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There are some things that Zhou Buqi can't say much about.

These are all trade secrets.

The gap between people largely comes from the gap in information. Zhou Buqi certainly cannot tell some of the business information and industry knowledge he has about Internet mobile phones at this time.

Looking at the whole world, he is also the only one.

At this stage, Internet mobile phones are a major trend. Dozens of major manufacturers of Internet mobile phones have emerged around the world. For example, Baidu and Alibaba want to make mobile phones, and they also make Internet mobile phones.

However, the current elites around the world have too much appetite for this field, and there will be a certain degree of cognitive oversight. Even when Lei Jun is working on Xiaomi, there are also certain business misjudgments.

Baidu makes mobile phones not because Baidu wants to make money from mobile phones, but because it wants to create a platform based on the mobile Internet and make money through the platform. Smartphones are the terminal media for implementing such a platform.

So does Xiaomi.

This was Lei Jun's wishful thinking, and he was not even willing to elaborate too much on this point. This was his secret weapon that he thought could deceive Boss Zhou.

In fact, Zhou Buqi had already seen through it, and the so-called secret weapon had no lethality at all.

For example, QQ Music and Weidian Music are very mainstream music apps on the market.

If Xiaomi has 100 million users, it can install the Xiaomi Music App on Xiaomi phones through bundling, pre-installation, etc., and then quickly cover 100 million users.

How wonderful is this?

Both Weidian Music and QQ Music have been operating for many years, and they have spent countless operating and promotion expenses to produce such products. They have worked hard and put in a lot of effort. Xiaomi can rely on the terminal platform it controls to launch Xiaomi Music at once. It is simple, fast and convenient, and it is like a trump card.

Baidu wants to make Internet mobile phones because it wants to get this trump card and then directly push Baidu's new products to users; Alibaba makes Internet mobile phones, and many technology companies in the United States, including MySpace, also make Internet mobile phones in a similar way. idea.

But in this thinking structure, there is a huge loophole - the user.

This is not a monopoly market, the choice is in the hands of users!

If car owners want to refuel, they can only go to Sinopec or PetroChina. This is an absolutely monopolized market, which means they can do whatever they want and launch whatever products they want. Users are like puppets. They have no choice at all and can only passively accept it. It is useless even if they cry for their father and mother.

But Internet products and smartphones are different. The competition here is fierce and there are too many choices.

It is almost impossible to instill information into users like a duck.

Users are fine using Weidian Music and QQ Music, so why should they use Xiaomi Music? Just because you bought a Xiaomi phone, you must use Xiaomi Music?

Stop it!

Does Xiaomi dare to arbitrarily block Weidian Music and QQ Music from Xiaomi mobile phones, so that all Xiaomi users can only use Xiaomi Music? If they dare to do this, consumers will vote directly with their banknotes without the need for regulatory agencies to come forward.

There are so many smart phones, is it okay not to buy Xiaomi?

If it is in the early stages of the industry, this kind of indoctrination style is actually very effective. Because users have no knowledge in the past, they don’t know which app is good and which app is bad. They just instill it in the past. When users form a habit, they will accept it.

Take Momo, a dating product.

In the field of "dating" and "making friends", is this product really effective? It's effective, but there are too many products that are better than Momo's, with more convenient communication and a higher success rate of connection.

But Momo is the most famous and has the largest user base.

Because Momo showed up early.

Appear early, then promote it on a large scale and forcefully instill it.

The effect is very good.

In the early days of the industry, users experienced this new thing for the first time and felt the powerful effect of this "dating app" for the first time. They were fascinated, and then they became immersed in it and formed a habit.

Later, even if some apps appeared that were better than Momo, it would be difficult to surpass Momo.

But when the industry develops, this set of indoctrination methods will no longer work.

Users have seen it, used it, and gained too much experience.

When a rural person first goes to the city, it is easy to be fooled by the urban routines and be instilled with many urban concepts. But after this rural person has lived in the city for ten years and is familiar with everything, it is impossible to instill some urban concepts in him.

Therefore, it is impossible for Xiaomi Music to be launched.

It may take five or six years after Xiaomi is launched and has hundreds of millions of users, and then it will promote the Xiaomi Music App... By that time, the music App track will have already matured and improved. Powerful products such as Weidian Music, QQ Music, NetEase Music, Baidu Music, etc. have long divided the market and formed strong user awareness and usage habits.

At this time, Xiaomi wants to simply rely on the advantages of the terminal platform and let the Xiaomi Music App scrape a piece of meat from these powerful products, which is a fantasy.

It is certainly possible for Xiaomi Music to defeat giants such as Weidian Music and QQ Music.

But certainly not in this barbaric, crude way.

But Xiaomi Music is a product that is better than other music apps, has a better user experience, has more music copyrights, and has higher social visibility and brand effect...

This is so difficult!

With Xiaomi’s strength, can it do it?

Weidian Music and QQ Music are pure Internet products. They are the flagship products of Internet giants Ziweixing and Penguin. Countless Internet talents have worked hard for many years to develop them.

Even if Lei Jun positions Xiaomi as an Internet company, it is still a half-baked Internet company.

Can two knives kill professional teams like Ziweixing and Penguin?

This business structure is certainly not viable.

Therefore, mobile phone manufacturers are transforming, and the current concepts and thinking of Internet mobile phones are completely unfeasible.

In the first few years of Internet mobile phones, the prices of mobile phones were very low, competition was fierce and profits were low, and many mobile phones were even sold below cost.

Just like LeTV.

That's really a loss on one sale.

The purpose is to sell mobile phones as quickly as possible, cover a large number of mobile phone users, form a terminal platform around mobile phones, and then provide IT services to mobile phone users in an indoctrinated manner.

But soon the industry discovered that this path simply didn’t work.

Apps developed by mobile phone manufacturers simply cannot compete with apps developed by Internet companies. Even if mobile phone manufacturers provide many channel advantages for their own apps, it is useless.

The illusion is shattered!

The business model doesn’t work.

Since the subsequent business idea of ​​making sustained money by providing software services has been blocked in half, and the company still wants to make money, it has no choice but to look back to the hardware to make up for it.

So a phenomenon occurred.

In the early days, the price of mobile phones was relatively low. After the disillusionment in the later period, mobile phone manufacturers began to raise prices collectively, and mobile phones became more and more expensive.

It’s too difficult to make money from software alone. We should still pursue some profits at the hardware level.

The price of mobile phones is rising steadily. A certain V-brand mobile phone sells for 1,999 yuan online and offline, and the purchase price in third-party stores is 1,720 yuan. Even third-party sales channels have such high profit margins, which shows how profitable mobile phones can be. (A friend has a store and I just asked for the data)

With such a big background, Zhou Buqi can sit back and relax.

At the Internet level, he is not worried about the rise of Xiaomi at all.

This is enough!

This means that no matter how well Xiaomi does in the future, it will not be able to shake Ziweixing’s core territory. The little calculations and calculations that Lei Jun has in his stomach now, he will find out in a few years that they are completely whimsical.

For Zhou Buqi, the most important thing is that Ziweixing can open up the situation as soon as possible and occupy the market in the early stage of mobile Internet.

Now is the early stage of the industry. "Indoctrination" to users has a very good effect.

After this stage, indoctrination has no effect.

This opportunity is not to be missed!

How to educate users?

The best way, of course, is to cooperate directly with major mobile phone manufacturers, pre-install MSI products into their smartphones, and force them to use it.

Lei Jun provided Ziweixing with the option of five pre-installed apps for a five-year free period, which was great and made Zhou Buqi very satisfied.

Five years from now, everyone will be familiar with smartphones, and the effectiveness of this cramming promotion method will be greatly reduced and it will have no effect.

Now is the early stage of the development of the industry, so we must seize some of the most valuable industry resources during this time!

So this exchange between the two parties, from drinking tea to drinking, has always been pleasant.

The overall framework of cooperation was successfully achieved.

Lei Jun felt that he was the founder of Xiaomi. He had been deeply involved in the Internet mobile phone industry for several years and had a profound and far-sighted understanding of this field. He relied on the information gap to deceive Boss Zhou and secured the resources and help of Ziweixing.

Zhou Buqi looked like he had been deceived.

In fact, his insights are deeper and he has a far-sighted understanding of the business of Internet mobile phones. He is able to master more information from a higher perspective. He secured the terminal channel resources for Xiaomi mobile phones for Ziweixing.

Not only that, but there are also shares.

Ziweixing and Asda belong to the same family, so it is not appropriate to make a strategic investment in Xiaomi. There is no problem if Zhou Buqi invests in Xiaomi in his own name.

Lei Jun welcomed such an investor and asked enthusiastically, "You pay 50 million US dollars, and I will give you 20% of the shares."

"Ah?" Zhou Buqi was slightly startled, "So many?"

In his impression, Xiaomi is just a small and inconspicuous company now. How can it be worth so much money?

Lei Jun said sincerely: "At the end of last year, Xiaomi launched a round of financing and raised US$40 million. The company's valuation has reached US$250 million. More than half a year has passed, and the quotation I gave is still based on Valuation at the end of last year.”

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "I didn't expect that millet is so valuable."

Lei Jun said with a smile: "The concept of Internet-connected mobile phones is very popular in the industry. Xiaomi has accumulated a lot of loyal users by developing systems before. And I personally...have a certain appeal in the industry."

Zhou Buqi nodded.

Seeing that he seemed not very interested, Lei Jun continued: "This month, the first-generation Xiaomi mobile phone will be released. I'm not afraid to reveal some business secrets to you. Our price is 1,999 yuan."

"ah?"

Zhou Buqi put on a surprised gesture.

Lei Jun said calmly: "The configuration of Xiaomi mobile phones is definitely not as good as that of the Aster4, which is popular all over the world, but it is not bad at all compared to the 4,000 yuan models of China Cool Alliance, and it is even higher than their configurations. I have never We got the latest processor from Qualcomm, which is the same model as Aster4."

Zhou Buqi said: "Then you must have lost money."

Lei Jundao: "Well, the price of 1,999 yuan can only match the cost line of spare parts. If you include OEM fees, design fees, operating fees, warehousing, logistics, salary, travel and other expenses, you will definitely lose money. This is For Xiaomi’s first product, what I want to do is become an instant hit.”

Zhou Buqi was noncommittal.

Lei Jun said with a smile: "So it depends on the performance in this battle. If the performance is good, Xiaomi will conduct a new round of financing at the end of the year. By then... it will not be valued at US$250 million."

Zhou Buqi glanced at him and said, "If you don't perform well, the 50 million US dollars I'm giving you now will be considered a big loss."

Lei Jun laughed and said: "How can it not perform well when there is a channel on the campus network?"

Zhou Buqi nodded and said slowly: "I don't know how the Xiaomi mobile phone is, but I have confidence in you. I believe that the Xiaomi mobile phone will be successful and cause a sensation in the market. It's the school season soon, what about you?" We should set aside more products to supply college students. The better the relationship with college students, the brighter Xiaomi’s future will be.”

"Of course, don't worry."

Lei Jun finally found the school network channel, of course, he must firmly grasp it, and it is best to establish a long-term cooperative relationship.

In the future, every new generation of Xiaomi phones will be released, and some products will be provided to Xiaonei.com.

Build relationships with college students.

"Then..." Lei Jun glanced at him, "How about the financing plan? Do you want to participate?"

"$50 million, 20% of the shares?"

"right."

"Xiaomi is quite short of money, right?"

Zhou Buqi seemed to be smiling but not smiling.

Lei Jun said calmly, "It's okay, I can still hold on."

Zhou Buqi didn't believe it. He waved his hand and said angrily: "Xiaomi will definitely have to subsidize a large amount of money for this wave of mobile phone sales... Forget it, then I will help you and provide you with this money. Come on. Help people to the end, Lao Lei, don’t let me down my kindness?”

"How is that possible?" Lei Jun laughed and raised his wine glass, "Here, I respect you!"

Zhou Buqi drank it all in one gulp and said proudly, "That's it. You'll be more efficient over there. We'll finish this financing case before the Xiaomi press conference starts."

Get it done quickly.

In order not to regret it when Xiaomi quickly becomes popular all over the country after the press conference, even if Lei Jun will keep his previous promise, there are other investors.

Start early to avoid fights later.