Reinventing the Millennium

The first day of the Gregorian New Year 2008 passed without incident. On the second day of the new year, the sales figures were online on the Yike official website. The global sales of Mars exceeded 3 million units.

There was no solemn announcement, no notice of the leader’s speech, and no YouTube video recording.

It’s just a simple line on the official website.

It's as if Yike has become numb to its own sales, and it seems that this is a natural thing and does not require any fanfare.

Accept it or not, the number has been put here.

Fang Zhuo didn't know whether the mood of his good friends in China was affected, but he soon saw the intensive response from international manufacturers.

Just one day later, South Korea's LG, which had previously announced cooperation with Verizon, announced on its official website that it would launch a 3G touch-screen mobile phone equipped with Symbian system in March.

Two days later, Sony Ericsson, one of the top three mobile phones in the world, also announced that it would launch a 3G touch-screen smartphone equipped with Microsoft Windows Mobile system in the first half of the year.

On January 7, Microsoft announced a system upgrade plan and will launch the Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system on April 1 to better support partner manufacturers.

On January 8, Nokia also made news. First, it announced that Symbian will launch the fifth version of the S60 system. Second, it announced that a full touch screen product will be launched in the third quarter of this year.

For several days in a row, the global mobile phone industry has been extremely busy, with news flying everywhere.

Many news actually have symbolic actions behind them. For example, Sony Ericsson's choice of WM system for mobile phones means that it has completely committed to the Microsoft camp and will sell its shares in Symbian.

This was quickly verified.

On January 13, Nokia head Kallasvuo announced that the company would acquire a total of 52% of the shares held by other shareholders of Symbian, making Symbian a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia, and establishing a non-profit Symbian company. Class Foundation.

The Saipan Foundation will provide operating systems to major manufacturers around the world in an open source manner.

Open source, open source, this operation is somewhat familiar.

Fang Zhuo specifically contacted Miyamoto, Sony's head of mobile phones, for this matter and got an answer he had been saving for a long time.

"When Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Panasonic, and Samsung subscribed for shares in Symbian, they wanted everyone to develop together."

"But now, Symbian symbolizes Nokia, what's the point of this company?"

"Moreover, consumers are increasingly proving that they are receptive to other operating systems, and the mobile phone industry is changing. This is an opportunity well worth exploring going forward."

Ichiro Miyamoto was very down-to-earth and expressed his perspective on the industry.

iPhone and Mars were launched one after another. They seemed to be different, but they achieved their own success, which shocked many manufacturers.

In addition, Fang Zhuo also curiously asked Sony about the new phone equipped with Microsoft WM system in the first half of the year. According to Microsoft's timetable, this is between April and June.

Miyamoto Ichiro was rather vague on this point. Although Mr. Fang is a foreign director, Mars is very competitive. He only said a few words, but revealed a very surprising information.

Sony Ericsson's new phone will use a resistive screen.

"Resistive screen? Resistive screen equipped with WM system?" Fang Zhuo was really shocked.

Since seeing all kinds of information from his colleagues this month, he has never thought about the word resistive screen.

But... the resistive screen does not support multi-touch, which really circumvents patent restrictions in a physical sense.

"Mr. Fang, because the cost of resistive screens is cheap, it can be 20%-50% lower than capacitive screens." Ichiro Miyamoto gave a down-to-earth reason.

The screen is a major item in the cost of a mobile phone.

Fang Zhuo reluctantly accepted this statement, but still suspected that it was inseparable from the patent.

When he brought this information to discuss with Yu Hong, the latter talked about the recent operations of his peers from a market perspective.

"If a mobile phone becomes popular, I will definitely study why it is accepted by the market and why it is loved by consumers."

"Some manufacturers think it's a system factor, so they install the system; some think it's a full touch screen, so they install a full touch screen; some think it's a front camera, so they install a front..."

“Everyone launches a variety of products based on their own situation and judgment of the market.”

A Mars is in front of you, just see what you can learn.

Yu Hong’s interpretation.

"It seems a little overconfident." Fang Zhuo laughed and praised another competitor, "It's Steve Jobs who can keep his composure. This is the style of a master."

The next afternoon, Yu Hong brought news about this opponent. It was said that Apple’s new phone launch conference would be held in March.

"..." Fang Zhuo looked at the highly credible news and could only say, "It's good, a hundred flowers are blooming."

All walks of life, a hundred flowers bloom, and the intensity rises.

"When is our new phone launch conference?" This is what Yu Hong wants to talk about.

"They all still need time. The fastest LG is also in March. With the new phones of its peers, the popularity of Mars will definitely decrease, but it will not hinder our rhythm much." Fang Zhuo has repeatedly studied and judged his peers. Their actions, "What I care about most now are iPhone and LG."

Needless to say, the iPhone, despite being attacked by front-end and 3G devices, still has good sales, and it has not rigidly adhered to the original release schedule.

As for LG, the most important thing is its cooperation model with Verizon. Both companies will definitely use subsidies, which is worth observing.

After Yike's celebration party, Fang Zhuo discussed the reasons for Mars' success in an internal meeting.

The most important thing at the front is the price of $199.

Without this price basis, Mars would never be able to achieve its current sales situation.

This is something that must be clearly understood.

Judging from the current situation, the cooperation between Mars and T-Mobile is undoubtedly a win-win situation.

Later that evening, Google's Schmidt got on the phone and talked about contact with Samsung again.

So much news on the market recently has almost nothing to do with Android. The major manufacturers seem to have maintained a certain tacit understanding that Android is open source, but they just don't choose it.

Under such circumstances, the attitude of Samsung, the world's second largest manufacturer, is extremely valuable.

Schmidt attaches great importance to Samsung and strives to promote its deployment of Android systems.

In the past few days of communication with Samsung, the other party mentioned several key patents held by Yike Company as expected.

If Yike is willing to talk, then Samsung Electronics will fly to Silicon Valley to talk.

If Yike is unwilling to talk, then put the contact on hold for now.

"Schmidt, Samsung wants to bypass the Pro Alliance, which is a destruction of our framework." Fang Zhuo expressed dissatisfaction with Schmidt, "The Pro Alliance is a foundation for the vigorous development of Android."

Schmidt echoed a few words of condemnation, but then said: "Mr. Fang, as long as the number of models equipped with Android increases, it will be beneficial overall. We urgently need strength to fight against the Microsoft WM and Nokia Symbian camps."

Yike Mars is very successful, but from a global perspective, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Now is the time to take advantage of the shock of Mars to do things actively.

Fang Zhuo finally agreed to the negotiation. Samsung actually has many complementary patents. In addition, it is also beneficial to cooperate with Samsung and Hummingbird chip projects at this time.

Only half a day later, Samsung confirmed the itinerary. Samsung Electronics President Lee Jae-yong would personally lead a team to fly to Silicon Valley to discuss tripartite cooperation matters.

Samsung Prince Lee Jae-yong is an old acquaintance.

Fang Zhuo was deeply impressed by this person and the speed of progress he made in charge of Samsung Electronics.