In 1996, ICQ was launched in Israel and quickly led the global trend of IM software. In 1998, ICQ was acquired by AOL for hundreds of millions of dollars. The ICQ legend sparked a global craze in the IM market. Among the many imitators worldwide, one called OICQ was also born that year in China. Yes, OICQ was the precursor to QQ. Since Tencent began developing IM services ten years ago, there have been countless competitors in the Chinese market accompanying its growth.
We randomly list some of these competitors who still maintain a significant user base: Microsoft Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger, Windows Live Messenger; Yahoo! Messenger; Google Gtalk; Skype; Sina UC; NetEase Bubble; Baidu Hi; a group of thieves disguised as power repairmen stole hundreds of meters of neighborhood cables; Aliwangwang; Xiaonei Tong...
This list seems like a roster of leaders in the Chinese internet market? Oh, not entirely, Sogou is missing?
Yes, Sogou developed Sogou Little Notes, hiding potential threats, which is also a form of IM. Perhaps one day it will get an IM-sounding name...
What, the richest and most powerful players in the IT field are now telecom companies?
Yes, China Mobile has developed Feixin; China Telecom partnered with Microsoft for Tianyi Live; China Unicom is sharpening its knives, preparing new IM services.
Do you feel anyone else is missing? Enough, if you were Pony Ma, so many competitors would already be tiring enough. You wouldn't want PetroChina or the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to also develop IM services, would you?
A seemingly long list, but most of these competitors have more money, technology, and resources than Tencent. Yet combined, their share of the IM market doesn't even reach half of QQ's.
Over the past decade, QQ has grown amidst scares. Even now, any one of its competitors going all out to fight a life-or-death battle with QQ would be quite intimidating.
Ten years later, QQ seems not only less scared, but often scares others: QQ.COM, QQ Zone, competing against Sina, Sohu, NetEase, Baidu, Xiaonei, Microsoft, Facebook; QQ Input Method and Browser, competing against Microsoft, Google, Sohu; QQ Paipai and Tenpay, competing against Alibaba's Taobao and Alipay; QQ Games, competing against Shanda, NetEase, The9... QQ Mail, competing against Microsoft, Google, Yahoo!, Sina, Sohu, NetEase, TOM... QQ Xunfeng, QQ Yinying, QQ Music, QQ Live entertainment team, competing against Xunlei, FlashGet, Kugoo, Storm Player, PPLive, Qianqian... QQ Wireless, Super QQ, Mobile QQ, WAP QQ, QQ mobile value-added service users, sufficient to negotiate conditions with any telecom operator.
Perhaps, we should also consider QQ Security Doctor quietly cultivating user habits on users' desktops. Eventually, it will face off against 360 Safeguard, Rising Antivirus, Jiangmin Antivirus, Kingsoft Antivirus, Kaspersky...
Perhaps, we should also consider Soso, still in its infancy, despite currently using Google's technology. Its own blog search has quietly begun leveraging QQ Space search advantages...
To end this article with a question-and-answer style provocation: If you were one of the above competitors, or planning to become a competitor to QQ, how would you compete against QQ?
Or, put another way, is your goal to become a competitor to QQ, or to make QQ a competitor to you?
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Appendix:
1. Related resource links
QQ Official Website
QQ Instant Messaging Software Latest Version Official Download Address
2. More similar software
Windows Live Messenger
Sina UC
ICQ 6.5 Chinese Edition