Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 308 Opening

Chen Xuebing entered the private room on the 11th floor and met the new president of Datang.

"Mr. Chen, it's a pleasure to meet you!"

Wearing a dark striped suit and thin-rimmed glasses, Zhen Caiji had a scholarly appearance and took the initiative to stand up and shake hands with Chen Xuebing.

Chen Xuebing also displayed just the right amount of enthusiasm.

"General Manager Zhen, seeing is believing. The leaders of your Great Tang are all truly extraordinary."

Zhou Huan is also a handsome old man, who looks like a conductor. He was previously known as the "handsome man in the telecommunications industry," but he has now essentially retired. Although he still holds the position of chairman, it is said that he did not attend the last board meeting.

As for where he heard it from—Chen Xuebing was naturally keeping a close eye on Datang. Kan Zhidong's trip to Beijing had already led him to contact one of Datang's vice presidents who had previously been neutral.

TD is the core base and also the entry ticket.

Chen Xuebing wants a stable Tang Dynasty, and Zhen Caiji wouldn't be foolish enough to follow the mistakes of the past.

"Haha, President Chen is truly a prodigy, leading TD technology down a path we dared not even imagine. I just wonder if Datang will have the opportunity to create a great future together with Gu'an Group?"

Zhen Caiji's demands were somewhat unrealistic, and Chen Xuebing, who was busy today, didn't want to beat around the bush with him.

"We can discuss a reasonable price for Spreadtrum's chip patent fees, but it can't be based on the base selling price. It should be based on the profit. After we discuss it, we can announce it to the public together. I believe that Datang's market value will definitely see a substantial increase."

Although he couldn't pay more for the patent, Chen Xuebing made a tacit promise to boost Datang's stock price—if the market didn't react after the announcement, Chen Xuebing would step in to help.

This is enough for Zhencaiji to successfully take over.

Zhen Caiji wanted to gain more, but Chen Xuebing's undeniable assertiveness made him decisively withdraw his probing:

"No problem! Mr. Chen is very busy, we will send a team to Shanghai to discuss the details later!"

Being willing to pay patent fees is already half the battle won.

Director Wen, who was there to build a new, stable internal relationship within the TD Alliance, breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing that there was no tension between the two. He stood up and said a few words:
"If the two of you can sit down and have a proper talk, the value of the TD Alliance will definitely reach a new level!"

"In addition, Mr. Wang has some good news to announce today!"

Chen Xuebing then looked at Wang Jianzhou and Ren Zhengfei, who were sitting down.

"Oh? Mr. Wang, are we starting to build the network?"

These two knew perfectly well who was going to sit down next, so they didn't participate in the previous pleasantries. Only after Chen Xuebing pulled out a chair and sat down did they officially begin the conversation.

"Yes, the scale of the first batch of projects is still under discussion. Whether it's five or eight cities depends on the market response after your demonstration," Wang Jianzhou said bluntly. "How many minutes did you allocate for the 3G demonstration?"

“Eight minutes,” Chen Xuebing said simply. “The press conference will last 60 minutes in total, including a 12-minute video, an 8-minute 3G demonstration, a 30-minute handset demonstration, and a 10-minute presentation on mobile internet.”

Upon hearing this arrangement, Wang Jianzhou tapped his fingers on the table a few times.

"Eight minutes"

His tone suggested some dissatisfaction.

Ren Zhengfei spoke up: "Eight minutes is a suitable time. With the current 3G technology, if the demonstration time is too long, it is easy to expose problems."

Chen Xuebing smiled and agreed: "If you ask me, eight minutes is too much. We just need to ensure that the audience can access the internet smoothly via 3G. As for the rest of the market confidence, we still need to see Mr. Wang's efforts. Coverage is the most important thing."

Ren Zhengfei laughed and said, "President Chen is underestimating himself. 3G ultimately needs good terminals. Now, Qidian is equipped with top-notch components from head to toe, has the Kunlun system as armor, Foxconn's production line as tracks, and has even brought in a heavy artillery downstairs. The main battle tank is assembled in a majestic manner, and it is backed by a cavalry team like Huaqiang BJ Dongfang. Once it starts charging, it will definitely be a sensation."

That was a bit too sarcastic.

Wang Jianzhou asked curiously, "What heavy artillery?"

Chen Xuebing rolled his eyes at Ren Zhengfei: "President Ren, I don't even know if Qidian is my company or yours. Why are you asking me so many questions?"

Mr. Ren wasn't good at direct verbal sparring either, so he chuckled and said, "Mr. Chen, don't be impatient. We're just here to learn."

Chen Xuebing was speechless. Being watched by Huawei was really unpleasant, especially since Huawei had already demonstrated its innovation capabilities and only needed to compete on technology, which put Huawei in a completely advantageous position.

We need to be careful with our innovation, lest we run out of tricks and be overtaken by Huawei, not to mention there's Apple downstairs.

This juncture actually makes it easier to negotiate terms with Huawei.

"Mr. Wang, you don't need to worry about the diversity of terminals and market response. I will handle it. Just go ahead and build the base stations. We are ready in all aspects. All we need is your support. In addition, Spreadtrum is also training communication talents and waiting to cooperate with Huawei on base station projects. We are learning from our partners about base station construction technology. You should give Spreadtrum more support in terms of orders."

Spreadtrum's involvement in communications is no longer something they need to hide, nor can they hide it anyway. They absolutely must secure the orders from Spreadtrum to prevent Huawei from becoming unruly and engaging in technological guerrilla warfare.

Ren Zhengfei's expression froze for a moment, his tone tinged with helplessness: "Isn't your new company a bit too aggressive?"

When Zhen Caiji and Director Wen saw that Huawei had been thwarted, they couldn't hide their smiles.

"You guys..." Wang Jianzhou couldn't help but chuckle.

Chen Xuebing had mentioned Spreadtrum's ambition to enter the communications field long ago. Now that China Mobile is also tied to TD, it needs to cooperate with Spreadtrum in communications, and its preferred partner for terminals is Singulato. Naturally, he has a bias towards Singulato.

"Alright, but you have to guarantee the quality. It needs to be inspected and accepted. ZTE, Ericsson, Potevio, and Fiberhome should also be bidding."

As Wang Jianzhou finished speaking, Zhen Caiji coughed.

“Yes, and there’s Datang,” Wang Jianzhou added, then said, “If it’s a plan covering eight cities, the total investment will exceed 40 billion, with the first phase of 23 billion for base station orders, and the majority of the remainder for terminal contract phones. Should Huawei participate in the contract phone orders?”

"Yes!" Ren Zhengfei answered decisively.

"Still going through TD Tech? Have you reached an agreement with Nokia?"

Dingqiao is a joint venture between Nokia and Huawei. Huawei previously used this company to produce some Nokia-branded 3G phones. Huawei has several such joint ventures, each cooperating with different major manufacturers.

Wang Jianzhou asked this question to find out if Nokia would participate in China Mobile's contract phone program.

Ren Zhengfei, however, tentatively asked in return: "Can we create our own Huawei brand instead of going through Nokia's brand?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Xuebing understood immediately—history had been rewritten.

Huawei has decided to embark on the path of establishing its own mobile phone brand ahead of schedule.

Wang Jianzhou, however, was skeptical of Huawei's mobile phone brand power and hesitated. After all, contract phones need market recognition and preferably some brand premium so that mobile carriers can sell them well.

Foreign big brands are naturally popular. In China, Lenovo is a brand that can be described as having strong brand power, and ZTE has a wider audience than Huawei.

"President Chen has already agreed to provide us with system support, and we can also offer some discounts on the price. Instead of giving it to the brand owners, why not give it to you?"

Seeing that Wang Jianzhou remained silent, Ren Zhengfei gave Chen Xuebing a pleading look.

In the mobile phone sector, China Mobile is the most powerful distributor in China. Moreover, it does not charge channel fees, guarantees production and sales, and makes one-time payments. For Huawei, a company that mainly focuses on overseas markets and has no domestic sales channels, China Mobile is the best sales channel to open up its own brand.

Wang Jianzhou looked at Chen Xuebing with a questioning gaze.

Chen Xuebing was well aware of how attractive contract phones were in the early days of 3G. Although Kirin would not be entering the contract phone market, Qidian would be. However, it was now decided not to go for the low-end market, and the brand name "Popcorn" was being re-discussed internally. They felt that a mid-range brand should also have a certain level of sophistication. The specific name was still undecided.

He paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "Full cooperation is not a problem. The system is not an issue either. I can also provide domestic independent supply chains, with both excellent price and quality."

Supporting the domestic supply chain naturally involves bringing Huawei along.

Ren Zhengfei nodded slightly, indicating that the details would be discussed later.

"Alright, you guys make a prototype and submit it for bidding, we'll take a look."

After Wang Jianzhou finished speaking, he looked seriously at Chen Xuebing: "President Chen, I fully support you. You can't let me down in terms of technology and the market."

“No problem.” Chen Xuebing stood up and handed Wang Jianzhou a piece of paper. “I have something else to do. There will be an interactive session at the press conference later. Mr. Wang, you can give your opinion on the 3G coverage issue on the spot.”

Wang Jianzhou picked it up and looked at it, his eyes flickered slightly, and then handed it to Director Wen.

"Now that we've stated our position, the ministry will probably need to give us a response as soon as possible."

Director Wen chuckled, speaking in a practiced official tone: "Of course the ministry has its stance, but with the asymmetric settlement of operators, everyone needs time to communicate and discuss." As he spoke, he glanced at Chen Xuebing.

Today's event is not only a press conference but also a significant milestone for domestically produced 3G technology. Whether many long-standing issues can be resolved depends on the outcome of today's proceedings.

Chen Xuebing was quite pleased with this momentum. Instead of feeling pressured, he felt even more motivated. He smiled, got up, and left.

In the afternoon, Chen Xuebing arrived at the demonstration hall.

Several foreign guests from the software industry who intend to develop in China and were invited from Beijing by the China Open Source Software Promotion Alliance (COPU) are also here.

Steve Jobs also came.

Lin Bin received him, and they had a very pleasant conversation.

The demonstration hall is not open to the public yet, so the conversations are relatively quiet.

After greeting everyone, Chen Xuebing took a short break on the art sofas scattered throughout the hall to recharge.

Jim is a chubby man with a kind smile. Chen Xuebing had met him last night when he hosted COPU and they had drunk quite a bit together. However, he hardly talked about work last night and focused on food, showing particular interest in Chinese lamb skewers, which left a deep impression on Chen Xuebing. That's why he mentioned it to Ren Ying this morning.

However, Jim seemed very professional today. Before long, he sat on a sofa not far away with Lin Bin, who had the strongest software skills on his team, and started talking about a problem related to mobile phone memory management performance. The conversation was full of technical jargon, and Lin Bin went from constantly asking questions at the beginning to listening attentively later.

It's important to know that Linux was originally designed as an operating system for personal computers (x86 architecture). It wasn't until the release of Mobilinux in 05 that it began to be optimized for mobile phones.

Chen Xuebing closed his eyes and pretended to sleep, secretly lamenting that he had underestimated this fat man; there were indeed many technical talents abroad.

COPU's team was also discussing development with Jobs' team and foreign software vendors. The software vendors frequently praised Shanghai and invited COPU to visit the US and Europe. The sincerity of their words pleased Chen Xuebing, like listening to a melodious piece of light music, and he almost forgot about the increasingly fierce technological confrontation that would follow.

He realized he might have been too cautious before; when it comes to the internet and software technology, people all over the world still maintain a basic consensus on building together.

This is a wonderful era, in which the Chinese people have learned a great deal.

I relaxed and actually fell asleep.

It wasn't until almost three o'clock that Ren Ying gently woke him up.

Steve Jobs was also standing in front of him.

This Silicon Valley tyrant now wore an unusually inquisitive expression: "What did you dream about? The operating system we're about to release?"

Chen Xuebing rubbed his eyes, smiled, and shook his head.

Jobs then smiled at the people around him and said, "Chen is the person with the best mental fortitude I've ever met. If it were me, I would be nervously finalizing the process right now and would never be able to fall asleep."

Everyone laughed.

Chen Xuebing wiped away non-existent drool from the corner of his mouth with his thumb, stood up, and chuckled at everyone: "After the press conference, I'll take you to eat roasted lamb kidneys at Jing'an Temple. It's much more interesting than memory management. Oh, I forgot, there's a damn vegetarian here."

They were speaking Chinese, and the foreigners looked completely bewildered.

Ren Ying suppressed a laugh as she explained to everyone.

Jim cheered, and the others laughed too.

Jobs rolled his eyes, but didn't spoil the mood by joking, "I hope what you're talking about also includes Fangshan!"

The afternoon sun at three o'clock was blocked out of the multi-functional hall, along with the noise outside.

There was no ticket check process for the thousand-person team from Spreadtrum. The press conference was scheduled for 3:30 PM, and they arrived on time at 3:00 PM. After the guests entered first, they lined up in three columns to walk in. The team members were dressed in neat uniforms and had become quite disciplined after several months of training. They were relatively quiet.

All the noise came from the crowd of outsiders waiting to have their tickets checked at the entrance.

Holy crap! So many foreigners?!

Three high school students in school uniforms were squeezed together by the passage after security. One of the boys, who was wearing glasses, saw a group of foreigners who had just passed through and excitedly nudged his companion: "Look! Blue eyes and big noses! And that bald guy, doesn't he look like a gangster boss from a movie?"

A mother holding a five- or six-year-old boy frowned and pulled the child closer to her: "Keep your voice down! That's rude!"

She turned to her husband and complained, "I told you not to bring the child. It's so crowded, and he'll definitely make a fuss in the dark."

The husband said helplessly, "We've already got the tickets, let him see what it's like!"

Two simply dressed young people were discussing a knock-off mobile phone covered in rhinestones, seemingly oblivious to their surroundings.

"Have you seen that Youku video? The screen is so damn clear! It's nothing like my Nokia!"

Another person glanced at their phone: "Tsk tsk, this is a smartphone! I heard it can install software, just like a computer! Mine can only display scrolling lights, nothing else. I wish I could see how to use it today. Hey, do you think we can touch it after this?"

"Dream on! Something that expensive will definitely be guarded by security! But being able to see it in person and take a picture to show off to the people at the factory will make my brother's two tickets worthwhile!"

A well-dressed university teacher in his forties had a brand-new Nokia Symbian flagship phone, the N73, hanging around his neck.

He was leisurely playing with it when someone next to him laughed and said, "Old Zhang, your N73 is awesome! 320 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens! What do you think of today's protagonist compared to it?"

Mr. Zhang pushed up his glasses, glanced at the phone's front photo on the Singularity poster in the distance with a hint of superiority, and snorted: "Made in China? Putting aside the technology, the build quality and brand reputation are not even in the same league. Nokia is known for its durability; let this Singularity drop it and see what happens. I bet it won't last more than a few months with just a touchscreen gimmick. But... let's see what tricks they can pull off."

His tone carried a hint of disdain, yet he couldn't hide his curiosity.

Inside the venue, Xiao Mei and Xiao Shuai, who had walked in amidst the noise, were looking for their seats.

Xiao Mei looked at the small screen on stage and complained, "Ugh, there are so many people! I can't even find a seat next to me! What's so interesting about this crappy phone launch event? I'd rather go see a movie!"

Xiao Shuai, however, was very enthusiastic, trying to appear knowledgeable: "You don't understand! This is a domestically made smartphone! It's revolutionary! Look at the poster, it says 'Kunlun System,' a domestically developed operating system! If it succeeds, we won't have to rely on Microsoft anymore!"

Xiao Mei pouted.

"Operating system? The same as Windows on my computer? What do you need that for a phone? Isn't it enough to make calls and send texts? You can even play Snake!"

As she spoke, she shook her small flip phone.

A kind-hearted uncle passing by couldn't help but chime in: "Young lady, this is different! With an operating system, your phone can install all sorts of software like a computer—for chatting, reading, checking maps, and even working! You'll only need your phone when you go out in the future!"

The middle-aged man looked at the stage with anticipation in his eyes. He had even asked a friend who was a teacher at Jiaotong University for a ticket to this press conference.

Xiao Mei seemed to understand but not quite: "Oh, so, can I access QQ Space?"

The uncle and Ah Qiang both laughed: "Yes! It's definitely possible!"

This press conference was filled with all sorts of people and different mindsets.

Meanwhile, more than twenty cameras and video cameras were set up in various corners of the venue, ready to provide their media audiences with information in the form of text, photos, or videos.

At exactly 3:30, the lights in the venue suddenly went out.

The darkness sparked a commotion.

Half a minute later, only the stage lights came on; the curtain had lit up.

But no one was seen on the stage for a long time.

As the discussion grew louder, a bourgeois-style view of the Bund suddenly appeared on the screen.

The two sat by the river, under a large umbrella, one drinking tea and the other holding a coffee cup, gazing leisurely into the distance.

Some people recognized the foreigner in the painting; some were excited, while others offered explanations.

"Steve Jobs, what do you think this press conference means?" A quiet yet clear voice rang out, posing a question.

“Kindling material,” the person in the painting replied.

The Chinese interpreter arrived shortly afterward.

"Fire."

(End of this chapter)