In a market with new structures, new functions, and new technologies such as mechanical keyboards, the industry leaders often do not have any advantages. Instead, many small and easy-to-turn brands take off directly with one or two outlets. .
The domestic first-generation three-family PLU mentioned earlier in this series has completely disappeared, and the two brands of Kaiku and Noppoo have changed hands. And then the three low-end brands: ikbc, ganss, Dujia, ikbc has become the undisputed leader in the cost-effective price range, but for this reason, ikbc has now reached an average price of about 300 yuan from the earliest price of 500 yuan .
Among the high-end keyboards, there is a saying among the players that there are "Three Royals", namely the Japanese brand filco, the Korean brand Leopold and the Chinese brand Amilo. In the past two years of competition, filco and Leopold have shown a clear decline. Public opinion began to seem overwhelmed. On the contrary, Amilo from China, which everyone was not optimistic about in the early years, has become the only seedling in high-end mass production.
Today we will talk about Amilo who "wins by face" in everyone's eyes.
Amilo is the brand name, and the company behind it is Zhihaihe Technology. Zhihaihe first entered the mechanical keyboard circle from the cooperation with Leopold. As mentioned earlier in this series, part of the low-end Leopold is manufactured by Kaiku’s foundry, and the most classic 660 series in its early years is the foundry of Zhihai. As for the rising star 980 series, it will be a matter of later.
Around 2013, Zhihaihe and Leopold began to cooperate to manufacture mechanical keyboards for Leopold, and the OEM product was FC660. 2013 was the period of great development of mechanical keyboards in mainland China. The 66-key small keyboard is still relatively rare. KBT's race, pure and ikbc's poker were once called sea view rooms. Leopold has earned a good reputation with this small arrangement and excellent workmanship.
At that time, I was still in Tieba, and I cooperated with Zhihai and Tieba in some small activities, released some discounts on keycaps, and gave away some keycaps. Leopold used the original height keycaps, and at that time other brands except Cherry were mainly OEM keycaps, and there were not many keycaps at that time, and PBT was not popular, especially color PBT. The RGB does not refer to the backlight, but the keycaps. The common way to play is to replace the keycaps of the large keys with red, green, and blue, that is, RGB keycaps. At that time, Leopold's keycaps were indeed top-notch in the domestic market.
Around 2015, Zhihai and Leopold ended their cooperation. Around 2014, Zhihaihe registered a brand called Amilo. After the cooperation between the two parties ended, Zhihaihe brought this brand out again and began to operate as its own main brand.
As Leopold's foundry + domestic agent, Leopold's trademark has been used by Amilo until 2016, until the inventory of FC660 was basically cleared, Leopold returned to the mainland market, and Zhihaihe began to concentrate on operating Amilo. So far, The two brands completely parted ways.
When Amilo first appeared, some people questioned that Amilo’s keycaps used leopold molds. However, the fact is that at that time, keycaps were an accessory, and people didn’t pay much attention to its height and shape, so Amilo In the design of the keycap, Milo directly referred to the height and design of the keycap of Leopold, re-opened his own keycap and shell mold, and added printing technology such as thermal sublimation, which is more beautiful than the laser engraved characters in the Leopold period durable. Although very similar, it is indeed not a direct misappropriation.
Because I received certain technical guidance during the OEM period for Leopold, and my own craftsmanship was at a relatively leading level in the mainland at that time, the reputation of the Amilo brand has been good since its birth, but the business situation is not good. Amilo was the same at that time as it is now. It only had mid-to-high-end products, and a keyboard cost 6.700 yuan. However, the domestic mechanical keyboard market has not yet been fully developed, resulting in poor sales.
In 2017, based on the relatively rare sublimation technology at that time, Amilo successively launched two keyboards, Sakura and Haiyun, which became the milestone products of Amilo's counterattack.
Even now, it seems that the physical appearance of these two keyboards is very high, not to mention that before 2017, there were no themed keycaps. The sublimation process was not popular, and even if it was used, it would engrave black characters. It’s great to print colorful characters, how can anyone print patterns on it? In fact, it’s not only unexpected, but also the immature craftsmanship.
Here is a brief introduction to the thermal sublimation process. Thermal sublimation refers to vaporizing characters and patterns and immersing them in the keycap through high temperature. It has the advantages of free pattern, bright color, durability and not easy to wear. The effect is undoubtedly outstanding.
The appearance of Sakura Haiyun was a dimensionality reduction blow at the time. Players finally discovered that black or white mechanical keyboards can also be so beautiful. Then the Chinese girl series (koi, Huadan, etc.) added fire, especially Huadan, which directly pushed Amilo to the altar. At its peak, it could even beat Logitech Gpro and G102 in sales during the 618 period. . Tmall Featured
In 2018, Amilo launched the electrostatic shaft. At that time, the cherry shaft was not so rough, but it had a lot more rustling feeling than the early shaft body, and the domestic shaft body had not yet reached the level of hanging the world like it is now (although some people deny it, but this is the fact), so A shaft with an infinite theoretical lifespan, without even mentioning the quality and lifespan, just such a silky and smooth hand feeling experience, has become the second dimensionality reduction attack point at that time.
Here is a brief introduction to Amilo's "static capacitance": Amilo's static capacitance is not the conventional static capacitance of HHKB, but the trigger principle of MX structure (mechanical shaft structure) + static capacitance, so its essential feel is still The feel of the mechanical shaft, but because the mechanical shaft is triggered by contact, the touch has a lifespan, and the Amilo static capacitor is a non-contact trigger, which theoretically has an infinite lifespan. Amilo’s original expectation should be to use this " Static capacitance "completely replaces conventional mechanical switches.
Therefore, during the period from 2017 to the beginning of 2020, Amilo finally became a brand as famous as Filco and Leopold in mainland China. Maybe there is still a gap between the two in terms of brand influence. Many people still don’t agree that Amilo is a brand comparable to F and L, but in terms of sales, Amilo has surpassed the two in the same range of 1,000 yuan. There are too many seniors. In fact, it is also understandable. One is a picturesque color keyboard + theme design with cultural background + extremely smooth electrostatic capacitor body, and the other side is black and white solid color keyboard + cherry switch with reduced craftsmanship. Who would you choose? It is not an exaggeration to say that Amilo was the number one high-end brand in China at that time. After all, the ducky peak of Baodao has passed. Brands such as iqunix and Luofei, which are popular in mainland China, are still in their infancy. Domestic shaft TTC, Kaihua and other brands have not yet begun to exert their strength.
And Amilo, who is in the limelight, holds the smooth and invincible electrostatic capacitor body, which can be called talented. The first brand of mass-produced dye-sublimation products, each product has a superior appearance, which can be called beautiful.
In recent years, we can clearly feel that there are more and more interesting keyboards, and the old Amilo seems to be not so interesting, and there are many functions. Let’s take a look, 2020-2022, the market What outlets have emerged, and what choice did Amilo make:
The first point is the rise of domestic shafts. At the end of 2019, a series of high-end, cost-effective, light, heavy, loud and silent shafts, such as TTC Gold Powder, Kaihua BOX, and Jiadalong’s Gpro, exploded in a short period of time. , Amilo ushered in the first choice, do you want to follow up the domestic axis? Think about it in another way. Amilo has an exclusive electrostatic capacitor shaft, which feels very good and has stable quality. If you choose a domestic shaft, Amilo sells it for 1000, while others sell it for 400. You still need to compete and it is easy to break, so choose not to use it. Follow-up is also reasonable.
But the combination of the second point is fatal - hot swap.
As the homogenization of the industry is getting higher and higher, the hot-swappable function with quick shaft change and feel is popular, and almost all conventional mechanical shafts on the market are universally hot-swappable, that is to say, as long as you have a hot-swappable With the plug-in keyboard, you can choose the switch you like in each switch factory at any time, and change it to the keyboard. It only takes 15-20 minutes to replace the whole set, which is very convenient.
The Amilo static capacitor is embarrassing, because its non-contact trigger requires a dedicated chip and solution, making the Amilo static capacitor system feel the same as the mechanical axis, but it is not universal at all, and the static capacitor also has special requirements for welding. , hot-swapping is naturally out of the question, making Amilo miss the outlet of hot-swapping + domestic shaft.
The third point is the three-mode, three-mode is 2.4g+Bluetooth+wired three connection modes, come to 2022 today, the three-mode solution for the conventional mechanical axis on the market is very mature, so manufacturers of all sizes are It can be used as a three-mode keyboard, but the Amilo electrostatic capacitor is embarrassing again. Because it is also a special solution, all three-mode solutions on the market cannot be used universally, so it can only be completely developed by itself, so that until this year, the electrostatic capacitor has just been launched. Dual-mode (Bluetooth + wired), after all, the technical strength of one company still cannot compare with the efforts of the entire industry.
Then let’s take a look at what the newly emerging domestic brands have done between 2020 and 2022, and what Amilo has followed up:
iQnix moved back to the all-aluminum shell and launched the frosted transparent shell OG80. Amilo also launched the full-CNC sword series, but the price is impressive, and the price of the full-size 108 is close to 3000.
Akko and other brands moved back to the gold powder switch that was originally in the customized market, followed by quick silver, flame red and other explosive switches. Amilor's new switches, lightweight Daisy Yellow, Iris Blue, and Quick Trigger Switch Epiphyllum White all feel great, but because of price and publicity factors, they are far less well-known than gold powder switches.
Akko, Black Canyon and other manufacturers have moved back to the hot-swappable axis, but Amilo has not followed up the hot-swappable
Recently, everyone is keen to move the gasket structure and the mahjong sound it represents. Dareu followed up and achieved the explosive A98, but Amilo did not follow up Gasket.
Fuling, Akko, Dareu, RK and other brands moved back to the 98 series from another place, and Amilo did not make 98.
Luo Fei launched a variety of new design languages such as Xiaolang, Xiaoqiao, 1%, and Amilo only launched the popular model of the Mei series Wenhe.
Not to mention that RGB backlight is even a standard configuration of 100 yuan keyboard.
In fact, everyone can basically see what the outlets have been in the past two years. Amilo wants to follow these outlets, but most of them have missed them. Most of them are actually due to static capacitance, which has brought too much to Amilo. , but when domestic shafts, hot-swapping and other functions are popularized, there is a herd effect: no matter how good your electrostatic capacity is, only your family uses it, you are still expensive, and the audience is small; while domestic shafts + hot-swappable, all brands are in the market. Use, all prices are available, the audience is naturally much larger, coupled with a high degree of freedom, more playability, and mature functions, there are naturally many discussions on the Internet, and the momentum gradually overwhelms static capacitance.
Of course, there are also some subjective reasons, that is, whether you want to earn the money, such as 98. As a patented product, many domestic brands rely on 98 to gain momentum, but now they are also involved in patent disputes because of 98.
Even though Amilo has not caught up with many of the outlets that our consumers feel, Amilo relies on many popular IPs such as Koi Niang and Hua Dan Niang, the old and firm Haiyun, Sakura, and updated lightweight springs. The daisy yellow axis makes Amilo still the head brand of domestic high-end mechanical keyboards, and its influence and diehard fans are still very large.
Sometimes I think Amilo is really a bit stubborn. In the most popular price range of 500 yuan, Amilo has no products, even if the new brand hands keys are mainly mid-to-high-end personalized keyboards. For most beginners, especially students, it is really painful to ask him to buy a mechanical keyboard of nearly 1,000 yuan. At present, in the mid-to-high-end market, although Amilo still maintains its leading position, it is also beginning to face repeated attacks from manufacturers such as Dareu, Akko, and Luofei.
Fortunately, Amilo still has a hole card in his hand. There is an electrostatic capacitor body that is still unrivaled in the world, and its smoothness is far superior to that of gold powder. It is backed by a factory that produces the whole process itself. If the technology is in your own hands, you will have the capital to settle down.
I often hear people say, "Amilo is a skin replacement brand that sells keycaps." In fact, I don't agree with it. Amilo has been doing some things, but those things, some of which are in the air, have been seen by everyone. , such as theme design; and some, everyone’s focus is not here, so I didn’t see it. Such as v-silk keycaps, such as the constantly upgraded satellite switches, such as electrostatic capacitors V1 and V2. When the Cherry shaft was the only one, no one forced Amilo to develop their own solutions and shafts, but they still did, and finally became an important bargaining chip for the brand's success at the key point of the decline in the quality of Cherry. Who can predict that a certain brand, doing something that seems inconspicuous now, will ignite a new round of craze?
Amilo's experience has shown us the fierce competition in the mechanical keyboard industry in the Chinese market. The outlets follow one after another. Although Amilo has ups and downs, he always insists on doing his own things and maintaining his independent personality and quality, so even in the involution and outlets, he can still stand firm. Think about the one mentioned in this series. How many brands that were once well-known in the industry ended up leaving the market sadly?
Of course, it is undeniable that outlets are indeed very important. Even if Amilo, the leader of sublimation outlets in China, does not follow up the most popular demand from 2020 to 2021, its status will be shaken, but as a consumer, think about 2016- In 2018, there were really few eye-catching products, and in the past two years, consumers have been overwhelmed with fun and good-looking products. Judging from this year's situation, Amilo has obviously begun to seek changes. The joint fast golden shaft with TTC and the joint shaft with Kaihua seem to be coming soon. I heard that the follow-up three-mode, hot-swappable, and gasket Products are also on the way.
