Demystifying blockchain mobile: Black technology or pseudo-concept?

Under the buoyant capital, blockchain concept companies and products emerged in an endless stream.

The mobile phone industry is no exception. Recently, mobile phone manufacturers including Candy, Changhong, and Lenovo have all released blockchain mobile phones, but this has caused questions.
"China Business" reporter noted that the current launch of blockchain mobile phones are not dominant brands in market share. Jingxi, a senior analyst at IDC's End Systems Research Department, bluntly stated that large mobile phone makers have not announced their involvement, and the actual usage scenario is not very relevant to the blockchain. Most of them are stuck in concepts and publicity.

“Mobile phones like Candy, Changhong, and Lenovo don’t count as blockchain mobile phones,” Cao Yong, founder of the Energy Blockchain Lab, said in an interview with this reporter. “The mobile blockchain is particularly hard to do. The industry has even considered it impossible to make mobile blockchain systems this year and next."

Blockchain concept controversy

Recently, Lenovo launched its own first blockchain mobile phone, Lenovo S5. This is another mobile phone company that launched “blockchain mobile phones” after Candy Mobile and Changhong Mobile.

Taking a look at the above three blockchain mobile phones, Lenovo’s flagship is safe, while candy and Changhong use the current “mine-mining” feature as a selling point.

It is reported that the Candy Creations blockchain mobile phone is a mobile phone that is positioned as a combination of "mobile phone + blockchain wallet + mining machine". The phone regularly receives "Candy Points" without any additional operations. The points can be used to redeem goods and services specified in the candy store and application market. In terms of candy, this is not a virtual currency nor a transaction, but it cannot limit third-party trading points. The phone is priced at 3999 yuan.

In fact, the industry has already questioned the “blockchain mobile phone” with the “mine-mining” function. In Cao Yu’s opinion, whether or not the blockchain technology is used to make it clear what consensus mechanism is used in this product is used. How many nodes are public chains, alliance chains, or private chains? This is the key. If nothing, it is not a blockchain.

The industry’s other “blockchain phone” Changhong R8 Kirin phone price is also 2999 yuan, is also a mining mobile phone, just open the Unicorn APP within the phone, click the start button to ensure that the mobile phone network is free, WiFi , 4G network can be realized mining mining coins. It did not explain to the public which nodes were used in the blockchain mobile phone and did not explain how the user obtained Yuk Coin. When a reporter asked how a sales person of a Changhong mobile phone can get more Ukco coins, the sales staff said that there is no uniform standard, suggest charging mining, keep the network, the signal can be smooth.

In a WeChat group named "Youke Zhizhi Xuan - Changhong R8 Kirin User Group", the reporter learned that a user had dug 240, 380, 1,400, and 1000 Yokes in the previous four days. “900 digs in the first 5 hours of the fourth day and only 100 digs in the last 3 hours.”

Unicorn is an ecosystem of mobile trust networks. Follow-up will launch various applications around the UIC ecosystem. According to Changhong Chairman Guo Dexuan, the Changhong R8 Kirin phone is the first Unicorn blockchain phone developed by Changhong Communications for Unicorn. Based on the POW consensus algorithm, device fingerprinting technology, and LBS location service, it is a mobile phone that can be mined and can use blockchains to record fingerprints and geographical locations. In addition, the reporter learned that the UX coins dug by users can be used for UIC application market to download payment APPs and value-added service payment in applications.

A Changhong mobile phone salesman said that the project will be on the exchange later. Another user bought 10 Changhong R8 Kirin phones in succession for pure mining. He expressed that he is looking forward to the subsequent development of the ecosystem and ICO (first currency issue).

Lenovo said that Lenovo’s blockchain mobile phone is the main security and Lenovo’s S5 uses “blockchain” technology from the bottom of the Z-payment area system in the encrypted secure payment space. Several patents escort and resolve payment security. Difficulties ensure the security of user accounts, passwords, and online shopping, and support blockchain technology from the ground up. This can make payment more secure. The industry also has doubts about the encryption security used by Lenovo mobile phones.

Cao Yu believes that the problem of blockchain security is not in the same dimension or in one category as the conventionally solved security issues. Encryption security is not necessary to catch the blockchain. Conventional security refers to how to prevent hackers from cracking passwords and will not be hacked. For payments, payments need to be encrypted and encrypted individually.

"The blockchain security solves the payment security of banks and Ali. Banks provide users with transactions. Users are single and transparent to banks and Ali. Whoever transfers money to, and how much to transfer money to, can be seen by banks and Ali. Clear, but because the blockchain is essentially a public ledger, with decentralized, transparent synchronization of multiple nodes, it also solves the problem that I do not need Ali and conventional banking institutions to implement such a payment system. No one can You peek at your cards,” Cao Yu told the reporter, security encryption is not suitable for blockchain application scenarios, blockchain is used to form a distributed, decentralized consensus, and encryption security is not too much relationship.

For specific technical details and these queries, this reporter once consulted Changhong Mobile and Lenovo, and Lenovo’s mobile phone said “there is no other information at the moment”. Changhong Mobile Communications Company declined to interview with this reporter because Changhong Mobile's blockchain mobile phone was in its infancy.

The survival dilemma of small and medium brands

It is noteworthy that the above three mobile phone brands have a small share in the domestic mobile phone market. Changhong mobile phones and candy phones all belong to niche mobile phones. The former giant Lenovo’s share in the domestic smart phone market has also dropped out of the top ten. Lenovo’s conference was also interpreted by the outside world as an announcement that Lenovo’s own brand has officially returned to the mobile phone market.

The fact is that all mobile phone brand merchants play blockchain concept phones and are generally considered to be hot spots or Shantou marketing. Blockchain may not be a shortcut for Lenovo.

At present, the large mobile phone manufacturers have not announced their involvement in this field. Before this, the industry reported that Huawei had to do “blockchain mobile phones,” and was also rumored by Huawei’s chairman Yu Chengdong: “I’ve never even heard of it.” In the eyes of the industry, mobile blockchain technology may be more difficult.

Cao Yu told this reporter that they found that many application scenarios do not need to be suitable for the blockchain. “After the evaluation of large companies, it is considered that the application of blockchain to mobile phones is too complicated and the business model is difficult to design. In addition, it needs to face The trend of tightening supervision has led big companies to give up their ideas, and some small companies think that the blockchain is good and hope to take advantage of this."

According to Sun Yanxi, dean of the first mobile phone industry research institute, at the current stage, blockchain mobile phones are far away from the general public. Using blockchains is difficult and users can’t afford to use coins. Blockchain mobile phones can be used at most. Some people use the blockchain for some applications, not all people will buy this phone.
After the smart phone market was reshuffled in the past year, the former inverted triangle became the current T-shaped and oligopolistic market. The top five smart phone manufacturers accounted for nearly 80% of the market share, and small-brand mobile phone manufacturers survived. The pressure becomes greater.

After the rapid growth of domestic smart phone sales in 2015 and 2016, it fell back to -11.6% in 2017. In the two months before 2018, the market sales growth even fell to -26.2%. As early as 2015, China's smart phone market has shifted from a growth stage to a stable development period. The Chinese smart phone market has also matured and high growth is difficult to sustain.

Forward-looking Industry Research Institute predicts that in 2018, the sales volume of smart phones in China will be approximately 450 million, and the overall growth rate will show a downward trend. The mobile phone industry has entered a new round of winter.

In today's fierce competition and homogenization of the mobile phone market, various mobile phone manufacturers have tried their best to create differentiated innovations.

Jingxi said that at present, blockchain mobile phones cannot become the mainstream driving force for the mobile phone market. The user's just need or focus on the screen, camera, etc., these are the major focus of the major manufacturers. A domestic mobile phone manufacturer engineers believe that for mobile phone manufacturers to do a good product, good experience, good design is king.