Reinventing the Millennium

In late February, Fang Zhuo held several consecutive meetings at Hang Lung 23 before flying to Tokyo.

On the one hand, it further clarified the job system of Tesco, confirmed that Su Wei, vice president of Yike, will be more responsible for the subsidiary Tesco in the future, and divided the authority of Tesco's purchasing, logistics, warehousing and other departments.

There is currently no move to fill the power vacancy of Vice President Su Weiyike. Fang Zhuo expressed his attitude in his words that he would take charge of it himself. However, many senior executives present at the meeting were ready to make a move, feeling that the boss would eventually promote someone. Vice President.

On the other hand, Fang Zhuo listened and studied the competition from Penguin.

The Paipai.com that Penguin values ​​​​is heading towards eBay and Taobao, but the first two months of 2005 are about to pass, and objectively speaking, its performance cannot be described as "tepid".

As for the Q-style blog Qzone, which is valued by Sina.com, its performance after its official launch on January 1st exceeded many people's expectations. It was not that the conversion of QQ traffic was so fierce, but that the Qzone it created seemed to have gone away from Sina Blog. Both directions.

Qzone is very popular, but its popularity has hardly affected the development momentum of blogging.

According to Fang Zhuo's internal meeting evaluation, Qzone made the blog a private domain traffic of QQ, while Sina blog was closer to the public domain.

The fresh mention of "private domain" and "public domain" became known to the outside world within two days, and reporters even interviewed Ma Huateng, the head of Penguin.

"Mr. Fang's statement is very interesting. From the current point of view, our space is indeed more private, and it is more about interaction between chat friends. Sina's blog is also more public-oriented, but I believe that with development, the relationship between public and private The boundaries will not be so clear." Ma Huateng said.

The reporter also wanted to interview Mr. Fang, the person involved. However, Yi Ke declined the interview.

On February 25, Fang Zhuo boarded a flight to Tokyo. In addition to his assistant, he also brought Xu Keden, Yike's product director, with him, thinking he could chat about the company's new projects.

On this morning, the Forbes Rich List belatedly announced last year's list of mainland China's richest people.

Fang Zhuo easily retained his title as the richest man.

Ding Lei, who was second last year, slipped to seventh place, and was replaced by Huang Yuyu. The listing of Gome in Xiangjiang greatly increased his wealth.

Zhang Chaoyang, who ranked 20th last year, fell to 83rd, with a huge fluctuation.

In addition to the performance of the leaders of these three old portal websites, more Internet industry tycoons appear on the entire list, such as Chen Tianqiao, Ma Huateng, Li Yanhong, etc.

Regarding another year's richest rankings, there are still reporters who want to interview Mr. Fang. However, Mr. Fang has turned off his mobile phone and boarded the flight abroad. However, he did have a brief discussion on the matter with Product Director Xu Keden.

"Mr. Fang, you have become the richest man again!" Xu Keden was quite excited when he talked about this.

"Well, I wonder if Baidu's listing this year can shake up this position." Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Xu Keden said in surprise: "Mr. Fang, are you so optimistic about Baidu?"

"The MIGA funds are waiting to buy its stock. Teacher Xu, don't forget to buy it when the time comes." Fang Zhuo flipped through the magazine, "It's the Chinese version of Google. It will definitely perform well on the market."

"Isn't Google coming to China to compete with it?" Xu Keden asked.

Fang Zhuo replied casually: "The local competition of any international giant is a big challenge for them. eBay is like this, Amazon is like this, and Google is certainly no exception."

Xu Keden was thoughtful and suddenly asked: "When Apple's iPod comes to China? Will it also face such challenges?"

"The price of MP3 in China has dropped very low, and the country cannot form a moat for software and music. It is useless for anyone to come. We can't effectively solve this problem." Fang Zhuo said with a smile.

Yike's products have been adjusted according to the domestic situation, and it has the largest share. However, the competition in this market is staggeringly fierce, and the iMusic+ music set can only play a small role.

On the contrary, using the endorsements and songs of emerging singers such as Jay Chou can bring far greater benefits than the integration of software and hardware.

The price of MP3 music players has dropped again and again, but the signature models of singers such as Jay Chou and the laser lyrics engraving provided by the players make Yike still the most recognized brand.

Xu Keden nodded and picked up the newspaper he bought before boarding the plane.

"However, this time I'm calling Teacher Xu. I also want to talk to you about Yike's new project." Fang Zhuo said seriously.

"Yigou?" Xu Keden glanced at Mr. Fang, "Not Yigou?"

"No, I heard that Apple is making mobile phones and we need a benchmarking project." Fang Zhuo gave the answer.

Xu Keden was surprised.

As the main designer of Yike products, he pays close attention to the news about competitors and has never heard of any plans to make mobile phones.

He did not doubt the boss's source of information. He pondered for a while and said, "If it is used as a mobile phone, it will affect our player."

Fang Zhuo said categorically: "It will definitely have an impact."

Xu Keden was startled by the boss's tone.

"As long as Apple makes a mobile phone, it will definitely integrate music and integrate iTunes on the mobile phone. This is not difficult, it is the future direction." Fang Zhuo said.

Xu Keden pondered.

Fang Zhuo continued: "So, we also need to make mobile phones, whether it is for our own business or the larger market, this is an inevitable choice."

Unless you start cashing out Yike's stocks now, even though Yike's music player has music copyrights from Sony and other companies, it will definitely be hit by the iPhone's dimensionality reduction, and then Yike's stock price will plummet.

The current stock price of Yike can maintain or even grow, relying on the growth of music players that cannot see the downward trend.

How long can such an increase be maintained?

Apple's first generation iPhone was released in 2007.

In other words, it is only two years or less than two years.

If it fails to respond properly, a listed company with a market capitalization that once reached billions of dollars may cause everyone to see what is called a roller coaster decline.

Fang Zhuo's destination for this trip is Tokyo. What he wants to see is the excitement of Sony. Similar examples are right in front of him. Sony is better than Sony. In the past two years, it has given people the impression that it will not work if it doesn't work. It's so bad now. Foreign chairman should be used to save development.

Therefore, there is a certain reason why Buffett was reluctant to invest in technology stocks - technology is developing too fast, and there is no telling when the products a company relies on will be crushed by the times.

"So... we need a mobile phone with excellent music functions to compete with competitors." Xu Keden thought, "A music phone? Better decoding chip + larger storage + larger Battery life?"

Fang Zhuo overturned: "No, we need a good mobile phone."

Xu Keden: "?"

According to what Mr. Fang just said, what Yike wants to do is to compete with competitors' mobile phones that integrate the functions of today's iPods. Then, the logic is very simple, as long as the current mobile phones have better music performance.

Nowadays, the music copyright moat of Yike Player can still be transplanted to mobile phones.

"We need a good mobile phone. What we need is a good mobile phone that also integrates music functions, not the other way around." Fang Zhuo seriously smoothed out this logic, "We are not building a mobile phone for music, but we need an excellent mobile phone." A mobile phone with advanced, industrial design and beautiful appearance.”

Xu Keden was silent.

He hesitated for a while and asked: "Mr. Fang, are you looking for the wrong target? It sounds like what we need to compete with is not Apple, but Nokia."

You know, Nokia has ranked first in global mobile phone sales for almost ten consecutive years!

"Well, Nokia is very strong, but if we put aside this fact and just talk about our own goals, Yike needs a breakthrough mobile phone with excellent industrial design." Fang Zhuo gave a way of thinking.

Xu Keden said in confusion: "How can we ignore the fact? This fact is right here."

He continued: "When we make mobile phones, it's impossible to bypass Nokia, right? It accounts for nearly 75% of the world's mobile phone sales. Any company trying to make mobile phones must learn from it, right?"

Xu Keden took out his mobile phone, which was a Nokia with strong quality.

He asked: "Mr. Fang, your mobile phone is also a Nokia, right?"

Fang Zhuo nodded: "Both."

Xu Keden spread his hands: "Then I really don't quite understand what Mr. Fang means."

"Just follow what I said, put aside this fact, if we want to make a mobile phone that is so good that it makes people scream, what will it look like? How will it appear in front of us." Fang Zhuo followed the instructions.

Due to the reputation of being the richest man in the new year, the product director reluctantly put aside the fact that Nokia was a brand and tried hard to think about what kind of mobile phone would make people scream.

After a while, Fang Zhuo gave an example: "For example, a full touch screen mobile phone?"

Xu Keden screamed softly: "Full touch screen? Mr. Fang, this is really outstanding!"

Fang Zhuo: "..."

"Mr. Fang, we can't find a new way just for the sake of being new and different. Can we cancel the buttons and make them all screens?" Xu Corden directly took off his Nokia stylus, poked at the screen, and questioned, "Like this? This How inconvenient is it?”

Fang Zhuo admitted: "This is quite inconvenient for you."

Xu Corden stopped poking and nodded.

"So, we can't use a stylus or a resistive screen." Fang Zhuo said, "Maybe we can try a capacitive screen."

The difference between a resistive screen and a capacitive screen is that the former uses pressure conduction and needs to be poked and prodded, while the latter can use the human body's current induction. Moreover, the capacitive screen supports multi-point touch, while the resistive screen can only touch a single point.

Corden Xu frowned.

"Teacher Xu, let's diversify our thinking first, and don't limit ourselves to existing mobile phones. When I come to Japan this time, I also want to see the development of capacitive screens and see if there is hope to complete such an idea." Fang Zhuo said with a smile. , "Bold assumptions, careful verification."

Xu Keden said slowly: "It is difficult to get any response from a full touch screen with a stylus. If I remember correctly, Motorola launched a similar product, either in 2001 or 2000, which seems to be the A6188."

"But if there is a capacitive screen, well..."

"It's also very difficult. Nokia is so strong. Even if we launch a touch-screen mobile phone and the response is very good, won't Nokia follow immediately? If it were me, I would know How to do it."

"In this case, we still have to think about how to deal with Nokia, not Apple's mobile phone project."

Xu Keden straightened out his thinking: "Moreover, Nokia's Symbian system is very smart. If we want to better present music effects, must we also be based on this foundation? Mr. Fang, do you think that's right?"

"First of all, Mr. Xu, if Yike wants to make mobile phones, it must be done or not. Otherwise, our company's market value will definitely take a hit. This is the premise." Fang Zhuo raised a finger and continued, "Secondly, a mobile phone based on a capacitive screen is unprecedented. We need to make it. As for the subsequent business competition, we must consider it after making it."

Fang Zhuo asked: "Can we agree on these two premises?"

Xu Keden understands this very well.

"That's it for now, we'll talk about it when we get to Tokyo." Fang Zhuo pointed to his temples, indicating that everyone should think about the matter separately.

Xu Keden silently stuffed the newspaper back and played with the Nokia in his hand. One was the international giant Nokia, the other was the resistive screen and the capacitive screen. His thoughts were quite confusing.

Fang Zhuo is very sober. As for Yike's choice to make mobile phones, as he just said, it is a semi-active and semi-passive choice. If you don't make it, you will be beaten to death by Apple. Only after you make it, will it be possible to continue to maintain or even increase the stock price and market value.

In addition, the demand for chips driven by smartphones is not comparable to that of televisions and music players.

What is the best direction for ice cores?

It is like Samsung to establish a top-down IDM model enterprise that integrates multiple industry chain links.

IDM, Integrated Device Manufacture.

Only by exerting the effect of 1+1+1+1 greater than 4, can Ice Core be driven to develop to the point where it can challenge TSMC.

Likewise, only by exerting this effect can the mobile phone market face the world's best mobile phones head-on.

Linkage, linkage, we must link up the links in the industrial chain to create a shock wave.

Specific to the mobile phone that I just discussed with Mr. Xu, in addition to hardware and industrial design, the importance of software system is not less than the former. This is one of the reasons why Nokia cannot immediately follow the competition as Mr. Xu said.

No giant can easily give up the trump card in its hand. No one can accept the reality without some hesitation, but if it does so, it is likely to miss the golden time.

Nokia is like this, Sony is like this too.

Fang Zhuo went to Tokyo to visit Sony, and then he had to return to China to pay attention to the launch of e-commerce and games. Then he would fly to the United States. He had to see what the Android system that Google had developed by bringing together dozens of companies looked like now.

"Mr. Fang, I suddenly discovered something. Why do you always have trouble with international giants?" Xu Keden suddenly asked quietly. Nokia is a giant with a market value of over 200 billion euros!

Fang Zhuo asked disapprovingly: "Who doesn't want to eat meat?"

Xu Keden was startled.

"How else do you think I, the richest man in the Mainland, got here?" Fang Zhuo smiled and shook the magazine in his hand.

Xu Keden understands, this is like Mr. Fang learning, Quixote-style killing the windmill!