In 2011, Kingsoft Office launched the Android version of WPS, and two years later, in 2013, it launched the iOS version again, completing a dual-platform product layout for mobile devices.

In 2011, Kingsoft Office launched the Android version of WPS, and two years later, in 2013, it launched the iOS version again, completing the product layout of dual mobile platforms.

Since then, WPS office has begun to fight back against Microsoft office for more than 10 years. The office software giant that once struggled to win on the PC side has finally been designed with a better understanding of customers and a more humane design in the mobile Internet era. Kingsoft Office went retrograde, and in 10 years, it used the mobile terminal to support the PC terminal, forming the first domestic office software to compete with the world's office giants.

It is difficult for an elephant to turn around.

Relying on the Windows system, Microsoft Office was able to reduce the dimensionality of the office field and kill all parties. However, when the mobile Internet trend surged, the Windows system became a constraint for the elephant to turn around.

According to Zhuang Yong, senior vice president of Kingsoft Office, "We did know at that time (2011) that and Microsoft had already made related products on the mobile side, but they had been holding back on releasing them, so in fact those two years did We were given a storage period."

Driven by Lei Jun, WPS transformed to the mobile terminal and released the world's first mobile Office product in the same year. From 2011 to 2014, the annual growth rate of WPS mobile version was around 300%. Microsoft has always been entangled in the Windows system. It was not until 2013 and 2014 that the iOS and Android versions were launched one after another. Moreover, Microsoft only made a simple port for the mobile version. As a result, the mobile version of Office was huge in size and the experience was criticized. It wasn't until 2014, when Microsoft welcomed its new leader, Nadella, that it updated its strategy of "mobile first" and "cloud first."

At this time, WPS has gained a huge lead on the mobile side. In 2013, its cumulative users exceeded 100 million, and its monthly active users exceeded 30 million. This year happens to be the 10th anniversary of WPS mobile version. According to the latest financial report data, WPS mobile version has nearly 300 million users.

If you understand, you must execute. If you don’t understand, you must execute.

Overtaking is not an easy task. When they first started doing mobile work, the WPS team had a moment of excitement. However, the cruel reality quickly made them feel deeply anxious. “We are excited that we can quickly transfer the experience and technology accumulated in office software to mobile phones, but there are also some doubts inside and outside the team: mobile phones are so expensive, the screen is so small, the memory is so small, and the data traffic is so expensive. It can’t handle any large files at all…”. Zhu Junxing, who participated in the early development of the WPS mobile version, recalled.

At that time, the team ridiculed themselves that they were making a "three-no" product. They could not predict the shape of the product, guarantee the smooth operation of the product, and guarantee the complete functions of the product.

"Our team has no income in the short term. How will the company view the team?" There are more and more doubts, and some colleagues who participated in early R&D even chose to leave.

Although there were many difficulties at the execution level, the WPS mobile team quickly adjusted its mentality. "If you understand, you must execute. If you don't understand, you must execute. There will be understanding during the execution." This was a popular saying within WPS at that time, Zhuang Yong said. Soon, in 2011, the WPS mobile version was launched. The initial version only had the highest priority demo components. After that, it was iterated at the rate of a new component every six months. WPS mobile version officially "from 0 to 1" kicked off.

Perception of success: From No. 1 in the United States to "Winning"

In Zhu Junxing's eyes, when the WPS mobile version reached No. 1 in the United States, he felt that his efforts were rewarded, ranking in more than 100 countries and regions around the world. The first time I did it, I felt it was a success. "In the end, I won the prize." Not only that, in 2015, WPS mobile version also won the Apple "App Store Annual Selection" and Google "2015 Best Application" awards.

WPS mobile version ranks first in many countries around the world (partial screenshot)

During the period of overcoming difficulties in research and development, the tradition of "shaving hair from the top" was once popular within the WPS technology research and development team.Zhu Junxing, who personally participated in the haircut, said that the purpose of growing his hair is to continue his ambition. If he cannot be number one in the United States, he will keep his hair growing to spur himself. If we become number one in the United States, we will shave our heads, which means starting over from scratch. It also warns us not to be blinded by being number one, but to always maintain an entrepreneurial mentality and continue to try to explore and promote mobile office.

Mobile + cloud + content + AI WPS turns from defense to offense

In fact, in addition to benefiting from precise timing of layout on the mobile side, in terms of technological innovation, the polishing of WPS on the mobile side is even more important. This is enough for WPS to quickly establish universal coverage on the mobile side and gradually achieve a comeback on the PC side.

Specifically, WPS does not continue the product idea of ​​the PC side, but reconstructs the mobile side experience. Kingsoft Document integrates a three-piece office suite into one, and the program size is only 1/6 of similar programs, so users can quickly accept it. Secondly, WPS has been adapted to various office scenarios, including mobile phones, pad, smart TVs, etc. This is also one of WPS's "multi-screen" strategies. Coupled with the launch of Hongmeng version, the goal of "let WPS run on every screen" is within reach.

In addition, WPS began to try in the cloud as early as 2009. The biggest highlight of WPS 2009 version is cloud storage. In 2016, the WPS+ cloud collaborative office solution was officially released, focusing on multi-person collaboration in the cloud. In 2020, the company further upgraded its strategy to "collaboration". At present, the number of documents uploaded to Kingsoft Office cloud has reached 89.8 billion, and the average daily document upload volume exceeds 100 million. The overall business has successfully completed the "cloudification" and transformed into a high-level service provider of cloud collaborative office solutions.

content ecology has also become another powerful core capability of WPS. WPS Rice Husk Platform has become a one-stop service platform with more than 100 million huge office content resources. At present, more than 17,000 designers have signed up to join the Dahu platform, and there are more than 4,000 high-quality and active contracted designers. Rice Husk also cooperates with hundreds of professional content creation agencies.

Today, when AI is subverting all walks of life, WPS has also been deployed early. Currently, WPS has developed nearly 100 AI capabilities in the office field, covering many applications such as full-text translation, document proofreading, smart writing, PPT beautification, and data analysis. The independently developed OCR and machine translation technologies have reached the first echelon level in China.

In November 2020, WPS was officially included in the computer level two examination by the National Ministry of Education Examination Center. In the past, and Microsoft Office were the main test contents. The breakthrough of WPS is a milestone event for domestic office software, and it also indicates that WPS will further accelerate its encroachment on Microsoft Office.

As of March 31, 2021, the number of monthly active users of the WPS office PC version reached 194 million, and the number of monthly active users of the mobile version reached 294 million. Currently, the cumulative downloads of WPS Android have reached 19.804 billion times.

Perhaps we can no longer deny that WPS is pushing back on Microsoft step by step. Despite this, WPS still has to face many difficulties and challenges right now, so we might as well be more patient.