Hunting Cloud Interview: The Story Behind the Founding Team of 199 Yuan Xiaomi VR

文| 猎云网(ilieyun)赵子潇

On October 25, Xiaomi brought the rumored Xiaomi Note2. What is even more surprising is that the official version of the concept phone MIX and Xiaomi VR, which have never been exposed before, also appeared in Lei Jun. Compared with the mobile phone, this head-mounted release means that Xiaomi officially entered the VR field and surpassed the previous toy version in all aspects.

This strategy is somewhat similar to Google's Cardboard and Daydream View, but the toy and official versions of Xiaomi VR are built for different teams. The official version was completed by the Xiaomi Exploration Lab and a Xiaomi ecological chain enterprise, Moxiang Technology. Hunting Cloud Network (WeChat: ilieyun) also contacted Li Shuxin, founder of Moxiang Technology, to learn about the ideas of entrepreneurship and the details of the products.

Hunting Cloud has reported on Moxiang Technology. Industrial and commercial information shows that on July 29 this year, Moxiang Technology won the investment of Jingdong, and the registered capital was changed from RMB 1 million to RMB 1,052,600. Xiaomi and Jingdong both invested, and Moxiang Technology came to the fore.

As Lei Jun said at the press conference, the official version of Xiaomi VR currently only supports four mobile phones: Xiaomi 5, Xiaomi 5S, Xiaomi 5S Plus, and Xiaomi Note2. In this regard, Li Shuxin's explanation is that the current stage of VR is most needed to ensure a good experience, the hardware standards of these four mobile phones and the transformation of the ROM can reach the standard.

The official version of Xiaomi VR is made of plastic. In the position of contact with the face, Moxiang Technology uses the island velvet material. In the introduction of Baidu Encyclopedia, the breathability and strength of this material are better than the general fabric, and the price is relative. Higher. In terms of wearing style, the official version of Xiaomi VR does not use the three straps of Gear VR, but adopts an integrated design that can adjust the length of the head. The weight is evenly distributed without messing up the hair.

Li Shuxin said that there are still many designs that Xiaomi VR values ​​user experience, such as interaction. The touch interactive experience of Gear VR has been criticized, and using the handle may be the safest method at present. The official version of the millet VR handle is equipped with a 9-axis somatosensory handle, which coincides with the idea of ​​a daydream. Li Shuxin told Hunting.com that the handle design is completely independent and has nothing to do with daydream.

It is necessary to explain that, like the toy version, there is also a button on the official version of Xiaomi VR, which is easy to control when watching video. The handle is more used in the game.

The button is at the top right of the head

Compared with other VR hardware companies, mobile phone manufacturers' VR heads have a natural advantage. Moxiang Technology stands at a relatively high starting point, so the linkage with mobile phones is greatly enhanced. In the official version of Xiaomi VR, through the optimization of MIUI VR system, all notifications can be displayed in VR. Users can see the content of WeChat information, caller and number, to judge whether it is necessary to reply.

However, this product will officially start beta testing on the 8th of this month. Until then, MIUI VR has been debugging, and Hunting.com can't give a direct feeling. According to the time schedule of product release, pre-sales and other activities will be carried out immediately after the public beta, and the problem of delivery in December is not big. The toy version has a performance of 400,000 units in two months. The price of 199 yuan seems to not need to worry about sales, not to mention the blessing of the investor Jingdong.

Li Shuxin was the director of Tencent's Intelligent Equipment Innovation Center. He started his business in April this year and released the first product in half a year. He revealed to Hunting.com that the follow-up products are also in secret. The following is an excerpt from the dialogue between Hunting Cloud and Li Shuxin.

Hunting Cloud: Why do you think of entrepreneurship?

Li Shuxin: This time is a good time to start a business. 16 years is the VR first year. It is true that the most critical nodes of this year have emerged, especially the support of Windows, which means the beginning of the new application ecology. This situation is very similar to when the smartphone broke out that year. 06 is very similar to the present. At that time, there were already a large number of mobile phones called smartphones, such as Nokia, Moto, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, etc., which basically had the prototype of the current smart machine. But in reality they don't have a unified ecology, they are very divided. The current hardware foundation, the state of the industry is very similar to that at the time. Looking back, it was the eve of the outbreak of smartphones.

I am not only optimistic about VR, but I like it very much. I think this thing is particularly interesting and it is something worth doing. Entrepreneurship and doing it in a company are actually a little different. In Tencent, it is also considered to be an internal venture. It has complete independent autonomy and decides what products to do. But there is a difference. Entrepreneurship can find many investors, agree with your views, values, and understanding of products, but not in the company. For entrepreneurship, the most meaningful thing will be done.

Hunting Cloud: What is the reason for getting Xiaomi and Jingdong Investment?

Li Shuxin: Actually, we are a joint venture with Xiaomi. For me, the current mobile VR must have a mobile phone brand support, PC and host is now just a niche market. We value the product to meet the needs of most people, mobile VR most in line with this property, but also must have mobile phone manufacturers to cooperate. Now all mobile VR products are only qualified for Gear VR. The reason is that it can be optimized in mobile phones. I want to do VR products with mobile phone manufacturers. For Xiaomi, they also need someone who is familiar with the VR field and has a good understanding of the industry to do these things. It should be hooked up with each other.

Jingdong is our first strategic investor. JD is the second largest e-commerce company and a very important channel; on the other hand, we see JD's opportunities in the VR application field. In terms of VR shopping, Buy+ has already been launched, and Jingdong will definitely follow up. In September, Jingdong also released the exploration of VR. For shopping, VR is not necessarily a complete replacement, but it has strong advantages in some areas. For example, some high-value products require a deeper experience. On the business model, there is good potential for future VR-embedded ads.

Hunting Cloud: I heard that the official version of the millet handle and the Daydream View handle design crash?

Li Shuxin: We have determined the shape of the handle from the beginning, before Daydream. When Daydream came out, we were still depressed for a while. When this thing came out, it was definitely said that it was copied, but we did not know Daydream at first. However, on the other hand, this may be the most reasonable design at present, and everyone will come to a very close approach.

Left: Xiaomi VR handle; right: Daydream View handle

The interaction of the handle means that in the official version of Xiaomi VR, all operations can be completed in the head display, forming a completely immersive closed loop. This is the result of optimization at the bottom of the mobile phone. After continuous optimization of each link, the delay rate can reach 16-18ms.

These products play a role in the education market and are also engines of content. If you use the head to aim for three seconds on the Cardboard, there is nothing you can do.

Hunting Cloud: What is the company's long-term and short-term planning?

Li Shuxin: We are positioning ourselves as a technology company of MR, which is more future-oriented and technology will be explored in this direction. At the beginning, it is still about VR to bring you experience and bring value to the content.

Our team is close to 40 people, all of whom are graduates from prestigious universities, with master's degree or above, including returnees and doctors. And the technology is very comprehensive, with more than 20 job types. In the short term, the follow-up projects are already rolling, and new products will be released in a month or two.

Hunting Cloud: Will it break away from Xiaomi and build its own brand?

Li Shuxin: At this stage, we are mainly based on Xiaomi, because this is itself strongly bound to the mobile phone. Moxiang Technology itself is a technology platform, technology and services are not consumer images. In the future, there will be a different way to cooperate with the industry, not necessarily the consumer brand, but also how the technology is converted into products for customers.

Hunting Cloud: Is there a plan for financing behind?

Li Shuxin: With the needs of business development, if you quickly iterate the product or have new opportunities, there will be financing needs, depending on the development of the product.

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