Rokid, which has been running wild, is getting lost.
Rokid, which continuously releases new products, is facing increasing embarrassment.
This kind of embarrassment is not only reflected in the fact that its financing progress bar has long stopped, but also in the fact that it keeps betting its future on one new concept after another.
It is foreseeable that if Rokid continues to bet on new concepts but fails to find the right way and method for commercialization, then when these new concepts fail to bring new development to Rokid, it will inevitably face more and more difficulties and challenges.
As we all know, Rokid has always been rooted in AR.
If we were to find a counterpart for Rokid, Google Glass would undoubtedly be the most appropriate.
When players represented by Google, Apple, and Facebook began to flood into the AR track, Rokid actually bet on this brand-new track.
However, we must also see that if Rokid only gains the first-mover advantage but fails to find the right way and method for commercialization, then Rokid, which is running at full speed, may be losing its way.
When the capital dividend period ends, especially when the competition in the AR track enters a deeper development stage, Rokid, which only focuses on concepts and marketing, may increasingly lose its imagination.
When this kind of imagination can no longer impress the capital market, Rokid may fall from grace and lose its past glory.
Continuously focusing on concepts, Rokid lacks implementation
Observing Rokid's development history, we can clearly see that it has been continuously seeking new concepts to sustain itself and to find connections between its products and the latest concepts.
Whether it was the once-popular AR or the now-popular AI, Rokid has almost always jumped on the bandwagon.
Although continuously highlighting its connection with new concepts and new tracks can showcase Rokid's imagination to the outside world, if it only focuses on concepts and follows the old routines and strategies of startups, it cannot truly bring sustained growth potential to Rokid.
The reason is that the current market environment has long passed the era dominated by concepts and marketing and has instead begun to focus more on implementation and commercialization.
In contrast, Rokid only continuously releases new products and simply combines its products with trendy concepts without any follow-up implementation.
In the end, Rokid's development model is still dominated by concepts or capital.
In an era where traffic and capital dividends have peaked, Rokid's strategy may no longer be appropriate. When the concept dividend can no longer bring substantial effects to Rokid, its development will inevitably fall into a dead end.
Blindly focusing on hardware, Rokid lacks a content ecosystem
Whether for smartphone players or for the virtual reality track where Rokid is located, the real winners are not just those with fast and rhythmic hardware iterations, but those who build a content ecosystem that complements hardware updates.
Take Apple as an example. The reason why Apple Vision continues to release new energy is not only because Apple constantly updates its hardware but also because Apple continuously builds and constructs content based on Apple Vision.
It can be said that a complete and rich content ecosystem is the key to ensuring that Apple Vision continues to unleash new vitality.
If Apple is an old hand in ecosystem building, then Xiaomi's achievements today are largely due to its ecosystem.
So far, Xiaomi has built a comprehensive ecosystem covering people, cars, and homes. In the end, the ecosystem is what connects and integrates Xiaomi's products.
In contrast, although Rokid continuously releases new products and introduces new concepts, it has not built a matching ecosystem, especially a content ecosystem, around its products.
To some extent, whether Rokid can be used and whether it can unleash its magic depends on whether it is compatible with content from content providers.
This is equivalent to Rokid handing its fate over to content producers.
Blindly focusing on hardware and compatibility without building a massive content ecosystem like Apple, Xiaomi, or Huawei ultimately makes Rokid just an accessory, not a necessity.
When this situation continues, Rokid's development will inevitably fall into a dead end.
R&D investment is unsustainable, Rokid lacks technical support
When it comes to Meta, built by Mark Zuckerberg, we all know one number: he spent $50 billion on technology R&D in four years.
Apple is the same, with its investment in AR reaching billions of dollars. The reason why Meta and Apple invest so much is that the AR track requires continuous technological accumulation and long-term investment.
Therefore, technology is the key to an AR company.
However, although Rokid sees this, the interruption of financing ultimately makes it difficult for Rokid to make new investments in technology R&D.
As a result, we see that many of the products released by Rokid are basically co-developed with other companies, not Rokid's "exclusive works."
Take Rokid Glasses as an example. The product's appearance was designed by traditional eyewear manufacturer BOLON, and it integrates the Tongyi Qianwen large model from Alibaba.
When the competition in the AR track increasingly focuses on technology, and when Rokid only launches new products through "joint development," its heavy reliance on third parties and lack of technology will make it difficult to build a strong moat.
When everything about Rokid is controlled by others, the speed of its product iteration will inevitably be constrained by its coordination with third parties.
As AR competition becomes increasingly fierce, especially when players like Apple, Google, and Huawei begin to demonstrate their technological strength, Rokid's technical shortcomings will become more apparent.
Conclusion
When the residual warmth of AR has not completely faded, and the wave of AI is surging, we see Rokid running at full speed on the road of embracing new concepts.
Although this approach can continuously keep Rokid in the spotlight and maintain its product iteration capabilities, it also makes Rokid lost in the fog of concepts and marketing.
For an AR company, what is truly needed may not just be concepts and marketing but also a rich content ecosystem and a more solid technological foundation.
When Rokid lacks such support, even if its valuation has reached the level of a "unicorn," its future is still uncertain.
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