Restart life

Chapter 332, March 0329th: [Meizu's CEO Huang is unwilling to share]

Pig City, Meizu.

"Mr. Huang, ByteDance called. They said their CEO, Chen Guiliang, would like to visit sometime soon. When would be a convenient time for you?"

"Chen Guiliang? What's he doing here?"

"do not know."

"Tell them they can come anytime, but they need to call a day in advance."

"Ok."

This was arranged by Chen Guiliang before he left Beijing for Hangzhou. After participating in the revision of the company's articles of association at Bailian Technology, he immediately flew to Meizu.

Meizu is at a critical juncture of life and death!
Their product line was relatively limited, primarily relying on MP3 players for growth. However, with the widespread adoption of mobile phones, people could listen to music directly from their devices, leading to a year-on-year decline in MP3 sales.

By now, there are very few MP3 brands left on the market.

If Meizu doesn't transform and make other products, it's doomed.

What to do after the transformation?
Huang Zhang revealed last year that he wanted to make smartphones, and has started research and development in bits and pieces over the past year, but has not yet devoted all his energy to it.

Of course he knew who Chen Guiliang was; Meizu had even placed OEM phone advertisements on Renren.com.

It's really just a pure rebrand.

Because Meizu doesn't even have a mobile phone license, all production and design are handled by other manufacturers.

The reason why mobile phone manufacturers use the Meizu brand is because Meizu's MP3 and MP4 players are excellent, and they use its influence and sales channels to promote music phones.

However, Huang Zhang took the opportunity to send technical personnel to familiarize themselves with the mobile phone development and production process under the pretext of collaborative research and development.

"Mr. Chen, please come with me."

"Thank you."

Chen Guiliang was led to the meeting room by staff. After waiting for about five or six minutes, Huang Zhang walked in wearing work clothes.

"I'm sorry, I have work to do," Huang Zhang apologized and shook hands.

Chen Guiliang said, "I apologize for disturbing you."

Huang Zhang, busy with his own research and development, asked quickly, "May I ask what brings you here, Mr. Chen?"

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "I was just passing through Tuncheng and stopped by to visit a client. Meizu has always been one of our major advertising clients, frequently placing ads for headphones, speakers, and mobile phones."

"Mr. Chen, stop joking. Just say what's on your mind." Huang Zhang didn't want to beat around the bush with Chen Guiliang.

Chen Guiliang said, "It seems that General Manager Huang mentioned that he wants to make smartphones?"

Huang Zhang nodded: "Yes."

Lei Jun's "phone + fans" model was actually something Huang Zhang had already done; he did the same thing when he was selling MP3 players.

Meizu does the same thing when it comes to making phones; the phones are still under development, but the marketing has already begun.

Many Meizu fans know what Huang Zhang is up to and are eagerly awaiting Meizu's smartphones. Once the Meizu phone is released, there will undoubtedly be long lines of fans waiting to buy it.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "I'm also planning to make smartphones, so I've come here to learn from Mr. Huang."

"ByteDance?" Huang Zhang asked in surprise.

Chen Guiliang smiled and nodded.

Huang Zhang sincerely said, "It's extremely difficult; I don't recommend getting involved."

Chen Guiliang said, "As far as I know, Tianyu is also developing smartphones."

Huang Zhang was taken aback: "Where did you hear this news from?"

Chen Guiliang said, "A friend told me."

Tianyu is currently the leading domestic mobile phone brand, ranking first in sales nationwide in 2007!

Chen Guiliang said, "You have a competitor now, and a very strong one at that."

"Why is Mr. Chen telling me all this?" Huang Zhang asked.

Chen Guiliang said, "There are very few companies developing smartphones in China, and Meizu is probably the only one that has started in-depth research and development. I would like to ask, what is your mobile phone system based on?"

"WinCE," Huang Zhang said without hiding it.

Chen Guiliang said, "Is it possible for our two companies' smartphones to use the same operating system? This would facilitate the development of applications by third parties in the future. Of course, Meizu has already started working on it, and I can cover part of the R&D costs."

Chen Guiliang originally wanted to use the Android system, but after investigating, he discovered that the Android system hadn't even been released yet!
He couldn't remember when Android was released, and he couldn't keep waiting indefinitely.

Huang Zhang flatly refused: "Impossible."

Huang Zhang's thinking was simple: "I've worked so hard to develop the mobile phone system, and you just come here, give me a little money, and take it? There's no such thing as a free lunch! I'm just creating another competitor for myself!"
Chen Guiliang said, "1+1 is greater than 2. If our two companies share the same system, it will be much easier for third-party applications to develop. Let's join forces to take down the other vendors!"

Huang Zhang shook his head again.

How can I persuade them?

Does this mean Google will create an Android system in the future, and even make it an open platform? Meizu's system simply can't compete, its app ecosystem won't take off, and in the end, it will have no choice but to obediently switch to Android.

Trying to persuade a highly confident and self-centered person with something that hasn't even happened yet has a zero success rate.

Chen Guiliang talked for a long time, going on and on about open platforms and mobile ecosystems, but Huang Zhang remained unmoved as he sat there.

Huang Zhang wants to create China's Apple; he wants to be China's Steve Jobs! He will not share the Meizu system with anyone.

"Although we cannot cooperate, I am still very happy to have had the opportunity to communicate with General Manager Huang." Chen Guiliang smiled and stood up to take his leave.

Huang Zhang said, "I am also very happy to meet Boss Chen."

The two exchanged private phone numbers. Perhaps feeling it would be impolite to refuse Chen Guiliang, Huang Zhang invited him to dinner. Even if a business deal fell through, goodwill could remain; even if they became competitors in the future, they could still be friends in private.

After a meal and drinks, both of them were slightly tipsy, and they waved goodbye with smiles.

Since Huang Zhang refused to share the mobile phone system, Chen Guiliang didn't bother reminding him to be careful to circumvent Apple's patents.

Apple's patent barriers are very strong.

Putting everything else aside, the Home button patent alone forced Meizu to temporarily halt phone production.

Although Apple's Home button patent has not yet been approved, they have already submitted the application.

Chen Guiliang could circumvent this by registering relevant patents in China and only producing and selling the products there. But the outcome could be disastrous!
If they apply for a Chinese patent now but can't produce a prototype, they'll definitely end up in a legal battle with Apple in the future.

Apple cannot sue Chen Guiliang in China, but it can pressure its suppliers to prevent Chen Guiliang from producing phones.

Meizu has been disgusted by Apple in this way before. Because they couldn't buy capacitive screens from major manufacturers, they were forced to buy from second-tier brands, which caused their yield rate to plummet by 30% instantly.

Even the most die-hard Meizu users will be furious if the touchscreen stops working after using it for a while.

How to circumvent Apple's Home button patent?
If apples are round, then let's make them oval.

Well... okay, Apple is domineering. It didn't apply for a patent for the oval shape itself, but it still won the lawsuit. The court's reason for the ruling was design similarity.

Oval buttons won't work, so we have to make them square. And we can't just change the shape; the capacitive touch area has to be changed too. It needs to be non-physical pressing to avoid trouble with Apple.

Sitting on the plane, Chen Guiliang felt somewhat helpless.

When he learned that the Android system had not yet been released, he really wanted to gather a group of Chinese manufacturers and work together to create a shared mobile phone platform.

Going it alone will lead to certain death; in the end, we can only embrace Android together.

But Huang Zhang was unwilling.

If Chen Guiliang put himself in Huang Zhang's shoes, he wouldn't share the system he developed if he couldn't predict the future.

No matter how much money you offer, I won't do it!
Next came the task of poaching talent. He had originally planned to do so after the financial crisis broke out. But he thought it wouldn't be worthwhile; although poaching would be cheaper, it would waste more than half a year of his time.

When asked who to recruit, Pu, the editor-in-chief of "Mobile Phone Circle," recommended someone.

Qian Chen, from Motorola's China Research Center, led the development of the world's first smartphone running Linux. He later became CTO of Luo Yonghao's Smartisan phone, but his career steadily declined.

At this time, the development of smartphone operating systems was incredibly diverse, with a wide variety of options available.

A simpler approach is to develop based on Windows Mobile, such as Tianyu's first smartphone.

Huang Zhang's Meizu is quite unconventional, actually developing based on Windows CE 6.0. Even Microsoft probably didn't expect this to be used for mobile phone systems; they've always used it for industrial controllers, POS machines, navigation devices, and other similar equipment.

Another skill is modifying Linux to create mobile phone operating systems, which is one of Qian Chen's specialties.

If Chen Guiliang recruits Qian Chen, he will inevitably develop a mobile phone system based on Linux.

However, the easiest solution is actually to upgrade a MediaTek feature phone. These smartphones are extremely low-cost, have relatively weak smart features, and fall somewhere between feature phones and smartphones.

Chen Guiliang had just flown back to Beijing when he received a phone call as soon as the plane landed.

The call came from Professor Zhao, the deputy director of the Philosophy Department at Peking University and Chen Guiliang's thesis advisor.

Professor Zhao asked in a teasing tone, "Hey, Mr. Chen, haven't you decided on your graduation thesis topic yet? You should be submitting the first draft soon."

Chen Guiliang finally chose his major this semester, which means he will be writing his graduation thesis with other senior students.

“I already have an idea,” Chen Guiliang said.

Professor Zhao chuckled and asked, "Are we discussing the philosophy of online games, or the philosophy of Web 2.0?"

Chen Guiliang said, "How about combining philosophy and demography to write a paper? I've taken Professor Li Jianxin's class and I really like his research on China's population."

“Combining philosophy and demography in a paper? That sounds interesting,” Professor Zhao said. “Could you give a brief explanation?”

Chen Guiliang said, "I've even thought of a title for my paper: 'The Paradox of Modernity: Subjective Alienation and Population Reproduction Crisis in Industrial Civilization—An Interdisciplinary Study Based on Weber's Theory of Rationalization and the Theory of the Second Population Transition.'"

Professor Zhao has a high level of theoretical knowledge. As soon as he heard which two theories it was based on, he knew the general content of Chen Guiliang's paper: "Tell me in detail."

Chen Guiliang said, "First, we need to analyze the demographic performance of the structural drivers of industrial society by combining the actual situation in China and the world. That is, the higher the level of industrialization, the lower the social fertility rate."

"Further, we will conduct a deeper deconstruction from a philosophical perspective, utilizing philosophical theories such as Weber's iron cage metaphor, Habermas's critique, Foucault's biopower perspective, and Heidegger's dilemma of being-towards-death."

"By integrating the above content, we can derive a trilemma model of declining birth rates: the contradiction between economic rationality, individual freedom, and population sustainability. This is also the core population contradiction of industrial civilization. Strengthening any two of these will inevitably harm the third."

“Through this trilemma, I can offer a philosophical explanation. Industrial society will inevitably give rise to neoliberal subjects who, in matters of marriage and procreation, demand absolute autonomy while relying on a high degree of material security, ultimately falling into what Giddens calls procreation decision paralysis in rational calculation.”

"Finally, let's focus on Japan and South Korea in East Asia and examine the birth crisis in industrial society through the lens of traditional Confucian views on childbirth."

"I also propose a 'spectrum of reproductive rationality,' where value rationality dominates reproduction on the traditional end, while instrumental rationality dominates it on the modern end. This theory can demonstrate how industrial society drives the entire society toward the right end of the spectrum..."

"We can also build a four-dimensional squeeze model to explain the phenomenon of declining birth rates in East Asian societies. These four dimensions are: an education arms race, a culture of workplace overwork, a shortage of childcare resources, and inflated housing costs. They squeeze and influence each other."

"It can be concluded that with the continued prosperity and development of industrialization, China's birth rate will inevitably plummet in the future!"

After Chen Guiliang finished speaking, Professor Zhao fell silent.

There was too much content, and Professor Zhao was carefully considering it.

After pondering for a full minute, Professor Zhao said, "Your paper is particularly interesting. Why don't you have Professor Li Jianxin also be your thesis advisor? We can work together to guide this paper, and you'll get credits for both philosophy and sociology."

“Okay, I’ll find some time to write it,” Chen Guiliang said.

Professor Zhao smiled and said, "No rush, take your time. If you can't finish writing it in your senior year, you can leave it for your junior year."

Undergraduates can also extend their studies.

(End of this chapter)