Reinventing the Millennium

Ice cores can be brought to market at the speed of light.

However, shadow shareholders haven’t won yet.

Fang Zhuo believes that signals cannot be released in this way. He feels that it should be more difficult and tortuous, give some bad news when necessary, lower the valuation and go public with a break-even.

After all, the shadow shareholder's first priority must be to win the election. After he wins, it will probably be even more painful to look at the property issues.

It's only been a month.

Fang Zhuo had thoughts swirling in his mind, but aside from some designs, it has been almost ten years since the Ice Core was launched in 2003. It is indeed not easy for everyone. It is more or less able to recover blood after it is launched. It is probably both painful and happy.

However, the top priority is still the process research and development and technology replacement of ice cores. The former is a risk decision based on real conditions led by Liang Mengsong, while the latter is also forced to turn a spare tire into a regular one.

Progress in both directions will have far-reaching consequences in the coming years and even decades.

Fang Zhuo endured his temper and dialed the phone without thinking of Bingxin. He still focused on Yike's new products this year. As for the cloud business and Baidu information that Qi He talked about, he didn't take it to heart. Aren't these things? When they show their ability.

With the head of Yike denying the rumors of "swan song", the popularity of Yike's new phone continues to rise.

Mars 6 Pro is not on sale, but the standard version of Mars 6 is fully stocked. Just as many people predicted, even if the standard version does not have a full screen, its upgrades and materials this year are above the standard.

Fang Zhuo mentioned the problem of the Android camp in the interview, "The metabolism of major brands is very fast, and intensive product updates make Android appear confusing." This has led to a situation that other Android phones always have more or less user experience. There are few problems.

For example, Yusanjia dominated the market for three months, and only a few brands were head-to-head with each other. Most brands gave way one after another. The resulting advance or delay can easily lead to chain reactions, and it is easy for omissions to be made in product polishing.

As for step-by-step manufacturers like Samsung and Yike, let alone innovation, they have plenty of time to build a bucket machine that is similar in all aspects.

The Pro version is out of stock and has not yet been opened for pre-order. Part of the popularity it generated has been transferred to Mars and Selfy, and sales are encouraging.

Yike did not hesitate to share the news. When the media, friendly merchants and some enthusiastic consumers were speculating on the performance of new products, it directly gave official data.

"The first week sales of Mars6 and Selyf3 reached 5.5 million units, and the Pro version will be delivered according to the time node at the press conference."

When Schroeder, Vice President of Yike America, faced the media, he disclosed the results with a smile on his face.

This is a starting sales figure that sounds like it will reach the boss’s sales target.

In the next few months, there will be regular promotional festivals in both Europe, the United States and China, which will undoubtedly increase product sales again. In addition, the official launch of the full-screen Pro will also drive results in major markets.

Yi Ke's frankness made many people feel... uncomfortable.

This time, including Baidu, they are also paying close attention to Yike’s signals this round.

However, although Baidu has produced OEM mobile phones, it is obviously an outsider and does not understand the deeper meaning. It only knows "big sales".

When executives asked industry professionals, their mood inevitably became heavier.

Yike's brand power has been further enhanced.

Its shipments in the next year may really exceed 100 million units.

And, there is additional news, Conexian Mobile will release another new phone in January, which is said to be extremely competitive...

Lu Zhendong, vice president of Baidu, has summarized the business competition he is responsible for. He believes that Yike's attitude towards supporting Sogou is resolute and the competition with him is of a very high strategic level. That also means... With Yike's another major development Sell, Baidu may become more and more difficult to implement its mobile strategy.

The financial backers behind Sogou are getting richer and richer, and the subordinates of the financial backers behind Sogou are getting bigger and bigger. This is really not good news.

Lu Zhendong talked about the urgency and necessity of strategy implementation at an internal meeting. He believed that we should not wait for Yike, Kesheng, and Sogou to become stronger before passively competing, but should be more proactive.

On September 10, another high-level meeting of Baidu was held to discuss the development of new businesses.

With the emphasis on transforming the mobile market, a question between urgent and not urgent is also facing us: whether the company should increase its efforts to transform.

As a giant that dominates the domestic search market, the search engine business model is very mature. However, Baidu today has not developed more businesses that can support further growth.

This kind of development and transformation has a good benchmark and learning object, Google.

Although Google has always been at a disadvantage in the domestic market due to insufficient localization, it is well-deserved No. 1 in the global market, and has successfully obtained tickets for the mobile market and made a vibrant smartphone system Android. .

This kind of transformation is really enviable.

Baidu cannot learn to build mobile phone systems in the domestic market.

Should I learn it earlier? It seems there is no point in learning it earlier.

The discussion atmosphere in the high-level meeting was more serious. Because they were all our own people, they did not pretend to be foreign guests. They analyzed Google's transformation strategy and existing business in great detail.

"Smartphones have already supported Yike. There will definitely be no space in the future, but we still have to invest more in technology." Director Cao Xiaodong said eloquently, "I think the direction Google has chosen is quite good. They are doing things well. The layout was very early, just like at the beginning, who would have thought that the mobile phone market could set off such crazy waves."

He continued: "Google announced its entry into the field of self-driving cars two years ago. They are very serious and serious. They have also cooperated with Toyota to develop self-driving cars."

"This unmanned car, this autonomous driving, relies on artificial intelligence technology. I think it is very inspiring."

Cao Xiaodong knew the topic of today's meeting and was well prepared.

There is no more suitable person to learn from than Google. They are all engaged in search engines. They are international giants, have successfully undergone transformation, and are still at the forefront of the world. So what else is there to say?

"Yike is also very interested in artificial intelligence now." Li Yanhong mentioned Yike's name and said, "Fang Zhuo also listed artificial intelligence as a future direction a few years ago, and now it seems that he is really putting it into practice. They Siri on the mobile phone is said to have poached many people in Silicon Valley, which is worth noting."

Artificial intelligence, autonomous driving.

This is a direction that both giants value and invest in.

Vice President Lu Zhendong heard that the topic extended to Yike and interjected: "Yike's new mobile phone is very successful. The media in the United States estimates that this trend may lead to its shipments reaching 110-120 million in the next year. , this is too scary.”

"Yike is going to become our domestic Nokia, which will put a lot of pressure on our mobile strategy."

Lu Zhendong glanced at the director Tong Changwen next to him. This person is responsible for the user growth of Baidu's mobile ecosystem and can also feel the pressure brought by the Yike Department.

"We now have direct competition with Yike in multiple markets." Tong Changwen took over and listed, "For example, group buying, maps, video websites... Also, our core search is also Facing increased pressure from Yike.”

Baidu's entry into group buying is a belated arrival, and it is the third company to be acquired following Alibaba's footsteps.

Mi Tuan, an O2O website founded by Lei Jun, is now No. 1 in the group buying market, but Alibaba launched an attack with Word of Mouth and has no intention of letting Mi Tuan continue to expand.

Baidu has been considering the development of new businesses recently, and is thinking about how to monetize its traffic, so it follows the trend and joins in, starting a new round of chaos led by giants.

The same is true for the map navigation market, but another role has been replaced by Penguin. Although Alibaba exists, its presence in this area is relatively weak. Currently, Yike, Baidu, and Penguin are competing.

As for video websites, the market that can directly import traffic is also fiercely competitive.

Baidu, Penguin, and Yike, the three giants all hold a large amount of traffic. Alibaba has eclipsed a lot in the field of traffic. However, the funds it has obtained from the e-commerce market are very abundant.

Competition in multiple fields has been the foundation of the market in the past two years, and Sogou's increase in market share has allowed Baidu to increase its focus on its core business, and thus more systematically examine its competition with Yike.

"Maps and group purchases take a long time to do, but they do require investment. Without investment, we can't do it." Li Yanhong said slowly, "In the search business, we used to not be afraid of Google, and now we are naturally not afraid of Sogou. Before, we are not afraid of Sogou. Now that we have signed agreements with Samsung and Apple, we should be more proactive."

He thought for a moment and emphasized this point again: "We need to be more proactive. Since Fang Zhuo has promoted the competition between Sogou and us, he must have comprehensive strategic considerations. We cannot wait for his attack, and we cannot be like Penguin in the communications field." The hinterland was captured.”

Baidu has invested heavily in its mobile strategy and won over Samsung and Apple. However, with the exposure of Yike's first week sales, it always felt that this was not enough.

Li Yanhong personally called his friends in the mobile phone industry. When they talked about the global sales and future estimates of Yike mobile phones, the tone was simply... shocking!

"Robin, Yike will definitely usher in a rapid growth cycle!"

"You see that the current Yike has by no means realized its full potential. If nothing else, our domestic growth alone still has at least five years left!"

"If Baidu wants to compete with Yike, it's better to get rid of its foothold as early as possible. Otherwise, I think Penguin is the best example."

"Robin, Baidu is facing an international giant that doesn't need to localize at all. You can't take it too seriously!"

Li Yanhong thought about his friend's advice, looked around at the executives in the conference room, and emphasized again: "Our business, especially the core search, must be offensive."

The executives nodded in unison. Robin was willing to spend money, so the offense was naturally easy to hit.

…

Yike Company is constantly working hard to satisfy the needs of different channels.

Fang Zhuo, on the other hand, gave himself a holiday after two weeks of intensive work to do something that must be seriously considered.

"This name is really hard to come up with. Well... Weiwei, it's up to you to come up with it."

Fang Zhuo and Su Wei discussed the name of the child. He sat down and thought about it. His mind was empty and he really didn't have many ideas.

"No, it's up to you." Su Wei was determined.

Facing the current Weiwei, Fang Zhuo had no choice but to work hard to meet her request. He thought about it and said slowly: "A gentleman speaks with his actions, and a villain speaks with his tongue..."

Su Wei heard this sentence, with expectation in her eyes.

"How about calling me Fang Junzi?" Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Su Wei made a serious face: "You can't impose what you don't have on your children. People hope that their children will become dragons. Do you still hope that your children will become gentlemen?"

Fang Zhuo was annoyed, thought for a while, and suggested again: "As the saying goes, a gentleman loves money and gets it in a proper way..."

Su Wei wants to see what ivory this man spits out.

"How about calling me Fang Aicai?" Fang Zhuo laughed again.

"I might as well just let you go and call me Fang Wudao." Su Wei complained.

"Well, actually..." Fang Zhuo's efforts were interrupted by a phone call.

Seeing this, Su Wei said angrily: "Okay, I'll check the dictionary again, it really doesn't work. The nickname comes first, and it's called 'Perfunctory'."

Fang Zhuo ignored the accusation against himself and answered the call from Qi He.

"Mr. Fang, you may need to summarize the competition between Baidu and us. Wang Xiaochuan from Sogou called me and talked about a relatively important situation." Qi He knew that the boss was on holiday today, so he spoke a little faster, "Samsung and Apple’s browser has canceled Sogou in terms of search engine selection.”

Fang Zhuo frowned: "Cancelled?"

"Yes, the default is Baidu. If you scroll down, you can see Bing, 360, Youdao and other searches. We originally had ours, but starting from the past two days, Sogou has disappeared from both companies." Qi He continued, "Wang Xiaochuan asked for confirmation privately and said it was a strong request from Baidu."

Fang Zhuo asked: "Do YMS manufacturers have Baidu as their other choice?"

Qi He replied: "Yes, Sogou has negotiated with Baidu, and the answer there is that they are the best search, and yes, it is normal and should not be used as a condition of exchange."

"Hmm...it's a bit unreasonable." Fang Zhuo said with a smile, "Is there anything else?"

"Another problem that arises is that some medical and health content providers are said to be required to provide exclusive content to Baidu that cannot be displayed on other engines." Qi He said.

"It sounds like a bit of a monopoly." Fang Zhuo thought for a while, "Isn't this trying to gain market dominance?"

Qi He said "hmm" and said, "Preliminary statistics and estimates suggest that there are probably 60 mainstream companies."

Fang Zhuo's voice became more serious: "Why start with content providers in this field?"

"Well, medical advertising is the core battlefield of advertising revenue. Baidu has never disclosed this information in detail, but according to Sogou, oh, I also checked the estimates from IDC, this area accounts for at least 20% of its advertising revenue. ." Qi He quoted the data and said, "Now that we are exclusive from here, we may also be afraid that Sogou will get this generous income, forming a healthier cycle."

He added: "After all, there are only a few companies that can contribute advertising revenue, such as e-commerce, retail, local services, medical and finance. Baidu is now stepping up its offensive against Sogou."

Fang Zhuo pondered for a while and commented: "Baidu is a little crazy."

Qi He's voice suddenly lowered a little: "Mr. Fang, I have thought of a way to bring Sogou into the game."

Fang Zhuo said calmly: "Aren't you talking about Baidu? Why are you talking about Sogou? That is our partner."

"No force, no force, just go with the flow." Qi He said immediately.

Fang Zhuo thought about the attack he heard from Baidu and did not listen further. He just said: "When I finish my vacation, Qi He, Qi He, you have to pay attention to the propriety in what you do now. If Baidu wants to come up, then the main competition is there."

Qi He solemnly said: "Yes, Mr. Fang!" (End of this chapter)