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Everything is planned.

Mr. Howard Stringer, Sony's chairman and CEO, extended a great welcome to Zhou Buqi and his entourage, and displayed high reception etiquette. There were as many as 12 vice president-level executives.

This fully proves one thing that Sony's current strategic plan analyzed by Zhou Buqi is to create a "consumer electronics + content entertainment" model is accurate.

Stringer takes this seriously.

However, the robot cannot be exhibited yet. Sony stopped this business for several years, and the original project members were scattered to other business units.

Because of the Ziweixing incident, they were forced to call in a few more technicians from those years to retrieve the dusty robot from the warehouse, clean it, inspect it, charge it, and test it.

Zhou Buqi was very happy instead.

This just shows that the other party's attitude is open. If you are wary of Ziweixing, you may not be willing to show the results of the robot.

It can be seen that Mr. Stringer also has a strong interest and expectation in cooperating with technology giants like Ziweixing.

The group walked around the Sony headquarters building, focusing on the game console business. It's not a game business, it's a game console business. Sony's headquarters is the headquarters of its consumer electronics division.

Zhou Buqi took the new PSP4000 they were working on and operated it a few times. He found it very interesting and praised it repeatedly.

PSP is a professional handheld game console.

The screen is larger than the iPhone, and the gaming experience is better than the iPhone.

You can also watch movies and TV shows, and use some application software, such as browsers, calculators, notepads...

In fact, it is a portable operating platform that is far more powerful than a smartphone!

It just doesn’t have the function of making calls or sending text messages.

At this point, Zhou Buqi understood that Howard Stringer's plan for Sony's business line was to vigorously promote the sales of PS3 and PSP game consoles and provide more services on these two game consoles through PSnet's Internet platform. More and richer entertainment content!

From this time period in 2009, the "PS3+PSP" combination is indeed better than the iPhone, but the shortcomings are also obvious.

Zhou Buqi couldn't help but complain.

Isn’t this system design too poor?

Not to mention compared with smart operating systems such as iOS and Android, even compared to Symbian and Microsoft systems, it is much worse. Moreover, the PSP does not have touch technology and can only adjust the cursor position through the direction keys, which is much worse than smartphones in operation.

All in all, the design principle is too old-fashioned.

At this point, Zhou Buqi was convinced of what Mr. Stringer wanted to do. In fact, he wanted to draw Ziweixing into Sony's camp to cooperate with his plan.

There are too few third-party applications in PS3 and PSP. The first choice of software application vendors is a few versions on the computer, and then many versions on the mobile phone. When they have time to develop apps for Sony's game console systems, they will be exhausted. .

Ziweixing intends to cooperate with Sony, of course it must be firmly grasped!

Howard Stringer was particularly enthusiastic and accompanied Zhou Buqi throughout the visit. What’s interesting is that when he communicates with his colleagues, he speaks Japanese.

Because the robot demonstration still required a long time to prepare, Stringer invited Zhou Buqi to his office for a private chat.

Zhou Buqi was very interested.

He now has a thorough understanding of the Sony CEO who was born in the media and has a clear understanding of his business ideas.

If you know yourself and the enemy, you will be able to strike at the acupuncture point.

Zhou Buqi only took his secretary Ning Lu to the president's office, and asked other Ziweixing executives to continue to contact Sony. As soon as he sat down, he said with praise: "The new version of PSP4000 has a very good experience, better than the iPhone It’s much better than the Aster phone. If Google is willing to put YouTube on the PSP, I believe it will be liked by users.”

These words immediately spoke to Stringer's heart, "That's right! I have said it a long time ago, whether it is PSP or PS3, it should not be limited to game consoles. It should be a feature-rich film, television, audio, game and book. entertainment machine."

Zhou Buqi praised him, "Yes, consumer electronics is impulse consumption, while entertainment content is delayed consumption. Combining the two, Sony's business may soar!"

Stringer laughed, then sighed, "It's a pity."

Zhou Buqi asked: "What's going on?"

"There are too few adapted applications." Stringer looked bitter. "Most of the content on the game console is provided by Sony itself, and there is a lack of third-party applications."

Zhou Buqi thought it was ridiculous.

Want a third-party app? Then you have to establish a third-party app store, just like the Apple Store and Google Store. But Sony didn't dare to do this for the sake of the disc business.

The PS3 wants to sell game discs, and the PSP also wants to sell small game discs. Put the game disk in the game console to play the game.

If third-party stores are opened, many game developers will no longer make game discs, but will directly put games in third-party stores and pay for downloads.

Sony won't be able to make money from discs.

How can they recoup their huge investment in research and marketing of Blu-ray standards?

Stringer asked his secretary to arrange coffee, and then suggested seriously: "Japan's popular video website Niconico belongs to Ziweixing."

Zhou Buqi smiled, "Yes."

Stringer asked: "Can an adapted version be developed for PSP and PS3?"

"This..." That's what Zhou Buqi thought, but he couldn't agree directly. He frowned slightly and said curiously, "By the way, I remember Sony invested in the streaming media platform Hulu."

Stringer sighed, "That's right."

Zhou Buqi suggested: "You can put Hulu on the PSP. There are so many film and television contents on Hulu, I believe it can attract many users."

Stringer shook his head, "To be honest, I also considered it at one time. This is the main reason why Sony invested in Hulu. But it is difficult to do."

"Why?"

"It has to do with Hulu's business model. Hulu relies on advertising to make money."

"Is there any conflict?"

"If advertisements appear in applications on Sony game consoles, it will affect the product experience. Another point is that advertisers may not be able to recognize this model."

Stringer looked very helpless and had a headache.

Hulu currently has a "free + advertising" profit model, which mainly relies on merchants to place advertisements to make money. This has drawbacks in the profit model. Advertisers place ads on the website, but the website feeds the ads to the game console platform, which may not be in line with the advertiser's initial positioning.

Multi-channel promotion of this model will encounter a lot of troubles, and it is necessary to introduce different advertisers for different channels. Hulu is now just a small company and does not have such a large marketing team.

In comparison, Netflix’s “subscription” model is much easier.

No matter what platform it is, just pay and subscribe directly. It is relatively simple to operate and there are not so many third-party messes.

Zhou Buqi was a bit fanning the flames and encouraged: "Sony is a shareholder of Hulu, so it should have certain decision-making and suggestion rights. Hulu can be promoted for free on game consoles without advertising. Doesn't the management agree?"

"Management agreed, but other shareholders didn't," Stringer said.

"That's it..."

Zhou Buqi felt funny, he had guessed it a long time ago.

Hulu's shareholders are NBCUniversal, Fox, Sony, and Disney. They are all Hollywood giants and competitors. It is strange that they can become one.

Stringer said: "By the way, isn't Comcast going to acquire NBCUniversal? Do you want to get involved?"

"right."

"Purple Star Global?"

"right."

"Comcast has contacted us. They want to acquire the Hulu shares held by Sony. Hulu has not achieved its strategic purpose for Sony. There is no point in holding this share. I plan to sell it. Are you interested? Really? How about selling it to you?"

Stringer knew that this guy was the majority shareholder of Netflix, so he wanted to build a relationship with him.

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "Forget it, I'm not interested in Hulu."

Stringer nodded, "Indeed, I also advise you not to get involved in Hulu. The board of directors is not unified in thinking and has great conflicts with the management. I support the management's push for Hulu to promote the subscription model, but the board of directors I disagree. Sony is withdrawing this time. But if this matter is not resolved, I can guarantee that Hulu’s management team will leave sooner or later!”

Zhou Buqi pretended not to know, "Really?"

Stringer said: "Definitely, I have communicated with them. The management is now placing their hope on Comcast. When they acquire NBCUniversal and get the shares from Sony, it will be Hulu. The largest shareholder, holding nearly 50% of the shares. If Comcast supports Netflix’s subscription model, Hulu’s management will be happy.”

Zhou Buqi continued to act stupid, "Is the subscription model very effective for Sony's game console business?"

"Of course, just like Netflix." Stringer smiled and looked at him deeply. "If a Netflix app is developed for PSP or PS3, users will be tired from playing games when using the game console. , you can watch film and television content through the App. The subscription model will not affect Netflix’s interests and is mutually beneficial.”

Zhou Buqi said: "Netflix currently only has US business."

Stringer said: "Yes, I know, I'm talking about the American version of PSP and PS3. Just promote Niconico in the Japanese version. Isn't this also a subscription model?"

Zhou Buqi added: "Netflix is ​​just a small company. It is already very busy on the web page and may not have a sufficient development team."

"You are the major shareholder." Stringer laughed, "With your status, if you say one word to Netflix, you still can't push it?"

Zhou Buqi smiled slightly and did not deny, "If Ziweixing, as well as Ziweixing International, Ziweixing Global, Ziweixing Digital Media, and Aisda Group related to Ziweixing, can reach an in-depth, multi-directional and multi-level strategic cooperation with Sony , I believe Netflix will also join.”

"I'm looking forward to it!" Stringer said simply and neatly, and added specifically, "It's a pity that the robot project has been shelved. Ziweixing is interested and can develop it along this line of thinking. I believe the scientist team will be very happy."