Chapter 865: Hundreds of Flowers Bloom

The first day of the Gregorian New Year 2008 passed uneventfully. On the second day of the New Year, Yike’s official website released sales figures, and Mars’ global sales exceeded 3 million units.

There was no solemn announcement, no notice of the leader’s speech, and no YouTube video recording.

Just a simple line of words on the official website.

It seemed that Yike had become numb to its own sales, and it seemed that this kind of natural thing did not need to be publicized.

Whether you accept it or not, the number is already here.

Fang Zhuo didn’t know whether his good friends in China were upset, but he soon saw the intensive reactions of international manufacturers.

Just one day later, South Korea’s LG, which had previously announced cooperation with Verizon, announced on its official website that it would launch a 3G touch-screen mobile phone equipped with the Symbian system in March.

Two days later, Sony Ericsson, one of the top three mobile phones in the world, also announced that it would launch a 3G touch-screen smartphone equipped with Microsoft’s Windows Mobile system in the first half of the year.

On January 7, Microsoft announced a system upgrade plan and will launch Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system on April 1 to better support cooperative manufacturers.

On January 8, Nokia also made some moves. First, it announced that Symbian will launch the 5th version of S60 system, and second, it announced that it will launch a full touch screen product in the third quarter of this year.

For several consecutive days, the global mobile phone industry was extremely lively, and news was flying everywhere.

Many news actually have symbolic actions behind them. For example, Sony Ericsson's choice of WM system means that it has completely joined the Microsoft camp and will sell its shares in Symbian.

This was soon verified.

On January 13, Nokia's head Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo announced that the company would acquire a total of 52% of the shares held by other shareholders of Symbian, making Symbian a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nokia and establishing a non-profit Symbian Foundation.

The Symbian Foundation will provide operating systems to major manufacturers around the world in an open source manner.

Open source, open source, this operation is somewhat familiar.

Fang Zhuo contacted Sony's mobile phone director Miyamoto specifically for this matter and got a long-awaited answer.

"At the beginning, Ericsson, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, Siemens, Panasonic, and Samsung subscribed to the shares of Symbian together, hoping that everyone would develop together."

"But now, Symbian symbolizes Nokia. What is the meaning of this company?"

"Moreover, consumers are increasingly proving that they can accept other operating systems. The mobile phone industry is changing. This is an opportunity worth exploring."

Ichiro Miyamoto was very honest and talked about his perspective on the industry.

The iPhone and Mars were launched one after another, as if they were different, but they achieved their own success, which shocked many manufacturers.

In addition, Fang Zhuo also curiously asked about the new phone equipped with Microsoft WM system in the first half of the year of Sony Ericsson. According to Microsoft's schedule, this is between April and June.

Ichiro Miyamoto was rather vague about this point. Although Mr. Fang was an external director, Mars was very popular and competitive. He only said a few words, but revealed a surprising information.

Sony Ericsson's new phone will use a resistive screen.

"Resistive screen? A resistive screen equipped with WM system?" Fang Zhuo was really surprised.

Since he started seeing all kinds of information from his peers this month, he has never thought of the word resistive screen.

But... resistive screens do not support multi-touch, which really circumvents patent restrictions in a physical sense.

"Mr. Fang, because resistive screens are cheap, they can be 20%-50% lower than capacitive screens." Ichiro Miyamoto gave a down-to-earth reason.

The screen is a major cost item in mobile phones.

Fang Zhuo reluctantly accepted this statement, but still suspected that it was inseparable from patents.

When he brought this information to discuss with Yu Hong, the latter talked about the recent operations of his peers from a market perspective.

"If a mobile phone is popular, I will definitely study why it can be accepted by the market and why it is loved by consumers."

"Some manufacturers think it is a system factor, so they will install the system, some think it is a full touch screen, so they will use a full touch screen, some think it is a front camera, so they will use a front camera..."

"Everyone launches various products based on their own situation and judgment of the market."

A Mars is in front of you, just see what you can learn.

Yu Hong's interpretation

"It seems a little overconfident." Fang Zhuo laughed and praised another competitor, "Steve Jobs is still calm, this is the style of a master."

The next afternoon, Yu Hong brought the news of this competitor. It is said that Apple's new phone launch conference will be held in March.

"..." Fang Zhuo looked at the highly credible news and could only say, "Very good, let a hundred flowers bloom."

All kinds of peers, let a hundred flowers bloom, and the intensity is on the rise.

"When will our new phone launch conference be?" This is what Yu Hong wanted to talk about.

"They all need time. The fastest LG will also be in March. With the new phones of peers, the popularity of Mars will definitely decline, but it will not hinder our rhythm too much." Fang Zhuo has repeatedly analyzed the actions of peers, "I am most concerned about iPhone and LG now."

Needless to say, although the iPhone was attacked by the front and 3G surprise, the sales of iPhone are still good, and it did not rigidly stick to the original release schedule.

LG, the most important thing is its cooperation model with Verizon. Both parties will definitely use subsidies, which is worth observing.

After Yike's celebration party, Fang Zhuo discussed the reasons for Mars' success in an internal meeting.

The most important one is the price of $199.

Without this price basis, Mars would never have the current sales situation.

This is a point that must be clear and must be clearly recognized.

From the current situation, the cooperation between Mars and T-Mobile is undoubtedly a win-win situation.

Later that night, Google's Schmidt opened the phone and talked about the contact with Samsung again.

There are so many news on the market recently, almost none of which has anything to do with Android. Major manufacturers seem to have maintained a certain tacit understanding. Android is open source, but they just don't choose it.

Under such circumstances, the attitude of Samsung, the world's second largest manufacturer, is invaluable.

Schmidt attaches great importance to Samsung and tries his best to promote its installation of the Android system.

And in the communication with Samsung in the past few days, the other party mentioned several key patents in Yike's hands as expected.

If Yike is willing to talk, Samsung Electronics will fly to Silicon Valley to talk.

If Yike is unwilling to talk, then put the contact on hold for the time being.

"Schmidt, Samsung wants to bypass the Pro Alliance, which is a destruction of our framework." Fang Zhuo expressed dissatisfaction to Schmidt, "The Pro Alliance is a foundation for the vigorous development of Android."

Schmidt echoed the condemnation, but then said: "Mr. Fang, as long as the number of models equipped with Android increases, it will be generally beneficial. We urgently need strength to fight against Microsoft WM and Nokia Symbian camp."

Yike Mars is very successful, but from a global perspective, there is still a lot of room for improvement. Now is the time to use the shock of Mars to actively do things.

Fang Zhuo finally agreed to negotiate. Samsung actually has many complementary patents. In addition, there is also a project cooperation with Samsung on the Hummingbird chip, so the contact at this time is also beneficial.

Only half a day later, Samsung confirmed the itinerary. Samsung Electronics will be led by President Lee Jae-yong to Silicon Valley to discuss the three-party cooperation.

Samsung Crown Prince Lee Jae-yong, an old acquaintance.

Fang Zhuo was deeply impressed by this person and the speed of progress he made in running Samsung Electronics.