Reborn in 08, a heretical cultivator starting a business

Chapter 227 Evil Cultivator's Operation, Future Mobile Phones Take Flight! (Seeking Monthly Tickets)

“You deserve it. I’ve always been generous to talented people!” Wang Junshan said with a smile.

“Chairman Wang is generous! But there’s still a big problem. I have a non-compete agreement with Motorola, which I signed for a year. If I join Future Mobile directly, I’ll definitely be sued,” Zhou Ping said worriedly.

Wang Junshan had anticipated this, and Zhou Ping's non-compete agreement was far more serious than Wang Yufei's.

Wang Yufei was in charge of the unlimited business at Sina, and he was in charge of the Weibo business at Future Technology. There was not much conflict between them, and it could not even be considered competition between them.

Zhou Ping was in charge of mobile phone R&D at Motorola, so coming to Future Phones would be a complete conflict!

However, he could still use his evil methods: "Only one year, that's easy to talk about. I heard you're not in good health and are planning to go to the United States for medical treatment."

"???" Zhou Ping was dumbfounded: "I'm not in good health? How come I didn't know that?"

But then she smiled knowingly, understanding Wang Junshan's meaning: "Yes, yes! Sigh, it's an old problem. Years of hard work have taken their toll on my body. It's time to resign and go abroad to recuperate!"

Wang Junshan nodded: "This illness isn't a big problem. Go to the US to recuperate for a few months. You won't be able to work full-time during your recovery, but you can be a consultant."

"Perfect timing! We need a professional consultant for our future mobile phone project, Dr. Zhou, you're the perfect fit."

"The consulting fee will be 300 million, settled through an offshore company."

"You can stay in the US for the next few months. This can be handled by your trusted confidants, including the integration with future mobile phones."

"You will remotely control the process. Three months later, under the guise of the mysterious consultant 'Dr. Zhou,' you will secretly join the Future Technology Investment Department as an investment advisor. You will be in charge of the group's investment in its subsidiary, Future Mobile, and participate in research and development under the name of an investment advisor!"

"One year later, the non-compete agreement ended, and I was transferred from the investment department to officially join Future Mobile as president and R&D director."

Wang Junshan made all the arrangements.

Zhou Ping nodded repeatedly, praising it highly:
"That's good. I'll recuperate in the US, which seems to have nothing to do with future mobile phones. And Motorola's domestic companies can't be found either."

"Moreover, domestic non-compete agreements only restrict the scope within the country and cannot restrict it abroad. Especially in the United States, there is no such thing as a non-compete agreement."

"Even if I participate in research and development remotely in the United States and do something, I am in a monitoring vacuum, so it is very safe!"

"After a few months, I'll join the Future Technology Investment Department as an investment advisor. The investment department and the mobile phone business are not in competition at all. Besides, I'm just an advisor; there's no employment contract, so it doesn't count as an employment relationship and won't violate any non-compete agreements!"

"And the salary was turned into consulting fees, paid by an offshore company, which Motorola couldn't trace!"

"With such multiple layers of protection, even Motorola was helpless."

"Once the one-year non-compete agreement ends, I will officially join the company and the process will be fully publicized, and then everything will proceed smoothly."

"Chairman Wang, brilliant, absolutely brilliant!"

"Flawless!"

Wang Junshan waved his hand: "It was all out of desperation."

“But in that case, I’m afraid it will be difficult for me to fully participate in the research and development process…” Zhou Ping said with some difficulty.

Wang Junshan waved his hand: "It's inconvenient for you, Zhou Ping, but it's convenient for Dr. Zhou."

"Moreover, you can split it in two. You can have your trusted team join Future Technology and work with Future Technology's R&D team to be responsible for mobile phone development. Meanwhile, in the United States, you can give instructions to your trusted team to be in charge of R&D. At the same time, you can secretly connect with the supply chain, taking a two-pronged approach."

"Great idea! That's a fantastic idea!"

Zhou Ping strongly agreed.

This is undoubtedly the best way.

This not only circumvents Motorola's non-compete agreement but also improves the efficiency of future mobile phone R&D!
His trusted confidants followed his plan to advance the research and development, while he was responsible for securing the supply chain!

Double the efficiency!
The R&D cycle for mobile phones can be shortened from 18-24 months to within one year!

In particular, the R&D team for Future Technology has already been established, saving another three months.

This also aligns with Wang Junshan's expectations.

Wang Junshan will be involved in the entire process of mobile phone research and development.

Even Zhou Ping cannot be completely trusted.

Zhou Ping is a leading expert in radio frequency (RF) and is unparalleled in the field of RF signals worldwide.

That's why Xiaomi phones always have a strong signal.

As a supply chain expert, one can quickly access top-tier supply chains that small businesses cannot even access.

But no one is perfect. Zhou Ping's biggest problem was that he was too superstitious about Qualcomm and believed that flagship phones must use Qualcomm chips.

They also overestimate MediaTek's capabilities and fail to see its growth and development.

That's why, even though the Snapdragon 810 failed, Zhou Ping insisted that the Xiaomi Note Pro should continue to use the Snapdragon 810 and abandon MTK.

At the time, the top-of-the-line Xiaomi Note had two options.

Option 1: Use Qualcomm's octa-core Snapdragon 810.

Option 2: Use MediaTek's octa-core MTK 6795T!

In terms of theoretical performance, the Snapdragon 810 is far superior, but its heat generation and power consumption are too severe.

The MTK 6795T is more stable, performs better in practice, and is much cheaper.

Therefore, Li Wanqiang advocated prioritizing power consumption risk, and suggested that the top-of-the-line version should choose MTK, which is more reliable and has a higher cost-performance ratio.

However, influenced by MediaTek's consistent philosophy, Zhou Ping believes that "flagship models must be Qualcomm!" and top-of-the-line models must use the Snapdragon 810!

Ultimately, Lei Jun made the final decision to use the Fire Dragon 810.

As a result, the Snapdragon 810 was a major flop, and the 2015 flagship product, the Xiaomi Note, was a complete failure. The product line was discontinued for two years, and the hope of breaking into the high-end market was dashed, leading to a return to the 1999 price point!

This infuriated Mr. Lei, who was so angry he gritted his teeth.

Three months after the incident, Zhou Ping was removed from the core decision-making team and transferred away from the front line of hardware business.

Instead, Zhou Ping was appointed as Xiaomi's chief scientist, though the position was nominal.

The hardware team was handed over to Zhou Shouzi, who will become the future CEO of TikTok.

Lei Jun personally oversaw the supply chain.

The following year, even the management rights of Xiaomi's labs were stripped away, leaving them only with the status of R&D consultants, and they were completely marginalized.

In 2017, Zhou Ping's team was reduced to only three assistants.

The intention to expel them is quite clear.

In December, Zhou Ping officially resigned. There was no internal announcement or farewell ceremony at Xiaomi; it was as if he were being treated as an insignificant ordinary employee.

All I can say is that Lei Jun was furious about the failure of the Xiaomi Note and blamed it all on Zhou Ping.

This one failure wiped out all the contributions of the previous five years!
Perhaps Lei Jun felt that Zhou Ping's approach at Motorola was no longer keeping pace with Xiaomi's development.

It's only natural to discard someone after they've served their purpose.

Most entrepreneurs are like this; capital is the most ruthless.

However, this also served as a wake-up call for Wang Junshan.

Zhou Ping can be reused, but not completely!
The overall direction still needs to be personally controlled by Wang Junshan.

The best model is for Wang Junshan to plan the core hardware strategy and make the decisions on which chips to use.

Zhou Ping was in charge of negotiating and streamlining the supply chain!

Wang Junshan didn't understand how the hardware would be implemented.

But Wang Junshan knows exactly which core hardware to use and which products won't fail.

Wang Junshan planned the selection of core components for the mobile phone, and the R&D team followed up with subsequent research and development.

While recuperating, Zhou Ping could not only guide research and development, but also have the advantage of close proximity to access all supply chains! With both sides progressing simultaneously, efficiency was greatly increased.

For example, Qualcomm chips and Sharp screens have very high barriers to entry.

Small businesses simply won't cooperate with you!

But with Zhou Ping, the former vice president of Motorola, involved, it was no problem at all.

Having served as vice president for so many years, in charge of the mobile phone business, and the head of all the major suppliers, Zhou Ping knew every single one of them.
Which supplier doesn't matter?
Who wouldn't give Zhou Ping some face?
That's why, in its previous life, Xiaomi secured a series of top suppliers such as Qualcomm, Sharp, and Sony right after its founding!
Of course, the price won't be low.

After all, these are all exceptional collaborations.

This same approach can be applied to future mobile phones as well.

Zhou Ping went to make the necessary arrangements and finalized the cooperation.

If necessary, Wang Junshan will personally intervene and use other methods to further reduce the price.

There's no other way; these days, the domestic supply chain is practically nonexistent, so we can only rely on these top-tier options.

Of course, Zhou Ping's non-compete agreement after joining the company also needs to be fully upgraded and comprehensively restricted.

To prevent the entire team from being poached.

Non-compete agreements for other key personnel should be subject to comprehensive restrictions.

The strategy for limiting this is to provide adequate compensation plus escalating contract restrictions.

Non-compete agreements are relatively lenient these days, which is why there are so many loopholes to exploit.

For example, current non-compete agreements generally do not restrict affiliated companies, consultant status, or geographical scope; the duration of such agreements is also relatively short, often only one year.

Vice Presidents like Zhou Ping signed non-compete agreements with Motorola for only one year!
There's no other way; if the restriction is for three years, then we have to pay three years' worth of salary.

Zhou Ping is the vice president of Motorola, with an annual salary of 200 million yuan.

Under a non-compete agreement, you still have to receive a salary.

Ordinary employees make up at least 30%, while for a CEO like Zhou Ping, it's at least 50%-70%!

If Motorola is restricted for three years, then they'll have to pay out three to four million dollars.

This is no small sum of money, especially for a declining company like Motorola, which is losing 284 billion yuan a year; it's even more devastating.

That's why they only signed a one-year non-compete agreement.

But things changed completely after some companies engaged in questionable practices.

Non-compete agreements have become more stringent, with the duration now extended to three years. They now include restrictions on affiliated companies and consultant roles, and the scope of these restrictions has expanded from domestic to global!

To prevent competitors from poaching its core employees, Wang Junshan believes that Future Technology's core staff can also be subject to comprehensive restrictions in this way.

A three-year non-compete agreement, restrictions on affiliated companies and shares, globally!
There's no way around it; with the rapid pace of technological development in the future, without restrictions, it's easy for holes to be dug out!
That evening, the two sides had a very pleasant conversation.

Two days later, Zhou Ping officially resigned and then went to the United States under the pretext of recuperating.

However, Motorola's elite engineers continued to jump ship and join the future mobile phone industry.

These were all Zhou Ping's trusted men.

There were forty or fifty people in total.

With the addition of these people, the R&D team for future mobile phones has reached a scale of 100 people.

Moreover, they are all the elite of the elite, Motorola's top engineers!
Motorola usually signs non-compete agreements with these engineers.

But now, no more.

Motorola suffered a loss of 284 billion last year and is on the verge of bankruptcy. Where would it get the money to pay the compensation for non-compete agreements?

Moreover, with its market share plummeting, many product lines have ceased research and development, and there's no need for so many highly paid engineers; Motorola is laying off a large number of employees!

Motorola was actually more than happy to accept that the engineer resigned voluntarily, as it meant they could receive less compensation.

With these trusted confidants in charge and Wang Junshan's support, Zhou Ping was able to far exceed his ability to control and advance the research and development of future mobile phones while recuperating in the United States.

The research and development of future mobile phones has also entered a new era.

Wang Junshan was delighted with this.

After nearly half a month of adjustment and development, the R&D team for the future mobile phone has reached 116 people.

Half of them came from Motorola.

They were all brought by Dr. Zhou.

On March 7, Future Mobile held a strategic meeting to mark a phase in its operations.

Wang Junshan personally attended and presided over the event.

Also present was a mysterious consultant—who went by the pseudonym "Dr. Zhou".

Only Wang Junshan, Tang Jinghe, and Dr. Zhou's confidants knew Dr. Zhou's true identity.

No one else knew.

They assumed it was just an overseas PhD hired as a research and development consultant.

This kind of thing happens very often.

Wang Junshan spoke first:
"Today's topic is to determine the future direction of mobile phone hardware research and development."

"At the system level, we will adopt our self-developed Future OS 1.0."

“A month ago, Future OS 1.0 was released as a pilot version. After a month of development, it has become more and more complete.”

"In addition, the software we acquired, as well as the software we developed ourselves, are all progressing rapidly, fully adapting to future OSs, and building a complete ecosystem."

"At the system level, everything is ready and the process will not be delayed."

"Today's topic is determining the hardware roadmap."

"First, what are everyone's thoughts on screen size?"

Feng Bo, the R&D director poached from Nokia for the future mobile phone, began by saying:

"The 3.5-inch screen of the current iPhone 3G is still quite popular. Compared to smaller screens, it has obvious advantages. I strongly recommend going for 3.5 inches. If your budget allows, go for 3.7 inches!"

Motorola's newly appointed R&D director, Xu Lai, nodded in agreement: "A 3.7-inch screen would be best; the larger the screen, the better the experience. Although it will cost more, we have two options."

"One option is to use Samsung's 3.7-inch AMOLED screens, purchasing 100 million units, and we can negotiate a price of around 470 yuan per screen."

"A 3.7-inch LCD screen, with a display quality slightly lower than Samsung's AMOLED, but at a much lower cost. Sharp's screen has the best quality, costing millions to purchase, with a cost of 360 yuan per unit."

"LG's display quality is also good, and at 300 yuan per unit, it offers the best balance and cost-effectiveness."

"Domestic brands like AUO and Chi Mei have mediocre display performance, but they have the lowest cost, with a single chip costing around 200-250 yuan."

Xu Laizheng was Dr. Zhou Ping's confidant, and could be considered Dr. Zhou Ping's mouthpiece.

To avoid the non-compete agreement, Xu Lai usually spoke on Zhou Ping's behalf.

Wang Junshan nodded: "All things considered, LG's screens offer the best value for money, and they are also a supplier for iPhones."

“Yes, the shipment volume is very stable. Using LG is a cost-balanced choice that won’t go wrong. If you’re looking for a high-end experience and want to make high-end phones, Samsung is the best choice,” Xu Lai said.

But Wang Jun waved his hand: "Forget about Samsung, we'll avoid them if we can. We can consider LG, but we won't make 3.7-inch screens, we'll make 4.0-inch screens."

"We'll also negotiate with Sharp; we'll compare prices from both sides!"

(End of this chapter)