Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 22 There are a few things

Lei Jun was unaware of Guan Yingzhi's complicated psychological activities, and first asked some questions about technical team management, but it still did not stump Chen Mo, who had experience in team management.

In fact, it's almost over here. Lei Jun is thinking about the problems Xiaomi has faced recently. The thinking of these people may have formed a timeline. This young man has some ideas and may have some unique perspectives.

"Uh, I have two final questions for you to ask."

"There are many mobile phone systems at present. In addition to iOS, the biggest ones are Google's Android and Nokia's Symbian. Which one do you prefer and why?"

Chen Mo didn't think twice, "Android, because it's open source."

Unexpectedly, the other party, who had just given a long speech with extensive references, was so concise this time, which made Lei Jun a little uncomfortable. "Uh, can you tell me more about it?"

Chen Mo thought for a moment and added, "No matter how powerful a company is, it cannot compete with developers all over the world. Android will be the general trend in the future."

Lin Bin nodded. Chen Mo's point of view coincided with his, otherwise he would not have asked Android the question just now.

Lei Jun then asked the second question, "Xiaomi is a technology company dedicated to making smartphones. It is small in scale and has little background. Now the mobile phone market is mature, so where do you think is the best entry point for making mobile phones?"

Seeing Chen Mo's strange look, Lei Jun couldn't help but smile and said, "This question doesn't test your technology or management. I just want to hear your most honest thoughts. Say whatever you want."

When this question came up, Lin Bin looked at Lei Jun strangely, because this topic was what their core founding team had been discussing in recent days, and because of serious disagreements, there was no answer yet.

I didn't expect Lei Jun to use this as an interview question, but the other party was just a 25-year-old young man, and he thought Lei Jun was a little impulsive.

Now that the other party had spoken, Lin Bin was somewhat curious about what this young man could say.

Liu Qin, who was listening in the corner, straightened his slouched sitting posture a little. Lei Jun was talking about his problems, but he changed the wording and used them as interview questions. Xiaomi couldn't even figure out the problems, so how could it expect this young man to solve them?
Thinking of this, Liu Qin smiled playfully. What was this? Was this a desperate attempt to find a cure?

This was the question that Chen Mo pondered on the longest. It wasn't because he didn't know how to answer it, but he was secretly formulating his words and making a draft in his mind, fearing that he might let the cat out of the bag and cause disaster.

The scene fell silent
About a minute later, Chen Mofang slowly spoke,
"From a macro perspective, the 3G licenses that the industry had been waiting for for a long time were finally issued at the beginning of last year. The industry was full of imagination about the 3G era, which has gradually become popular. With the advent of the 3G era, more people will choose to access the Internet through their mobile phones. There is also news about 4G, which will be upgraded within two or three years.

Moreover, looking at the entire mobile phone market last year, Nokia still occupied half of the market with a share of 53.1%, followed by Samsung, Motorola and LG. Looking around, all are foreign giants, while domestic China Cool Alliance is just fighting against copycat phones in the low-end market.

But I found that the distribution of the smartphone market is not the above proportion, but BlackBerry, Apple and HTC.

This is about timing. The domestic Internet is now at a crossroads of transformation, and the mobile trend has emerged. Xiaomi chose the right time, but the road ahead is full of thorns.

Chen Mo paused tactically, went to the side and poured himself a glass of water, leaving some room for his breath. There was no point in talking all the time by himself, and it would be a tactical struggle if he kept talking back and forth.

Sure enough, Lei Jun asked, "What do you mean?"

"I believe everyone knows that mobile phones have a lot of parts, including screens, motherboards, chips, cameras, memory, etc. We need to rely on various upstream supply chain manufacturers."

Hearing this, Liu Qin nodded in agreement. "I wonder if there is any demand for customized hardware for the Xiaomi phone that Mr. Lei is going to make?
"What if it is?"

"If so, the difficulty goes up a level. Customized hardware requires mold opening and adaptation. And mold opening requires opening a new product line to adapt to the second party.

If product sales are too low, it will be a huge waste for the manufacturer, with high investment and risk and uncertain returns. The client of the supply chain dislikes new entrants the most, especially newly established small companies like Xiaomi with uncertain future development.

It is very difficult to reach cooperation with large manufacturers, but if you cooperate with second- and third-tier companies, the product competitiveness will be much weaker, and it will be even more difficult to open up the market. So it is a bit like falling into a vicious circle. "

"Is there no other solution?" Chen Mo discovered that the person who asked this question was the guy with the lowest presence in the corner. He turned around and looked at him and answered.

"Of course!"

Chen Mo threw out the bait first and asked Lei Jun, "I guess Mr. Lei actually has some ideas, otherwise he wouldn't have asked the previous question, right?"

The latter nodded, "Can you tell me more details?"

Guan Yingzhi saw what Chen Mo wanted to write, and quickly grabbed the eraser and erased all the previous content before him.

Chen Mo wrote and drew on the blackboard.
"I have done some research before. If Xiaomi wants to make mobile phones, it must make smartphones with top-level configuration and ultimate performance, equipped with highly customized systems and application software with excellent experience.

Then, all the intermediate links will be replaced by the most efficient e-commerce channels, and there will be no middlemen to make a profit from the price difference. In this way, the products will be extremely cost-effective and delivered directly to the users.

Finally, we will continue to provide Internet services to realize commercial realization. What conditions are needed to achieve this?"

As Chen Mo asked and answered his own questions, three parallel lines appeared on the blackboard, each with the words software, hardware, and the Internet.
The software line has several keywords written behind it, including Android, localization, and ROM.
The same is true for hardware and the Internet. Soon, the entire blackboard looks like a big tree with branches and leaves.

After Chen Mo finished writing, he threw the whiteboard pen aside and began to explain.

"In fact, the first thing is positioning. In the early stage, Xiaomi's positioning must be clear, that is, Xiaomi does not manufacture mobile phones, but is only a porter of these mobile phone parts.

Combining software and hardware, saving the country in a roundabout way. In terms of software, Android has been open source for several years, but its domestic adaptability is not good, and there is basically no localization.

This is a good entry point, and another way to give full play to the role of domestic geeks is to gather some enthusiasts through forums to create and improve China's own Android ROM (flashing software), form a certain influence and reputation, and have a certain fan base and potential market.

At the same time, there are certainly difficulties in the hardware field when trying to contact the supply chain, but with the above real chips, it is much better than having nothing but money and pie to negotiate. The difficulty will be reduced from hell to difficult. The remaining thunder will always depend on individuals or relationships, that is another story. "

At this point, Chen Mo decided to stop talking for the time being. After all, he hadn't started working yet, so there was no need to reveal everything.

He quickly took this opportunity to drink two sips of water to moisten his throat. He didn't expect that this interview would be so tiring for his throat.

(End of this chapter)