China's domestic Internet video market will be dominated by a matrix of large portals, professional video websites, and specialized industry service suppliers. Offering TV channels, entertainment and sports videos, and vblogs, Sohu.com has created a complete and powerful video platform and has taken a leading role in competing for copyrighted video resources. And in video technology, Sohu.com has unceasingly pursued broadband cost savings through P2P.
Concerning the move from a public to a personalized Internet, we have already seen how blogs came into being and developed into a powerful force. Through versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, blogs have grown from an individual online platform to a colorful personal e-space. Moreover, new Internet content products such as "human flesh searches" (an online hunt for people) and network comments have matured. They have become more than ways to express networked violence; on the contrary, they are inspiring orderly and rational participation in matters of public concern, such as online family searches during the Wenchuan earthquake.
During that natural disaster, Sohu.com took an active role. Our coverage of those historic events put individuals in the spotlight and placed them at center stage. Our stories recorded vivid images of ordinary people: their shouts, their tears, their devotion and love. Later, during the Beijing Olympics, Sohu.com compiled a new blog collection with the theme "I am writing history right now."
A personalized Internet is not meant to isolate people, but to develop humanity's collective Intelligence. I said in 2005, "the Internet is like the central nervous system of 6 billion people; it can create a collective human reaction. Ideas flow onto the web, into its boiling mind, and eventually take shape as an ideology, a concept or a trend."
The recent progress of the Internet has pumped new life into moribund artificial intelligence technologies, which had been stalled for decades. Through the Internet, the ideas of many individuals can be amplified and taken to new levels using the model of "One World, One Brain". The Sogou Pinyin Input Method is just one successful example of the use of this model. Sohu.com members can be especially proud of it, since using it we created the first ever patent in the history of Chinese Internet portals: "the new word pick-up system". We are grateful for the wisdom contributed by tens of millions of Internet users to this success.
From fixed time and place to anytime and anywhere. We call this “wireless and multiterminal technology,” which makes the integration of mobile technology with the Internet and ubiquitous computing a reality. I'd like to take the iPhone as an example. The iPhone reshaped the traditional concept of smart phones with Internet access. It provided a staggering user experience. People in future will have a whole new feeling for touch technology. And significantly, after the SDK (software development kit) was released, iPhone concluded a software sales agreement with APPStore.
I just mentioned advanced techniques such as SaaS and SaaP, from the perspective of which we can view a website no longer as a traditional "site", but as a service or a platform. SaaS/SaaP (Software as a Service/Software as a Product) has taken the integration of mobile technology with the Internet to a higher level. Already we can see iPhone applications on almost all of the world's newest and most popular websites, including the integrated services of websites like Facebook and Twitter.
The integration of mobile technology with the Internet is a fruitful direction. Mobile technology popularizes the use of the Internet while the Internet adds more value to mobile technology. The Sohu.com Wireless Department, as a wap portal, has been making great efforts in this field. During the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Sohu.com developed a new application system for the Nokia N95 to allow mobile users to shoot, save and upload photos. We called it the Sohu reporter system.
One more change is worth noticing. The Internet is now considered to be business-oriented rather than just for entertainment. With the rapid development of e-commerce, particularly online shopping, the Internet is becoming an important tool in the wider field of the national economy. On the one hand, the Internet can optimize patterns of consumption and promote a change in the economic development model; on the other hand, commercialization may strain the credibility of the web. Later, Mr. Ma Yun from alibaba.com will give us a presentation on this subject.
Another significant trend is that the structure of the Internet industry is changing from a vertical to a horizontal model. It took the PC manufacturing industry around eight years to complete this transformation. The Internet industry might do it by 2012 if the Tencent listing is considered as a milestone. In order to promote this transformation, "dancing with the Internet" and an open mind are basic requirements. I want to once more take the Sogou Pinyin Input Method as an example. It has the "openness" of a search engine. Each new website, online game or forum can make new demands on the input method. In this sense, it can "dance with Internet", but it's not really a search engine. If Sogou can successfully research, develop and promote more such open applications, it will be an opportunity for Sohu.com to breakthrough and create a new framework for the industry.
The world is changing dramatically. The US financial crisis is a turning point; the global financial order, or even the global order, is facing reconstruction and adjustment. A recent report on the technology trends from Morgan Stanley ends with "Recession — Uncharted Territory in the Modern Era", which sums up its cautious, even pessimistic attitude towards the future.
This might turn out to be the worst period, but it might also turn out to be the most promising. In the face of challenges, Sohu.com is inspired by its "young and vigorous power". I prefer to look at today's situation as a historical opportunity for 10-year-old Sohu.com, for the 15-year-old Chinese Internet industry, and for China, 30 years after it began to reform and open up.
Ten years ago, I firmly believed that the Internet, as the decisive force in the "Digital Revolution", would ignite a "Digital Renaissance" in China. Today, I feel privileged to lead Sohu.com in exploring new frontiers, together with other Chinese partners, in an open, free, inclusive and enterprising way.
The Chinese Internet industry has a bright future!
Thank you!
(China.org.cn November 7, 2008)