Where will AIGC applications such as Miaoya Camera go when the novelty wears off?

　　For the price of a cup of coffee, you can unlock nearly 70 sets of personal photos in different styles. This summer, the AIGC application “Miaoya Camera” (hereinafter referred to as “Miaoya”) is as popular on social networks as the weather. Users only need to spend 9.9 yuan to generate a digital avatar by uploading 20 personal photos, as well as AI portraits with different makeup, scenes, and angles. The ultra-low threshold for use and photo effects comparable to offline studios have given Miaoya Camera a group of fans who spontaneously refresh their screens.

　　

　　However, more than two months after it went online, some users who had flocked to try it out chose to uninstall the app. Netizens complained about the homogenization of templates, multiple payments within the application, and insufficient user stickiness. So, what does the real Miaoya Camera look like? Come experience it with a Red Star News reporter.

　　　　User experience

　　　　The amazing fresh feeling fades easily after first use

　　“You can get dozens of sets of personal portraits by uploading some photos for 9 yuan. A girl who loves taking pictures shouldn’t be able to refuse, right?” As one of the first users to spontaneously post Amway Miaoya on social networks, netizen Xiao Lin used Miaoya for the first time. I was amazed by the “power of technology”.

　　Xiao Lin said that he is usually a photography enthusiast, and he would also meet up with friends to take photos in offline photography studios: “Compared to offline, Miaoya has a high production rate, and the templates are all popular makeup styles. The most important thing is You don’t have to spend time taking photos and selecting photos. The photos you spent more than 2,000 yuan on last year suddenly no longer taste good.” After Xiao Lin posted several sets of completed photos on WeChat, his girlfriends also downloaded Miaoya Camera.

　　“I think the most practical thing is the ID photo template,” Xiao Li, a senior who is about to enter the workplace, told Red Star News that he has saved a lot of money on job ID photos through Miaoya Camera. “The frequency of updating ID photos is basically once a year or half a year. Go to an offline professional ID photography agency, and one set costs about 100 yuan.” Generated by Miaoya AI, Xiao Li got four sets of ID photos of different styles, plus The cost of printing photos in an online store is less than 50 yuan, saving half of it.

　　“It’s a bit presumptuous to ask me to pay without giving me a trial experience, isn’t it?” The rules for using the paid front-end of Miaoya Camera blocked the intended user Xiao Chen: “I will naturally pay if I am satisfied after trying it once, otherwise I won’t Who will be responsible if you are satisfied?” In addition, Xiao Chen also attaches great importance to the experience of offline photography: “Many photo shoots are to commemorate some special days, and the sense of ritual from putting on makeup in the photo studio to selecting the photos for the shooting is lost. As long as it’s only 9 yuan, I will hesitate.”

　　A Shanghai netizen reported that the photo was distorted: “I usually wear glasses, and I also wear glasses in the uploaded photos, but the generated photos do not have glasses.” After the netizen complained to Miaoya customer service and asked for a refund, the customer service responded But it said “refunds are not supported, and the function of wearing glasses will be optimized later.”

　　However, more than two months after it went online, many users who flocked to try it chose to uninstall the app. “It’s still very novel to experience it, but I won’t use it for a long time. The novelty is over.” “Although there are template updates every week, But I won’t keep watching at all times, and the overall experience is not much different.” “I have used up the free diamonds, and I still need to recharge to download photos, and I don’t want to continue paying.”…

　　

　　Qimai data shows that since the Miaoya Camera iOS App was launched, it once “dominated” the application list, and won the first place in the overall “application” list on August 14. On September 28, a reporter from Red Star News checked Qimai’s latest data and found that Miaoya Camera’s ranking on the “Application” list had dropped to outside the 500 list, and the WeChat applet score was only 2.4 points.

　　　　Reporter experience

　　　　Paid front-end templates are like opening blind boxes

　　In order to understand the real user experience, the Red Star News reporter registered and logged into the Miaoya Camera App, and followed the prompts to upload a frontal photo and 20 supplementary photos with “multiple lights, multiple backgrounds, multiple perspectives, and multiple expressions”. After the photo recognition was successful, the system immediately popped up a payment prompt: 9.9 yuan for a limited time, which can unlock 4 benefits.

　　

　　Rights include exclusive digital avatars and over 30 sets of free templates, but similar to the “blind box” model, consumers cannot preview the effects of the digital avatars to be generated in advance, as well as the photo template styles. It is worth noting that the 9.9 yuan payment prompt appeared after the user uploaded a large number of personal photos. For most users, especially male users, it is not an easy task to find 20 usable photos, and the probability of choosing to pay at this point also increases.

　　In response to Miaoya’s “pay now and enjoy later” model, many consumers reported to Red Star News reporters that it was “difficult to protect their rights.” Therefore, when the reporter contacted Miaoya’s customer service to ask “if I can get a refund because I am not satisfied with the digital avatar and the photo effect,” the customer service replied: “The service is completed when the avatar is created. Refunds can only be made if the avatar fails to be generated.”

　　Red Star News reporters found that in a user agreement containing a clause similar to “no after-sales”, Miaoya Camera clearly stated: “This service adopts the method of charging first and then providing services. The fees paid by users are not prepayments or deposits, deposits, and debit cards.” and other properties, once used, it is non-transferable or refundable.”

　　After completing the 9.9 yuan payment, the Red Star News reporter successfully entered the digital avatar generation stage. After the digital clone is generated, users can select their favorite blockbuster template in the “Create more photos” column. So far, Miaoya Camera has updated about 90 photo templates to choose from. It takes about 2 minutes to generate four pictures of each pose. Click “More Like Me” to iteratively generate photos with higher similarity.

　　Red Star News reporters also found in actual use that not every template is free. In the lower right corner of some templates with the “Limited Free” logo, the number of Miaoya diamonds required to use the template is clearly marked.

　　In fact, Miaoya laid the “foreshadowing” for payment as early as when users purchased the 9.9 yuan rights. The 10 diamonds given with the first payment can unlock up to one paid template or download 5 photos to the user’s mobile phone.

　　

　　If you want to unlock more templates or store higher-definition pictures, you must recharge diamonds through the payment system of Miaoya Camera. In the “Go to Recharge” column on the personal homepage, users can recharge 60 to 5,000 diamonds at prices ranging from 6 to 328 yuan.

　　Some MiaoyaCam limited-free templates have ended free after September 1, but all users who purchased digital avatars before September 1 will be able to use these templates for free forever. A reporter from Red Star News recently logged into Miaoya Camera and found that some of the limited-free templates have been converted to free templates. The previously used limited-free templates are in the “unlocked” status and have not been converted to paid ones on a large scale. The newly launched templates still include limited-free templates, but the concentration of paid templates has increased significantly.

　　　　Prospects

　　　　Technology leadership cultivates user habits

　　“Miaoya Camera is actually an upgraded version of the past beauty function, which is somewhat different from the AI ​​generated out of thin air in AIGC.” Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of Zhejiang University International Business School, accepted Red Star In an interview, a news reporter said that the main reason for the popularity of this application is that it meets the needs of ordinary people, especially women who love beauty, for photo editing.

　　In response to the question of why AIGC’s payment model was first implemented similar to P-picture software, Pan Helin believes: “There are actually many AIGC payment models, such as the subscription models of overseas applications such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, and many domestic AIGC applications have only recently been launched. It’s officially released, and it’s too late to think about the charging model.”

　　Pan Helin believes that AIGC applications such as Miaoya Camera have sustainable development prospects in the future: “The advantages of Miaoya Camera mainly lie in two aspects: one is better rendering effect, and the other is higher ease of use. In After cultivating users’ usage habits, Miaoya may become a blockbuster application.” As long as we maintain the technological leadership of such applications, we can continue to gain traffic.

　　Chen Guang, a professor at the School of Economics and Management of Southwest Jiaotong University, said in an interview with a reporter from Red Star News that Miaoya Camera is a more “recreational” AIGC application for ordinary consumers, with a low threshold and quick start. “Currently, the personal leisure consumption of Miaoya cameras is only directly linked to production results. If we want to pursue sustainable development, we should drive changes in productivity,” he believes.

　　Red Star News reporters learned that Miaoya Camera has now been launched on the B-end workstation, inviting photographers and designers in the industry to participate in internal testing of template design, and jointly launched a global travel photography template with Ctrip. Recently, Miaoya Camera has teamed up with Uncle Tongdao to launch a series of twelve constellation templates. This is also the first time that Miaoya Camera has launched IP co-branded paid templates. As user enthusiasm fades quickly, how can the AIGC product circle form sustained long-term demand?

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