturers are on the front line (especially large manufacturers) who discover and come up with solutions before the system does, but system manufacturers, no matter what the reason, must have some motivation after discovery, and things will always develop towards the better. The level of development is nothing more than the development of the system.

Of course, it is also possible that at the system level, the existing system has been abandoned and focused on higher-dimensional iterations (such as the future of AI/the future of the Internet of Things: Google Fuchsia, Android Things) , But in any case, the two small programs can only be regarded as a painful and helpless alternative to the Instant App that Google has not yet officially launched.