"Keyboard丨Impression" is the sudden emergence of thirsty keychron: the road ahead is long, and the road is long and difficult.

Kechuang, a peripheral company integrating production, design and sales, is mainly engaged in mass production of keyboard products. Regarding Kechuang, most friends who pay attention to peripherals should have heard of this brand more or less. After all, their publicity is really strong, and their advertising and marketing are also flying.

Relying on MAC adaptation and the price advantage brought by the strong domestic manufacturing industry, the early Kechuang quickly made a bloody way overseas, and their proud "mass production and customization" Q series laid the keyboard for them. half of the territory. It can be said that this is a rapidly rising "unicorn" brand. Many friends may sneer at Keychron's products. It is true that Kechuang's customized product design can only be said to be extremely introductory in the circle, and even has many problems. In the past period of time, there have been doubts and criticisms about Keychron. Gradually increasing, but there is no doubt that this brand is a rising star in the keyboard field.

At the beginning of January, Kechuang’s operation found me wanting to make product announcements, but the products of Kechuang are not very attractive to me. On the one hand, the keyboard I play and the content I write are relatively vertical and niche. On the other hand, I have a lot of Kechuang products. Except for the K series that is not necessary for DIY, I have modified and used all the large and small arrangements of Kechuang’s Q series and the joint version with a minority. It is not an exaggeration to say that I am tired of playing. After communicating with the staff of Kechuang and expressing that I don’t have much interest in the product announcement itself, they hoped that I could write something different, so I came up with this subjective impression of Kechuang.

Today we will talk about some of my thoughts and opinions on keychron. Before talking about today’s Keychron, let’s take a look at a general development path of Keychron.

K1

In 2017, Kechuang launched the first-generation Keychron K1 mechanical keyboard.

It started with the annoyance of several Shenzhen code farmers-love MacOS but can't find a suitable mechanical keyboard. In fact, in 2017, there were very few mechanical keyboards compatible with MacOS, and the prices were not cheap, so these friends decided to develop and design a keyboard independently after researching the market. A better mechanical keyboard” is correct, and their first low-axis Mac mechanical keyboard was crowdfunded on the overseas platform Kickstarter and achieved great success.

Of course, the establishment of keychron company is not really as simple as it is written in the novel. In fact, the founder at that time happened to have the resources and the original intention to start a business, but without the success of this K1, Kechuang’s first The steps will not be so solid and powerful.

crowdfunding data

Going back to the product itself, in my personal opinion, the low-axis keyboard at that time was basically out of touch due to technical reasons. However, when this keyboard was released overseas, it relied on its high cost performance, Mac adaptation and the portability of the keyboard. It started the first shot of Kechuang overseas.

For some players who are not familiar with Mac system adaptation, I have summarized some key points here.

Kechuang's compatibility with the Apple system is mainly reflected in the following points:

F zone supports native functions of Mac and ios

Command key and Option key support shortcut functions

Compatible with special characters required for special professions (such as programmers)

Although many keyboards on the market are already compatible with Apple’s ecology, there are still many products that have problems in use, not to mention mechanical keyboards, a product that has been bundled on the game label for many years, resulting in many brands. There is no Mac adaptation, or an extremely crude adaptation.

The ignorance of mac adaptation in the field of mechanical keyboards gave Keychron a breakthrough, and took this as an opportunity to successfully break through.

If it is said that Keychron K1 has won the first pot of gold for Kechuang from the perspective of "mechanical keyboard adapted to Mac", then Keychron's K2 will elevate the brand to a new height.

After the successful release of K1, keychron started to operate their own community channel - overseas Facebook and their own fan community, and this is also the key point that I think keychron can achieve rapid success in the next few years one.

Keychron regularly collects and responds to customer feedback and fan messages, while referring to player suggestions and ideas on how to improve shipping and product design. There is no doubt that this is a very meaningful and valuable behavior, and feedback from players and customers will be a high-quality answer to many product and shipping questions.

In terms of transportation, unlike the domestic express business that extends in all directions, only the locals know the best solution to the freight problems in many overseas regions. In terms of products, K2 is different from K1. K2 is designed as a normal-height keyboard. The change in the design of this keyboard is largely a decision made by integrating customer feedback and using their business experience.

It must be mentioned that there is one thing about Kechuang’s overseas operation model that is worth learning from domestic manufacturers, that is, the operation of accounts and communities. In fact, most domestic manufacturers and keyboard players are still in a "beating around the bush" communication mode, and they don't work hard on account operations.

I think manufacturers and players are by no means a pure game relationship. For manufacturers, providing good products and services is the only way to win consumer recognition.

A manufacturer that is good at communicating with players should be browsing players’ messages and interacting with the community every day, allowing players to tell themselves what are the shortcomings of their products and services. These practices and behaviors allow manufacturers to know what they need to do every day and make their work more oriented—their fans and their communities tell manufacturers what they want.

And the player community Keychron User Group established by Kechuang is just like this

We know what to do every day.

Feedback from these communities helps Kechuang determine what to do in the next project, develop new versions of its products, and especially release new firmware updates, which is the best "after-sales" for a keyboard.

Moreover, the user community also helps to attract new customers. In fact, many new customers who become keychron are contacted by friends through "ReferralCandy (referral link)". Many players like to use discount codes to refer their friends Recommending products, the power of community marketing has greatly promoted the development of Kechuang brand.

Going back to the Keychron K2 keyboard, a large part of the reason why this keyboard can be popular on the Internet comes from the Internet celebrity effect.

Bloggers with tens of millions of subscriptions use the keyboard for their daily work, which is the seemingly ordinary K2 keyboard. In fact, the price of the K2 is indeed very ordinary, and it was even quite cost-effective at the time. I also have to lament that keychron's efforts in marketing really take advantage of the right time, place and people, and it is really "becoming famous in one fell swoop".

Looking back at this K2 keyboard, its V1 version is actually not a good keyboard in the true sense.

V1 landscape view

In fact, I have bought and played with this keyboard. If I want to talk about the shortcomings of this keyboard V1 version, I can actually list several of them.

Completely level with no slope when placed on the table.

The bottom shell is too thick and the front height is raised. Even if the foot support is opened to change the slope, it is difficult to use. It must be used with a hand rest.

There is no filling in the bottom shell and the cavity is full of sound due to being too thick.

The side buttons are loose.

In fact, Kechuang itself is aware of this problem, so it has made changes in the K2V2 version, such as correcting the bottom case. But the main reason why this keyboard can win the market is not how well it is designed, but because its price is cheap enough, which is also an important reason why Keychron can take the lead in the following stages-high cost performance .

Relying on high cost performance and Internet celebrity effect, during the period from 2019 to 2022, Keychron's revenue exceeded 100 million, and it became the top five in the world's popularity, becoming the darling of major overseas technology media and keyboard lists.

Before discussing the strategic significance of the Q series, let’s take a look at some of my knowledge about the Q series

The period in 2021 is really unusual. Around July and August, I received a lot of inquiries and questions from the Q1 keyboard. In fact, I have seldom received questions about the transformation of mass-produced keyboards before this, and my understanding of the brand of Kechuang is only limited to the concept of "overseas Internet celebrity keyboard". Before that, I had a little impression In fact, it is Glorious gmmk pro, which also has the name of "mass production and customization".

If we talk about the appearance, I personally prefer the appearance design of gmmk pro. Although the line design of keychron’s bottom shell is more powerful than gmmk pro, the outline lights on the side of gmmk pro and the narrower frame compared to Q series obviously make it more Have a personality, and look aesthetics are very personal and subjective. After modifying many Q series and gmmkpro, I personally think that from the product level, keychron's Q1 is more prominent in the two attributes of "mass production" and "customization".

In terms of "mass production", even if you don't have any idea of ​​modification, keychron still has the option to use the finished keyboard directly, and the accessories are also very rich. Although the quality is not high, it is enough. At the same time, in terms of QC and after-sales, keychron is actually much better than Glorious.

In terms of "customization" attributes, basically as long as you have played these two games, you will know that gmmk pro is not a product for beginners to practice their hands at all. The pre-lubricated satellite shaft is still a thin gasket mount.

In fact, Q1 is not optimistic. The card position of the small board, the "fatal tuning fork" and various defects, but the materials used are also solid in all aspects. After all, there is still a certain potential and room for transformation. The reduction in the difficulty of modification is mainly due to the enthusiastic players in the community. During that period of time, you can see a lot of Q series modification plans, video tutorials, and some "modification sound packs" sold by the studio itself. , The spontaneous mutual assistance behavior of these community players has greatly lowered the threshold for the transformation of this product, and also allowed more people to enjoy the fun of keyboard DIY. This is what I think the greatest significance of this product is to the circle.

Ah Xi's voice pack

If the K series has successfully expanded keychron’s overseas markets, then the appearance of the Q series has allowed keychron to “bloom both at home and abroad”. It is also from Q1 that the brand Kechuang has become more and more familiar to domestic players.

For Kechuang, the Q series is undoubtedly an excellent move. It is accurately stuck in the original clear boundary of "mass production and customization". The idea of ​​"customized" products can also be said to be "planned for a long time".

Many of our company's friends are keyboard lovers themselves. In fact, we have been using customized aluminum alloy keyboards in our office. But on the market, there is no all-metal customized keyboard that can take into account both the Apple system and the Windows system. So we started to make the Q series.

The Q series is a customized keyboard series, which is created to meet people's needs for personalized keyboards. After the launch of this product, overseas feedback has been very good, because there are relatively few all-metal keyboards on the market that take into account functions, designs, and quality. So the overseas evaluation of us is very good. This keyboard has also been rated as the best mechanical keyboard by many technology media, such as techcrunch, verge, NYT, CNN, etc.

In fact, Kechuang does rely on the Q series to stabilize its key ring.

The success of the Q series obviously gave keychron a taste of the sweetness, and then keychron began to rapidly expand the product line of different configurations, from Q0 to Q10, including the extremely small 40, Pad, and Alice.

Although keychron’s slogan of wanting to be “the brand with the most complete array of mechanical keyboards on the entire network” is good, it seems that at the level of layout, it is difficult for us to judge their intentions with conventional layouts. But from the design of some niche arrangements, it is possible to examine what they call "heart".

Let's take a look at keychron's Q9 "40%" keyboard design.

I believe that any player who has an in-depth understanding of 40% can see how carelessly this 40 arrangement is made. The design of FN and space is not reasonable, and the length of some keys is not adapted.

Some people may say that 40 itself is a niche arrangement, and it is normal to do it poorly. But I don't think so. If you really want to mass-produce a product, how can you be so perfunctory and sloppy?

In fact, I haven’t had much contact with keychron’s products since then. What keychron has left in my heart are labels such as entry-level and overseas Internet celebrities, and the two years from 2021 to 2022 are also a year of rapid development of the key ring. The unattainable customized mechanical keyboard, but now there are various entry options, and the price is becoming more and more affordable. Looking at the present, the Q series of Kechuang is no longer the only choice, and the label of cost performance is gradually no longer the unique keyword of the Q series.

After talking about the brief history of Kechuang’s fortune, let’s take a look at the current situation of key rings.

From the first K series keyboard and their follow-up series design, we can see one very powerful point of Kechuang, that is the keen market sense. In the whole market at that time, thin and light low-axis keyboards were generally expensive, and this keyboard successfully attracted the attention of consumers with its low price. Another point that allowed Kechuang products to enter the office field was Kechuang. The Mac adaptation that has always been proud of, this can be said to be one of the core strategic points of Kechuang Keyboard.

At the same time, keychron also has an advantage that other keyboard manufacturers do not have, that is, "believe in the power of the community". This is also an important reason why they can develop to the scale they are today.

In fact, many players who have written here have already understood that the company Kechuang itself is not a very geek company, it is a company that understands market needs. Similarly, Kechuang has captured the market in the past few years The golden time of the mechanical keyboard mass production market may enter the market later, and it will be difficult to have the status it is today.

If there is anything common in the past few moves of Kechuang, then "cost performance" must not be ignored. This is also the "invisible" sign that Kechuang is playing in overseas markets today. Although this brand has been promoting "high-level adaptation to the Mac system", in fact, it can touch so many consumers to buy its products, always relying on "high cost performance", from K1 to Q1 pricing, In terms of overseas markets, it can be called "cheap". For Kechuang, having a solid foundation and a strong voice in the factory gives him room to spend on products, and it is also a treasure trove of victory for him to continue to overcome obstacles overseas.

But, can this kind of thinking really continue?

This is a question that Kechuang needs to think about, and it is also a question that all manufacturers in this industry need to think about. If 2021 is the most glorious year in the mechanical keyboard industry, then 2022 will undoubtedly be a turning point with great contrast for many manufacturers. A large part of the reason for the continuous emergence of keyboard roll kings like 22 years is from the factory. Compromise, and in 2023, with the full liberalization and economic improvement, the factory will no longer be willing to do the sideline business of mechanical keyboard processing as in the previous two years, but return to the normal track to receive orders.

For Kechuang, being backed by a factory and a huge amount of orders can certainly enable him to sit on the throne of "cost-effectiveness", but the road of Kechuang in China for 22 years has not been as easy as they thought, copying the overseas market There are many obstacles to success in China. In fact, not long after Kechuang launched the Q series, various brands have launched so-called "mass-produced and customized" products one after another, even if their product level has not reached What a high standard, but relying on lower prices and the marketing atmosphere of the domestic community, this market is quickly filled. On the customization side, many customization teams have also launched a large number of thousand-yuan customized starter kits, and the competition has become increasingly fierce.

looking to the future

Even a layman like me can get a glimpse of it from the recent products launched by Kechuang.

K Series - Office

Q series - customized

V series——Q series youth version

Pro - Upgraded Version (Bluetooth)

According to Kechuang's product ideas, all the arrangements are listed.

It is foreseeable in the future that Q2Pro, Q3Pro...Q10Pro, and then as the youth version of the Q series - V series, will also usher in VPro. According to this progress, it will not be a problem to squeeze toothpaste for two or three years, and then cross-border with some brands in the middle Launched a joint product (

Look back at Kechuang's corporate philosophy

Keychron is committed to designing beautiful and easy-to-use keyboard peripherals for users around the world.

As a mass-produced brand, it seems to be a safe choice to stop here. But the concept of keyboard enthusiasts they uphold may bring more surprises. Kechuang is still very young, and we will wait and see how long his story can continue.

Hopefully 2023 will see them bring something new to the scene.