A few years ago, the input method market was another scene. Users rely on pinyin input and don't like voice input. Because the phonetic input function at that time had loopholes in the accuracy and timeliness of information expression, there were many typos, special sentences could not be recognized, and pinyin input was more accurate and reliable.
Nowadays, with the improvement of speech recognition technology and artificial intelligence technology, the speech input method has been completely transformed and the user experience is better. After users tried the intelligent voice input function, they began to change. In fact, the reason why AI voice input method is known as office artifact and gospel of lazy people is simple: the voice input function simplifies the input process, which is more convenient and more in line with users' oral expression habits.
It can be seen that with the change of user habits, input method products become more intelligent, and the emergence of new market demand is equivalent to giving third-party input method enterprises a chance to overtake in corners.
Intelligent voice input is becoming the mainstream.
Compared with pinyin input, convenient and efficient intelligent voice input greatly improves the communication efficiency and input experience of users, and meets the modern people's pursuit of efficiency, quality, fashion and convenience. The novel and good user experience also makes the intelligent voice input method gradually become the mainstream input method.
The Spring Report of China Third-Party Mobile Phone Input Method in 2020 released by Sino Market Research pointed out that in the era of mobile Internet, voice input that is more in line with people's habits has become the focus of major input methods, and voice input users of mainstream input methods account for more than 30%. Among them, the users who use voice input in major input methods are mostly 80-90, and the proportion of female users is slightly higher than that of male users; The overall penetration rate of voice users in the whole industry is as high as 63%, an increase of 20% from the previous month.
In fact, it is not surprising that intelligent voice input method can grow rapidly in the era of Internet of Everything.
On the one hand, in the Internet age, people's socialization, entertainment and payment are inseparable from the Internet, and the voice input with convenient operation and accurate recognition can meet the needs of users in communication under various conditions. In addition, intelligent voice input can be very suitable for people's life scenes. Intelligent voice input system can be installed on various Internet platforms such as social software, games, mobile search, e-commerce and so on, which can optimize the product experience.
On the other hand, with the gradual improvement of artificial intelligence technology, the application of speech recognition, image recognition and other technologies in mobile phone input method has been optimized and upgraded. This also means that the mobile phone input method market will form a virtuous circle: intelligent technology will continue to develop and mature, and optimizing the use experience of mobile phone input method will attract more and more users.
Obviously, intelligence has become the biggest opportunity and challenge for the mobile phone input method industry. For the three oligarchs of input method: Iflytek, sogou and Baidu, building smarter mobile phone input method around the upgrade of artificial intelligence technology will become the main theme of the follow-up operation, and the industry competition will be more intense.
Sogou's input method started early and its position was stable.
The earliest sogou input method is quite famous in the field of intelligent voice input.
Looking back, in April 2007, Google Pinyin Input Method made sogou's input method famous for copying sogou's input method thesaurus and publicly apologizing. In just two years, the input method has developed rapidly in sogou, with more than 1 100 million netizens. According to the data of iResearch in 2009, sogou input method was already the most commonly used input method for users in China at that time. Through the built-in PC system, the popularity of input method in sogou is close to 80%.
Sogou took the lead in tapping the input method market in China, and gained huge user data and good reputation. This first-Mover advantage has been going on for a long time, and the sogou input method is also shining in the intelligent age.
Based on the continuous mature application of AI technology, sogou has launched the first AI assistant "Smart Wang Zi" in the industry to meet users' interesting communication needs. Then, sogou's input method was fully AI-upgraded, and eight core functions such as AI word-for-word proofreading, AI long sentence prediction, AI name mode, AI personalized speech recognition, AI intelligent error correction, fast calculator, AI English keyboard and AI sliding input were introduced to further deepen AI application.
Thanks to the improvement of users' intelligent voice input experience, the number of users of sogou input method has increased. During 2065438+2009, the average daily voice requests of sogou input method Q4 increased by 54% year-on-year, reaching an annual peak of 830 million times.
However, with the influx of companies such as Baidu, which has huge Internet resources and strong innovation ability, and Iflytek, which is recognized by the market as having strong technical strength, the market competition is intensified, and it is difficult for sogou input method to achieve large-scale growth of users, and then it is caught in the urgency of "the duck in the mouth is about to fly".
Iflytek input method, make good use of AI to break the game
In the field of intelligent voice, Iflytek is undoubtedly an expert and a winner.
Iflytek's core technologies such as speech synthesis, speech recognition, machine translation and natural language understanding are all at the forefront of science and technology. Based on the leading technology, Iflytek input method has become a dark horse in the field of input method in terms of intelligent voice input function, continuously improving voice accuracy and enriching personalized functions.
In terms of accuracy, the accuracy rate of Iflytek intelligent voice input method reaches 98%, which is its biggest advantage in breaking the input method market. As a pioneer of voice input, Iflytek's high-precision input method service has won it "one acre and three points" in the input method market, and its market share is still increasing, from an unknown startup to a unicorn that others look up to.
In terms of personalized functions, Iflytek input method creatively introduced dozens of dialect recognition functions such as Cantonese, Minnan and Sichuan dialect, which sneaked into the sinking market and improved the user retention rate. Personalized language services have won praise from users in different cities, and the front line has also expanded from first-and second-tier cities across the country to third-and fourth-tier cities and even rural markets.
According to the report "20 19 China third-party input method market analysis" released by Analysys, Iflytek's input method ranks second in the domestic third-party input method market share, accounting for 94.98% of the market share together with sogou and Baidu. In addition, Iflytek's input method is ahead of sogou in comprehensive satisfaction.
Judging from Iflytek's "family history", its strong artificial intelligence and big data technical strength have given it the confidence to break the game. Whether it is to improve the accuracy and reduce the error rate of user input or to support dialect recognition, it is technically to eliminate the pain points of different users. However, under the attack of Internet technology giants such as sogou and Baidu, it is difficult for Iflytek, a "latecomer", to further expand its market share.
Baidu actively innovates and has fun input method functions.
In the era of artificial intelligence, intelligent input method is still considered as a high-tech market, and Baidu can occupy a place here, which shows its strong financial and technical strength.
However, Baidu input method can be used out of the box. In addition to the basic intelligent input method function that meets the market demand under the blessing of independent AI technology, it has captured the love of many young users after 1995 with AI graffiti, voice graffiti and innovative functions, enhanced its competitive strength and stabilized its market position.
In recent years, Baidu input method has successively realized the functions of multi-language input, multi-language voice mixed input, voice literal translation, volley handwriting, intelligent input prediction, AR expression and so on. Among them, AI DuDu, intelligent prediction, lazy phrase, voice DuDu, sentence diagram and other functions have created new market vitality and are more popular among young people.
Moreover, in terms of appearance value and interactive experience, Baidu input method also spares no effort. Previously, Baidu input method used AI image recognition technology to exclusively launch a large number of high-value skins with multi-image background carousel and portrait special effects, which won praise from new users and strengthened the competitive advantage in terms of design.
According to the data released by iiMedia Research in April, 2020, the market share of mobile phone input method continues to concentrate on the head, and Baidu input method and sogou input method together occupy nearly 90% of the market share, among which Baidu input method ranks first with 43.4% of the market share.
Where interests go, there is competition. The further development of AI technology has effectively improved the intelligence of mobile phone input method. Sogou, Iflytek and Baidu have entered the field of intelligent competition, and different brands have their own advantages. It remains to be seen who can win the top spot in the intelligent age.