Since my Giant-brand bike was stolen last week, I had been pondering whether I should buy a new one or just use the bike-share program that are currently flourishing in the city. I then checked the Giant e-store, I realized that only the high priced mountain bicycles, which is for racing, not for leisure city use. Therefore, I gave up the idea of buying a new one.
However, I really relied on my bike to run errands in my daily life, such as go to the grocery, collect medicines from the clinic and visit my dad. Also, it was my "shuttle" from my home to the subway station. So you can see how my bike was indispensable to me! But suddenly I lost it, and I was forced to change my routine as a consequence. Since I concluded not to buy a new bike, then using bike-share looked the only option that I am left in order to carry on my life.
I decided to try the new thing. I saw there are so many different colors of the bicycles on the street available for sharing, and each with a different name. Mobike is probably the market leader among all the bike-sharing companies. The orange-colored Mobike established market in 2014 in key cities in China, and all the others are followers. Since I almost know nothing about these so called“internet" companies, I opted to use Mobike after some old friends' recommendation.
I was not aware that there are already five generations of Mobike bicycles, with its weight from heavy to light, the wheel and chain of the bicycles were improved a lot for comfort and duration. I then downloaded the app, and deposited 299 Yuan to activate my account. I further added 10 yuan as renting charge. After having completed all that on my smart mobile phone, I was ready to ride. In front of some shopping malls, Mobikes are very easy to be found. I chosen a light-weighted one and scanned its QR code, the bike got unlocked, and I rode it away. You see, internet makes smart phone as your wallet and bike key. I guess the core technology involved here is the electronic lock and operated by Bluetooth transferring.
Riding Mobike bicycle feels great. It was not only just about riding, but also is my personal involvement in the "internet" business. I felt younger. Of course, generally speaking, the majority of Mobike users (and the users of other shared bicycles) are young people for over 80% of the total users I was told. Well, in fact Mobike customers are from all age groups.
A friend told me that the founder of Mobike is a young lady who once was a journalist of a car magazine from Zhejiang province. In 2014 she established Mobike based on her conviction of sharing and outdoor. Biking is an ideal choice for environmental friendly living too.
On the other hand, we all have some fond memories of biking. China was once known as the kingdom of bicycles. At my dad's generation, bicycle was one of the most important possessions in the family. Along with the development of the economy, Chinese people have become much richer than ever before. Bicycle's role in our life gets minor, and is even ignored when people have cars. These days biking is reduced as only a leisure activity when, for example, boys and girls go out for fun in a sunshine day.
I went to school by bike when I was a teenager. Those moments were really happy moments even sometimes I felt a bit tired after riding some ten kilometers.
Biking is good thing for me simply because it, to me, is a sport. Unlike before, when I was working, driving was my only "exercise" while the function of my legs was much neglected. Only when doctor said that I was lack of real exercises did I realize the importance of“leaving the machine and moving my body". Biking and walking are economical and convenient ways to exercise.
When riding the Mobike, I tried to understand this kind of "internet" business model. Obviously, it's totally different from the traditional ones that I am so familiar with after having accumulated more than two decades' experience in the market places.
Some said the huge amount of deposit enables the Mobike company to invest, from where profit may be made. However, I think, since the deposit eventually will give back to customers at any time theoretically, the company just manage these money temporarily, while it is not the money owner. Furthermore, customers can get deposite refund by several ways, such as credit points and Zhi Fu Bao credit. At meantime, customers can get the money refund after riding. It is called cash packet. It is random while the percentage is high. I got twice cash refund among five times riding. Later I found a new promotion, that is to make a reservation to use a Mobike nearby within 15 minutes, you can enjoy 2 hours 'ride for free riding, and additionally if you are lucky enough, you may rewarded up to 5000 Yuan after riding a Mobike for 10 minutes. I don't understand the logic behind such promotion. Is Mobike a so called "burning money" company? Anyway, Mobike brings much convenience to riders (customers) and contributes to greener environment. That's for sure.
I said to myself, perhaps the business model of such internet companies has gone so far away these days that it is already beyond my understanding. It seems also that the new model of "internet economy" is a playground only belongs to the new generation, like the CEO of Mobike, who was born in the eighties last century. Thank goodness, I still understand how Jack Ma, the CEO of Alibaba, makes money through Taobao dot com and Zhifubao. Ma is from my generation. But Mobike seems different. Those born in eighties and nineties belong to the age of internet. They understand the modus operandi of internet as if it is part of their nature. Since last September I started to write essays and post them on Jianshu.com, which is an internet company as well. The CEO Uncle Jian was born in eighties too, and with no exception. He runs the business so successfully that he just received the tranche of venture investment totaling 42 million RMB Yuan. Over 2 million users post their essays/novels/poetry...on Jianshu.com. Maybe the users' number is one criterion to gauge how successful an internet company is. In other words, the more "clicks" you amass the more successful you are.
Recently, I took part in an essay competition launched by a Wechat public account. Fortunately, I became one of the finalists among total 23 writers in the essays category. The organizer then published the names of these 23 finalists and announced that votes on Wechat would be a very important reference to determine the first prize. I didn't agree that internet votes should help to select a first prize essay although I understood this is one of the internet habitual ways. I can only follow since I wanted to join the game and to play together with the young generation. (It's also a trend.)
Youth usually represents hope, motivation and energy. Participating in this internet game, for me, is one way to rejuvenate me.
Come on, guys. Please join me. It's full of fun.
摩拜首骑——我看互联网经济
上周，我的捷安特自行车被偷了，于是我琢磨，是再买辆新的呢，还是就用路边的共享单车，反正现在这种共享单车风头正劲。我先到电商网店里去找捷安特，结果发现他们只做高端的山地车了，那种是运动达人的首选，多半用于比赛，而不是普通市区里的通勤用车。我想，那么贵，还是不要买了。
然而这几年来，日常生活中的琐琐碎碎让我已经离不开自行车了。买菜、配药、看老爸，地铁站接驳，单车也成了我的腿了。突然丢了车，还真不习惯。可能需要改变，既然不买新车，那么就必须用共享单车了。
于是决定做个新的尝试。街上的共享单车真是不少，不同的颜色代表各自不同的品牌，在林林总总的牌子中，摩拜单车算是开山鼻祖了。橙色的摩拜于2014年进入市场，不久其他品牌也紧跟齐上，形成了一个行业——互联网共享经济的生意。其实我对这个新的生意模式一点都没有弄明白。在朋友的推荐下，我决定选择摩拜。
我根本不知道原来摩拜单车已经出了第五代了，从原来的重，到现在的轻，据说在轮胎和链条上改进了不少，提高了舒适度和耐久性。下载了应用软件后，付了299元的押金，启动我的使用账户。账户里存上十元钱，作为每次骑车的花费。所有这些，都在我手机上搞定。购物中心旁，共享单车是最多的，我跃跃欲试。很快选了一辆轻便的摩拜，用手机扫了它的二维码，打开蓝牙后车锁就弹开了，这就可以骑走了。我估摸着，这种电子技术的锁，应该算得上是核心技术了吧。
骑上摩拜的感觉真不错，和我自己的车一样舒服。当时我特别高兴，不仅是骑车，感觉自己也参与了一把互联网经济的运行，这样一想，仿佛人也年轻了。当然总体上，街上大部分使用共享单车的都是年轻人，约占80%吧，偶尔也会看到中老年人。
朋友告诉我，摩拜的创始人是一位来自浙江的年轻姑娘，她原来是汽车杂志的记者。2014年创办了摩拜单车，她的初心是想让人们建立分享出行的新概念，自行车又是一个环保生活的理想选择。
说起自行车，人们都或多或少地有些美好回忆。中国曾被誉为“自行车王国”。在我的父母辈，自行车是家庭里一件重要的资产。随着经济的发展，中国人比以往任何时候都要富裕，小小单车便无足轻重了，有了车就更加忽略了它。自行车只是少男少女们外出的玩具，阳光灿烂的日子骑车远足的偶尔道具。
而今骑车对我而言却是极好的锻炼，工作时总是开车不走路，感觉两条腿都废了。当医生警告已经严重缺乏锻炼时才真正意识到要“离开机器，动动腿脚”，骑车走路都是极为经济便捷的锻炼方式。
骑在摩拜上，我想弄明白它的运作盈利模式。显然它和我干了二十多年，已经熟知的传统经济（生意）有着天壤之别。
有人说，押金是一笔巨款，公司用于金融投资，靠投资回报赚钱。但我想，这钱始终是用户的，而且提取随意，公司只是暂时保管。（支付宝的信用点数够了，或者用户使用中积累的信用点数够了，押金就全额返还。）现在还时常有骑车领红包活动，虽是随机，比例却很高。我第二次骑，已经有现金红包了，骑五次拿了两次红包。后来还看到一个新的促销活动，说是15分钟预约成功，两小时内免费骑车，骑满十分钟后，假如幸运，就有机会获取最高达5000元的红包。我没有明白这里面的逻辑，这就是所谓的烧钱公司吗？但不管怎么说，用车的人更方便了，用车的频率就增加，环境变得更好。大家都好，这就是硬道理吧。
我自忖不明互联网的核心法则，那些新一代人，如同摩拜的CEO，生于八零年代，不同于我这个时代的电商巨头马云，虽也是互联网经济的巨擎，谢天谢地我尚能理解他的淘宝和支付宝是如何赚钱的。而摩拜不同，我想新一代（80或90后）就是为互联网而生的，他们天生就知道互联网的本质。我自去年九月开始在简书平台写作，简书也是一家互联网公司，它的CEO简叔肯定也是一位八零后，他运营简书非常成功，近期刚得到一笔4200万元的风险投资。现在有超过两百多万的用户在简书平台创作，也许用户数量就是衡量互联网公司成功的因素之一，用户数也是点击量，点击越多越成功。
最近我参加了一个微信公众号的征文比赛并幸运地进入了决赛。然而最终的角逐会极大地参考决赛参赛者在发布的公号页面上得到的投票数。我虽然很不认同这种方式，但能理解这也许就是互联网的惯用的运作手法。要玩，只能跟随，这也是一种趋势。
年轻代表了无限的希望和生机勃勃的动力，对我而言，能参与其中也足以使自己变得年轻起来。
来吧！我们大家都来玩吧，就当为快乐而生。
