Rebirth of the Industrial Tycoon

A video is playing on the computer. In the center of the video is a thin man wearing rimless round glasses. He is holding a small rectangular parallelepiped in his hand.

This thin man is none other than Steve Jobs of Apple, and the cuboid he holds in his hand is Apple's first-generation smartphone, the iPhone.

I saw Jobs swiping his finger on the phone screen to enlarge a picture. On the big screen behind him, the picture was also enlarged.

"Alas!"

The audience in the audience immediately burst into exclamations, followed by continuous applause.

For people at that time, being able to enlarge photos on a mobile phone by sliding a finger was simply an astonishing operation.

But it’s normal if you think about it carefully. The first-generation iPhone has a pitiful 3.5-inch screen. Those with bad eyesight really have to enlarge the photo to see clearly. This feature is really needed.

The emergence of smartphones will not only bring a revolution in communication, but also an information revolution, completely changing people's lives.

Functions such as landline phones, cameras, camcorders, televisions, PCs, newspapers and magazines, etc., are gradually being replaced by smartphones. Online shopping, takeout, taxis and other functions have completely changed human life styles.

However, in 2007, when the first-generation iPhone was just released, no one realized the huge changes that smartphones would bring to mankind. People generally regarded smartphones as a technological and trendy mobile communication device.

Therefore, Jobs's press conference, which has been recorded in history, only caused some waves in the technology industry, and received far less attention than the following Apple product conferences.

At that time, not many Chinese netizens were paying attention to Apple's press conference. After all, China was still dominated by traditional mobile phone brands such as Nokia and Motorola at that time.

At that time, what Chinese netizens were most concerned about was probably the news of the debut of the J-10 fighter jet.

The Chinese Air Force began to replace the J-10 fighter jets as early as 2004, but it was not until 2007 that the Aviation Industry Corporation of China officially disclosed the J-10 fighter jets to the outside world.

China has a self-developed high-performance, multi-purpose third-generation fighter jet, which is more topical than a mobile phone launch conference on the other side of the world.

However, Li Weidong knows how much the world will change with the emergence of smartphones.

"Smartphone, this is a big cash cow!" Li Weidong showed an expression ready to move.

After entering the Internet era, consumer electronic products are the industry that is most likely to generate cash flow.

After Apple launched the iPhone, in just a few years it became the company with the most cash in the world. Xiaomi, which focuses on cost-effectiveness, has a low net profit margin in this industry, and can still easily reserve hundreds of billions in cash.

When the United States restricted Huawei, its main target was its mobile phone business, and it was also intended to hit Huawei's cash flow.

Huawei's mobile phone business continuously provides financial guarantee for Huawei's research and development. Once cash flow is restricted, it will limit Huawei's continued investment in research and development in communication technology, which will slow down the pace of Huawei's technology research and development.

"The iPhone has just been released, and smartphones have just started. Maybe we can try to enter this industry."

Thinking of this, Li Weidong picked up the phone. He planned to find a few people in the industry to inquire about this news.

…

In the 2G era, smartphones were still unable to compete with feature phones. It was not until the 3G era that the advantages of smartphones gradually became apparent and more and more functions were provided, and feature phones were gradually eliminated.

In 2007, it was the era when feature phones were in full bloom, including tablets, clamshells, sliders, large screens, dual screens, high-pixel cameras, clear sound quality, and all kinds of styles.

When it comes to making mobile phones, Huaqiangbei in the Special Economic Zone is naturally the first choice in China.

In the era of feature phones, Huaqiangbei was the base camp for copycat mobile phones. Huaqiangbei not only imitated mobile phones from big brands such as Nokia and Motorola, but also had many small brands that assembled their own mobile phones. Many brands even had the ability to innovate on their own.

Li Weidong quickly contacted an individual owner who was doing copycat phone business in Huaqiangbei, and his business was relatively large.

This man's name is Chen Nandu, a young man in his twenties.

Chen Nandu was born in rural Jiangxi. After graduating from junior high school and completing the nine-year compulsory education, he went to work in the city. He first worked in a factory in the special zone. Later, he felt that the assembly line work was too boring and boring, so he went to work in a shop in Huaqiangbei. Become an apprentice and learn how to repair and flash mobile phones.

Chen Nandu is also a person who is willing to study hard. After a period of hard work, he mastered most of the mobile phone assembly skills, so he planned to go out alone and rented a small storefront of less than five square meters in Huaqiangbei. his path to wealth.

From a small shop selling knock-off phones, to an ordinary agent, to a large agent, and finally became the exclusive agent of a manufacturer, Chen Nan has earned hundreds of millions of dollars by selling knock-off phones. In Huaqiangbei alone, there are There are more than a dozen stores, and many colleagues in Huaqiangbei who sell knockoff phones will come to Chen Nandu to pick up the goods.

But Chen Nandu was not satisfied with all this. He opened an electronics factory and started a one-stop production and sales process.

Being in his twenties and worth hundreds of millions is a very big deal today. In Huaqiangbei, Chen Nandu is also known as the "little prince of copycat machines".

But in front of a top industrial tycoon like Li Weidong, Chen Nandu is still a little shrimp. Having the opportunity to make friends with business tycoons like Li Weidong was something Chen Nan could only dream of.

In the reception room, Chen Nandu personally made a cup of Gongfu tea for Li Weidong.

"Chairman Li, try this tea. This is my treasure." Chen Nandu said.

"Mr. Chen is interested." Li Weidong picked up the tea cup.

"Just call me Xiao Chen." Chen Nandu said quickly.

Li Weidong smiled and said, "How much older am I than you? Otherwise, I'll just call you Nandu."

"You can call it whatever you like." Chen Nan said.

Li Weidong continued: "Nandu, I came to see you this time mainly because I want to know about the situation of the domestic mobile phone supply chain."

"Mobile phone supply chain?" Chen Nandu was stunned for a moment, then asked: "Are you just a mobile phone assembly plant?"

This time, Li Weidong was a little at a loss. Chen Nan was a "little prince of copycat phones", and Huaqiangbei was the leader of copycat phones, but he didn't even know what a supply chain was!

So Li Weidong said: "Then let's talk about the mobile phone assembly factory!"

"There are mobile phone assembly factories all over the Pearl River Delta, especially in Dongguan. If you look at the electronics factory signs hanging on the roadsides, they are all mobile phone assembly factories." Chen Nandu answered.

"Are they all making copycat phones?" Li Weidong asked.

"There are also OEMs for regular brands." Chen Nandu continued: "But they are all small brands. Big brands like Nokia have their own production plants, and they are also large exporters!"

"Does Nokia's factory also do assembly?" Li Weidong asked again.

"The main business is assembly, but we also produce some simple parts. For example, mobile phone cases, mobile phone buttons, etc." Chen Nandu replied.

"They are all the lowest-end components in the supply chain." Li Weidong frowned slightly.

In the era of feature phones, mobile phone giants such as Motorola and Nokia have production plants in China, and some manufacturers also undertake their OEM business.

However, these manufacturing plants are mainly engaged in product assembly, and the supply chain of parts and components is not located in China. Even if they are placed in China, they are only the lowest-end components such as mobile phone cases and keyboards.

At that time, although Nokia's Dongguan factory was one of the city's top export companies, because parts and components were imported from abroad, China could only earn an assembly labor fee. It was really exporting products worth several hundred dollars, and earning a few dollars. divided profits.

Motorola entered China much earlier than Nokia. When pagers were still in use, Motorola began to set up assembly plants in China. Of course, they did not bring their high-tech core components business to China.

Li Weidong then asked: "For foreign brands, the main components are shipped from abroad. What about domestic brands of mobile phones? Where do their components come from? Such as screens, motherboards, processors, memory, etc."

"As for screens, good-quality color screens still have to be imported. Japanese screens have the best quality and high definition, while Korean screens are worse. Domestic manufacturers can also produce poor-quality color screens and black-and-white screens."

Chen Nandu paused and then continued: "As for motherboards, processors, and memory, you can directly purchase them in sets, that is, buy a complete set and install them all together."

"You mean a whole module?" Li Weidong asked.

"Yes, most of the components are on the motherboard. After they are shipped, you can connect the battery and screen and put on a mobile phone case." Chen Nandu nodded.

"It's so convenient! It's not the same as inserting building blocks." Li Weidong nodded in realization, and then asked: "Is this module you are talking about made by a specialized company?"

"They are all supplied by MediaTek, and they just make this directly! Everything is available on one motherboard, and you can use it directly. Not only do brand mobile phones use theirs, we also buy from them when we make knockoff phones. I heard that MediaTek We can sell more than 100 million mobile phone motherboards like this every year!" Chen Nandu replied.

"MediaTek? The name of the father of copycat mobile phones is really not in vain!" Li Weidong nodded silently.

In later generations, MediaTek was known as Qualcomm's biggest competitor. In fact, MediaTek started its business by making copycat mobile phones.

In 1997, Tsai Mingjie founded MediaTek. At that time, MediaTek was making DVD chips. Later, it began to specialize in mobile phones and digital TV fields.

In the field of mobile phone chips, MediaTek is not Qualcomm's opponent, so MediaTek has found another way to reduce prices and concentrate various components on the motherboard of mobile phones.

Buyers only need to purchase this set of modules, and then connect the battery, display, camera and other hardware to assemble a one-step mobile phone directly.

This is undoubtedly the biggest benefit for manufacturers of copycat mobile phones.

Those copycat mobile phone manufacturers don't have much technology to begin with, and if they are given parts and components, they may not be able to assemble a mobile phone. Nowadays, with ready-made modules, assembling a mobile phone becomes just a matter of connecting a few wires, which is extremely simple.

It is also because of this wave of operations by MediaTek that it has created domestic copycat mobile phone manufacturers, so MediaTek’s head Cai Mingjie is also called the “father of copycat mobile phones.”

However, in the field of smartphones, MediaTek made a mistake. They did not slow down in the smartphone business.

The peak period of copycat phones lasted until 2009. After 3G gradually became available, functional phones began to gain popularity rapidly.

MediaTek is also a bonus from copycat phones. It was not until 2010 that MediaTek joined Google's Mobile Phone Open Alliance, and only in 2011 did it launch the mt6573 mobile phone chip for functional mobile phones.

The chip industry has always said that one step is slow and every step is slow. MediaTek has been slow this step, resulting in Qualcomm being pressured in the future. The chip is inferior to Qualcomm in terms of price and performance.

After some inquiries, Li Weidong understood that none of the core components of mobile phones could be produced by Chinese companies.

Even for mobile phone batteries, the quality of domestic batteries is much worse than imported batteries. Not only do they have a short service life, but they are also easily damaged.

It doesn’t even have a component industry chain for feature phones, and it’s simply a fantasy to still want to make a smartphone!

"It seems that it is impossible to make smartphones at this time. There is no such supply chain in China." Li Weidong sighed lightly, and then asked: "Nandu, Apple in the United States has released a new mobile phone. It’s called iPhone, do you know?”

"I heard from colleagues that it is a high-tech product and its price is several times that of other mobile phones. I guess not many people can afford it!" Chen Nandu said.

"Do you think we can make this kind of mobile phone? Even if it's a knockoff." Li Weidong asked again.

"We can't copy this kind of high-tech product." Chen Nandu shook his head decisively.

"It seems that with the level of the domestic supply chain, it is still impossible to make a smartphone in a short time. If you want to make a smartphone, you still have to rely on foreign supply chains." Li Weidong thought to himself.

For the first generation of iPhones, the supply chain mainly comes from Japan and South Korea, in addition to American companies. For example, the 3.5-inch multi-touch screen comes from Japan's Sharp, and the 90-nanometer chip is produced by South Korea's Samsung.

I am afraid that the big cake of smartphones will not be available in two or three years, so Li Weidong has to make other plans.

"Since we can't make a smartphone yet, it's better to start from another angle. Maybe I can make a mobile phone system first!"

Thinking of this, Li Weidong took out his mobile phone and dialed his assistant's number.

"Help me make an appointment with Mr. Lei from Kingsoft Company and tell him that I have a project related to software and I want to talk to him about it."

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

Thank you for your subscription. Thank you for your concern. My eyes are almost healed. Although they are still a little red, I can look at the computer and should be able to return to normal work.