The best educational hardware must satisfy both children and parents.

The release of the 'Double Reduction' policy in 2021 brought significant impact to the entire education and training industry. However, as the saying goes, 'when one door closes, another opens.' Amid this trend, educational hardware products have emerged as the new frontier. Looking back at 2023, the educational hardware industry as a whole exhibited robust growth, with products such as learning tablets and dictionary pens recording impressive sales figures.

According to Runto, the domestic market for learning tablets grew by nearly 8% in 2023, reaching 4.72 million units, with average prices surging 28.8%. Meanwhile, the online market for dictionary pens, another key category, sold approximately 3.626 million units, generating sales of 1.78 billion yuan. It is projected that the online market for dictionary pens will grow by 10% in 2024, reaching 4 million units.

For reference, the annual sales of point-reading machines, once the leading educational hardware, were around 2 million units, indicating that dictionary pens have surpassed this market and widened the gap. At this growth rate, it's not far-fetched to imagine dictionary pens surpassing learning tablets as the top player in the educational hardware field.

However, popularity often brings heated debates. As interest grows, the variety of dictionary pens has visibly increased, and the price range has widened significantly. From a parental perspective, their choice costs and trust costs have risen, while the 'premiumization' of dictionary pens raises questions about the differences between models costing thousands and those priced at just a few hundred yuan. Do these pricier models truly offer advantages that can help children?

It's not difficult to conclude that 'trust' has emerged as the primary pain point for dictionary pens and the educational hardware industry as a whole. Behind this lies not only the mismatch between 'consumers' and 'users' but also the rapid development of the dictionary pen market, which lacks a true benchmark in terms of price, functionality, and other aspects.

However, from another perspective, the solution is relatively simple: once a benchmark product emerges, most of the pain points that parents face when purchasing dictionary pens will dissipate. Drawing on Lei Technology's previous experience evaluating dictionary pens, the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro stands out as a benchmark product that can enhance children's learning efficiency. This is based on its affordable price, powerful features, solid user experience, and the underlying concepts and considerations behind the product.

(Image source: Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro)

Regarding the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro, Lei Tech visited Liu Qingsheng and Wu Yusheng, the two leaders of Alpha Egg in Hefei. After a three-hour discussion, we uncovered the essential differences between the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro and other products.

Making products for 'pain points' rather than 'selling points'

During the conversation, Wu Yusheng, President of Taoyun Technology, made a profound impression on Lei Tech when he said, 'We never consider adding selling points to our products; all features are designed to address user pain points.' This understanding deepened after experiencing the Alpha Egg D1 Pro's features and actual performance.

For instance, 'high speed' is a core selling point highlighted in the product name of the Alpha Egg Dictionary Pen D1 Pro. As the name suggests, the pen powers on instantly upon scanning text, providing fast and accurate results without delay. However, what's the significance of such instant power-on for a dictionary pen? Wu Yusheng explained that their team's motivation was simple – observing his child studying, he noticed that the child would often lose focus during the few seconds it took for the dictionary pen to power on. With instant power-on, children's willingness to use the pen, concentration, and learning mood significantly improved.

(Wu Yusheng, President of Taoyun Technology / Image source: Alpha Egg)

The word 'high speed' transforms the Alpha Egg Dictionary Pen D1 Pro from a mere 'digital electronic product' into a more capable 'learning tool.' However, achieving instant power-on from a technical standpoint is no easy feat.

As Liu Qingsheng explained, there's a standard power-on process for dictionary pens, involving the response of the screen, memory, and internet connection before the pen is fully operational. To achieve instant scanning and power-on, their team equipped the D1 Pro with two main chips: one for photography, scanning, and integration, and the other solely for power-on. Since the screen displays after power-on, image data acquisition must be processed simultaneously. By coordinating these two processes, scanning results appear the moment the light turns on. The team upgraded or rebuilt every aspect from the underlying algorithm logic to firmware, hardware, circuit boards, and software, mastering the skills to overcome technical challenges and achieving instant power-on. Currently, only Alpha Egg has accomplished this feat.

Such insights and needs are challenging to uncover. The Alpha Egg team's deep understanding of parents' perspectives and keen observation of children's behaviors enabled them to identify these pain points.

(Liu Qingsheng, Chairman of Taoyun Technology / Image source: Alpha Egg)

The Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro also bears traces of a 'parental perspective,' such as a heightened focus on the accuracy of English grammar explanations. This attention to detail stems from parents' genuine concern for their children's learning. In actual experience and user feedback observation, the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro demonstrated higher accuracy in grammar explanations, providing reliable and detailed guidance for both in-class and out-of-class content.

Wu Yusheng takes pride in this capability, considering it a 'difficult but correct' endeavor by the Alpha Egg team. He noted that many competitors rely solely on technology to address accuracy issues. However, even with iFLYTEK's translation technology achieving 95% accuracy and AI question-solving accuracy reaching 85%, Wu Yusheng hesitates to fully entrust translations to technology alone.

'What technology cannot fully address must be tackled with 'old-fashioned' methods,' Wu Yusheng told Lei Tech. Pursuing translation accuracy in grammar explanations, Alpha Egg established a nearly 500-member professional research and teaching team across China, employing 'triple review and correction' and manual processing to address corner cases, ensuring that every sentence scanned by the pen is accompanied by correct interpretations and grammar explanations.

Wu Yusheng is pleased with the returns from this 'old-fashioned' approach. During the interview, he happily showed Lei Tech the user ratings on Alpha Egg's official Douyin store, revealing three 'five-star' ratings. 'After experiencing our products, users will undoubtedly give positive feedback. Many enterprises emphasize long-term perspectives, and we share this mindset,' he said.

Liu Qingsheng, Chairman of Taoyun Technology, added that making such decisions is straightforward when considering parents' perspectives. 'As parents, we cannot accept even a 1% chance of our children's learning tools providing incorrect answers. In the short term, this might affect their test scores; in the long term, it could impact their entire lives,' Liu Qingsheng emphasized. 'Our primary consideration in product development is ensuring children's satisfaction and healthy growth. Therefore, we believe it's worth investing in manual content review, despite the additional cost.'

Addressing over 60,000 negative reviews with heart

Looking back at the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro, AI technology integration and eye care capabilities are frequently mentioned in user comments on e-commerce platforms.

Behind these features lies a less 'magical' development story. As the overall product leader for the brand, Wu Yusheng candidly shared, 'Our D1 (Alpha Egg Dictionary Pen D1) has accumulated nearly 2 million user reviews on e-commerce platforms, with an approval rate exceeding 97%. However, the remaining 3% of negative reviews represent the opinions of approximately 60,000 users.'

'Our team sampled and categorized these reviews, identifying several points of user feedback, including parents' concerns about eye care. They worried that the light emitted by the scanning tip could harm their children's vision. In reality, our scanning tip's light complies with national standards and poses no harm. Nevertheless, to alleviate parents' concerns, we integrated professional eye-care lamp beads into the pen tip, eliminating blue light interference and providing a softer, more eye-friendly scanning experience,' Wu Yusheng explained.

Notably, the Alpha Egg Dictionary Pen D1 Pro's display has also been upgraded to an 'eye-care version,' certified by TÜV Rheinland for eye safety. Apart from improvements based on user feedback, leveraging iFLYTEK's AI technology and Alpha Egg's years of expertise in the children's sector, the pen has achieved significant breakthroughs in image and text recognition technology for complex children's scenarios and its industrialization.

These key technological advancements have become essential selling points for the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro.

(Image source: Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro)

The 'knowledge graph word search' feature in the Alpha Egg Dictionary Pen D1 Pro is straightforward. It presents specific knowledge points based on the user's age and learning curriculum, tailoring content presentation to suit different needs.

For instance, young children respond better to knowledge presented through images and animations, while older children and adolescents often seek expanded knowledge. The Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro intelligently understands these differences, satisfying diverse learning needs.

Alpha Egg's insight into these needs stems from real-life experiences. Wu Yusheng, a father of two, gained profound insights into the distinct knowledge needs of children at different ages while accompanying them. Additionally, he frequently engages with users, understanding the pain points encountered by other parents when purchasing and using educational hardware for their children.

(Wu Yusheng being interviewed / Image source: Alpha Egg)

Ultimately, Alpha Egg's relentless pursuit of core technologies, educational philosophies, and user insights has materialized these core functionalities. Adhering to the principle of addressing 'pain points' rather than creating 'selling points,' the Alpha Egg High-Speed Dictionary Pen D1 Pro objectively offers an exceptional overall experience and impressive sales performance.

Surprisingly, both Liu Qingsheng and Wu Yusheng, despite their technical backgrounds, repeatedly emphasized their caution with technology during the interview. Compared to discussing the product itself, they seemed prouder of the satisfaction their own children derived from using it.

In front of Lei Tech stood not just two corporate executives and tech experts but also two fathers, deeply committed to their children's well-being.

The immense power of 'making products for children'

The inherent 'specialty' of the educational hardware industry has existed since its inception, characterized by a 'role mismatch': parents pay for the products, but children and adolescents are the actual users. Unless parents and children communicate frequently, they may struggle to determine whether the products truly enhance children's academic performance, leaving them uncertain about future purchases.

How can this dilemma be resolved? Through discussions with Liu Qingsheng and Wu Yusheng, we concluded that having a team of technologically proficient individuals who genuinely care about children develop educational hardware is currently the best approach. This aligns with Alpha Egg's brand slogan, 'A Parent's Heart, Nurtured by AI.' As previously mentioned, their primary goal is not just to win the market or make profits but to ensure satisfaction for their own children and all children.

Liu Qingsheng reiterated this sentiment, emphasizing that only by adhering to this mindset can they truly excel in product development and company management. Recalling Alpha Egg's journey, from children's smartwatches to educational companion robots and finally to dictionary pens, they've consistently based their product development on children's needs, ensuring satisfaction among their own children before bringing them to market.

(Liu Qingsheng, Chairman of Taoyun Technology / Image source: Alpha Egg)

From a results perspective, this product philosophy has led to Alpha Egg's commercial success, establishing it as a leading player in the dictionary pen market. When discussing the industry's future with Liu Qingsheng and Wu Yusheng, they both emphasized the importance of maintaining their original intent: 'making products for children.' With this premise in place, as technology advances, product experiences will only improve, ensuring that resources are effectively allocated where they matter most.

Focusing on the present, and more importantly, the future of children

As for the more distant future, both Liu Qingsheng and Wu Yusheng said that they cannot assert how the product form of educational hardware and children's AI hardware will change and what functions will be overturned. But what they can do is to stick to their "original aspiration" and do their duty. Liu Qingsheng also emphasized that Alpha Egg firmly believes that cutting-edge technologies represented by large-scale AI can benefit more families, and Alpha Egg's related products will continue to promote the implementation of large-scale AI in products, allowing children to come into contact with, understand, and apply AI earlier.

According to Wu Yusheng, Alpha Egg's next heavyweight product, the Alpha Egg Go Robot, is ready to launch and will meet everyone soon.

Alpha Egg's launch of the Go Robot still stems from the team's "parental heart." Liu Qingsheng and Wu Yusheng saw the value of Go robots in developing children's intelligence and improving academic performance. Combining Alpha Egg's advantages in underlying AI technology, they deeply integrate perceptual intelligence, cognitive intelligence, and motor intelligence, hoping to create a Go robot that can be used at home to accompany children's learning and growth in another way.

How much can be revealed about some product details now? For example, based on AI's adaptive ability to match the intensity of Go training, the opponent's skill level remains comparable during the training process; the design of the air suction robotic arm fully considers the applicability of third-party Go pieces in household scenarios, and future Go piece replacements will not affect the normal use of the Alpha Egg Go Robot. Perhaps this is another manifestation of the product's "companionship" attribute.

It must be said that Alpha Egg has its unique temperament. Here, it is difficult to find keywords such as "hardcore technology." Their exhibition hall is arranged in a childlike manner, and their top-down concerns and discussions are not about self-indulgent technology implementation but about how to meet children's real needs and reassure parents.

Creating products based on a "parental heart" is not a remarkable business secret and does not seem to require much of a threshold, but it is precisely this attitude that has made Alpha Egg a leader in its niche market. Xiao Lei believes that this is no coincidence. Understanding users, positioning the brand correctly, and maintaining the original aspiration constitute Alpha Egg's important core competitiveness. With the support of powerful underlying technology, Xiao Lei believes that Alpha Egg can not only continue to lead in the electronic dictionary pen market but also has a good chance of success in exploring other new markets in the future.

After all, parents who genuinely want to do something for their children always have boundless motivation, and success comes naturally.

Source: Leitech