My 1999

"Let's put it this way. Kunlun and Apple phones have similar functions. If Apple phones are popular, then Kunlun phones will not be bad either.

So, whatever level of contract phones ATT launches, Verizon will launch the same level of contract phones.

In this way, Verizon will not miss the potential good opportunity, and you can also make money." Seidenberg said.

In his opinion, the default risk of contract phones is actually controllable because it is tied to personal credit.

The reason why he is unwilling to launch too high subsidies is related to capital flow.

It's great that Kunlun Mobile takes the purchase money at one time, while Verizon needs two years to make the money back.

Compared to giving money at one time, he prefers a step-by-step approach.

This way, the risk is controllable.

You won't miss the opportunity.

After a little consideration, Xu Liang said, "The subsidy is increased to $150. If you fail to complete the sales task of 1 million units within two years, Kunlun Mobile will bear half of the difference in the price you subsidize."

Seidenberg nodded after thinking for a moment.

"Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation."

The two sides shook hands.

A verbal agreement was reached, and the atmosphere in the conference room relaxed.

"Xu, does Kunlun want to contact T-Mobile and Sprint again?"

Seidenberg smiled.

"Of course, Kunlun needs more partners."

Xu Liang did not hide it.

This kind of thing can't be hidden.

"You'd better not have too much hope. I can guarantee that those two conservative old guys will never be as bold as Verizon."

Looking at this proud old guy, Xu Liang smiled and said nothing more.

The current situation of smartphones is not particularly clear, so the attitude of telecom companies is still relatively reserved.

When the smartphone wave is set off, the initiative of cooperation will be exchanged.

Let this old guy be arrogant for a year or two.

In addition, even if half of the subsidies are really returned, Kunlun Mobile will not lose money because the profit margin is really high.

At present, Kunlun Mobile is anchored on Apple.

So the price is very high, the purpose is to seize the high-end market during this precious window period when the smartphone wave has just emerged.

At present, there are only two smartphones on the market, Kunlun and Apple, and the performance of Kunlun is no worse than that of Apple.

But if Apple develops along the trajectory of the previous life, Kunlun will face more and more pressure.

Fortunately, Hongmeng shares the research and development of the Android system, and Kunlun is only responsible for SOC and the whole machine, otherwise the pressure will be even greater.

Therefore, in order to continue to compete with Apple, the European and American markets with stronger consumption power must be opened, the shipment volume of mobile phones must be increased, and revenue, volume, research and development, etc. must all be expanded and strengthened.

For this long-term strategy, it is acceptable for him that the mobile phone business is not profitable for the time being, or even loses money.

Wait for the Chinese market to grow up.

Even if the trade war starts, Kunlun falls into Huawei's predicament and loses the global market, there is no need to worry about being killed.

…

After leaving Verizon, Xu Liang led the team to T-Mobile and Sprint without stopping.

When he went to T-Mobile for negotiations, Nick Sears, one of the founders of Android in the United States and the current executive president of Android in the United States, also came from Silicon Valley.

Before joining Android, Sears was a marketing executive at T-Mobile.

It was because of this relationship that the iPhone and ATT formed an alliance to rampage in the United States in the past.

Google iPhone1/HTC Dream, the first Android phone launched by Google and HTC, was able to hold the thigh of T-Mobile and achieved impressive sales results.

At that time, the price of Google iPhone1 was $400, not much cheaper than iPhone. The price of contract phone in the United States was $179, but users had to sign a two-year service contract with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile is a subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom and the only mobile phone company that uses a unified brand in Europe and the United States. In addition to tens of millions of users in the United States, they also have nearly 100 million users in Europe and a high market share in Germany and the United Kingdom.

In the past, Google iPhone1 landed in the United Kingdom with the help of T-Mobile's operator sales channels, and also launched a "0 yuan purchase" event in the local area, with a monthly tariff of 40 pounds. If you sign a two-year service contract, you can take the phone home for free.

However, Google iPhone1 was launched in 2008.

At that time, T-Mobile saw that ATT had made a lot of money by relying on Apple, so it was willing to give subsidies at all costs.

Now, this company has the same attitude as Verizon, and is skeptical about Kunlun Mobile's promise of "1 million units in two years".

Xu Liang still followed the old rules and put forward three conditions: subsidies, sales strategy decision-making power, and call fee sharing.

T-Mobile rejected the latter two and only agreed to the first subsidy, but was a little hesitant and hesitant about the subsidy intensity.

Although Sears kept making promises and saying good things, T-Mobile executives still insisted on their own opinions and refused to give a particularly large subsidy intensity.

Xu Liang used all his tricks, but the other party still refused to give in.

The last stop was Sputlin.

The conditions of this company were even more outrageous than the previous two companies. It actually wanted Kunlun Mobile to jointly provide subsidies.

This disappointed him.

In Xu Liang's view, although this company is the smallest, and is in debt, with declining performance and turbulent management, as long as they bet all their efforts on Kunlun Mobile, they may be able to usher in a counterattack.

Unfortunately, there are not many people with such vision and determination.

If Sprint really had such talents, it would not gradually fall into desolation and be taken over by Masayoshi Son.

It is actually difficult for foreigners to buy real high-quality assets in the United States, because local chaebols are not short of money, unless they look down on them.

After running around outside for a few days and negotiating a round, although it was very tiring, Xu Liang basically understood the situation of various telecommunications companies, including the vision and level of the management, and the real views on Kunlun Mobile, etc.

With these situations in mind, they can make a decision to cooperate next.

Back to Kunlun Mobile's Silicon Valley office, Xu Liang immediately held a closed-door meeting with executives.

"After this round of talks, as we expected, the priority of cooperation is Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint."

Lei Jun paused, looked at Xu Liang, and added another sentence.

"Considering Sprint's own difficulties and the conditions it offers, this company can be ruled out directly.

And this company has the worst network signal stability. If we cooperate with them, Kunlun mobile phone users will complain every other day, which may affect our brand reputation."

Xu Liang nodded. Lei Jun's concerns are not unreasonable. It is necessary to be very cautious in selecting partners. Moreover, they are a new brand, and it is crucial to fire the first shot. That's why he made a special trip to try to know every potential partner.

After thinking for a few seconds, Xu Liang continued:

"Let's exclude Sprint and discuss the remaining two companies now."

"Verizon and T-Mobile have similar attitudes towards the intensity of subsidies."

Lei Jun analyzed: "If we choose to cooperate with Verizon, which is larger in scale, Kunlun Mobile's sales in the United States and network stability will be stronger than T-Mobile.

And if we choose T-Mobile, it means that while opening up the US market, we also open up half of the European market."

"Then we must choose T-Mobile for cooperation. Our task of shipping 1 million mobile phones next year still depends on the European and American markets.

If we choose T-Mobile, we only need to take over Eastern European countries such as Russia, Ukraine, Poland, etc. that T-Mobile does not cover, even if we completely cover the two major markets of North America and Europe.

This is the fastest and most convenient way!

We will also make up for the shortcomings in sales channels as quickly as possible, and in the next competition with Apple, we will not fall behind due to insufficient sales coverage."

The speaker is Zhou Peng, CEO of Kunlun North America Branch.

Lei Jun nodded, "This is the good thing about choosing T-Mobile.

Their network signal in the United States is poor, but it is not so bad that it cannot be used compared to the two giants AT\u0026T and Verizon.

But there is a long-term problem. T-Mobile deployed 3G relatively late, and it is the slowest of the four US operators to deploy 3G.

According to the cooperation disclosed by Ericsson and T-Mobile, T-Mobile's 3G network will begin commercial operation in 2007, and the network will be basically completed in 2008, and it will take until 2009 to complete it."

Lei Jun turned his head to look at Xu Liang and said, "We will launch the 3G version of our next mobile phone. If If we choose T-Mobile to cooperate, local users in those American cities that are not covered by 3G network may not choose our mobile phones.

When friends around us are holding iPhones and experiencing the pleasure of surfing the Internet with 3G, Kunlun mobile phone users can only use 2G or 2.5G networks.

There is no harm without comparison, which will give users an impression that Kunlun mobile phones are not good. "

Xu Liang nodded, "You are right, in addition to the 3G network coverage, there is actually another problem.

If we give the two major markets of the United States and Western Europe to T-Mobile, don’t you think it will be too big to lose? "

Lei Jun, Zhou Peng and others nodded after thinking for a moment.

Xu Liang smiled and said: "Divide the world into segments and select two or more agents in each market, so that agents can catch up with each other and maintain a healthy competition.

If there is only one agent, in addition to inertia, it will also threaten upstream mobile phone companies in turn. "

After listening to Xu Liang’s long-term layout, Lei Jun felt that the boss had considered it very well and was well versed in the checks and balances in traditional culture.

"But now we can't sign multiple agents, we can only be exclusive agents." Lei Jun said.

Xu Liang nodded, "I know this, telecom companies are not fools, they are counting on a popular mobile phone to increase the number of their network users and the average income of each user.

This kind of multi-agent agreement can only be thought of at the moment, because we have not yet produced sales to prove our value.

But in the future, this is not an incredible thing."

Lei Jun nodded, the reason is very simple, that is, if you are awesome enough in the future, you can become the host. If you are not awesome now, you can only be a guest and be honest.

"Then let's finalize our cooperation with Verizon?" Lei Jun asked.

Xu Liang nodded slightly and made the final decision.

He doesn't like the old man James, but business and personal feelings cannot be mixed up. From multiple perspectives, Verizon is the most ideal partner for Kunlun Mobile at the moment.

It's normal for the old man to be pretentious and like to manipulate.

Because Verizon's status in the United States is similar to that of China Mobile and China Unicom in China, with an annual revenue of nearly 100 billion US dollars, ranking in the top 50 of the Fortune 500 and the top 10 of the Fortune 500 in the United States.

In the eyes of the old man, being willing to cooperate with a fledgling Chinese company may be a kind of support and preferential treatment.

Of course, the old man is not completely pessimistic about smartphones as he said, but he just wants to strive for more favorable cooperation conditions.

The power of the combination of ATT and Apple has not yet been revealed. Verizon, out of defensive psychology, casually supports Kunlun Mobile. If it succeeds, it will be a pleasant surprise, and if it fails, it will not suffer too much loss.

In addition to the first time, there is another very important reason.

Vidiwang is deploying 3G networks in French-speaking countries in Europe and is preparing to enter the Spanish and Portuguese markets this year.

Kunlun Mobile is a timely help to Vivendi Telecom, which can greatly improve their services and users.

Cooperation is beneficial to both sides.

…

When the news of the cooperation between Kunlun Mobile and Verizon was announced, it quickly caused a heated discussion in the United States.

The executives of local technology companies such as Motorola and Palm were still the same, jumping out to sneer a few times.

“I don’t know how Jin Kaiser convinced Mr. James. Even if Kunlun Mobile solves the problem of sales channels, it still needs to conquer consumers to truly succeed in the United States.

The price of $499 and $599 is the price of the world’s most high-end mobile phones.

Kunlun Mobile launched its first mobile phone, and even its first product, targeting such a high-end market. I really don’t know whether it is courageous or overly optimistic...”

“The iPhone is priced so high, but at least it has Apple’s 30-year consumer electronics brand heritage to support it. What does Kunlun Mobile have? It has a 4,000-year history of civilization to support it?”

…

Apple and Kunlun Mobile are like two aliens that broke into the mobile phone market.

Some time ago, the mobile phone industry peers were all attacking Apple, because Apple and ATT had reached a cooperation, and it was obvious that they were well prepared.

In their eyes, Kunlun Mobile Phone was not as threatening as Apple.

But now Kunlun Mobile Phone has opened up sales channels, and it is clear that it is going to make a big splash in the United States.

How can the executives of major mobile phone companies tolerate this?

They have shifted their firepower from Apple to Kunlun Mobile Phone.

Xu Liang naturally didn't bother to pay attention to these barking dogs, and they would cry in a while.

At the same time, Apple also noticed the actions of Kunlun Mobile Phone.

Cook is not Jobs. He is a standard business manager. He does not have the weird temper of Jobs and the contempt for the Chinese market.

On the contrary, he attaches great importance to the rapidly developing Chinese market.

Therefore, as a fan of smart phones, not only did they not look down on Kunlun Mobile Phone, but they regarded this company as a big enemy.

While urging various departments to speed up their work progress, Cook began to deal with the patent lawsuit with Kunlun Mobile Phone.

At present, the patent lawsuit between Kunlun Mobile and Apple has entered a new stage.