"Haste makes waste. We have to delay if necessary. It doesn't mean we have to give in once they put pressure on us. If we pay this 30% fee, can the company still operate?"

After returning from inspecting the headquarters site, Li Zehua had just sat down in the office and had not had time to drink a sip of water when his subordinates came to report on the progress of the QR code negotiations.

The negotiations with Apple and Google are particularly important. The group also plans to launch a large number of software such as WeChat on the Apple Store.

Lin Wenhui is in charge of the specific negotiations, but no agreement has been reached yet.

When I heard that Apple was planning to take away the QR code scanning and other related patents, I turned around and looked for WeChat, Weipay, and the international version of Pinxixi would charge a 30% handling fee.

He was almost confused. He had no idea how the payment system, e-commerce system and Apple were negotiated in the previous life, but he knew that if he bought something with micropayment, he would have to pay an additional 30%.

Then all Qingyun businesses should not plan to continue operating, because the products themselves cannot make this much profit, and they have to pay extra to Apple for selling a product?

The people below were also helpless because the people sent by Apple to negotiate obviously did not understand what kind of business service micropayments were.

"Are you really stupid or are you pretending to be stupid?"

Li Zehua didn't quite understand, so he called Liu Zijie and Wu Yibin over and said, "This is what's going on. Pinxixi and Fengniao, the international version of Chime, WeChat micropayment, etc.

There are ready-made examples internationally. For example, Pinxixi should refer to the cooperation between Amazon e-commerce and Apple, and micropayments, in theory, are a type of banking business.

What kind of value-added content service is this? "

Liu Zijie understood the problem clearly on his way here and responded: "The Apple people said that we don't have our own commercial bank.

So in theory it is neither a credit card business nor a normal financial service."

Wu Yibin pointed out that "this is just nonsense, and I think they want to use this to delay the launch of the company's business.

And the person in charge of the negotiations is an old acquaintance, Apple China General Manager Qiu Qiuliang, who used to be HP's deputy general manager in China. How could he not understand the difference here? "

"Playing dumb? Accepting benefits from your competitors?

But this is not right. The entire group's businesses combined are not even a fraction of Amazon's. Why would they resort to such tricks?"

Li Zehua didn't quite understand. "Besides, isn't he in charge of Apple's business now? How can he joke about the interests of his own company?"

"WeChat and micropayment are probably the main reasons."

When Wu Yibin said this, he glanced at Liu Zijie, who also nodded after thinking for a moment.

Seeing his support, Wu Yibin continued: "The West is different from the East, their culture seems to be tolerant, but in fact it is particularly aggressive.

Especially those who adhere to the principle that what is mine is mine and what is yours is also mine, public opinion media and financial payments are the most sensitive industries.

Previously, when I was in charge of discussing the promotion of WeChat software with HTC and Samsung Electronics, it was also reviewed by the U.S. Department of Commerce on the grounds that it involved threats to user information security.

Fortunately, Temasek was responsible for coordinating at the time, so it was not included in the final list of audits, but the subsequent prices offered by these two companies were very high, from US$0.5 per machine to US$2 per machine. "

"Threat to user information security?"

Li Zehua suppressed his anger and said, "It's like there's nothing in this world that it can't control."

"There's no other way. They have the right to interfere in all matters involving U.S. dollar transactions. Especially since we can't do without America's core technology, this gives them ample reasons to intervene."

Wu Yibin shrugged, apparently not surprised by this. "But it's not like there's no room for negotiation. According to Qiu Qiuliang, as long as we set up the data information database in the area designated by Apple,

They can find a way to apply to the higher authorities to conditionally lift restrictions on regions other than Europe and the United States, but micropayments may have to undergo stricter scrutiny.”

"Is it not okay for me not to enter the American market? I want to create a third world market other than Europe and the United States, and I have to build the database in America?"

Li Zehua opened his mouth wide, and was stunned for a long time. In his previous life, he was just watching the fire from the other side of the river, without any personal experience. Now that he is on the battlefield himself, he can finally appreciate the tyranny of the Eagle Sauce.

Liu Zijie added, "Maybe more than that. When I was in charge of a multinational company's business in Southeast Asia, I came into contact with many communication operators who relied on Microsoft to provide services.

In addition to the core database being located in the United States and equipment being purchased from designated suppliers in the United States, it seems that even the backend needs to be kept open to certain parties.”

“Isn’t this nonsense?”

Li Zehua himself was planning to borrow billions of bits of information, especially the background data of enterprise-level software. After all, the commercial value contained therein was too great.

It is so big that any company in the world would be tempted by it. It can monitor the technological breakthroughs of small and medium-sized companies' research and development anytime and anywhere, and take the lead in layout. Even if it is used for insider trading, it is a sure profit.

That is why there is a shortage of IT talents and hardware servers all over the world. Any company of a certain size will try to establish its own software information security database.

Who can guarantee that the new technology that a company is developing or the company’s internal confidential data on purchase, sales and inventory will not be secretly copied?
Rules and morals can only restrict ordinary people.

There are always technical means to circumvent the rules. As for morality, I'm sorry, most capitalists don't have that stuff, so naturally there is no way to restrict it.

"The situation in China is a little better. After all, there are people watching over them all the time. Companies including Apple and Qualcomm are mainly focused on making money, so the requirements are not that strict.

But if you want to promote your business in Southeast Asia smoothly, it will be difficult to expand if you don’t abide by their rules of the game.”

Liu Zijie actually advised him not to spread his business so widely, otherwise Apple would take advantage of the situation.

Originally, Apple wanted something from the company, and perhaps it could have negotiated a fixed share of the profits, charging patent licensing fees directly based on the future sales volume of Apple phones. But now, it is being blackmailed.

“In fact, it’s not impossible to avoid it. At worst, we can just give up the recommended ranking position of the official store and let WeChat compete freely in the market.

However, once it becomes big, it will still be targeted. But as you know, if a communication software does not have a large user base, its commercial value will be out of the question.”

Wu Yibin has been in charge of negotiations these days and has acquired a lot of relevant professional knowledge. Now he is very knowledgeable when talking about the instant messaging software market.

“My personal suggestion is to link micropayment to the international version of Pinduoduo and promote it in Lijiaopo and Malaya first, and then consider promoting WeChat after seeing the specific market reaction.

Or you can simply learn from Ali Wangwang and use WeChat as the exclusive communication software for Pinxixi customer service. If it can be accepted by local users, consider splitting it out and promoting it separately.

After all, the company is now in Southeast Asia and has no other interests to show for it, so it can buy off local forces and bundle interests.

Without the endorsement of enough powerful people, it will be difficult to get big companies to make concessions, let alone get American functional departments to give in in the future.”

“It’s so hard to do anything.”

Li Zehua thought for a long time and said, "Let's put this matter aside for now and wait and see how Apple reacts.

Personally, I don’t think it’s that serious. They just want to test the weight of these software businesses in the company. As long as the company is not threatened, what excuses can Apple rely on?

It is impossible that the Apple Store can still use information security as an excuse to refuse to launch WeChat on the Apple platform, right? "

“That’s not the case, it’s just that without Apple’s main push, it’s hard to gain a competitive advantage right away.

You know, there is no similar software on the market at present. If we can seize this opportunity and promote it successfully, it may become a national-level existence like QQ in the local area. "

Liu Zijie said this with regret. He and Li Zehua had similar ideas. They both wanted to overtake others during the initial stage of mobile Internet, but the rules of the game were set by others.

Even if those big Western companies fail to react immediately, they will not allow their competitors to develop at will.

Just like this time, it was obvious that Apple wanted to introduce patent licensing, but it acted like a big boss, not allowing this or that. People who didn't know would think Qingyun was planning to introduce technology to Apple.

Well, it seems that Honor P9, the first generation of Panda smartphones, both the appearance and some core patents are in the hands of Apple. Just like Zhujiang Meizu, you can't say that the appearance and patents of the first generation product have nothing to do with Apple, you can only say that they are roughly the same.

Working in the manufacturing industry is destined to be taken advantage of by others. Li Zehua hates the feeling of being controlled by others, whether it was same-city delivery of takeout, e-commerce sinking into rural areas, or group buying in cities.

These are completely blank markets with no obstacles ahead, so he can naturally give it his all.

As a physical manufacturing industry, although smartphones are also an emerging industry, they have evolved step by step from traditional keypad phones, whether it is Nokia or Motorola.

Today, Apple, Samsung, Google, and even Microsoft all hold a large number of patents, plus the three most mainstream communication equipment players Qualcomm, Huawei, and Nokia.

Almost no one can circumvent their patent licensing. This is not a software business where you can create a new app or discover a new business out of thin air.

Making a mobile phone and selling it for 2998 yuan doesn't make much money. The pure component procurement cost is less than 1500 yuan, but the miscellaneous expenses are five dollars and the patent licensing fee is three dollars.

If you take into account the expenses of labor, taxes, logistics, etc., and then the image display store, initial investment, and scientific research costs, the cost may be around 2,000 yuan.

By this calculation, a 35% gross profit for a mobile phone is considered high.

Why does the coarse grain factory in history use hunger marketing on the Internet?

On the one hand, we don’t know how the market will react, and on the other hand, because of the low-price promotion strategy, there is really no way for channel dealers and agency stores to get enough profit.

If you don't make any money, who will make you lose money and get publicity?
During the same period, selling a smartphone of other brands can easily bring a profit of three to four hundred yuan, and even Apple has a profit margin of two to three hundred yuan.

With the 15% gross profit of the coarse grain factory, the selling price is less than 2000 yuan. The total profit is 300 yuan, and 200 yuan goes to the agent. Yutian might as well go home and sell sweet potatoes.

That is to say, Li Zehua made a big move right from the start, because he had his own exclusive sales channels and his own fixed consumer base, so a gross profit of 35% was acceptable to him.

Even if the technology licensing manufacturers and the parts industry chain raise prices midway, or other disputes and accidents arise, he still has enough profit margin to deal with the trouble.

"Okay, let's talk about it first. Whether they ask for too much or try to win over relevant domestic personnel to put pressure on you, the pressure can only be put on you two.

I will go to Gusu tomorrow, and I will not come back until the final result is reached."

Liu Zijie is no longer surprised to see his big boss running away at critical moments. Even if he runs away, at least he has room for maneuver.

"That's fine. If you leave, we can push any problems onto you. After all, the big boss is not here, so we can't make the decision."

Wu Yibin agreed, "Speaking of which, this phone looks pretty good, but it's a bit big and I'm not used to it."

"No, 4.0 inches is bigger?"

Li Zehua was just about to call Guo Xinyi. His former assistant must have suffered a lot in Gusu these days. It would be strange if he could feel comfortable being held hostage.

When I suddenly heard Wu Yibin's complaint, I almost spit out the tea I had just drunk.

In later generations, 4 inches is non-mainstream!

Wu Yibin looked at him suspiciously, then took out his Nokia and gestured to add a circle on the side of the phone, "Look, compared to mine, it's more than one circle bigger.

And the power consumption is extremely unfriendly. Although the company's regulations prohibit the use of it in public places, I asked my assistant to try to use it in the office 24 hours a day. Guess how long it took?"

Li Zehua said uncertainly: "A 1.6 mAh battery, with an Android system, should last for two days if it's only used to answer calls and send text messages, right?"

"Two days?"

Even Liu Zijie couldn't stand it anymore. "I opened the internal software on the web page and held a meeting for two and a half hours. The battery was only 5% full and it would take another five hours to charge.

Although it supports 3.5G, the data usage fee is very touching. I even doubt whether employees will be willing to use it as an order-taking tool in their daily work. "

Wu Yibin also couldn't help but complain: "Boss, although I don't understand why you value this phone so much, I still want to express my opinion.

Compared with competitors' products that have a standby time of one month and can be used for five or six days, the usage time and cost of Honor P9 are not acceptable to ordinary people.

Although its appearance and product parameters have certain advantages in the same price range, it is likely to be reduced to a product for internal use within the company, of course, this is premised on continued subsidies. "

"It's normal for a newly released product to have some issues."

Li Zehua disagrees. "The standby time and usage time are not as exaggerated as you say. For example, the latest model of BYD electric two-wheeler.

I specifically asked the company to design a docking port so that whether it is take-out or express delivery business, the product can be continuously charged during delivery. Wouldn’t this perfectly solve the power consumption problem?
As for other businesses, such as Pinxixi, people usually charge their batteries in the store before going out, or charge them while negotiating deals with clients.

You guys have money, so you can buy two or three mobile phones to use alternately. "

Liu Zijie was almost impressed by his shamelessness and said, "How do we solve the problem of continuous heating during charging?
It is still winter and the temperature outside is very low. Once summer comes and the outdoor temperature soars, will the mobile phone continue to freeze or even shut down and restart in the laboratory?

Furthermore, the negotiations between Mr. Wu and the three major operators on behalf of the company have not made any breakthrough progress so far. Mr. Xiao of AutoNavi previously developed a small internal web navigation software for the company.

If you calculate based on 10 hours of usage per day, all the data on the 10 yuan package card provided by the operator will be used up within 99 days.

The price of using an additional 100m of traffic is even higher than the commission earned, if you add the traffic consumption of keeping the software open all the time to receive orders.

If the expenditure cost is calculated on a per-person basis, the additional expenditure for delivering 100 orders to every 10,000 people will be a pressure that the company cannot bear.

This means that every month in the future, the company will spend tens of millions of yuan on traffic subsidies, including Fengniao, Zhongbao, and Pinxixi employees, which will eat up all our profits. "

Liu Zijie's words are by no means alarmist, especially the real-time navigation on maps and real-time order taking on apps in the future, plus the e-commerce promotion business in rural areas, all of which rely on traffic support.

Electricity quantity is not a problem to be considered, because electric vehicles and logistics vehicles of the Fengniao Tongda series can provide on-board charging services.

Li Zehua thought for a moment and looked at Wu Yibin. Wu Yibin was distressed and he could do nothing about it. But he could only bite the bullet and explain:
"From the current best solutions, only China Mobile can fully meet the company's business needs. During actual testing, the other two companies experienced frequent freezes and even disconnections.

But China Mobile is holding on to the data traffic fee and refuses to budge, saying that the initial investment is too large and the company is burdened with too many costs, so the current price is already a discount.”

“Didn’t you mention the user scale?”

“The suggestion made China Mobile even more cautious. They even worried that our concentrated use in big cities would affect the experience of other users.

Although this is technically possible, given the current scale of 3G users, it is impossible for usage in the same area to reach the 3 to 5 scale they advertise.

Only God knows whether there is actually as much channel traffic as advertised.

The company seized the first-mover advantage before the infrastructure was fully developed, but it also had to bear the troubles that pioneers inevitably faced.

You have to pay for the imperfect market environment.”

What else could Li Zehua say? Should he tell them that he had also been cheated?
But the problem is, he also learned about the performance of the three major operators from future publicity!
Who knows that it’s all just superficial publicity. If you don’t come in and experience it yourself, you won’t know how big a trap others have dug for you.

No wonder so many button phone manufacturers are waiting and watching, and only a few are taking action. On the one hand, they are waiting for the domestic smartphone industry chain to be established to reduce production and procurement costs.

On the one hand, we are waiting for telecommunications operators to improve basic network facilities so that consumers do not blame them for the poor experience.

Only Li Zehua was stupid enough to step in. Although it wasn't a huge pit, it still made him fall head over heels. He didn't know what to say for a moment.

In the end, he could only say bitterly: "Let's talk again and we must come to a conclusion!" (End of this chapter)