The mobile phone industry seems easy to do, but in reality, it's incredibly difficult.
Starting with Xiaomi, the next few years were the craziest era for the smartphone industry.
Every year, new mobile phone brands emerged, crossing over into the mobile phone industry.
Chuizi, Leshi, Xiaolajiao, Dakele, 360...
But unfortunately, within a few years, these emerging brands all faded away.
The only one still alive, Yijia, returned to OPPO due to parent company support.
Even established giants like Jinli and Kupai couldn't hold on, going bankrupt and exiting.
Most of the remaining brands are also half-dead.
Even those that survived, seemingly with high market share, might just be working for Gaotong.
For a flagship phone costing three to four thousand, manufacturers earn a few hundred yuan, while paying Gaotong fifteen hundred...
It can be said that the future smartphone market, while appearing glorious, is in fact a mess!
Industries with high technological barriers are just hard to enter!
Even if you push through and enter, the outcome is not optimistic; you'll either be eliminated or work for Gaotong.
The only ones truly making money are Pingguo, Sanxing, and Huawei, with their superior technology and strong patents.
And Gaotong, which doesn't make phones but earns more than anyone else!
Pingguo, Sanxing, and Huawei all started with R&D and have their own hard power, which is why they can stand firm.
Pingguo thrives by relying on the iOS system ecosystem + self-developed chips.
Sanxing self-develops and self-produces chips, so even if they use Gaotong chips, they don't need to pay the Gaotong tax.
For no other reason than that if Gaotong dared to collect the Gaotong tax, Sanxing would immediately develop its own alternative!
Moreover, Sanxing also has a large number of patents, and the two sides have fought multiple patent wars, so Gaotong may not necessarily have the upper hand.
As for Huawei, it has self-developed chips, self-developed basebands, self-developed systems, and strong patents...
Similarly, for Wang Yi making phones, there are two outcomes.
Either invest heavily starting from 2011, continuously conduct R&D, and follow the Huawei route.
Or directly abandon R&D, focus on marketing, work for Gaotong, and earn hard-earned money...
But unfortunately, Wang Yi's personality could never accept the second option.
Having been reborn, how could I still work for Gaotong?
Self-developed chips and self-developed patents are the path Wang Yi wants to take.
Even if self-developing chips takes time and third-party chips must be procured in the short term, Wang Yi will support Yingweida to counterbalance Gaotong!
Preventing Gaotong from monopolizing will only temporarily delay the Gaotong tax.
Only on the day Gaotong truly monopolizes the market will the Gaotong tax be fully imposed.
However, the time left for Wang Yi is not much.
2014 will be the era of fully integrated baseband SoCs.
At that time, it will be hard to say if Yingweida can survive.
Whether Xingyi Semiconductor can survive also depends on whether the baseband and patent issues can be resolved.
If they can be resolved, it lives.
If not, it dies!
For this reason, Wang Yi had to accelerate.
On the one hand, he had Chen Chuanqing acquire Weisheng's baseband business as soon as possible, securing the fundamental CDMA patents.
This would provide the ticket to develop 3G basebands, and at that point, Gaotong wouldn't be able to block Wang Yi.
After all, if Gaotong used its fundamental CDMA patents to block Wang Yi, Wang Yi could also use the acquired Weisheng fundamental CDMA patents to restrict Gaotong.
This way, no one would be able to produce basebands!
Even if Gaotong had more fundamental patents, it would be useless.
It's like nuclear deterrence; 5,000 warheads or 500, it's the same thing, just enough is enough.
At that time, Gaotong would have no choice but to settle with Xingyi Technology and reach a patent cross-licensing agreement!
This would resolve the 3G crisis.
And the 4G international standard was about to be launched; Wang Yi remembered it seemed to be finalized in January next year.
Laying out R&D now would be difficult to yield results in the short term.
But before the official standard comes out, some LTE patents, especially critical LTE patents, could be acquired at a low price.
Currently, LTE is not yet the 4G international standard, and LTE patent transfer fees are still dirt cheap!
Whether it's companies or individuals, anyone holding critical LTE patents will have them acquired as long as the price is right!
After all, as long as the international standard is not officially established, everything is a gamble!
They also cannot guarantee that the future 4G international standard will definitely be LTE and not several other options.
As long as Wang Yi offers the right price, even giants wouldn't mind selling some LTE patents, treating it as a risk hedge.
This way, if LTE is not the 4G international standard and becomes worthless later, they would have cashed out at a high price now, making a huge profit.
If LTE is the 4G international standard, they would also have earned a patent transfer fee, at least breaking even.
A solid risk hedge!
Thinking of this, Wang Yi immediately made arrangements to fully acquire critical LTE patents.
Of course, Wang Yi will also continue to invest in and advance the R&D of LTE patents.
Even if the 4G standard is established, it doesn't mean LTE technology R&D will stop.
This is a long process.
Even after 5G emerges, major telecommunications giants are continuously researching 4G technology and constantly applying for new LTE patents.
After all, the popularization of 5G is a distant future, and 4G elimination is even further away.
Let alone ten years, 5G will not be popularized globally in twenty years.
As a reborn person, Wang Yi was clearly aware of how high the construction cost of 5G base stations was and how slow their popularity is.
Even in Xiaguo, which had the fastest progress, with the 5G construction period from 2020-2024 and the 5G improvement period from 2024-2029, full popularization will not be until 2030.
As for the West, their progress is even slower; perhaps 7G will arrive before their 5G is even widely adopted...
Otherwise, why would the English read physical books instead of using their phones on the subway?
Isn't it because the internet speed is too slow, or there's even no signal...
It can be said that in the next twenty years, it will still be the reign of 4G!
From now on, Wang Yi will continuously invest in and research 4G patents.
Xingyi Technology will also continuously recruit communication experts and R&D elites.
The battle to snap up LTE patents began immediately.
In the next few months, besides the money for making phones, all other cash flow from Meiyou Technology will be used to acquire critical and core LTE patents!
No emergency funds need to be kept.
Meiyou Mall has daily revenue, which can all be used as emergency funds.
Even if there's a real shortage of money, assets can be mortgaged.
Whether it's the Xingyi Technology Park in Dīdu or the commercial land of Meiyou Technology Building in Jìzhōu, a considerable amount of money can be mortgaged.
In addition, Wang Yi's private property could also be loaned to the company as an accounting entry during critical times for development.
He could take it back later and even collect some interest!
For example, the over ninety million from the county factory demolition compensation had all arrived.
For example, the Yihe Yuanzhu villa he bought for 170 million could also be mortgaged for over 100 million.
Also, the box office revenue share from "Shilian Sanshisan Tian" could be pledged for cash.
To put it plainly, Wang Yi had no shortage of funds.
Even if all the cash flow was used up, it wouldn't matter.
If he really ran short of money, he might not even need loans; he could just hold a dealer conference and have Meiyou and Zhenyou's provincial agents, overseas agents, and franchise store operators pay in advance for orders.
With so many agents, raising several hundred million or even over a billion in goods payments at once would be no problem.
Moreover, when he was in Dìguó, Wang Yi had already tripled his leverage and shorted HM.
He cashed out 3 billion yuan before HM's stock price even fell.
Of course, these borrowed shares needed to be returned, but by the time they were returned, it might not require 3 billion yuan anymore.
Ever since he learned that HM had copied Meiyou's 'pure desire style' and mass-produced it, Wang Yi had the idea of shorting HM.
So he went to Dìguó and arranged it all!
As for the margin trading and short selling accounts, Wang Yi had started preparing them after his rebirth and they were already in place.
Now, he was just waiting for HM's copied 'pure desire style' dresses to hit the market, so Wang Yi could secure the evidence and hit them hard!
For a moment, Wang Yi even felt a little excited!
However, the 3 billion yuan cashed out from shorting HM was enough to acquire patents, as LTE was still dirt cheap now.
But once LTE is confirmed as the 4G international standard, the patent fees for LTE will skyrocket several times, even more than ten times!
It's better to acquire as many as possible while they are still dirt cheap!
Thinking of this, Wang Yi once again instructed Jian Ziyan:
"Ziyan, contact headhunters immediately to poach several big names in the telecommunications industry. Have these communication experts evaluate which LTE patents are critical and which are ordinary, and set reference acquisition prices. Then arrange for people to negotiate and acquire them according to these reference prices!"
"Understood, boss!"
Jian Ziyan didn't ask why, but she knew that if Wang Yi emphasized it repeatedly, it must be the most important matter!
She immediately became fully focused.
As for Song Sining, she still needed to prepare for the upcoming press conference, so Wang Yi didn't let her get distracted.
Wang Yi changed the subject:
"By the way, Professor Mo's onboarding, is that all settled?"
Professor Mo joining Xingyi Technology as Chief Legal Counsel had been approved by Beihang.
His own teacher, his own student's company, Beihang had no reason to hold it up.
"It's settled, and not just my teacher; many of my senior schoolmates and senior female schoolmates from my mentor's lineage have also joined Xingyi Technology. They will be of great use in this patent acquisition!"
Jian Ziyan said with a smile.
"Very good!"
Wang Yi nodded.
Acquiring patents involved significant matters and considerable value, so each team consisted of two negotiators + two lawyers.
This ensured foolproof safety and eliminated the possibility of kickbacks!
"Oh, boss, my teacher declined the 2 million annual salary and chose 1.5 million."
"Okay, I see. Is Professor Mo at the school or the company now?"
When purchasing the villa, Chairman Longhu gave a discount of twenty million.
Ten million was for Wang Yi's sake, and the other ten million was for Professor Mo's favor!
Wang Yi had to repay this ten-million-yuan favor no matter what.
As a legal expert, Professor Mo's current annual salary of one to eight hundred thousand yuan was the market rate.
The extra 500,000-700,000 yuan each year was to repay that favor.
"Teacher is in the administration building, in the legal department!"
"Alright, I'll go take a look."
With that, Wang Yi headed straight for the administration building.
While Wang Yi was on a business trip to Dìguó, Jian Ziyan had managed Xingyi Technology Park impeccably.
Many idle office buildings were activated one by one and named according to their administrative functions.
Seeing Wang Yi arrive, Professor Mo quickly stood up:
"Boss, you're here."
"Professor Mo, you're too polite."
Wang Yi smiled faintly:
"Are you getting used to this office?"
"It's great, close to both the school and home, and the environment is nice. The key is that it's run by students, so it feels like home."
"Hahaha."
Wang Yi was in a great mood:
"From now on, treat this as your home!"
"No problem."
Legal affairs are actually very important.
With Professor Mo in charge and Jian Ziyan's connections, Xingyi Technology's legal department was directly perfected, and Wang Yi didn't have to worry at all.
Whether it was cross-border mergers and acquisitions or patent acquisitions, Professor Mo's disciples included elite lawyers who handled everything with ease.
Even the lawyers Wang Yi took abroad recently, who were proficient in English and international business, were all Professor Mo's top students!
In fact, in universities, the most important thing is the mentor-disciple relationship, or to put it bluntly, academic cliques!
A powerful mentor is a formidable force.
After all, if the mentor is powerful, then the mentor's mentor is even more impressive.
Similarly, the mentor's senior male and female schoolmates are also very capable.
No matter what field of lawyer Wang Yi needed, Professor Mo could quickly arrange it with a single phone call.
Even abroad, handling foreign-related business was effortless.
Professor Mo's mentor was the former dean of Hafo Law School.
It was precisely because of his powerful academic lineage that Professor Mo achieved what he has today.
Likewise, if his mentor wasn't strong, Professor Mo, even with all his might, wouldn't have reached his current position.
It's just that realistic.
Afterward, Wang Yi went to other departments and took a round.
Everything was progressing in an orderly manner.
However, on HM's side, it was a different scene.
Four o'clock in the afternoon here was nine o'clock in the morning in Ruiguo.
HM's senior executives once again held an emergency meeting.
Chairman Jiafute was furious:
"What can't these damned international media report? They just have to report on emerging mobile phone giants!"
"Now, thanks to their reports, Meiyou's 'pure desire style' is gaining more and more international fame, and international revenue is getting higher and higher! If this continues, it will likely severely impact our HM's global revenue!"
Upon hearing this, the executives all looked solemn and spoke up:
"Previously, just the impact on the Xiaguo market cost us over a billion in earnings. Now with a global impact, the effect is too significant; HM might lose tens of billions, and we cannot sit idly by."
"Right! And those unscrupulous media even directly stated that the impact of Meiyou's 'pure desire style' caused our Xiaguo market volume to drop by 50%, leading to HM's market value evaporating by over ten billion yuan again!"
HM's total market value was over 300 billion, so a mere three-point fluctuation meant over 10 billion was gone.
All the shareholders were stunned.
"Sigh! If this continues, HM will truly be in big trouble; we must fight back!"
"Yes, fight back, and we must fight back immediately!"
Watching several executives speak, Chairman Jiafute snorted coldly:
"Alright, tell me, how do we fight back?"
"This..." Everyone fell silent.
They were good at talking, but had no methods.
Vice President Andongni, however, said faintly:
"Let's put aside whether to retaliate for now; the key is that our 'pure desire style' dresses, mimicking Meiyou, are all stacked in dealer warehouses. Should we launch them in Xingzhou and Aozhou?"
"Yes, that's a problem. We originally planned to launch them today, and the goods have already been distributed. But unexpectedly, Meiyou suddenly became a huge hit, so launching now might have a negative public opinion impact on us."
"But not launching isn't an option either; we've already mass-produced them, and dealers have paid for orders. We can't just destroy all 'pure desire style' new products and refund all payments, can we?"
"We can't refund; HM's sales have plummeted, and we're relying on the 'pure desire style' dresses to reverse the decline in tropical countries!"
"I suggest we launch the 'pure desire style' dresses directly. If sales continue to drop this month, our stock price will continue to plummet!"
"Exactly! Launching the 'pure desire style' might earn us temporary infamy, but revenue can stabilize, and the stock price can stabilize. If we don't launch, revenue will plummet, the stock price will plummet, and everything will be over!"
(End of Chapter)