WeChat mini program wants to connect everything

Ma Huateng proposed at the "World Internet Conference" that Tencent should "connect everything" and become an Internet connector. There is no doubt that the responsibility of connecting everything falls on WeChat. Why connect everything? Connect people and people, connect people and services, connect people and businesses, connect people and objects, but the objects are still not connected, what should I do? WeChat mini programs may be able to solve this problem.

The first version of WeChat has realized the connection between people. Currently, WeChat has more than 800 million daily active users. Almost every Chinese with a mobile phone has been connected by WeChat.

The connection between people and services is basically connected through service accounts and WeChat’s built-in services. The services mentioned here include content. We can complete reading, shopping, entertainment, etc. in WeChat.

The connection between people and businesses is based on services on one level and payment methods on the other. From this perspective, WeChat has also connected businesses.

However, the item is still not connected.

A table, a pen, an air conditioner, a bus, a dog... none of them are connected to people through WeChat.

The ambition of WeChat and Tencent is to connect everything, but there are still many items in the world that are not electronic. Not being electronic means that they cannot be connected.

what to do?

In the past few years, we have seen the emergence of many "smart devices". Many startups have forced chips into real-world items such as watches, air conditioners, bicycles, water cups, desk lamps, etc., and then communicated with them through mobile phone apps. These items create connections.

It seems that this is a good way to connect people and objects. However, it is impossible for us to put a chip in all real-world objects. So, how should these objects be connected?

One idea that is easy to think of is to use image recognition and AR technology to identify objects in the real world one by one through cameras, just like the following "sci-fi" picture:


However, if you have played the AR red envelope recently launched by Alipay, you will find that computers are far from being able to accurately identify objects in the physical world. Changing the angle and changing the light will cause recognition errors, and we cannot Take the time to let the machine scan all items 360°.

So, under the current technical conditions, what might be the "compromise" solution to connect people and objects?

QR code


Imagine a table, a pen, an air conditioner, a bus, a dog... there is a QR code on it. By scanning the code, we can access the corresponding services. For example, the QR code on the table tells you the place of origin of the table, the QR code on the bus tells you when the next bus will arrive so you don’t have to rush to get on, and the QR code on the dog records The memories between you and it...

It seems that through a simple black and white QR code, we can easily "pull" items from the real world into the electronic world. QR codes become a hyperlink between the real world and the electronic world.

You may ask, isn’t AR a better solution? The QR code is so ugly. However, as I just said, image recognition technology is not mature yet; wouldn’t using NFC chips be a better solution? Wouldn’t it be more convenient to attach an NFC chip to every item? Besides, the cost of NFC is so low. However, the cost of QR codes is lower, and not every mobile phone can recognize NFC, but maybe every mobile phone in China has a program that can recognize QR codes - whether it is WeChat or Alipay.

So QR code has become the most likely "technical" means to connect people and objects under the current technical conditions. Behind the QR code, it can be information or services. WeChat hopes to use mini programs to carry these information and services.

From a certain perspective, mini programs are WeChat’s experimental field for trying to connect to the physical world through QR codes.

This can explain why the two examples Zhang Xiaolong gave are both offline scenes.

In fact, this bias can also be seen from the functional limitations of the mini program.

For more WeChat applets, if you want to connect to all related articles, please pay attention to the PHP Chinese website!