Reinventing the Millennium

Fang Zhuo’s meeting with Qualcomm Vice President Anderson only discussed cooperation with operators.

In fact, the two parties still had a cooperation tendency involving ice core foundry before, but they both tacitly agreed not to mention it today.

In addition to the threshold conditions in the process technology, the consensus basis for the cooperation between Bingxin and Qualcomm is the adoption of Yike mobile phone chip solution. Now with the emergence of variables in the Verizon operator of Qualcomm's 3G standard camp, the prospects for future cooperation remain to be negotiated and observed.

For Qualcomm, its relationship with V vendors is a small bargaining chip at the operator level, and it needs to be bet carefully.

For Yike, TI's chips are still on the list of alternatives. Qualcomm can indeed bring multiple benefits, but the first contradiction at hand is to polish a good mobile phone.

However, even if there are variables and considerations of their own interests, both parties absolutely hope to work together smoothly and take what they need to jointly create a star smartphone product. Otherwise, Fang Zhuo and Anderson would not have quickly reconciled after meeting. Communicate with Google and V merchants.

The meeting with Anderson ended near midnight.

Fang Zhuo's mind was filled with things like Google, Android, mobile phones, Qualcomm, operators, etc., and it was inevitable that he would feel mentally tired.

By the time we got back to the hotel and finished washing up, it was already one o'clock in the morning.

Fang Zhuo calculated the time and found that it was exactly one o'clock in Shanghai before work in the afternoon, so he called Su Wei.

"Hey, Weiwei, what are you doing?" he asked while picking up another mobile phone, a Motorola.

"Wait." Su Wei replied calmly.

Immediately afterwards, Fang Zhuo heard her voice briefly summarize the content and announce the end of the meeting.

Su Wei's voice sounded again with a brisk smile: "Of course I'm thinking of you."

Fang Zhuo pointed out one point: "You are obviously in a meeting! I just made the call because I didn't think it would affect your work."

"Yigou is also very busy. Do you think only Yike and Bingxin are busy?" Su Wei said with a smile, "It must be early morning in Silicon Valley. Since President Fangda called at this time, he must have been busy until now. sleep."

Then, she said seriously: "Fang Zhuo, I have to tell you that a regular diet and work schedule are very important. Your stomach needs to be paid attention to. Did you drink alcohol at night? The doctor has long said to drink less."

"Yeah, I didn't drink at all today." Fang Zhuo thought of the toast with Anderson, but that was yesterday.

Su Wei said "hmm" and asked about the experience of flying on the private jet and the progress of Yike's mobile phone.

Fang Zhuo was satisfied with the time-saving feature of the private jet and briefly talked about the situation with his cell phone.

While talking about American operators, he was playing with the Motorola logo in his hand. Sprint, the fourth largest operator in the United States, and Motorola worked together to develop the WiMAX standard, which would inevitably bring serious losses to both parties.

Although it is unclear what the outcome of Sprint will be, the decline of Motorola is clear. The huge investment it spent on WiMAX must have been in vain.

Fang Zhuo planned to chat with Su Wei about the fourth largest carrier in the United States and Motorola, and asked with a smile: "Weiwei, guess what I am playing with?"

"What are you playing with?" Su Wei pondered for a moment and raised her voice, "Mr. Yu, Mr. Yu, is it you? Talk."

Fang Zhuo coughed violently, and Xiao Su spoke more and more in private...

He said helplessly: "Mr. Yu and I only talk about business matters, not romance."

Su Wei laughed: "Of course I know, I just don't know if those Fengyue are all on official business."

Fang Zhuo: "..."

Su Wei took a shot and changed places, changed the subject, and said directly in a positive tone: "Whose mobile phone are you holding in your hand?"

Fang Zhuo felt that it seemed inappropriate to talk about the previous topic again. He took the idea back and talked about WiMAX, which was forced into the 3G communication standard by the United States.

San Francisco and Shanghai chatted for an hour in the early morning and afternoon. In the end, the phone call ended with Su Wei falling asleep.

Before going to bed, Fang Zhuo glanced at the Nokia that was almost shutting down, and fell asleep with the thought of "charging technology" in mind.

…

The last two weeks of 2006 seemed to have produced no further commotion.

Fang Zhuo is based in Silicon Valley and is busy building a patent pool with Google.

Yike set up a lobbying team to contact the American Internet companies on the boss's list to promote the Android system.

Also, Fang Zhuo did not come forward on his own, but asked Jackson, a vice president of Yike America, to lead a team and participate in the communication with Qualcomm with V suppliers to see what the situation was first, and then consider how to effectively solve it. .

On the last day of the year, the entire United States is preparing to celebrate the New Year.

Fang Zhuo worked overtime continuously, supervised personally, and achieved some small results.

Whether it is Google CEO Schmidt or founder Larry, they are very supportive of the patent pool idea proposed by Yike, and they also quickly conducted internal discussions and accelerated cooperation.

In the end, Yike and Google quickly reached an agreement to strengthen this "patent pool" concept into a patent alliance independent of Android companies, named the Pro Alliance.

The two companies signed an "Android Network Cross-Licensing" agreement to conduct patent cross-licensing for free under the framework of the Pro Alliance.

The Android system is open source and free and can be used by any manufacturer. The Pro Alliance selects device manufacturers and agrees that members can share patents involving the "Android and Pro Alliance" on any device that meets Android compatibility requirements.

These patents are freely shared among members and will also be freely available to any new companies that join.

Schmidt attaches great importance to the establishment of the Pro Alliance and even gave a passionate speech when the two companies signed the agreement.

"We believe that the Pro Agreement will further expand Android's openness to its members, promote patent peace, and free up more time and funds for future members to develop new ideas."

"Mr. Fang and I, Google and Yike all have strong confidence in the prospects of Android."

"President Fang asked me how to name this alliance. I think Yike has been practicing its Making Progress, so I did not hesitate to use Pro as the name of our alliance."

"Tomorrow is a new year. I hope that Google, Yike, and Android can all achieve great development and huge gains."

The atmosphere after signing the agreement was pleasant.

Because Fang Zhuo and Schmidt both know what kind of situation Android will face if it wants to develop, such a framework has long-term benefits, but it still requires effort and strength to persuade other manufacturers to join in and contribute to patent licensing.

In the evening, Fang Zhuo wanted to talk to Schmidt about V dealer issues.

"Hey, Mr. Fang, we have been working hard today, and tomorrow is the New Year. Let's not discuss these unpleasant things, but make preparations for a happy day." Schmidt declined the topic with a hint of meaning. The good news was, "Google and T-Mobile have had full communication and it is willing to fully promote Android 3G mobile phones."

Fully promoted by a US operator.

Moreover, it is the third largest brand in the United States, but is actually the giant in the European market.

Fang Zhuo had to admit that this was excellent news.

On the way back, he was thinking about the situation of the T dealer and the attitude of the V dealer. After he had a little idea, he saw Xu Keden's expression was a little serious.

"Teacher Xu, what's the matter? Do you want to take a day off tomorrow?" Fang Zhuo made a little joke. Tomorrow's itinerary has been decided.

Xu Keden sighed: "No, I just feel a little sorry for our patent. It is obviously the result of everyone's hard work, and it is based on touch screen."

Fang Zhuo smiled: "For the long term, the alliance will not recruit new members for the time being. We must first promote the development of our mobile phones. Subsequent members will also need to look at our opinions."

Xu Keden nodded silently.

Having said that, I still feel sad.

He thought for a moment and said, "It would be great if we could develop our own system."

Fang Zhuo noticed Xu Keden's gaze and didn't know if it was casual chatting or some internal company meaning.

He pondered for a moment and replied: "Being the leader has to pay a price, but it can be used as an alternative in the future."

Xu Keden neither nodded nor shook his head, and discussed: "Can Yike pay such a price?"

Fang Zhuo confirmed without hesitation: "No, at least not now."

Then, he added: "New forces will inevitably provoke counterattacks from the old forces."

He knew that Teacher Xu would never understand the cruelty behind these words now.

In fact, not only the old forces, but also all opponents will inevitably face multi-faceted competition.

R\u0026D system, equipped with a mobile phone, and eating a portion by yourself, this is of course the most ideal state.

But Fang Zhuo and the people in the company mentioned the Google ecosystem, the significance of the Open Mobile Alliance, and the wave of globalization. They mentioned that having me in you and you in me is the most suitable way for the development of Yike.

The Google ecosystem is not just about the Android system and Google services.

Not to mention the cooperation with an operator, even this American giant had to negotiate with difficulties for more than half a year, and still had to rely on the lobbying of key figures. This would have to change Yike, not to mention which weird thing would be stuck. node.

Just talk about the price Google paid for the Android camp...

After the decline of Motorola, Google was the first to take over. It spent a whopping $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola and used its 17,000 patents to build a patent moat for the Android camp.

What is the concept of US$12.5 billion?

This kind of contribution will be difficult for Yike to make in the future.

The moat is protection when we are in the same camp, but it is the sharpest weapon when we become an opponent.

Even if Yike develops its own mobile phone system and sells it well, can it withstand patent competition?

Currently, if we pursue self-research and independent development, we will face competition from Nokia, Apple, Android and other competitors.

Competition is not just about sales.

The former HTC is the most typical example.

Historically, HTC was the first manufacturer to launch the Android system. At one stage, its mobile phone share was narrowly ahead of Apple's, becoming the sales champion of smartphones in North America.

Along with its status as the “big brother of Android”, HTC’s market value exceeds US$30 billion.

Apple then sued HTC for patent infringement.

HTC lost the lawsuit and was banned from selling in the US market.

Then, Nokia sued HTC for patent infringement.

HTC lost the lawsuit and was banned from selling in the European market.

After that, Microsoft, Samsung, BlackBerry... or sued or collected patent fees. In just a few years, it can be called a "massacre" of HTC in the global mobile phone industry.

If Yike sells mobile phones with self-developed systems well, who will Apple, Samsung, Nokia, BlackBerry, and Google show mercy to?

On the contrary, the logos of Chinese companies will only receive more "preferential treatment."

Any manufacturer that intends to develop must withstand such competition, and Apple is no exception. It paid more than $1 billion in patent fees to Nokia in 2011 to seek settlement.

It can be said that patented technology has always been an effective barrier to industry competition. With the development of smartphones and the impact of new manufacturers, traditional giants holding a large number of patents will never sit still and wait.

Some of the games and fights behind this were noisy for a while, and some were silent.

Self-study at the moment is just a false proposition in pursuit of success.

Fang Zhuo stood in the dusk of the last day of 2006, feeling confident about participating in the competition and also carefully considering the competitive situation.

"Teacher Xu, Yike's most important task now is to create a good mobile phone. We will think about other things later."

"Let's go have a drink and celebrate the arrival of 2007 a few hours early."

Fang Zhuo patted Xu Keden on the shoulder.

Build a high patent wall, accumulate sales volume, and slowly become the industry king.

…

The last moment of the year.

Fang Zhuo received a call from the old Jazz Stringer on New Year's Eve.

He was a little helpless: "Sir, I just gave myself a few hours of vacation an hour ago."

Stringer smiled and said: "I don't want to make this call either, but I still think it is necessary to tell you about the Sony Ericsson phone."

"Well, I hope it's good news." Fang Zhuo said.

"This is probably news, I'm not sure." Stringer informed, "Ericsson has basically negotiated a cooperation with Apple, and Apple will obtain the patent authorization for Sony Ericsson mobile phones."

After Fang Zhuo came to the United States, he expressed to the old jazz that he hoped that Sony Ericsson's mobile phone patents could provide some help in Apple's competition.

He was a little surprised: "Ericsson? What does Sir mean?"

"Just as Ericsson did not obstruct us from licensing patents to Yike, Sony will not obstruct Ericsson." Stringer said seriously, "Ericsson is also a close partner of Sony."

Ask for love, ask for love. Although cable is ahead, there is still love.

Stringer didn't hear Mr. Fang's voice: "Mr. Fang?"

"Oh, I was thinking, this is really a coincidence, Yi Ke found Sony, Apple found Ericsson." Fang Zhuo's voice was unhurried, "This is not good news, but it is not too bad. "

"I think so too, Mr. Fang, I wish you and Yike a happy New Year." Stringer said.

Ding dong, the New Year's Eve bells are ringing loudly.

At the latest moment of the year, Fang Zhuo could only say against his will: "Sir, I believe Sony will create greater glory under your leadership."

Stringer thanked Mr. Fang for the blessing and agreed to ask Mr. Fang to help him praise him in media interviews.

As a foreign director, Fang Zhuo had nothing to be unhappy about.

He ended the call with the old Jazz, put down his mobile phone, and smiled at Yike colleagues who were celebrating the New Year together: "I received good news. Our potential partner T-Mobile plans to invest US$3 billion to increase its investment in 3G networks. investment and deployment.”

"Cheers to the good news!"

In the new year, Yike received the first good news.