How can you become a star without money?

Chapter 251 First came the apple, then the heavens; and He Xin existed even before the heavens.

August 8.12th is an auspicious day for signing marriage certificates, contracts, transactions, and alliances.

The listing of Leshi, the first video website in China to be listed on the ChiNext board, marks the entry of the domestic video industry into the capitalization stage.

At 9:30 a.m., after a series of preparations for the opening bell, Jia, the accountant, along with the core team and shareholders, rang the opening bell, and the stock code and real-time quote were displayed on the LED screen at the same time.

As the first listed video company, Leshi has an extremely high price-to-earnings ratio of nearly 70 times and an issue price of 30 yuan per share, making it one of the highest PE projects in China. Many people are curious whether it can hold on.

'36'

The stock price surged to 36 yuan the moment the market opened, eliciting gasps from the audience.

Then, almost like the ticking of a second hand, it began to tick continuously.

In less than five minutes, the stock price rose to over 40 yuan.

The Le family's team cheered first, followed by thunderous applause from the entire audience.

Standing on the stage, Accountant Jia finally showed a relaxed smile. To be honest, he himself was not sure about such a high issue price and did not know whether he could hold on to it.

Moreover, there are no restrictions on the first day of listing. It's okay if the price falls below the issue price, but if it falls directly to the point of triggering the protection mechanism and being suspended from trading, then all the hard work over the years will be wasted.

However, when the stock price rises directly to more than 30% of the issue price, it at least proves that the sentiment is normal. Then, it's just a matter of watching the game between the people trading stocks in the market.

After confirming that the stock price was not showing any abnormal upward trend and that Leshi was a stable video company with a valuation of over 30 billion, the media interview session began. When asked the most questions about becoming the "number one person in video", Jia, the accountant, was not about Leshi, but about how he viewed Baofeng, Tudou, Youku, and others that were ahead of him.

Accountant Jia was quite eloquent, clearly explaining the differentiated competition and ecosystem of Le's compared to other companies, and began to announce the first round of strategies.

"My initial intention in founding Le's was to enrich the spiritual and cultural life of the Chinese people. I really like the saying: 'Life is not just about the present hardships, but also about poetry and distant places.' Because I grew up in a relatively poor family, we lacked not only material things but also spiritual entertainment. At that time, my family didn't even have a tape recorder, let alone a television."

I still remember the profound shock and longing I felt when I first encountered a color television. I often wondered why I felt this way, and later I realized it was probably simply a yearning for intellectual and cultural enrichment, a desire to understand the world, to see different people, and to hear different voices.

It is said that "when people are well-fed and clothed, they know honor and shame; when the granaries are full, they know etiquette." However, I do not believe that the construction of spiritual civilization requires an exorbitant price. Knowledge and culture are priceless, but they should also be universal, because they were created to serve all mankind, without distinction of rank or status.

But what exactly caused them to be shelved? I was puzzled for a long time, but then I realized it was because of the media.

Film, music, and culture all require media for dissemination. In the past, it was television and Walkmans, but these media were originally synonymous with 'high technology'. Because our country started relatively late in this area, the market is basically dominated by foreign products.

Foreigners are looking to make money, so they sell things at high prices, which indirectly creates barriers to the circulation of culture and entertainment. Happiness shouldn't be so expensive.

Now that the country is prosperous and people's material lives are secure, there is still a lack of spiritual and entertainment options. Le's hopes to become a bridge for mass entertainment and the dissemination of high-quality culture.
Therefore, in order to bring entertainment and happiness back to the masses, Le's will officially enter the terminal device industry, mainly involving three areas: televisions and mobile phones/tablets. We want to create entertainment terminals that belong to China, so that everyone can afford, use, and enjoy good terminal devices!

Of the funds raised by Leshi this time, 25% will be used for upgrading the Internet platform, 5% for building a mobile streaming media platform, 20% as operating funds, and the last 50% will be used entirely for the research and development of Leshi terminal equipment!
To this end, Le's will adopt domestically developed technologies for everything from chip design to operating system. We acquired 'Hexin,' the first independently developed terminal operating system in China.

On stage, Accountant Jia tearfully and passionately recounted the outrageous lie that the Le family wanted to "return happiness." Many liberal arts media representatives were deeply moved, but the science guests were completely baffled.

"Hexin is an operating system that has already been abandoned, right? And it wasn't even released at the time. It was abandoned during the testing phase because of its fragile ecosystem and lack of competitiveness. Is this the big trouble that President Wang was talking about?" Huang Zhang turned his head and looked at Wang Yao with a strange gaze.

Two days ago, he received a call from a stranger named Wang Yao. Huang Zhang was a typical geeky engineer who didn't pay much attention to media and entertainment, even though he started his business selling MP3 players.

But the fact that his company, Mozu, has become one of the largest manufacturers in the country in almost ten years without hiring any celebrities for endorsements or promotions shows just how strange this person is.

Even though Wang Yao was involved in numerous scandals with various female celebrities at the time, Huang Zhang only vaguely recognized the names and had no idea what the boss of an entertainment company wanted from him, since the Mao tribe had stopped making MP3 players and started making mobile phones.

But when Wang Yao introduced himself and mentioned that he got the phone number from the Three Stars, Huang Zhang immediately tensed up. The Maozu tribe had a close cooperation with the Three Stars since its inception, and it could even be said that they were deeply intertwined.

Moreover, during the development of the Mizu phone, Samsung provided a lot of support and assistance. Huang Zhang is a simple person; a friend of a friend is a friend.

Just like six months ago, someone introduced Lei Jun to him. The two had a great conversation about mobile technology and even shared the design blueprints of the M8 with Lei Jun. Although he eventually refused Lei Jun's investment and cooperation, Huang Zhang has always felt that Lei Jun is a good friend he made this year.

Unexpectedly, another one has appeared now.

However, unlike Lei Jun, who always came to discuss problems with him, this young man named Wang Yao seemed to be there to help him solve his problems.

Because of the popularity of Apple products, Samsung's supply is insufficient, and the parts needed by the Maozu tribe have been delayed for several months. This is Huang Zhang's biggest problem. Wang Yao claims that he can help the Maozu tribe get a batch of parts in advance, in exchange for inviting Huang Zhang to help him with some issues.

The M8 is currently out of stock, and the development and stocking of the M9 is also at a critical stage. Huang Zhang really needs someone who can help him stabilize the channel relationships with the three stars.

Although he didn't know much about Wang Yao, Wang Yao was a prominent figure in the Chinese business community, so he wouldn't lie to him. Thus, he accepted Wang Yao's invitation.

But I never expected that I would come to attend the bell-ringing ceremony of the Le family, and the question I wanted to ask was about an operating system that had been abandoned several years ago.

It seems that Wang Yao and Accountant Jia are really novices. They have absolutely no basic knowledge of mobile phone manufacturing. Do they really think that money is all that matters?
"Does Mr. Huang think Hexin is not suitable?" Wang Yao raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Both Ho-Hsin and Mizu were developed based on Windows CE, and their technical architecture was at the feature phone stage. Now it's the era of iOS and Android, and the gap between the two is too big. Even Mizu has abandoned Windows CE and switched to Android."

Moreover, this technology has been completely phased out by the market; there are neither end products nor a user base. "If Mr. Wang wants to rely on Hexin Design to manufacture a mobile phone, I advise you not to waste your money," Huang Zhang said earnestly.

"Does Mr. Huang think that China has a chance to independently develop an operating system?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

"To be honest, the probability of independent research and development is almost zero. First, we simply don't have any relevant talent in China, not even the professions of system engineer or ecosystem architect."
"The high cost of building an international team isn't the main issue. The most important thing is that if you spend a lot of money on R&D but nobody uses it, the ecosystem can't be built. The software won't be compatible, consumers won't buy it, and phone manufacturers certainly won't use it. So it's not a question of whether we can develop it independently, but rather, even if we do, it's useless." Huang Zhang shook his head and analyzed objectively.

Operating systems are built on market share. Currently, in the global mobile phone market, Android accounts for 25% of the smartphone market, iOS 45%, and other systems such as WSD 30%. As for feature phone systems, Huang Zhang considers them relics of the past.

“Whether something is useful or not is another matter,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"If Mr. Wang and the Le family really want to develop mobile terminals, I suggest they consult with professionals instead of blindly spending money," Huang Zhang suggested, not understanding what Wang Yao was saying.

"That's why I invited General Manager Huang here today." Wang Yao nodded: "Is the Maozu tribe interested in creating a customized co-branded product for the Le family?"

"Use the Hexin operating system?" Huang Zhang frowned.

Although Meizu now has its own brand and product line, it is not exactly well-off in terms of funds. OEM co-branded customization is a decent source of revenue, but most of the customization is done by telecom operators like China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom. Why would Leshi, a video website, do customization?
Is it specifically designed for video playback software? Does it prevent the installation of other video software?

That's a bit too extravagant.

“This can be discussed further. I think the Maozu should also build its own ecosystem in the future. Leshi has the largest library of genuine copyrights in the country, which is a rare advantage. If Maozu uses Leshi Video as a native built-in player in the Maozu ecosystem, it may be more attractive to consumers,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

Huang Zhang frowned upon hearing this. The Maozu tribe has just transitioned to Android and hasn't even fully sorted out the hardware and system yet, so naturally they don't have much energy to focus on ecosystem software adaptation.

However, he had previously created a community forum for tech enthusiasts. It started as a place for Huang Zhang to exchange technical information with everyone, and was later defined as the base camp for the future development of the Maozu software ecosystem. It now has a user base of millions.

However, based on his experience in making MP3 players, music and videos do play a decisive role for consumers. If Leshi Video is used as the built-in player for the Mizu, it will definitely attract a large number of users.

However, there is also a certain risk: if Leshi fails in the future and is unable to load/restrict other video software, it may lose some users.

"I need to think about this some more, but I still suggest we don't waste too much time and money on something as useless as He Xin," Huang Zhang finally advised.

"If we cooperate, Le's hopes to acquire shares or cross-shareholding with Meizu. In the future, Le's will serve as a strategic partner for Meizu's ecological research and development, because Le's will not only have video platforms, but also multiple ecological models such as search and social media." Wang Yao extended an olive branch.

"Let's talk about the shareholding and cross-ownership later. The Maozu business is doing well right now," Huang Zhang said, directly declining Wang Yao's suggestion.

Wang Yao didn't insist. Just then, Accountant Jia finished his media presentation, and Wang Yao said goodbye to him before leaving early.

Besides attending the Le family's bell-ringing ceremony and meeting with Huang Zhang, he also made an appointment with another important figure today, Pengcheng Xiawei.

Before entering the domestic consumer market 14 years ago, Xiawei was a niche company in China. However, by 2010, Xiawei had become a behemoth with annual revenue of nearly 2000 billion yuan. Xiawei's current business is mainly overseas, with two-thirds of its annual revenue coming from the world.

For Wang Yao to visit such a company, he would need to use his connections with Shanghai Commercial Investment Group.

In the first half of the year, Yu Chengdong expanded Xiawei's market share in the European 3G field from 9% to 33%, becoming the top wireless communication operator. In the B2B market, it was almost impossible to make any progress. After returning in glory in the middle of the year, he was appointed as the president of the Marketing system, leading the terminal, network and cloud business, and began to try to build a B2C strategic business.

Stimulated by the popularity of the iPhone, he once again focused on the mobile phone terminal business, which was originally intended as a communication peripheral product to attract business from operators. He felt that terminals should not be an appendage of operators, and that the huge consumer market for terminals should not be monopolized by foreign brands.

However, Xiaomi does not value the development of its terminal business, because the total market size of mobile phones is less than 2000 billion yuan, which is about the same as Xiaomi's revenue. It is more valuable to focus on mobile phones than on computers. Moreover, Xiaomi has to compete with established brands such as Apple, Samsung, and Sharp, which have been around for more than ten years, and there are also rampant counterfeit products in China as competitors.

As a result, the group has been discussing the matter internally. Yu Chengdong, as the main proposer, is extremely busy every day, as this transformation may bring about many unpredictable chain reactions.

Upon learning that a young man working in the film and entertainment industry was visiting, Yu Chengdong originally intended to decline, but since the middleman was also Xia's main service provider, he could only spare some time to politely decline.

However, upon meeting Wang Yao, I was still somewhat impressed; he was indeed too young.

"Mr. Yu, I apologize for disturbing you." Wang Yao waited in the conference room for a while before finally meeting Da Zui, who was in his prime.

"Mr. Wang, I'm sorry, something came up and I was held up for a while. I heard you just got back from the bell-ringing ceremony? Congratulations!" Yu Chengdong had done some research beforehand. He knew that Wang Yao had also invested in the recently popular video company, Le's.

"Thank you. I'm here today to discuss matters related to the Le family." Wang Yao skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point about the direction of the Le family's mobile phone terminal business.

"Hexin is definitely unusable. It's bound to be phased out, both in terms of architecture and ecosystem. Google has been refining Android for almost five years, and currently, in terms of both scale and stability, it's the best open-source option globally."

Xiawei also launched an entry-level Android phone this year, in cooperation with a telecommunications company. It's barely usable. If Mr. Wang wants to make phones, he should prioritize Android. "Yu Chengdong frankly stated.

"What are your thoughts on the terminal industry, Mr. Yu? Mobile phones, tablets, laptops?" Wang Yao asked with a smile.

"Within the next twenty years, it will definitely be mobile phones. Global technology has now entered the Moore's Law explosion stage. Basically, performance can be doubled every two years, and costs can be halved. Moreover, the portability of mobile phones means that the potential is even greater."

In our industry, the view on the future of PCs is that they're past their prime. Unless quantum computing comes along, PCs won't see much change, while mobile devices are just getting started.” Yu Chengdong laughed.

"Mr. Wang is probably a liberal arts major, so he might not be very interested in these things. You can think of it as the fact that the functions of a PC have already been fully explored, and there won't be anything new or exciting coming out."
The development of mobile phone functions is just beginning. Currently, the main functions are making calls and listening to music. In the future, mobile games, videos, and even instant messaging and navigation functions can all be integrated into a small mobile phone.

Perhaps because he's been criticized too much within the group lately, Yu Chengdong started talking non-stop about the development of mobile phones.

Wang Yao listened very attentively. It has to be said that the vision of this tech guru is truly ten years ahead of his time.

"I can't help myself when it comes to these things, Mr. Wang, please excuse me," Yu Chengdong said with a slightly dry mouth.

“What Mr. Yu said is very interesting. I am also quite optimistic about the development of mobile devices. I have developed a few software programs. Could you please give me some pointers?” Wang Yao took out his iPad and handed it over, showing the MS/Mulan Street/KT apps.

"Ms and KT, you made them?" Yu Chengdong's eyes widened.

He only returned to China in the middle of the year and had been abroad the whole time. MS is very popular in Europe because the platform's content is very much in line with the left-wing group, especially after the new PC version had built-in music functionality. KT, on the other hand, has been a hot topic of discussion in the global mobile instant messaging industry in the last two months.

“We participated in some of the collaborative development,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Amazing! I would describe these three software programs as mature, especially the Mulan Street UI design, which is truly unique," Yu Chengdong exclaimed.

The waterfall browsing mode was quite novel to him.

“This company is actually mine; it mainly provides e-commerce services,” Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Mr. Wang has quite a wide range of interests. Is he also working on a mobile entertainment ecosystem?" Yu Chengdong quickly connected Wang Yao's main business with the connection between these apps.

"Tianhuo itself is betting on new media marketing, so naturally it needs to create an ecosystem related to new media. To be honest, its development has reached a bottleneck. In terms of film and television, theatrical releases are basically saturated. What follows is the development of services and content."

In terms of promotion, we've managed to attract a few niche groups, but we still can't compete head-on with leading portals/video websites like Baidu and Youku. So I think we should explore alternative paths in hardware and software services, since ultimately all needs require media support." Wang Yao tapped his iPad.

"Mr. Wang is so young, yet he has such foresight?" Yu Chengdong asked with some surprise.

In most people's eyes, Wang Yao's related industries are at a time of 'vigorous growth' and unlimited potential, but in Wang Yao's eyes, they seem to be 'setting in the west'. This overly 'pessimistic' attitude feels somewhat familiar to him.

"It's not that I have foresight, it's just that I face the real problems head-on. I'm not the kind of person who's single-minded, so I'm prone to taking detours." Wang Yao smiled.

"As long as we reach our destination, a long route is a short route." Yu Chengdong raised an eyebrow slightly: "Why is President Wang interested in operating systems?"

"I recently had a chat with Mr. Lei from Liangmu, and his work on mobile operating systems gave me some inspiration. However, I really don't know much about the terminal industry, so I can only learn from others. This morning I just finished talking with Mr. Huang from Maozu, and we're planning to have them make customized phones first," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"Huang Zhang is a good tech guy," Yu Chengdong praised. "But he seems to work on the Windows CE system as well, so he might be a step behind."

"He just mentioned that the new phone seems to be an Android too." Wang Yao blinked.

"Ah? Now I understand." Yu Chengdong paused for a moment, subtly observing Wang Yao's expression.

The M8 is now hailed as the king of domestic smartphones. The development of its second generation should have been a top secret, but Wang Yao just revealed it?

How much of it is true?

And if you've already talked to Huang Zhang to this extent, why come to Xia Wei for help?
“However, Mr. Huang is a bit stubborn. I’m worried about potential disputes during future collaborations, so I thought it might be worthwhile to learn more about it. Besides, even mobile phones are divided into high-end, mid-range, and low-end levels. I was wondering if there’s an opportunity to reach a revenue-sharing cooperation framework with multiple manufacturers under the INSIDE model.” Wang Yao smiled.

"What is INSIDE mode?" Yu Chengdong asked with great interest.

“Joint definition and joint development.” Wang Yao’s tone turned serious: “Tianhuo is deeply involved in terminal R&D, but the cooperating manufacturers retain the dominant rights in whole machine manufacturing, brand operation and sales.”

"It sounds like Skyfire is at a disadvantage. You're not a professional technology company, and if you want to participate in in-depth development, you'll need to provide a lot of funding," Yu Chengdong said with a smile.

Technology is priceless, a common saying in the tech world, because most promising technologies will attract investors. Conversely, truly valuable technologies cannot be bought with money, unless you have to pay a huge sum.

Moreover, this model involves investing the most effort and money, only to hand over the brand and sales to others. This is not a good way to cooperate.

You could suffer a great loss if you're not careful.

"Tianhuo is positioned as a service provider, serving both terminal manufacturers and end customers. Most importantly, I dislike iOS's closed-source model, which makes me feel insecure and as if my lifeline is in someone else's hands."

"If possible, I would even like to break away from the current iOS and Android ecosystems and independently develop an independent system that belongs to our China. I have always believed in Qian Xuesen's saying, 'Having no sword in hand is not the same as having a sword but not using it.'" Wang Yao chuckled.

Yu Chengdong stared into Wang Yao's eyes, a look that was becoming increasingly familiar to him.

If I still can't convince the group to prioritize the terminal business by the end of the year, then having an external partner like Wang Yao might allow me to make some preparations in advance.

Although they are nominally customized machines, they are all machines that allow us to accumulate technology, production, and even user experience.

“I agree with President Wang’s ideas. What technological advantages does Tianhuo currently possess?” Yu Chengdong asked in a deep voice.

"I have almost no hardware technology, but I have nearly a thousand software development and operations teams around the world, which can quickly develop and adapt to various apps, so I guess you could say I can provide an ecosystem," Wang Yao said with a smile.

"I'd say that's barely acceptable," Yu Chengdong said hesitantly.

Since the software company with which Xia has the closest cooperation is going public in the US at the end of the year, Tianhuo's size is indeed not an advantage.

"The combined fan base of the Skyfire artists is roughly two to three hundred million. Is that an advantage? I'm quite confident in our sales and promotion efforts," Wang Yao said with a smile.

“That is indeed an advantage. Xia Wei is not particularly good at C-end marketing.” Yu Chengdong had an idea and finally found the best reason to facilitate cooperation.

If Xiawei Terminal can cooperate with Tianhuo on marketing, and the sales of the first wave of customized machines are considerable, it will be able to accelerate the company's internal progress.

"If we start cooperating now, how quickly can we get the project started?" Wang Yao asked, frowning.

“Product development takes at least 10 months, Mr. Wang can’t rush it,” Yu Chengdong said with a smile.

They were figuring out how to leverage this unexpected OEM collaboration to boost their terminal business.

Le's closing price was 48 yuan, with an intraday peak of 52 yuan before falling back. With a market capitalization of 48 billion yuan, it led the entire video industry.

After the market closed, Le's also released two other positive news items.

First: Acquire 'Hexin,' China's first independently developed operating system, to create terminal products belonging to China and bring happiness back.

Second: Le's and Tianhuo jointly invested 1 million yuan to sponsor Shanghai Jiaotong University to establish a 'System Professional Laboratory' to train system kernel engineers, architects and other professionals, recruiting relevant talents nationwide, and providing high subsidies of at least 10 yuan per year upon enrollment.

The release of these two messages caused an uproar in the business and scientific communities.

The company is making such a big splash right after its IPO; I wonder what their purpose is.

Accountant Jia posted screenshots of Le's closing price on various social media accounts, along with the caption, "Le's creates harmony and happiness, bringing joy back."

Gan Wei, a representative of the artists under the Le family, reposted it immediately, and then the artists of the Tianhuo system also reposted it, which quickly became a hot topic on major social media platforms and sparked a lot of discussion.

Immediately afterwards, various popular science articles about the "Hexin System: The Light of China" suddenly appeared on various forums, and the price of the first generation of Le's mobile phone, whose authenticity is unknown, was announced as an ultra-low price of no more than 2000 yuan.

It seems they intend to link Le's video platform with a domestically developed, consumer-friendly brand that resists foreign brands.

Overnight, Hexin became a legendary system surpassing iOS/Windows/Android. The reason it wasn't announced at the time was because certain external forces interfered, causing various legends to be cut short.

Its mysterious status is comparable to that of the Dragon Group in the novel world.

There's even a catchy saying that goes, "First came the apple, then came the sky, and He Xin came before the sky," which has spread like wildfire on the internet.

Netizens unfamiliar with technology were bewildered: "Do we have such amazing technology?"
Even tech-savvy netizens were stunned. Do we have such amazing technology too?
(End of this chapter)