Top of the big era

Seattle is on the West Coast, and is a city on the same coastline as San Francisco and Los Angeles. The two most representative companies in the IT field are of course Microsoft and Amazon.

Because the labor costs in Silicon Valley are too high, and California is becoming more left-leaning and the tax rate is getting higher and higher, many technology companies have moved out of Silicon Valley... There are mainly two directions.

If you go east, you go directly to New York; if you stay on the west coast, you choose Seattle.

For example, Google and Facebook have already moved to Seattle, and it is easy to find workers. All they have to do is poach Microsoft and Amazon.

Zhou Buqi has long planned for Seattle.

Because the headquarters of Baokai Game Studio is in Seattle, he has been here many times.

Kurian even reported to Zhou Buqi some time ago that Ziweiyun will start a strategy in Seattle and will open a Ziweiyun branch in Seattle.

The purpose is very clear, to compete with the main competitors Amazon Cloud and Microsoft Cloud for talents!

Weakening your competitors is strengthening your own strength.

Zhou Buqi just came to Seattle and went straight to Microsoft headquarters. He had a friendly meeting with Ballmer. This guy's days at Microsoft are numbered, and while he's still in office, we should sign as many big contracts with him as possible.

However, Ziweixing’s overall valuation of UC Group is relatively high, exceeding US$5 billion.

This makes Microsoft a little nervous.

Zhou Buqi wanted to complete the transaction as soon as possible and openly offered some preferential plans. "Asida Group has two mobile phone brands, Aster and Motorola. In the next three years, all smartphones under Asida will be All mobile phones will have UC Browser pre-installed.”

Microsoft's move on the mobile side is really too slow.

Despite Ballmer's efforts, it is too difficult for a behemoth like Microsoft to turn the ship and move in the direction of the mobile Internet, and it moves too slowly.

The best way is to trade space for time, which is solved through mergers and acquisitions.

Ballmer was not satisfied, "The sales volume of Asda mobile phones seems not to be high?"

"Why is it not enough?" Zhou Buqi was a little amused, "Aster is a high-end model. Samsung's mobile phone sales are very high because Samsung implements the mobile phone strategy and sells a large number of mid- to low-end mobile phones. This is why Samsung The sales volume is better than that of iPhone and Aster. But if we only look at the field of high-end phones, there is still a big gap between Samsung and iPhone and Aster."

Ballmer said: "There is no difference in terms of software products whether a high-end machine or a low-end machine. For UC Browser, the most important thing is the user scale."

Zhou Buqi said easily: "It's simple. Asda has completed the acquisition of Motorola. Starting from June this year, the first batch of new Motorola smartphones will be available."

Ballmer glanced at him and said, "Will the sales be higher than Samsung?"

Based on Zhou Buqi's humble style in the past, he wouldn't have said such nonsense. But when facing Americans, sometimes it's really hard not to brag a little bit, "Of course! How can the Samsung brand Compared with Motorola? In terms of price, for models with the same configuration, Motorola's price can be at least 20% lower than Samsung's. In the field of mid-to-low-end phones, Motorola will sweep the market even if it gives up all profits. We must also revive this mobile phone brand.”

Ballmer was a little touched, "Not making money?"

Zhou Buqi smiled and said: "We have a company in China called Xiaomi, do you know?"

Ballmer shook his head.

Zhou Buqi said: "If you are interested, you can study Xiaomi's model. I think this is the development direction of smartphones in the future, at least mid- to low-end phones should be chosen this way. Just like Yahoo relied on its free model back then. Just like the advent of the world, smartphones will become more and more popular and become the most important tool in the information age. The platform attributes of smartphones will exceed product attributes. Making money should be based on the platform of smartphones, not on Smartphones are a commodity to make money. According to my understanding, this year’s new version of iPhone may be cold in the market, and Samsung’s low-end and mid-range phone business is not on the right development path. This means that this year’s love Star's Aster high-end models will erode the iPhone market in large quantities, and Motorola's low-end and mid-range models will engulf Samsung's market in large quantities."

After saying this, Zhou Buqi blushed a little.

If Lao Ma and Lao Zhang were around, they would immediately be able to tell that he was talking nonsense or deceiving people.

Regardless of whether it is true or false.

This kind of speaking style is not his style.

When things go wrong, there must be a monster.

But it doesn't matter. Ballmer is a foreigner, and his previous contact with Zhou Buqi was very limited. Coupled with the cultural gap... I felt that Boss Zhou's words were charming, confident, and full of personal charm.

Ballmer hesitated and said with a smile: "Would you consider cooperating with Microsoft's operating system?"

Zhou Buqi said: "No problem, Motorola can cooperate with Microsoft to launch a smartphone equipped with Microsoft mobile phone system. If the market performs well, we can deepen cooperation in the future."

"Um."

Ballmer sighed secretly.

The browser business is really a headache.

Microsoft's IE browser is all about bundling, and it relies on the bundling of Microsoft's mobile phone system to be oriented to users. However, now Microsoft's mobile phone system is obviously in trouble.

The market has formed a pattern in which Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android share the world equally.

This means that IE browser has lost its source of vitality.

no solution anymore.

Just aim at UC Browser.

Zhou Buqi said: "This year will be the year of the explosion of smartphones. Mobile phones are the platform for mobile apps. Anyone who misses this opportunity this year will really miss the big trend of mobile Internet. If nothing else, UC browsing The estimated user growth of the device on smartphones this year can reach 150 million."

Ballmer raised his eyebrows and asked, "Are there really so many?"

Zhou Buqi smiled, "Just a lot more!"

Ballmer pondered for a long time, and then said slowly: "To be honest, there is some controversy in the board of directors about the acquisition of UC Browser. The acquisition of Skype last year was not very successful, and everyone is a little worried about such heavyweight acquisitions."

Zhou Buqi frowned, "What do you mean? UC Group is already in the process of splitting it up, and I helped sell Yammer to Microsoft."

Ballmer quickly said: "I am very optimistic about UC Browser. This product can become an important supplement to Microsoft's mobile layout. But in terms of price... I think we can wait a little longer."

Zhou Buqi was not very satisfied, "When will we wait?"

Ballmer said: "In July or August, when the new round of smartphones goes on sale and the market gets feedback, we can discuss this topic in depth."

Smartphone sales can reflect many issues.

The low sales of mobile phones shows that it is still early in the mobile era, so there is no need to be too anxious and you can take your time.

If the sales are crazy and the sales volume is large, it will arouse the vigilance of all parties, and the mobile era will come with a bang and at an accelerated pace...

For Microsoft, this is very urgent.

They can't afford to waste time, so they must seize the time and carry out strategic challenges at all costs to avoid falling behind the times... In this way, even if UC Group offers a high price, Microsoft's board of directors can approve it.

Zhou Buqi knew that there was a certain amount of moisture in the other party's words, but this reason was more convincing.

Not just Microsoft, but Baidu too.

Generally speaking, summer and autumn are the peak sales seasons for mobile phones. If the sales of smartphones are very hot at this stage, with hundreds of millions of units sold...this data will be very convincing.

Not only will Microsoft become nervous, but Baidu will also be restless.

For Zhou Buqi, it would be best to resolve the UC Group case this year. Next year, Ziweixing will be listed as a whole. Next year, there will definitely not be any similar big capital transactions, and all the energy will be focused on the listing.

…

After leaving Microsoft, Zhou Buqi went to Baokai Game Studio.

Under Zhou Buqi's planning, Baokai's transformation has been very successful and it has become the best mobile game studio in the world, with seven or eight phenomenal mobile games launched.

Games like "Bejeweled", "Swallowing Fish" and "Monster Aquarium" have long been outdated among PC casual games, and few people play them anymore.

But mobile games are different.

By changing the platform, it has taken on new vitality.

After Zhou Buqi came over, he was surprised to see his college classmate Yan Xinlei, "Why are you here? Aren't you studying at the University of Southern California?"

Yan Xinlei laughed loudly, "Come here to study."

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "You are not studying at school, so you come here to cheat on food and drink?"

"Who cheated me out of food and drink?" Yan Xinlei was speechless. "This semester is over. I came here to work as a study student. If I don't go back to China, I will have to spend a lot of money."

"Oh, it's holiday..." Zhou Buqi was a little curious, "Does this count as an internship for you?"

Yan Xinlei said: "Barely."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "You are quite capable. You have a large network of connections. You have come to Seattle from Los Angeles...are you here to pick up girls?"

Women in Seattle are famous for their beauty, so when he left home in the morning, Aunt Xue warned him to be careful when he went out. This time it can be used on others.

Yan Xinlei said: "What's the matter? I'm currently involved in the production of a game, and I'm going to launch a mobile version. I'm the main planner."

Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "What game?"

Yan Xinlei smiled and said: "Ningbo Mahjong."

"Uh..." Zhou Buqi twitched the corner of his mouth and said angrily, "Hurry up and join in some serious games, you are just fooling around every day!"

Yan Xinlei said: "Okay, the mobile version of "Vocabulary Master" is being developed recently. I want to participate, but they don't want it."

Zhou Buqi waved his hand and said, "I'll make the arrangements!"