Reinventing the Millennium

The communication between Fang Zhuo and Stringer about the Android company was only a short distance in the car. During the afternoon tea time, even though Fang Zhuo didn't want to hear it, the new head of Sony talked about a lot of changes within the group and his decisions. .

Stringer is going to do something big.

This is a fire he has burned externally after taking office. As the head of Sony, he wants to communicate with Microsoft's Gates and make Sony's Blu-ray DVD the standard format for the next generation of DVDs.

Microsoft disagrees.

According to Stringer, Gates said that he could not see Microsoft's position in Sony's blueprint and would consider Toshiba's HD-DVD format more.

The two have not officially met yet, but the secret camp wooing has become intense. Sony is not only facing Microsoft, but also Intel, which together with Microsoft envisioned the future home entertainment scene.

"The battle for standards deserves attention." Fang Zhuo is not interested in Sony's efforts in this regard, but it does not hinder his statement. "If necessary, Yike will also speak out to support Sony's Blu-ray."

Yike's main business hardly applies the DVD format. However, Yike is also a shareholder of Sony Bertelsmann, so there is no problem in unified understanding.

Stringer was quite satisfied, and Mr. Fang once again showed his friendship without hesitation.

In view of this, he kindly reminded: "The competition in the mobile phone market is very fierce. Fang, I can understand Yike's unwillingness to stick to its business ambitions, but you have many challenges to face."

"Step by step, if there are no problems in Sony's assessment tomorrow, Yike is willing to take an important step with Sony. I think this is an important opportunity in the mobile era." Fang Zhuo said solemnly.

Stringer was a bit disapproving: "The company's development cannot be too radical. It is right to invest in a future possibility, but you seem to bet a little too much on it. I think you still have a lot of room for development in music."

Fang Zhuo smiled slightly: "Yike is not better than Sony. Sometimes you have to make a bet."

Stringer insisted, so he stopped and started chatting enthusiastically about the PS3, which is a game console that will be equipped with Blu-ray DVD.

The afternoon tea was overall enjoyable and the friendship between the two was cemented.

Although Fang Zhuo’s desired joint investment in Android by Yike + Sony has not yet been implemented, he doesn’t think he will receive any bad news tomorrow.

Everything is true. Samsung and Android were once close to reaching an agreement, Google has talked to Android twice, HTC and Android's Rubin expressed their willingness to carry the new system...

and, Yi Ke, who showed high interest.

This is not to mention other venture capital institutions.

If companies are interested in Android, why should your Sony team be opposed to the assessment?

What's more, this investment does not require Sony to use cash.

Whether a foreign chairman pays more attention to current report performance or long-term company interests does not seem to have much room for choice. In addition, Sony Ericsson's mobile phone patent package is only licensed to a person who has never done it. A company that sells mobile phones...

"This shouldn't be considered Sony Ericsson's cultivation of competitors."

"This patent can be prepared to avoid problems in the future."

In the evening of the next day, Fang Zhuo received a personal call from Stringer at the company and received the news that the answer was "yes". He gave his evaluation of Sony Ericsson's mobile phone patent authorization.

"Isn't the price of 15 million a little high?" Xu Keden had a little doubt.

At present, Yike and Sony's preliminary condition in this regard is that Yike will invest US$30 million in Android, half of which will be counted as licensing fees for Sony Ericsson mobile phone patents in the next six years.

"250 a year is pretty good." Fang Zhuo felt that it would be a good deal to split this number.

Regarding the reserve moat of mobile phone patents, even if Sony does not agree this time, he will have to think about finding other companies, such as another bankrupt Motorola.

As the former king of mobile phones, Motorola owns quite a few mobile phone patents.

It is never too early for Yike to take precautionary measures regarding patents.

If Fang Zhuo remembers correctly, HTC once made a small splash with the Android system, but then missed the best opportunity for development because of Apple's lawsuit over mobile phone patent infringement.

Now that Sony Ericsson has authorized it, if Apple makes similar moves in the future, Yike will not be without the power to fight.

"Is this really dragging Sony into joining the gang?" Yu Hong was also a little surprised. Although logically there was no problem in dragging Sony along, but based on her own intuition and general understanding of the other party, she felt that it would not be so simple.

"The venture capital valuation of the Android company is around 40 million. The investment amount of 30 million US dollars is a bit too high. Rubin clearly told me that he did not want to sell himself to Yike." Fang Zhuo said this in a negative way. Answer.

Yu Hong thought of her previous exchange with Mr. Fang, which also meant giving the Android company a high valuation. Moreover, even if Google no longer insisted on a wholly-owned acquisition, I am afraid it would still need absolute control. By then...the current two Will one member of the domestic alliance leave?

She didn't ask any more, she just glanced at Mr. Fang's eyes and felt that there was a blazing fire inside.

Now that Sony has given the news, preparations for heading to San Francisco to meet with Android are basically complete.

Not to mention the internal plans of Yiko and Sony, what Android companies will see is the cooperation of the two hardware manufacturers.

On April 8, Fang Zhuo and Xu Corden flew to San Francisco with their team, where there would be an scheduled game between the Rockets and the Warriors.

However, even if Yike paid attention to it based on the number of people, Rubin from Android Company still asked about the progress of the question and answer community Quora when they met, and he still couldn't forget his thoughts about it.

"I met Stringer from Sony the day before yesterday and mentioned this matter to him. There was no problem." Fang Zhuo was a little helpless, "Oh, yes, I also invited him to answer questions about our development plans for Sony after we open the website. "

Rubin felt that this rich man was a rich man, and the level of the circle was really different.

He smiled and asked: "Can you invite Gates to answer Microsoft's questions?"

"This..." Fang Zhuozhen thought seriously for a moment and replied, "I haven't met Gates, but I can give it a try. There is a Sun Valley conference in July, and Gates seems to be coming. I can chat with him. chat."

He asked, “Do you have any good questions?”

Rubin's expression suddenly became serious: "I have a good question about robots."

Fang Zhuo: "..."

He was silent for a few seconds and said: "There will be many well-known people in the industry coming to the Sun Valley Conference. After all, I can invite them all. There is nothing more professional than this group of people."

Before this, a group of big guys just discussed issues in forums or summits.

Now even if there are only a few left on the website and occasionally take the time to answer a question, it will add a layer of gold to Quora.

Now that he has done it, Fang Zhuo is still willing to make it more interesting.

Rubin now fully believes that the young president had plans for Quora earlier. Otherwise, how could it have burned so quickly as soon as it was ignited?

Still watching the game from the front row, Rubin was actually much more serious this time than the last time.

Then, when he heard the investment budget from Mr. Fang, he was stunned.

$30 million!

Is this an investment or an acquisition?

Speaking of investment, it’s a bit much. The funds Android companies are currently looking for are in the range of 10-15 million.

When it comes to acquisitions, it's close. Even the $40 million from venture capital made Rubin feel a bit undervalued.

With the one-sided attitude on the court, both Fang Zhuo and Rubin lost interest in the game early.

When he saw Carter's heavy dunk again, Fang Zhuo also talked to Rubin about his valuation of Android Company: "I think the value of Android Company at US$60 million is very reasonable."

Rubin was stunned again. This was definitely a valuation price that exceeded his psychological expectations.

Since Android started looking for funding, all venture capital estimates have not exceeded 50 million! The highest was 45 million reported by an East Coast institution! That one has a lot of strings attached!

"The value of the company needs to be discussed by our management together." Rubin was not knocked down by the price. Although he lamented the generosity of the Eastern rich, he still insisted, "Mr. Fang, we need more than just funds..."

Fang Zhuo interrupted: "We are still like-minded partners and colleagues who can provide resources for future development. I don't think Yike is not satisfied with this."

Rubin did not refute immediately for the sake of money, but still reserved his opinion and planned to raise it in the conference room.

He personally can accept Yike's valuation of Android, but he cannot accept such a huge investment from Yike.

Perhaps, as long as Yike's US$10 million is valued at US$60 million, it is very appropriate.

When the game ended, Rubin was still more or less shocked by the rich man's behavior, and hurriedly arrived at Android Company with Yi Ke and his team.

Android's office is not big, and the layout of the conference room is a bit messy.

A total of seven people from the Android side attended the meeting, including the founder at the top and programmers at the bottom.

When Fang Zhuo talked about Yike's optimism about Android, the group was indifferent.

When Fang Zhuo talked about the budget that Yike was willing to invest, this group of people just had a small discussion, which gave the impression that it was money for the company anyway, what does it have to do with me?

When Fang Zhuo talked about Yike's mobile phone project and products equipped with Android system, this group of people were still quite lazy.

But when the PPT of the designed full-touch screen mobile phone was shown, the seven people seemed to come to life and eagerly discussed the capacitive full-touch screen mobile phone.

"Full touch screen? That's interesting. Can it be realized?"

"Oops, no keyboard?"

"Capacitive screen? How many layers are needed to achieve this? There needs to be a shielding layer inside."

“This design is quite bold!”

"Full touch screen mobile phones are interesting, and sensors cannot be missing."

Seven people from Android Company enthusiastically demonstrated the touch implementation of capacitive screens, mentioning the coupling capacitance and signal processing of mobile phones and screens.

Although Rubin heard Fang Zhuo mention Sharp's capacitive screen last time, he was still impressed by the thin and light design this time.

They discussed it among themselves for a while, and then Rubin gave his opinion.

"Your design is too radical," Rubin said. "I'm afraid it will be difficult to succeed."

Fang Zhuo was surprised, and several counterarguments emerged in his mind.

However, Rubin continued: "But it doesn't matter if it doesn't succeed. This phone is very good-looking. It looks like a product of Android system. We admire the design of your Yike company."

He was about to talk about the investment figure that the company could accept, but then he had a few words with the two senior executives and casually changed his previous thoughts.

Yike Company is not able to invest US$10 million. For this capacitive full touch screen mobile phone design, Yike is allowed to invest US$15 million.

Based on a valuation of US$60 million, that is 25% of the shares.

Rubin stated the terms that were discussed.

Fang Zhuo originally thought that this might have to be discussed until the next day, but he didn't expect to mention it soon.

He shook his head and said: "No, I can't just invest 15 million, or we can't just invest 15 million."

Rubin said awkwardly: "The company has to consider the future system ecology and cannot sell more shares."

"I am also thinking about the ecology of the Android system." Fang Zhuo didn't mention Sony until now. "Yike can only invest 15 million US dollars, but I have communicated with Sony's Stringer, and he also recognizes the future of the Android system. , are also willing to join in, the same is 15 million, and the total between our two companies is 30 million U.S. dollars."

Rubin and others were shocked, and Sony?

Fang Zhuo continued: "The business ecosystem of the system is very important. Sony Ericsson's mobile phone market share can rank third, and it will become a very powerful hardware partner of the Android system."

In fact, Sony Ericsson mobile phones are ranked fourth, not far behind third place, so Fang Zhuo believes that Sony Ericsson can be third at this time.

He added: "Given Android's ability to find partners, I think I can take on more responsibility in this regard."

This is quite blunt.

Judging from Rubin's creation of the Android company, his business and technical capabilities may be a bit different.

Therefore, Fang Zhuo was obliged to do so.

"President Fang, are you willing to come to Android to serve as..." Rubin thought for a while, then discussed sideways.

Looking at this gesture and the short discussion, Fang Zhuo felt that the progress of today's meeting was a bit too fast.

"We can give you a vice president position." Rubin discussed the result in thirty seconds. "You will be responsible for building the business ecosystem and finding hardware partners."

Fang Zhuoxian asked: "That means you agree with Yike and Sony's investment in Android?"

Rubin hesitated and asked, "If the investment fails, can you still be the vice president?"

Fang Zhuo was happy.

"In that case, we'll have to talk about it separately."

The great Sony could only invite me to be an outside director. Stringer wanted to give up the position of chairman, but I didn't accept it.

Your wishful thinking is quite loud.

At this time, Rubin remembered that the matter was very important and said: "We still need to discuss it again. At this time tomorrow, we will continue to talk."

Fang Zhuo nodded first, then shook his head: "Okay, but our product director also wants to talk about a full touch screen phone."

All seven people from Android Company looked at Xu Corden.

Xu Keden had already practiced and took over the topic in an orderly manner, explaining his insistence and design on the full touch screen.

Full touch screen is a radical challenge to industry aesthetics and user habits, but you must persist and persist.

Rubin was a little distracted while listening, thinking about his previous contact with Google.