Reinventing the Millennium

Fang Zhuo received the second good news.

"Mr. Fang, we've made a profit." The caller was Kong Yu, the head of MIGA Fund. His voice was full of exhaustion, and he couldn't hide his fatigue even on the phone to his boss.

Fang Zhuo knew what he was talking about and simply indicated that he was listening: "Yes."

Kong Yu continued to report in a concise and concise manner: "Twenty percent."

Fang Zhuo thought for a moment and then instructed: "Inform our important collaborators of the good news and ask them what their next wishes are and how we will continue."

"Okay, Mr. Fang, I'm flying to Silicon Valley next week." Kong Yu confirmed his itinerary and quickly ended the call.

Fang Zhuo put down his rarely used BlackBerry.

Ever since Kong Yu started working on his short-selling business, he has become extremely cautious, hard-working, and hairless. With an extremely strong will, he suggested that his boss use multiple mobile phones to communicate with him. Moreover, his reporting style on the phone also stopped at the beginning and end. Very simple.

The profit news he reported today refers to the latest feedback on the $420 million flowing to short-seller John Paulson.

Starting from mid-July last year, the funds found by Paulson through different channels were divided into two parts to build positions, and two similar funds were established, targeting the junk CDOs he created using Goldman Sachs.

However, even junk CDOs performed well in the inertial market boom, which caused the fund to keep losing money, which once frightened Kong Yu - he was afraid of witnessing a crisis beyond his imagination, and he was even more afraid of losing money on his own side!

Until now, the short-selling fund led by Paulson has turned a profit, with a profit of 20%.

That means $420 million in profits of more than $80 million in just over 5 months.

And, greater profit prospects are yet to come.

I don’t know if he was affected by this good news, but Fang Zhuo received a holiday blessing call from Xiao Ao in the evening.

O'Brien still talked about topics that both parties can talk about, worrying about the frequent injuries that the Rockets have suffered this year - newly signed player Darius Songela was out for half the season due to lumbar disc surgery, which seemed to open up the ball. The team's wave of injuries has had a chain reaction, and even the trident has been injured in turn.

Then, to Fang Zhuo's surprise, he talked about the Android cooperation between Yike and Google.

Fang Zhuo thought it was a bit strange for Xiao Ao to talk about such a specific cooperation, and expressed his doubts tactfully: "I have strong confidence in the cooperation between Yike and Google. Haha, thank you for your attention. This will encourage me to continue." Down work.”

Xiao Ao has a delicate heart and said naturally: "Last week, I played golf with Schmidt and Gore. Schmidt was very excited to introduce your business to me."

Fang Zhuo had no idea that Google CEO Schmidt had such a close relationship with Xiao Ao.

But if it was Schmidt who took the initiative to mention it to Ou, he might know that Ou and he had a basketball relationship that was at least superficial.

His mind turned and he immediately smiled heartily and said: "Schmitt has the same strong confidence in Android as I do. We are uniting many people to work on the innovation of the mobile phone market. However, he told you this, don't you know that Gore Will you be so angry that you hit an eagle?"

Since he learned that Schmidt was a director of Apple, Fangzhuo made up for the omission of information in this regard. Among them, Gore is a very noteworthy one among Apple's directors.

Gore is a prominent party boss. He once teamed up with the US executive leader Aton and became the deputy leader. He later ran against George W. Bush for the leadership position, but lost the electoral vote when he won the popular vote.

It is worth mentioning that this situation has only occurred five times in American history. The first three times were all before 1900. Gore was the famous fourth time, and Agawa's opponent Shiba was the fifth time.

In 2003, the former deputy chief executive joined Apple's board of directors.

Jobs said he was excited and honored by this,

As for whether Gore exerts his influence on Apple on a non-commercial level.

For example, when the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), which is responsible for ruling on patent infringement by Apple and HTC, voted on whether to ban HTC, all members voted in favor at once. This can only be a friendly guess.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) has great power. Once it rules a sales ban, unless the big boss authorizes the overturn within 60 days, the entire U.S. market will be closed to companies.

This situation is rare.

But it just so happens that Apple has too.

Samsung sued Apple for infringement. The ITC believed it was established and ruled to ban the sale of iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS and other products. As a result, the ban was overturned with the authorization of Xiao Ao. Part of the reasons were also stated very straightforwardly by the relevant representatives.

——"American interests."

Little O didn't expect that the other side always knew who Gore was. He smiled and replied: "I don't think I will ever see Gore play an eagle in my life. He agrees with your innovative competition."

"I need to carefully evaluate whether I should bring my basketball talent to golf." Fang Zhuo joked.

Xiao Ou was amused: "Basketball and golf are two different things. As good as Jordan, his golf level is far inferior to basketball."

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly: "For me, it's the same as buying a team. I'm very lucky."

Xiao Ao was dumbfounded, it turns out that such a small number of people have the talent...

He chatted for a few more words, and finally still praised and gave blessings: "I saw a rare spirit in Mr. Fang. I hope this year's Rockets can stay away from those damn injuries and win three consecutive championship trophies." I hope Yike and Google can accomplish great things."

Fang Zhuo's response was: "Xiao Ao, you are the most charming congressman I have ever seen. I hope you can not only benefit Illinois, but also make more people change because of you. Remember to come and watch the finals." If we compete in shooting, I will definitely beat you."

Xiao Ao hung up the phone while laughing.

From beginning to end, he never mentioned the fund.

Fang Zhuo's thoughts circled around the administrative figures he had met recently, and he felt that Yi Ke might also need a foreign director to fill in the facade, and Xiao Ao might soon announce his candidacy, which was a good line.

Just when he was about to review the documents, by coincidence, Achuan called after Xiao Ao.

Compared to Xiao Ao's wording, Agawa was much more direct and rough.

"Mr. Fang, your fund is really ffffuck awesome!"

"I want to invest another five million, no, ten million!"

Fang Zhuo endured the complicated emotions and said with a smile: "Of course, no one knows how to make money better than me."

Ah Chuan smiled and complimented: "Mr. Fang, I like your words so much! That's great, how do you operate it? I can't wait to fly in front of you now!"

Fang Zhuo accepted the compliment, declined the insider information, and agreed to the other party's investment.

On the first day of 2007, it was quite interesting for him to receive consecutive phone calls from two people possibly affected by the same incident.

I was originally hoping that there would be better news, but the legal holidays in the United States pushed official progress to working days before feedback was received one after another.

Yiko and Android formed a sales and lobbying team responsible for negotiating development cooperation with large companies.

Facebook showed full interest in such a proposal and thought that the form of mobile software looked cool.

They quickly took substantial action, agreeing to set up a development team on the 3rd to try mobile phone software based on the Android system, and Yike also promised to adapt the prototype as soon as possible.

This work, or work of this type, is on the schedule for the first half of this year.

Like Facebook, Amazon is also interested in the blueprint drawn by Yike and Android on the mobile phone, but it has expressed caution when it comes to shopping and payment, and is willing to pay more attention to the follow-up of Android phones.

Others, such as YouTube, which is booming and was acquired by Google, established a small development team at Fang Zhuo's strong request. Services including Google Chrome were also communicated by phone several times, making sure to be ready when Yike Mobile was released. carry on.

As for Yike’s own iMusic, it has been preparing for Android software for a long time.

The only one with big problems is Twitter.

The Twitter that rents cheap offices, has internal conflicts among its founders, relies on SMS push notifications, and does not back up user content.

When the Yike team found Twitter, it was already on the verge of dissolution.

Fang Zhuo didn’t know what was going on with this tweet, whether it was the original history or the butterfly effect. This time, considering the improvement of the Android software ecosystem, he generously donated $2 million in financing to relieve the tweet. Extremely urgent.

Twitter used the money to re-rent a larger and brighter office, recall some employees, add servers, continue to struggle for survival, and study the development of Android software.

On January 5, 2007, Android Company submitted a more complete Android 1.1 Bender after the Android 1.0 Astro internal beta version.

Astro is Astro Boy and Bender is a clockwork robot.

The Android version is named in the English order a/b/c/d. Considering copyright issues, subsequent updated versions will be named after desserts. The name starting with C has been decided and Cupcake will be used. ).

If nothing else happens, Android Cupcake will be the first system installed on Yike mobile phones.

Fang Zhuo felt that the development of the Android system should have accelerated under his own urging. He considered that although it had not yet been officially open sourced, he could first conduct a small promotion in the country with the consent of Google and Android companies, and strive to The system installed on Yiko mobile phone can be more complete.

The time for Apple's press conference is getting closer and closer, and many things have been arranged one by one and received feedback, which can be regarded as quite orderly.

On January 8, Yike's Silicon Valley R\u0026D Center held a small meeting to study the material costs of mobile phones. Yu Hong, who flew from New York to prepare to follow Apple's launch event the next day, also participated in the discussion.

The 3.7-inch capacitive screen prototype in Fang Zhuo's hand is basically close to what he imagined.

There are two sizes to choose from, 3.7 and 4.0 inches. In the end, the 3.7-inch was adopted by the first-generation Yike mobile phone plan due to its combination of various elements.

However, the cost is still high.

"Sharp actually charged us US$75 for this 3.7-inch capacitive screen plus touch screen module." Fang Zhuo played with the phone whose screen suddenly went black for no apparent reason, worrying about its cost.

The 3.5-inch capacitive screen + touch screen module that Sharp previously strongly recommended is priced at US$68.2.

He was dissatisfied: "Even if we go by the ratio, 3.7/3.5, the price is only 72. Why should we charge 3 US dollars more? Not to mention that 72 US dollars is also very high!"

Ian, the deputy director in charge of supply chain in the United States, said based on his own experience: "Mr. Fang, there is definitely room for counter-offering in Sharp's 3.5-inch quotation. I believe the same is true for this $75 one. If Sharp is given more time, if the touch-screen phone is proven If there is a good market, then we can have better talks.”

The so-called good market for touch-screen mobile phones naturally refers to the Apple mobile phone to be released tomorrow.

Yu Hong listened for a while and asked a question based on her own experience: "Sharp is going to sell capacitive screens and touch screen modules as a package. Have you tried asking for prices separately? Can touch screen modules only be purchased from Sharp?" "

She made a joke: "After all, we are not going to release the mobile phone tomorrow, we still have time."

Xu Keden was a little hesitant: "We have been using capacitive screens and touch screen modules provided by Sharp in our research and development. Is this right..."

Fang Zhuo agreed: "Ian, come and explore this possibility. It's not that we don't want to buy Sharp's capacitive screen, but that it has to be packaged. Doesn't it mean that Toshiba's capacitive screen has also made progress?"

Xu Keden took back what he said, business is like this, and supply chain procurement requires shopping around.

Fang Zhuo continued to worry about the cost of mobile phone hardware.

Currently, mobile phone screens, storage, and processors are very expensive, with 4G storage prices as high as $48.

Calculated, if the prototype machine in Fang Zhuo's hands is purchased according to the quotation, the pure hardware cost will cost US$278 per unit.

$278!

Fang Zhuo has a feeling that the price is high!

If the cost is like this, how should the selling price be determined?

Of course, this is also because of the positioning of Tesco mobile phones. The hardware currently purchased is based on the best, and there is no formal counter-offer on the hardware quotation.

But even so, Fang Zhuo still believes that it is necessary to explore cost compression.

Is the screen expensive? Separate, capacitive screen + touch screen module!

Are chips expensive? As an alternative, Qualcomm offers a discounted package price for the processor and baseband!

Is storage expensive? Wait, the financial crisis machete is coming soon!

Although it's not finalized, after some calculation, it's still a drop of more than ten dollars.

The machine has not been finalized, so there is no way to actually purchase it. This is a preliminary outline.

"$259, hey, Mr. Yu, it's still expensive." Fang Zhuo and Yu Hong kept thinking about the cost after the meeting, which is largely linked to sales.

"When Apple releases it, use it for research and study." Yu Hong said, "The hardware has to be reduced, and there may also be patent fees involved, like Microsoft, and patent negotiations with Qualcomm. Oh, yes, you and V How is the contact with Shang?"

When she mentioned Qualcomm, she thought of operators.

Fang Zhuo shook his head: "The contact was not very smooth. The attitude of the V dealer has not relaxed. It wants an exclusive and a contract machine."

He said seriously: "V sells the CDMA standard. It believes that it has a larger number of users. It is not willing to spend resources on promotion and then share the results with T, a direct competitor in the WCDMA camp. This contradiction is quite serious."

V merchants are the second largest, with 30 million more users than the third largest T merchants, and their investment in 3G is also greater.

If it cannot be exclusive and launches a star product but drives the growth of its competitors' network access, it feels that the gains outweigh the losses, so its attitude is very tough.

Yu Hong thought about it and said, "How about I lead the team to talk. I will be more solemn about my status and can make the decision on many things."

"Let's talk about it after watching Apple's press conference. Cooperation negotiations with operators are a big deal." Fang Zhuo mused, "Also, although the contradiction is huge, I have a preliminary idea. I can give it a try then, and I have to talk to Qualcomm. "

The second V provider is the CDMA standard, and the third T provider is the WCDMA standard.

The contradiction between these two camps is very real.

However, you have all upgraded in a down-to-earth manner.

Why don't we all seek common ground while reserving differences and take a look below?

The fourth S provider is the WiMAX standard that was added by Motorola and Intel. It is so annoying!

Moreover, Third Brother, you still have a large European market that you can negotiate with flexibly.

I really can’t, I’m sorry, fourth child...

Sorry, MOTO...

Anyway, you are all going to die, so it is better to die in a more valuable way.