On March 2nd, Du Nan launched a questionnaire survey on the experience of using mobile phones. As of March 2, 2002 12, * * a total of 678 questionnaires were received, among which 62.2 1% of the respondents reported that there were many pre-installed mobile phone software, which occupied memory and was rarely used in daily life, and most of them would be deleted. From the perspective of software types, the XX Mall in XX community, the skin function and the music video app that comes with the system are all software that most respondents think is unnecessary to pre-install.
Judging from the comprehensive results, some pre-installed software is not pleasing, which has affected the user's experience to some extent. Some experts said that some pre-installed software also has the characteristics of self-starting and self-awakening, which not only affects the fluency of mobile phones, but also affects the service life of mobile phones.
Therefore, Southern Reporter randomly selected some mobile phones with similar prices released at the end of 20021from the top mobile phone brands in China, including Huawei, Glory, Xiaomi, OPPO and vivo. Tests show that the pre-installed software of all brands of mobile phones is at least 50+, and the number is generally "bloated" with overlapping functions.
Measure with an instrument
The number of pre-installed software of OPPO, vivo and Redmi all exceeds 50+
The number of pre-installed software for OPPO mobile phones is as high as 56.
Southern Reporter actually measured and sorted out the pre-installed software of Huawei Nova A9A9, Glory 60, OPPO A93s, Red Rice Note1/Pro, Vivot1X. Among them, OPPO, Redmi, and vivo restored the mobile phones to factory settings during the test, and the test results were displayed after the system pre-installed software and the third-party APP were reactivated; Huawei nova9 A9 A9 and Glory 60 data come from official website preset software information publicity.
According to the reporter's test, the pre-installed software of most mobile phones on the market is mainly divided into two categories, one is the official built-in applications, such as app stores, videos, music and so on. The other is the third-party built-in applications, such as mobile phones Taobao and Tik Tok. At present, most apps can be uninstalled by themselves except the basic software that affects the system operation.
However, on the whole, the number of pre-installed software of various brands is bloated, and at least 50+ seems to be the tacit understanding of various manufacturers: the number of pre-installed software of OPPO, vivo and Redmi is 56, 54 and 52 respectively (not counting the underlying applications that provide system components). (Note: The information publicity of Huawei and Glory official website includes all kinds of applications that provide basic components, so the total is not calculated.
OPPO and vivo phones cannot be uninstalled directly on the desktop.
The reporter's test shows that the pre-installed software seems to be "bloated", but in fact, the official built-in applications and third-party built-in applications generally have overlapping functions. For example, OPPO and Redmi have their own browsers, but both QQ and UC browsers are pre-installed; OPPO and vivo have their own shopping malls, but they are pre-installed with special editions of Pinduoduo, JD.COM, mobile phone Taobao and Taobao. In addition to its own Xiaomi Mall, Redmi also pre-installed Taote, mobile phone Taobao and Pinduoduo.
In addition, in the system software independently developed by mobile phone manufacturers, multiple applications have complementary functions, and the same type of pre-installed software always "doubles" multiple softwares. For example, game-related software, OPPO mobile phone comes with three apps: game center, game space and mini-game, and red rice mobile phone also has three e-commerce apps: Xiaomi Youpin, Xiaomi Mall and Mijia.
This situation is hard not to be criticized by consumers. Previously, some consumers in Zhihu, Xiaomi Youpin, Xiaomi Mall and Mijia's e-commerce app asked, "It feels similar, which one should be the main one?" I'm already dizzy "In this regard, Xiaomi's official account replied that there are three e-commerce apps to meet the consumer needs of more users. However, netizens did not buy Xiaomi's response, and the comments were still full of complaints about the three apps.
In terms of the convenience of uninstalling, the reporter also saw that although the software pre-installed on every mobile phone such as "Game Center", "Mall" and "Community" can basically be uninstalled, it cannot be directly uninstalled on the desktop in OPPO and vivo, and it can only be found by clicking an "Application Information" interface.
In addition, among the third-party built-in applications, Huawei and Glory have the largest number of third-party built-in applications, with 265, 438+0 and 26 respectively; Followed by OPPO, with 18 third-party built-in applications; Vivo and Redmi are less, *** 15.
Start at the bottom
Pre-installed software is difficult to "slim down": the quarterly income of large factories can reach hundreds of millions.
Person in charge of an established mobile phone manufacturer: Pre-installation contributed a considerable part of revenue.
Obviously, in terms of software types and functions, the pre-installed software of many mobile phones can be "slimmed down" to a great extent. Some mobile phone manufacturers have tried before, but they all ended in failure.
In 20021year, Meizu 18 series mobile phones launched the banner of "three zeros", that is, zero advertising, zero push and zero pre-installation. This is the first time in recent years that a mobile phone manufacturer has publicly faced up to this problem and released zero pre-installed products. However, in September, 20021year, the official blog @Flyme of Meizu Technology Co., Ltd. published "A Letter to Meizu Users", indicating that due to fierce market competition, Meizu decided to maintain an operation strategy consistent with the industry. Later products will still be pre-installed with applications and push advertisements.
For mobile phone manufacturers, why is pre-installed software so difficult to "slim down"? The relevant person in charge of an old mobile phone manufacturer told Du Nan that there are two main reasons why pre-installed software is difficult to drop. First of all, application pre-installation does contribute a very important part of the Internet revenue of manufacturers. "Take the Internet service revenue of a mobile phone manufacturer in the third quarter of 2002/KLOC-0 as an example. According to the comprehensive industry situation, the income of pre-installed software should account for at least 10%, which is only the income brought by pre-installed software in one quarter. "
In addition, especially when the current hardware differentiation is getting smaller and smaller, and the competition enters the Red Sea, the gross profit margin of mobile phone hardware is getting smaller and smaller, and manufacturers will rely more on Internet revenue. "Before finding a better profit model, it is unacceptable to say that pre-installation is cancelled and the income of this piece is completely erased."
Secondly, many essential softwares on mobile phones have high thresholds in technology, resources, copyright and qualification. In this case, mobile phone manufacturers generally believe that there is no need to "reinvent the wheel." "For example, input method, map, music, video, browser, news, payment, etc. Third parties have mature solutions. "
How to optimize the pre-installed software in the future? The person in charge of the aforementioned manufacturer said that the ideal situation of pre-installed applications on mobile phones is that they do not occupy any system space, and the applications can be used immediately when users need them. This is the prospect goal that cloud mobile phones, fast applications and small programs are exploring. "Now many mobile phone manufacturers have increased their investment in the direction of operating system cloudization. I believe that in the future, mobile phones do not need to have the process of downloading and installing applications. "
Relevant departments have made many rectifications with limited results.
The relevant departments have made a lot of efforts to standardize the phenomenon of pre-installed APP on mobile phones, but the effect is very limited.
In 20 13, the Notice on Strengthening the Management of Mobile Intelligent Terminals' Access to the Internet issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology made it clear that mobile phones should declare the basic configuration information of preset application software when applying for the license of mobile intelligent terminals' access to the Internet. This move has included pre-installed apps in the scope of management, but it is not clear how to manage them.
2065438+July 2007, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Preset and Distribution of Mobile Intelligent Terminal Application Software, which stipulated that manufacturers and Internet information service providers should ensure that mobile intelligent terminal application software can be uninstalled except basic function software, but the scope of basic function software is not clear.
In February this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once again issued the Notice on Further Standardizing the Preset Behavior of Mobile Intelligent Terminal Application Software. The specification further clarifies the type, scope and quantity of non-uninstallable pre-installed apps, and requires a safe and convenient uninstallation method for users to choose.
In fact, pre-installed software not only affects the consumer experience. Hu Gang, deputy secretary-general of Internet Society of China Law Committee and lawyer of China Consumers Association, said that this kind of preset software generally did not inform consumers of the details in advance when they bought their mobile phones, which actually violated consumers' right to know. In this regard, Hu Gang suggested that while strengthening supervision, an organization similar to collective accusation should be established to increase the illegal cost.
Mao Peng, a lawyer of Guangdong Shengdian Law Firm, believes that when selling mobile phones, businesses are forced to install software unrelated to the normal use of mobile phones, which is actually a kind of bundled sales in disguise. In addition, for consumers, suppose they buy a 128G mobile phone, but part of the space in it is occupied by software unrelated to the use of the mobile phone, and the memory that consumers can actually use is obviously insufficient. This is also a "wrong product", and complaints and rights protection can be made.
Mao Peng suggested that in order to balance the interests of all parties, manufacturers should be guided not to directly download software unrelated to normal use in mobile phones, which would occupy the memory of mobile phones. Instead, an installation window should be reserved in the mobile phone, where users can download the software recommended by the mobile phone manufacturer, so that users have the opportunity to download the software according to their own needs and return the choice to users.
Planning: Wang Ying
Coordinator: Mars
Cartography: He Xin
Technology: Zhan Huaping, Liang Xiuxia
Intern Rong Yun also contributed to this article.