Top of the big era

Zhou Buqi never took BlackBerry seriously.

But in fact, BlackBerry was once in its heyday and was a direct competitor to the iPhone. Its sales in the US market were comparable to those of the iPhone. It was a life-and-death struggle. In contrast, Estar and Samsung adopted a policy of appeasement and basically did not compete with Apple head-on. Instead, they embraced Google's thighs and joined forces with Google to compete with Apple.

The market never cared who was upright and who was sneaky.

BlackBerry, which held its head high, ended up miserably.

Now it is dying.

Zhou Buqi returned to Silicon Valley from New York.

He met Zhou Shaoning and waited for the new CEO of BlackBerry to visit.

Although the negotiations with Qualcomm failed, Zhou Shaoning was rosy-cheeked and looked very excited. Obviously, BlackBerry brought a lot of good news. Before that, I had to explain the basic industry situation to Boss Zhou.

Zhou Buqi went to Motorola's Silicon Valley Operations Center.

Motorola's headquarters is in Chicago, which has also become the US headquarters of Astar. However, the location is a bit remote. Today's mobile phones are Internet-based, and the Internet is inseparable from the environment and talents of Silicon Valley. Zhou Shaoning usually comes to the United States and mainly works in the Motorola Operations Center in Silicon Valley.

It is more than 60 kilometers away from the headquarters of Ziweixing International.

When Zhou Buqi came to his office, Zhou Shaoning was impatient and said with a smile: "BlackBerry is in trouble now. This is the consequence of not compromising."

Zhou Buqi said with a smile: "Why are you gloating?"

Zhou Shaoning shook his head and sighed, "This just makes me understand that you are the main reason why Asda can achieve such results today. You have made the most correct judgment for every step Asda has taken. Nokia took the wrong path and died. Samsung also went astray at the beginning, but fortunately it adjusted in time. Now, BlackBerry is also not doing well. Asda, such a young company, can now be at the same level as Samsung in the mobile phone business, mainly because we did not take a wrong step! Not a single step!"

"This is nothing." Zhou Buqi seemed very casual, as if it was an easy thing. The office was very small and not a suite, so he went straight to the sofa and sat down, "BlackBerry has never surrendered to Android?"

"Well, no."

"Too stubborn."

"So now they can't play anymore. The two founders left one after another. A Chinese was invited from outside to be the CEO, hoping to lead BlackBerry out of the current crisis." Zhou Shaoning shook his head, "BlackBerry has lost at least 3 billion US dollars this year."

"Ah?" Zhou Buqi was a little surprised, "So much?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "The major strategic mistakes are mainly in two aspects, one is the new system, and the other is the huge inventory. BlackBerry has its own persistence and has been developing its own mobile phone operating system for so many years. So the performance has not been good in the past two years. This year, it is a desperate gamble, and a new mobile phone system has been developed, claiming to be safer and more reliable, and has made greater improvements in experience, interaction and function. In the third quarter, the BlackBerry phone equipped with the new system was officially released."

Zhou Buqi shook his head, "Mantis arm to stop a chariot!"

This time point is very deadly!

New phones from Asda, Samsung, and Apple are basically released around this time period. If a company that is already on the edge of the market does not give in and launches new models during this highly competitive period, it is really like seeking death.

Let's see how domestic mobile phone manufacturers do it?

Many manufacturers with less competitiveness release new phones in March just to avoid industry giants such as Apple, Asda, and Samsung.

Rushing forward knowing that there is a dead end ahead is not bravery, it is stupidity.

Both founders of BlackBerry were fired recently, and it is not unfair at all.

Zhou Shaoning said: "Yes, we were looking forward to it, but it was hit hard by the market. There was too much inventory and it couldn't be sold. The two founders quarreled, and then they were cleared out by the board of directors one after another, and the Chinese Cheng Suizong was invited."

Zhou Buqi was a little confused, "What's going on with BlackBerry? If they developed their own system in 2008 or 2009, it would be understandable, but what era is it now? In the current mobile phone market, only iOS and Android systems can survive. Don't you understand? Mobile phone giants such as Nokia and Motorola have died and signed a contract to sell themselves, and Samsung has also changed its route in time to join Android. Why is BlackBerry so weird?"

"Arrogant, right!"

Zhou Shaoning laughed.

Zhou Buqi said: "It's really inexplicable."

There are also people in China who call for self-developed mobile phone operating systems every day, but generally there are three types of people: scientists in their seventies and eighties who know nothing about market mechanisms, officials who pursue image projects, and patriotic young people who know nothing.

But BlackBerry is a commercial company, and once even a world-class company.

How could they not even understand this most basic market logic?

Even Nokia and Motorola died, and even Samsung surrendered. Even the god-level combination of "Microsoft + Nokia" failed to open up a third mobile operating system battlefield outside of iOS and Android, and even Ballmer stepped down.

BlackBerry, with its small arms and legs, thought it could develop an operating system comparable to Apple and Google?

It feels that there is a serious deviation in their understanding of the real world.

Zhou Shaoning hesitated for a moment, gave his own answer, and said slowly: "I think it may be... Just like you sometimes feel that when you reach that position, you are set up and you can't retreat."

"BlackBerry was set up?"

Zhou Buqi didn't know much about BlackBerry.

Because he had foresight, he never cared about BlackBerry and would not waste his energy on these "competitors" who were destined to be buried in the dust of history.

Zhou Shaoning smiled and said, "There are many politicians in many countries who use BlackBerry phones. The president of the United States uses a BlackBerry phone. This is the best advertising campaign for BlackBerry in recent years."

"What is this?"

"Security!"

"Does BlackBerry focus on security?"

"Yes." Zhou Shaoning nodded. "When smartphones were first launched and Android had not yet dominated the market, the best reputations in the market were iPhone and BlackBerry. BlackBerry once wanted to kill the iPhone and was very arrogant. The iPhone focuses on experience, interaction and functions, while BlackBerry focuses on security. Because of this factor, many celebrities use BlackBerry phones."

Zhou Buqi was a little surprised. "The security of the iPhone is very good, right?"

Zhou Shaoning said, "Yes, the iPhone is already secure enough, but there is still a huge gap with BlackBerry. The BlackBerry system will not have more than 5 vulnerabilities a year, the iPhone's iOS system has about 200 vulnerabilities a year, and the Android system has 1,500 vulnerabilities a year."

"Oh my!"

Zhou Buqi finally saw the competitiveness of the BlackBerry operating system.

I have to say, it's really powerful!

However, this thing does not have much market value.

Commercial companies are not military enterprises.

For ordinary consumers in the market, the most important thing is definitely the interaction and user experience. As for whether it is safe... this thing is not that important at all, or there are more important practical factors than safety.

Just like going out normally, politicians and celebrities always have bodyguards accompanying them when they go out. Who would bring a bodyguard with them when ordinary people go out?

Zhou Shaoning said: "I guess there must have been countless discussions within BlackBerry in the past few years about giving up the self-developed system and adopting the Android solution. However, the customer groups that made BlackBerry famous are mainly some politicians, celebrities, and well-known entrepreneurs. Once BlackBerry turns to Android, it will lose this most valuable user group, and they may not have such courage. Moreover, BlackBerry phones are known for their stability and security. Once they compromise, the brand image will be greatly reduced."

Zhou Buqi felt that this should be the reason, but he did not approve of BlackBerry's strategy at all. He sneered: "If you can't even survive, what do you care about your image? These people in BlackBerry have never struggled on the food and clothing line, and they don't know the cruelty of survival."

Zhou Shaoning smiled and said: "It is impossible for everyone to have such foresight as you."

"Then what is the new CEO of BlackBerry doing here this time? Don't tell me that you want us to help save BlackBerry's mobile phone business."

Zhou Buqi was not interested in helping at all.

Zhou Shaoning said: "No, on the contrary."

"On the contrary?"

"BlackBerry has been set up now, it is difficult to withdraw, he plans to completely abandon the mobile phone business."

"Oh?" Zhou Buqi's eyes lit up, "So bold?"