Chapter 827 Fang Zhuo Spirit (Two in One)

Yike Mars is two quarters behind Apple iPhone.

Fang Zhuo not only hopes that the iPhone can bring enough attention to operators during this period and bring beneficial changes to Yike, but also hopes that it will be restrained in sales and not cause excessive pressure.

Of course, this is just a thought.

The most critical thing at the moment is negotiations with operators.

"Legere, you are professionals in the field of operators."

"AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint are the four major operators in the United States. T-Mobile is the last to start deploying 3G equipment."

"AT&T has continuously invested heavily in acquiring Cingular and BellSouth, and is undoubtedly the largest operator in the United States."

"Verizon has upgraded EV-DO for 3G networks in three cities, and companies that have tried it say it's good. Its commercial service is now one of the fastest-growing wireless Internet access services in the United States."

"Sprint, Sprint..."

When Fang Zhuo talked about this operator that gave up CDMA and turned to WiMAX, he really didn’t know how to praise it, so he could only change the angle and said sincerely: “I don’t understand this, but it is working with Motorola, and it is Being treated like a biological son by the US government should not be underestimated.”

WiMAX, the 3G standard, was forced into it by the US government.

When it comes to this, I have to say that this is also a pain point that T-Mobile can feel.

Although the United States is an open market to European companies, T-Mobile, as a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom, is still not as convenient as local companies at certain times.

Legere couldn't help but said: "It seems that you are really wronged by letting Mr. Fang sit in front of us today."

"But..." Fang Zhuo likes to talk about twists and turns, "We, T-Mobile, have two major advantages that make us eager to cooperate."

"First, T-Mobile has 3G business experience that has been operating in the European market for several years, and can definitely replicate it in the US market."

Unlike the U.S. market, which has only begun to gradually promote 3G in the past two years, Europe has been commercializing this field since 2003 and has accumulated many experiences and lessons worth learning from.

Including the polishing and maturity of the communication standard WCDMA, this is also its great advantage for CDMA2000 and WiMAX.

"Second, T-Mobile also has a great influence in Europe, and Yike Mars can definitely bring new growth to your base camp."

Fang Zhuo said with a smile: "So, I am not aggrieved at all sitting here today. Although T-Mobile was late in deploying in the United States, it is also a very pleasant thing to grab other customers' customers to some extent."

"The original ARPU of telecom operators has slowed down, and 3G business is the best breakthrough."

"Google believes that the mobile era is coming, and has built the Android system itself."

"Qualcomm believes that star products can bring longer-term benefits than communication standards, and is willing to fully support Android and Mars."

"Yike believes that a touch-screen smartphone with a front-facing camera allows everyone to make money together and can attract enough attention from consumers."

"Legere, the opportunity is right in front of you, you must take advantage of it."

Since Fang Zhuo is here today, he will make his attitude clear.

If T-Mobile is unwilling, then in a few days, ask Verizon to change a few words and explain it clearly.

In any case, operators must have a preliminary attitude before June.

Legere played with the Yiko Mars in his hand, passed it to the executives next to him, and discussed it softly.

He had watched Apple's press conference, but it was indeed quite novel to experience a touch-screen smartphone that could run and take photos of his own bald head.

After several senior executives from the corresponding business tasted the phone and passed it back, Legere said with a smile: "What Mr. Fang said is very contagious, but we have to act rationally. During this time, I am surprised that Google has Spend so much effort lobbying for Yike Mobile.”

“Judging from the products in hand, Yike’s work is worthy of appreciation.”

"I am also very surprised. The inclusive attitude shown by Qualcomm today is incredible."

"If possible, how about we talk about it in two weeks?"

Legere gave him time to re-evaluate his assessment and consider how to refer to the cooperation model between Apple and AT&T.

In addition, Mr. Fang is right about one thing. A stable European market may also need a catfish.

Legere plans to discuss this cooperation with the German headquarters.

Generally speaking, he is willing to give it a try first. After all, there is still time to observe how consumers accept such a mobile phone.

Fang Zhuo was not very satisfied, nor was he too disappointed.

We have been talking with T-Mobile for a long time. Although I am full of enthusiasm for this trip, it is difficult to make a final decision.

He stood up, shook hands with Legere, and joked: "My cell phone now uses a Verizon number. If we cooperate in the future, I will port my number to the network as soon as possible, and your T-Mobile will also provide you with it as soon as possible." I’ll give you a small red envelope of $11.”

Legere understood this meaningful joke. It was simply that Yike wanted to compare the intensity of cooperation with Apple and AT&T. It cost Apple $11 to bring a switched user, and the other party also charged $11.

The money is the same, but what about the others?

Legere shook hands gently, smiled and nodded, but did not answer the question.

Fang Zhuo did not continue the conversation. It was a joke, so he just laughed it off.

The three of them did not leave immediately. Schmidt and Legere communicated alone for a while, and it seemed that they had gained something.

When I left the T-Mobile office building, the car parked in front of me.

Jacob from Qualcomm held the car door helplessly with his hand, turned his head and said, "Aren't you going to get in?"

"You first, you first." Both Fang Zhuo and Schmidt showed enough respect for the head of Qualcomm.

Jacob rolled his eyes, obviously he came in the same car.

He shook his head slightly and got into the car, not to interfere in the secret conversation between the two people.

Teams from Google and Yike also got on the bus first, leaving room for the big guys.

"Legere is actually inclined to agree to further cooperation, but he has doubts about the subsidy fee for users and the share ratio. He is not satisfied either." Schmidt said nothing nonsense and directly talked about his relationship with Legere. comminicate.

Fang Zhuo raised his eyebrows: "He is using you to bargain with me."

If there are doubts about the subsidy fee for users, it is nothing more than to lower the purchase price of Yike mobile phones.

"Being willing to bargain is also good news, isn't it?" Schmidt laughed.

The two got into the back seat of the car.

Schmidt pulled out the document that played a huge role today.

Fang Zhuo glanced at the weird expression of the Google CEO and suddenly asked: "Schmidt, is this document of yours true?"

"There is a high probability that it will come true." Schmidt spoke very rigorously.

"What does this mean?" Fang Zhuo was stunned and asked suspiciously, "Did you fill in the numbers on this document blindly?"

Schmidt said angrily: "I'm not as shameless as you."

He continued: "This is just a version that is close to being completely finalized. I'm not sure if I really follow this, but it's generally fine."

Fang Zhuo gave Schmidt a questioning look.

"The specific conditions between Apple and AT&T are also trade-offs, which are greatly affected by the industry and competition." Schmidt explained, "Just like your Yi Ke is watching from the side, Apple and AT&T have to assess your threats. I I am sure that some of their terms have been modified to take into account the existence of Yike.”

Fang Zhuo was a little surprised: "Then I should be honored?"

"Otherwise? Jobs even asked me personally about the situation of the Major sensor company acquired by Yike." Schmidt said, "The competition between Yike is still very obvious. Since they are mobile phones with similar positioning, they will definitely continue to do so." The approach to music players reduces costs and benefits consumers.”

This is the characteristic of Yike's past competition.

When Fang Zhuo heard "Major sensor", he suddenly felt that the enemy was in the clear and I was also in the clear.

He thought for a few seconds and asked: "Yike won't affect AT&T and Apple's 199, right?"

"I guess, just like you used Apple's cooperation with AT&T to try to persuade Legere, Jobs may also use Yike's past competitive strategies to increase his bargaining chips with AT&T." Schmidt shrugged, "Enemy Sometimes you can be a temporary ally, right?"

Even Apple directors are guessing, and Fang Zhuo can only guess.

He has the general direction in his mind, down to the details, down to the chain reaction changes, which can only be judged by the information in front of him.

Fang Zhuo was silent for a while, thinking that Lao Shi was fine and often asked him about his research and development status.

He asked suspiciously: "You won't tell Steve Jobs about my side of things, right? How did you get this document?"

If you want to win someone's trust, do you first give yourself information?

Two-Face Schmidt?

"Haha, how is that possible?" Schmidt laughed, "Don't worry about how you got it, there won't be any documents after this. I just talked about this with Legere, and he said on T-Mobile Just the approximate cooperation conditions mentioned in the rumors will do.”

Fang Zhuo knew that he had no way to prove it, and he increasingly felt that the Google CEO and Larry, the founder, had completely different styles.

He pondered: "Do you think the procurement and sharing between Yike and T-Mobile is easy to negotiate?"

At this time, we won’t talk about Google together, just Yike alone.

As long as the two companies cooperate, Google only needs to cooperate. As for how to cooperate, it is not important to it.

"With Apple in the lead, I think it's relatively easy to negotiate, just the price and proportion of sharing." Schmidt said seriously, "Although Legere can see the tendency of cooperation, we should still talk to Verizon again. This will definitely make it easier to talk.”

He continued: "If there are still huge differences, you can also sign a draft before the press conference, and then modify it according to the situation after the iPhone is launched. You also said that there may be two prices by then, not necessarily who More initiative.”

Fang Zhuo nodded slightly. It's hard to say how well 44 will respond, but the 199 contract machine is still promising.

If, as Schmidt said, Apple and operators are concerned about Yike exerting competitive pressure, and thus have more cooperation, will the first-generation iPhone sell better than in history?

Fang Zhuo corrected a little bit of his original idea of ​​carving a boat and seeking a sword.

He was actually somewhat desensitized to the price of mobile phones, and only used the data of mainstream mobile phones on the market to measure the situation.

Fortunately, two quarters were enough to further confirm a more appropriate positioning, and there were many legitimate reasons to adjust the price, the most real of which was the real-time change of storage prices.

The atmosphere in the car became quiet.

After a moment, Schmidt spoke again: "I hope to see a perfect press conference next month."

"I don't know if it's perfect or not, I just hope Mars can give me face like today." Fang Zhuo smiled.

Schmidt realized that Leger and others did not encounter black screens or shutdowns when they tried the phone today.

Very good, the optimization is taking effect.

He asked, "If we can go one step further in two weeks, how would you prefer to price the phone?"

"Apple has Samsung chips, and Yike has Qualcomm chips. Apple uses first-tier components, and Yike's are not inferior." Fang Zhuo said, "I just want to see the tuning of Apple's actual phone with my own eyes. However, we have a front camera, which is a plus. The price is about the same, and the cost is there."

Schmidt nodded slightly: "Well, Mars also has our Android."

Fang Zhuo hesitated to speak.

A little higher, and a little lower.

...

The next round of negotiations with T-Mobile involves procurement and profit sharing, and Yu Hong will lead the team to participate more. When it comes to direct competition with Apple, she is the first-line person in charge and often faces similar negotiation situations.

Fang Zhuo inspected the R&D center in Silicon Valley.

Because of the good cooperation with Sony, a new imaging department has been established here in the R&D center, which will continue to build the competitiveness of mobile phone imaging in the future.

This department currently uses some experience in Sony cameras. In addition, under the guidance of Sony, it also tries to poach people from the traditional imaging industry.

It is not convenient to poach Sony's people, but they know clearly which powerful players are in the competition, which can be regarded as competition in the air.

Fang Zhuo is very pleased with the harmony between the two companies.

On May 13, Fang Zhuo flew back to Houston and prepared to continue Why not.

But on the night he arrived, Kong Yu made a phone call and talked about Lehman's use of leveraged financing to acquire Axton, one of the largest real estate developers in the United States.

"Axton? It is also mainly engaged in commercial real estate, right? It is not cheap, right?" Fang Zhuo already knew Lehman's way, "Lehman wants Axton to facilitate its commercial mortgage securities?"

"Well, Axton's developments are basically high-end apartments and commercial real estate in prime locations such as Manhattan, Los Angeles, and Washington. The acquisition price is estimated to be more than 20 billion US dollars." Kong Yu replied.

High-end commercial real estate is obviously more resilient to declines.

But...

Fang Zhuo asked: "Lehman used leverage to acquire? How much money could it invest?"

Kong Yu had already inquired: "No more than 1 billion US dollars, maybe 500 million, or... even less."

He explained a little: "Lehman's leveraged acquisition uses the income of the acquired Axton as collateral, as well as high-return bonds and bonds. Lehman is both the acquirer and the financing intermediary. The leverage is estimated to be more than 30 or 40 times."

1 billion, 500 million or even less, 30 or 40 times.

The range of this number is quite large, but it is not so conspicuous when placed on Axton's acquisition of more than 20 billion US dollars. In short, it is a very low principal + very high leverage.

5/1 billion swallows 20 billion targets?

Fang Zhuo turned his mind, what is an international investment bank? This is a big deal.

Big moves, as well as big leveraged notes, equity bridge loans, commercial mortgage debts, etc.

He asked with concern: "Is it easy for Lehman to raise funds? If it is not easy, you can find a way to introduce funds to it."

Kong Yu just wanted to report the boss's concerns...

But then he realized that Mr. Fang was firmly bearish on the US market. Once Lehman's high leverage encountered liquidity problems, it would be in big trouble.

"Bank of Washington does have a budget." Kong Yu said so. Although he no longer does CDO business for Bank of Washington, they often communicate with each other.

"The man has feelings and the woman has intentions. We can match them appropriately. Just go to the door to ask for money as soon as you encounter problems." Fang Zhuo smiled.

Kong Yu thought: "Then I will try."

Mr. Fang was afraid that Lehman would not be able to swallow an elephant.

Although it seems a bit strange to help Lehman find money, but... Mr. Fang respects the old and the young, and Lehman, and is a good boss with an internationalist spirit.