Walking in Netflix's new office building, it is not difficult for Ronan to find that the office environment is much better than before, which also proves that the only way to improve the office environment is to spend money.

In the open-plan office area, dozens of employees in the technical department are busy.

The new office environment, coupled with the energetic staff, has a thriving atmosphere.

Eric Meyer, Netflix's vice president and director of technology, was by Ronan's side and said, "All the new content on the site was designed by them. ”

Ronan had already experienced it for himself and said, "It's good, it's better than I expected." ”

Eric Meyer said with a smile: "The main thing is that the ideas and goals you put forward for us are very clear, and we have a clear framework and goals, and it is easy to do specific work. ”

Ronan said: "At present, the functions are quite good, new problems may be found and new ideas may be generated in use, you have to optimize in time, we must ensure that we are always in the leading position in the new industry." ”

Eric Meyer is confident: "We started early, so we will be one step ahead, one step at a time. ”

Ronan has been staying in San Francisco for the past few days, carefully experiencing Netflix's social functions and sharing functions, although there are many flaws, especially can not be compared with the social software used in the past, but under the ideas he provided, the design completed by the technical department is generally very good, and it can be said that it is much more powerful than when Twitter and Facebook first appeared.

What's more, Netflix has received 99.3 percent satisfaction with the new features from users.

This is not easy for Netflix, which has nearly 8 million users.

If forums and chat rooms have opened the era of online social networking, then what Netflix wants to do is to use simpler, more powerful, faster and more convenient functions to push online social networking into a new era.

Ronan can provide some ideas, but the specific design work will have to be done by Netflix's technicians.

These programmers are arguably one of the most dynamic professions.

In fact, many people in the outside world are very envious of the programmers in Silicon Valley.

At present, programmers in Silicon Valley have a very good income, which can be described as a typical high-paying industry, and the working environment is simple, there is not too much complicated socialization, and everything depends on strength.

In recent years, as all walks of life are promoting the Internet, there is no need to worry about the job in the future, compared with the monopoly industry and the old-fashioned industry, the promotion channel is smoother, and the opportunities are relatively fairer.

Rounding around the tech department, Ronan and Eric Meyer went into Mark Randolph's office together.

Today, Netflix has more than 300 employees, and its average monthly operating income is gradually approaching $40 million.

"You have come at the right time. Mark Randolph was in a very good mood and said: "I just got a statistic here, since the launch of Netflix Sharing, our average daily shipments have increased by 25% compared with last week, and the number of registered users has increased by 52% compared with the first week. ”

Ronan nodded slightly: "Many fans are often curious about what other people like, and the sharing function just caters to their needs." ”

There was a time when he often went to the website, and many people liked to share their book lists, and other people were happy to find their own suitable ones through other people's subscription lists and the like.

This function proposed by Ronan is borrowed from the station at that time.

Eric Meyer said: "This is just a preliminary feature, and we will continue to optimize it in the future, such as launching a user-sharing recommendation list. ”

Mark Randolph nodded lightly: "These are all conducive to expanding our internet rental business. He added: "There is another thing that cannot be ignored, the increase in the number of newly registered users comes from the mutual contact of users calling friends, many friends in reality, under the call of seeking individuals, registered users on our website, and then formed a circle of friends through reality and the Internet." ”

Ronan thought for a moment and said, "I will let the group increase the publicity of Netflix's sharing business, and the point that the publicity attracts is very likely to expand into a face." ”

Eric Meyer is a typical technical manager who doesn't know much about propaganda and doesn't say anything.

Mark Randolph thought for a moment and said, "It's better to be new and in line with the nature of the internet and social sharing. ”

"Makes sense. Ronan didn't have a good idea for a while, and said, "I'll ask the propaganda department to come up with a few more plans, and then synthesize your opinions." ”

Although the streaming media business is limited to many conditions such as general computer hardware and bandwidth, it has not yet been opened, and Netflix also needs to refine and precipitate the latest sharing business, but if more people can become Netflix's paid rental users, as long as there is excellent content in the future, they will naturally pay for Netflix's streaming media business.

"The number of users is one of the keys to Netflix's urgent growth. Before leaving, Ronan said to Mark Randolph: "We will operate Netflix financing and listing in the future, which is an important condition for attracting investment." ”

Mark Randolph said: "Our target for this year has been adjusted to 12 million registered users. In addition, we are preparing for overseas business, and Netflix's European branch will be able to go live as soon as early next year. ”

Ronan nodded lightly and said: "Mark, Netflix's strategic goal cannot be shaken, you can think about it, if we have more than 20 million users, it will have an important impact on the discovery of the entire film and television industry, and the group company will also fully cooperate with you, TV series such as "Grey's Anatomy" filmed and produced by Shahai Entertainment, as well as some movies that do not rely on special effects, can be distributed through Netflix's future streaming business. ”

Knowing that Ronan and Shahai Entertainment are planning programming for Netflix's future streaming business, Mark Randolph said, "Netflix was founded with the goal of changing the film and television rental industry, and now that we have the opportunity to change the entire film and television production and distribution industry, why not go all out and make it happen? I can't wait to see this day." ”

Ronan smiled and said, "I'm also waiting for this day to come. ”

If you want to make Netflix have a substantial increase in the number of users, publicity and promotion are indispensable, although for more than a year, all movies and related activities launched by Relativity Entertainment will appear on Netflix's promotional advertisements, but this is just a regular way of publicity, and now Netflix has launched a social sharing business, which needs a new publicity explosion.

Netflix's business in North America is going well, and the next part will expand to Europe, and even Australia and more countries and regions with open markets, this publicity explosion point must also form a certain international influence, thereby driving Netflix's global business.

In addition, Ronan also talked to Mark Randolph and Eric Meyer about smartphone applications.

For Silicon Valley, smartphones are not a new product for a long time, the earliest prototypes of smartphones were born as early as 90 years, and many handheld business computers have, in some respects, also have certain smartphone functions.

BlackBerry has also been established for several years, and its main mobile phone is now equipped with many functions such as e-mail, mobile phone, text messaging, Internet fax, web browsing and other wireless information services.

In addition, many mobile phone manufacturers are entering the smartphone industry, such as Motorola, which publicly announced in early 2003 that it would vigorously develop the smartphone business.

Of course, it was Steve Jobs and Apple's kidney machine that really pushed the smartphone business to a climax.

It has to be said that Steve Jobs is really a marketing guru.

Ronan also used his status as a shareholder of Apple to go to Apple, which is also located in Silicon Valley, and although he did not meet Steve Jobs, he also heard some new news.

Of course, this is not a secret news, after all, Apple's development of smartphones is also semi-public.

The first generation of the kidney machine had the original plan, Ronan does not remember the year the kidney machine generation was launched, but once he bought a kidney machine 4 parallel cargo plane, and that was in 2010.

According to the rhythm of the annual replacement of the kidney machine, the first generation of the kidney machine should be released in 2007, and it will not exceed 2006 at the earliest.

Ronan also has a timetable, no later than 2005, Netflix's app will fully enter the smartphone app market, or even earlier.

Netflix has the advantage of being a first-mover and the users attracted by its superior movie resources, and the social sharing business has a very high starting point from the beginning.

Even if not every user of the nearly 8 million users will use the sharing function, the sharing business will have one million active users at the beginning.

How long did it take for Facebook to reach this scale?

When a company with a considerable foundation and a huge platform, and full of innovative vitality, wants to develop new business, its natural advantages are definitely not comparable to self-made people and companies.

Ronan originally wanted to wait to meet Steve Jobs, but got the news that Steve Jobs had gone on a retreat in India.

Steve Jobs has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and it is said that many relatives and friends have advised him to undergo surgery, but Steve Jobs himself believes more in Indian retreats and even hired a psychic medium.

Pancreatic cancer is known as the king of cancers, and no one can guarantee how long Steve Jobs will live.

Ordinary people can basically only wait for death if they change to this disease.

But Steve Jobs, who was once seriously ill, still pushed the kidney machine to the top.

Ronan also wants Steve Jobs to hold on for a few more years, and in any case, he still has a lot of Apple stock in his hands.

The era of intelligence will soon begin.