Ahn Junhyuk shook hands with him, and when he was seated, Junichi Watanabe spoke first, "Mr. Ahn, according to the communication ...... between me and your agent, Mr. Kwon," he said, and nodded to Kwon Bo-geun, who was also seated, "...... This interview doesn't involve any political rhetoric, just the outlook for the industry, and given your schedule, the photo shoot is scheduled for the afternoon, do you have any objections to that?"

"Nope. ”

"So, let's get started?"

Junichi Watanabe, from Tokyo, was obviously infected by the fast pace of life there, and almost no greetings were given, so he went straight to the topic.

In fact, Junichi Watanabe...... In other words, the "Nihon Keizai Shimbun" has great expectations for this interview, and the reason why they were selected by Kwon Bo-geun in the first place is not entirely because of their neutral position, but also because they have been trying to contact Ahn Jun-hyuk and communicate with this recent international figure.

Yes, in May, Ahn Joon-hyuk's name disappeared from the American press not long after, and it once again became the focus of people's pursuit.

But this time it's no longer because of the iPhone or Jmap, it's the company that first brought people's attention to him - Facebook!

After about a year of full opening, Facebook has been expanding at an astonishing rate, and the national website rankings, from the top 50 at the beginning of the opening, have overturned many pioneers all the way, and by May this year, at least in terms of social networking sites, Facebook has surpassed LinkedIn, and the number of unique user visits is closely behind MySpace, which is currently in the first place.

If the rapid growth of users just makes people look at it. Then, since the beginning of May, several decisions announced by Facebook press officers have almost detonated the industry.

First of all, Facebook announced that it is trying to launch a classified ad product, which will provide classified information (such as cars, home rentals) to Facebook users for free in certain businesses, which has aroused widespread interest in the industry, and some people believe that Facebook is using various methods to try to keep users. Others think. This is Facebook's attempt to foray into the advertising industry, as it has 40 million users from all walks of life, and its potential customer base is huge.

Probably stimulated by this news, it has been circulating in the IT industry since the beginning of the year. But it has not been confirmed. Rumors that Microsoft and Google may buy Facebook. Suddenly, it became hot again.

Of course, for Junichi Watanabe, who has been in the IT industry for many years, it is not surprising that this rumor is hot again. Last year, when the social network was just starting to emerge, Google made a bid with Yahoo to compete for a position in the advertising industry, which ended in Google buying out MySpace's exclusive search and advertising rights for three years and nine months for $900 million.

It is also at this end that the blow to Yahoo, which has been on the decline, is almost fatal, and last year Yahoo tried its best to buy Facebook at the expense of huge sums of money, which was the result of this setback.

Now, the former advertising giant Yahoo is in trouble, and the shrinking business vacuum is being carved up by the latecomer Google and the ambitious Microsoft, and the two giants are also attacking each other, and Facebook is currently the second largest social networking site after MySpace.

If Facebook's role in this news seems important, but in fact it is pitiful - struggling to survive under the clouds of the war of giants is not a pleasant thing - then another news released by Facebook three days ago directly touched the sensitive nerves of many IT practitioners, and also made Facebook the most exciting term in the IT industry recently.

On May 14, 2007, at 2 p.m. ET, Facebook held a press conference announcing a project called "Open Platform"!

Facebook's concept of openness is not a new topic for a long time, but when the news came out, and later a more detailed introduction appeared on major portals and newspapers, people still couldn't believe their eyes!

This was a very radical decision for an Internet company at the time.

The so-called "open platform" is not just a slogan, its most valuable part is not a small API (application programming interface), but in the process of opening, in order to achieve the integration of third-party applications and core functions, it is necessary to synchronize open website user profiles and relationship data!

That's a coveted asset, with nearly 40 million user profiles, hundreds of millions of page views per month, and more than 20 million unique users in active periods.

What's more, they are already in the huge network of Facebook, Facebook has sorted out the interests, hobbies, and social environment of those 40 million people, and has drawn a structural map for them, so that as long as you launch a product, as long as the product can be accepted by users, it can spread quickly, and you don't even need the necessary publicity expenses for the product launch - this terrible intangible asset makes the whole Silicon Valley begin to boil!

For what?

Because from this open platform, people see the shadow of another giant - Microsoft!

……

……

"A few days ago, the Wall Street Journal once wrote that Facebook's open platform plan, very bold, but also very encouraging, the author believes that this is the most important decision you have made since you took over Facebook, and its impact on the Internet industry is even more than the full open registration, and the launch of Jmap, he believes that this is an important node in the development of Facebook......"

The quiet lights of the café, the quiet sound of the piano, and the light on the tabletop, Junichi Watanabe kept the tape recorder at hand running gently, and he looked at Ahn Joon-hyuk opposite.

Ahn Jun-hyuk took a sip of coffee and smiled.

He also read the Wall Street Journal article. The author of the article seems to be quite a fan of "open platforms", and the other party said in the article: When Facebook announced this news, its strategic position had been greatly enhanced, and from now on, people should no longer see it as a competitor to MySpace, but a competitor to Yahoo, Microsoft, and Google.

Because the moment the "open" decision was announced, Facebook had transitioned from a startup to a startup platform.

“…… But there are also those who think the decision is very presumptuous, and according to statistics, Facebook now has nearly 40 million users. Tens of thousands are still growing every day. Has Facebook matured to open up these 40 million users, and many more in the future, to third-party developers, how much impact will it have on Facebook's free business? Facebook identifies a portion of its core business. Avoid competition with third-party developers?"

Put down the cup. Ahn Jun-hyuk thought for a moment and said slowly: "The launch of the open platform plan is not my personal opinion. Actually, the original idea for this project came from the engineering gathering that I created within Facebook when I took over - once a month, anyone can attend and put forward their own opinions and suggestions, as long as you have an idea, you can speak freely in the meeting, and if your idea can be recognized by others and willing to work with you, I will also provide logistical support, and even set up a separate department. ”

"The open platform plan is the product of the rally, when an engineer wrote his own interface program, and he described his idea to Mark and me at the meeting, you know, this idea is crazy even now......" said, Ahn Joon-hyuk shrugged and smiled, "User data is our core value, Facebook can have today, because of this precious data, open it?" Am I crazy?"

In fact, the Japanese IT industry has recently lashed out at Facebook's "open platform", and many of the practitioners he has privately befriended will probably laugh at "that Korean is crazy" when they talk about it.

He is not Ahn Junhyuk's loyal fan, nor is he Ahn Junhyuk's brainless black, he is just from the perspective of a reporter, impartially observing this decision that cannot get results for the time being - whether it is success or failure, can only be tested by time, but he feels that since Ahn Junhyuk agreed to this plan after the last, then there must be deep and mature thinking.

Before contacting the interview, he carefully studied Ahn Joon-hyuk's resume, including interfering in the SM acquisition case as a white knight, which was also dug up by him, and in his understanding, this young Korean star's mind is not weakened by God because of his appearance, but often shows a thoroughness and caution completely different from his age.

Not long ago, Time magazine published an interview with Jobs, and when asked about his relationship with Jmap, Jobs did not hide his admiration when talking about Ahn Jun-hyuk: "...... I really like his passion and boldness, which allows him to see a lot of things that others can't...... But as a partner, I prefer his meticulousness and down-to-earthness, and the fusion of Jmap and Apple seems to some to be a quick climb opportunity, but he doesn't do that, in fact, he never asks me about Facebook implanting iPhone.OS in private chats...... I once asked him, and he said that because Facebook's technical conditions are not up to ......."

Junichi Watanabe believes that such a person must make decisions that have enough reasons to convince him.

Sure enough, then he heard the "but".

"But ......"

Ahn Joon-hyuk sat back on the sofa, the coffee was billowing in smoke, he pondered for a while, as if organizing the language, rubbed his thumbs lightly, and for a moment, said, "...... I thought about it for a long time, and finally decided to start this project, just like the author of the Wall Street Journal article said, Facebook has always been a startup company before this, and we have limited technical power, limited funds, and the final problem is that the product is limited. ”

"If we are only satisfied with creating a social networking site, of course we can stop, Facebook is developing faster and faster, people are more and more inclined to accept it, accept its unique open concept, our users are growing, the profit model is also being explored in an orderly manner, in the near future, it is not a luxury to achieve profitability, if we are only satisfied with this, Mark and I can be in 3 years, or 5 years, when Facebook has developed enough to go public, it will definitely bring rich returns…… But does Facebook stop there?"

Ahn Jun-hyuk shook his head, and under the frowning eyebrows, what fell on Watanabe's Jun eyes were those bright eyes, as if reflecting the sunlight outside the window.

"Mark has said more than once that he has an ideal, he wants to build a legendary city. Three years ago, this ideal would have been a dream, but now, three years later, the prototype of that city has been sketched out in the virtual world, and sometimes I think, Mark's ideal has succeeded in the first step, so what is my ideal?" (To be continued......