For Microsoft, they are very clear about the importance of mobile operating systems, but they don't know how important it is and whether they need to invest all their resources.
Because from Microsoft's perspective, the popularity and market of personal handheld computers that were in full swing back then were no smaller than those of today's smartphones.
In 1984, Psion Company in England began to release the personal handheld computer Psion Organizer. Personal handheld computers ushered in an era of rapid development. In this era of rapid development, various handheld computer operating systems emerged.
Among them are Palm OS. Matrix, owned by Zhou Xin, acquired HandSpring, a company later founded by Palm's founder, for the mobile operating system; there is BlackBerry OS from BlackBerry, which made a personal handheld computer before making a mobile phone; and Symbian launched by Psion , the predecessor of Symbian was the EPOC system launched by Psion. Later Symbian jointly established Symbian with Nokia, Ericsson and Motorola.
Of course, there is also Microsoft. Microsoft launched Windows CE based on personal handheld computers. Therefore, all the way from the era of personal handheld computers, Microsoft has seen the rise and fall of too many personal handheld computers. They know that smartphones are important and have invested resources to adjust Windows CE.
In Microsoft's concept, smartphones are similar to personal PDAs, which are equivalent to personal PDAs with communication functions. Based on this logic, they developed Windows CES.
For Microsoft, the frustration is that the Windows CES mobile operating system they built is not supported by many manufacturers. Nokia is ambitiously building Symbian. Sony Ericsson, which was jointly established by Sony and Ericsson, is not interested in Symbian and is interested in Microsoft. The mobile phone operating system is also not cold.
Motorola has not launched the Symbian Alliance at this time and has not developed its own mobile operating system, so it does not like Microsoft very much. Microsoft's mobile operating system is only used by some small manufacturers. Not only do they not want to give Microsoft money, they even hope that Microsoft will give them money to let them use Windows CES.
Bill Gates is naturally very aware that under this background, Microsoft is investing less and less resources in the operating system of smartphones. After experiencing the operating system of Mphone2, Bill Gates realized that compared with the operating system of computers, the operating system of mobile phones has completely different design logic and design concepts.
In the Apple era of the original time and space, Apple released the first-generation iPhone in 2007. It was only in 2010 that Microsoft began to truly enter the mobile operating system market. They did not learn from the design ideas of IOS, but relied entirely on their own set of design logic.
It's different now, because MOS was built by Zhou Xin. Zhou Xin's past performance fully proves his understanding of user preferences. For Microsoft, Apple was once the loser, while Zhou Xin has continued to dominate the Internet battlefield. A victory over their respectable opponents.
Therefore, Microsoft will pay attention to MOS and try to learn from the design language of MOS, rather than directly knocking IOS.
Zhou Xin heard the endless praise from Bill Gates. He was actually very proud of being able to build such a mobile phone in 2003. No one else could do this.
Technology maturity is one thing, and being able to insist on releasing the product after it is completely mature is another strategic vision.
Unlike Apple, which has a long history and enough accumulation, the Matrix brand is a brand new brand. It is tied to Zhou Xin’s personal IP to have the labels of high-end, technology, and future in the minds of consumers. .
Because it is tied to Zhou Xin himself, this label is actually relatively weak based on the first-generation Mphone.
This is a bit similar to when Musk first launched Tesla in later generations. Tesla and Musk were highly bound. It took Tesla nearly ten years to complete the brand building.
In the era of smartphones, competitors will not give Zhou Xin such a long time to build his brand. Zhou Xin needs enough explosive products to further deepen the brand image of Matrix in the minds of consumer groups. Once the golden body is completed, In the future competition, Matrix will be in an invincible position.
Apple squeezes out toothpaste every year, but there are countless fans around the world who will replace their toothpaste every year and support Apple. This is closely related to Apple's brand image.
If the first generation of Mphone was more about the advantage of product thinking, then Mphone2 is leading in all aspects from the understanding of smartphones to technology, and is at least three years ahead of this era.
"Mphone2 will be a revolutionary product. When Mphone1 came out, I just said that Mphone will bring everyone a completely different experience. In fact, Mphone1 still does not break away from many concepts of traditional mobile phones in the past two decades.
In Mphone2, you can hardly see the shadow of traditional mobile phones in the past. From the operation method to the user experience, it is a completely new product. "
Speaking of the role of brand, Matrix was the first to launch customized keyboards in 1999, and by the way introduced the concept of customized keyboards to the world.
In the past, Matrix had a dedicated keyboard department, which was responsible for regularly releasing new products every year and continuing the design language of the past. But because of the high price, only a few wealthy people actually have the willingness to spend.
With the great success of Mphone, the sales of Matrix keyboards are increasing year by year. When the Matrix executive responsible for keyboard sales reported, Zhou Xin was not surprised at all. When Matrix reaches the status of Apple in the future, not to mention keyboards, even a piece of cloth to wipe the screen can be sold for a tenfold premium.
Such a high premium can also attract a large number of consumers to pay.
Compared with Apple's method, Sony's method is too weak.
Bill Gates said: "Yes, before I actually got my hands on Mphone2, I had a hard time imagining what future mobile phones would look like. We have known each other for many years, and I also said Sit in the audience and listen to your introduction.
In fact, at that time, I didn’t really believe that there was any difference between the Mphone you showed and previous mobile phones, because whether it was Weibo or Weibo, it was nothing more than moving applications from computers to mobile phones. There were not a few mobile phone manufacturers that had done similar things before.
Although the success of Mphone later proved that mobile phones can be important terminals, and mobile phone applications can play a much greater role than computers in certain situations. You have indeed changed the mobile phone ecosystem with Mphone, but that is more at the software level and the system. level.
Only after I came into contact with Mphone2, Mphone2 completely subverted the traditional mobile phone form from hardware to software. In my more than 20 years of using mobile phones, there are only two kinds of mobile phones, Mphone2 and others. "
Bill Gates did not hesitate to praise Mphone2, "Newman, I regret that I did not directly hand over the Xbox project to you when you were an intern at Microsoft. If I had given you the Xbox at that time, you would have been able to do it." Xbox can do better than it does now."
Zhou Xin comforted him: "Xbox has done well enough. As a new game console brand, it can compete with Sony and Nintendo in the North American market, which has exceeded many people's expectations.
If it were me, I might not be able to do better. "
Bill Gates looked at Zhou Xin seriously and said: "No, Newman, you will definitely do better.
Even Mphone will be born in Microsoft, bringing new glory to Microsoft.
Because I am only a member of Microsoft's board of directors and am actually no longer involved in Microsoft's operations. I know that mobile operating systems will be the largest incremental market in the next ten years, but it is difficult for me to believe that Microsoft can defeat Matrix led by you.
You are a more formidable opponent than Steve Jobs. "
It’s no exaggeration to say that Bill Gates overestimated Zhou Xin. Microsoft and Zhou Xin’s companies had never won a head-on collision in Internet applications before.
MSN, which was originally full of confidence, found itself vulnerable after colliding with QQ on the battlefield of enterprise instant messaging software.
Tencent's enterprise QQ releases new features every week, and major version updates are carried out on a monthly basis. Microsoft's MSN major version updates are carried out on a half-year basis. In terms of customer experience and actual solution needs, Microsoft is not Tencent's opponent at all. .
Even after entering 2003, there were voices within Microsoft that wanted to give up this market directly, because the gap between the two parties was so large that Tencent could form a scale effect, and Microsoft had almost no hope of catching up in this field.
With such a historical record, it is hard for Bill Gates to believe that Microsoft's team can defeat Zhou Xin in the mobile operating system market.
Zhou Xin said: "I also think so. In the field of mobile phone operating systems, Matrix has no competitors, whether it is Microsoft or Nokia."
"Many times there is no harm without comparison. Compared with MOS, Nokia's operating system is as clumsy as an 80-year-old man."
In private, Zhou Xin speaks very straightforwardly and makes no secret of his contempt for his competitors. Not to mention that both Nokia and Microsoft will be losers in mobile operating systems. Even the IOS on mobile phones now is not something Zhou Xin takes seriously.
Because without hardware blessing and A-series chip blessing, Apple's software ecosystem would not be able to reach the level of future generations.
Bill Gates said: "Newman, you are too confident, but you have the qualifications to be confident.
But Microsoft is not an opponent that gives up easily. I have already thought about it. When I return to Seattle, I will mention to Ballmer that we need to pay attention to the mobile operating system and this new battlefield.
What I think is that Microsoft can jointly develop smartphones with Nokia and Intel. Nokia is responsible for hardware manufacturing, Microsoft is responsible for the mobile operating system, and Intel is responsible for building the CPU core of the mobile phone. "
This is the new era of Wintel alliance planned by Bill Gates, but Nokia is added to it.
Zhou Xin said: "Then I think your progress will be accelerated. Once consumers get used to the way MOS operates, Microsoft will have no chance."
Zhou Xin was right. After the Mphone2 conference, at the venue outside, today’s audience could be the first to buy the latest Mphone2.
Because most of the audience are loyal fans of Mphone, during the press conference, there were consumers on site who synchronized news about Mphone2 to Weibo.
When consumers get the actual Mphone2 in their hands, they almost all feel the same as Bill Gates, which is amazing.
“Although the price of Mphone2 is very expensive, when I heard Newman announce the price at the press conference, I posted a Weibo saying that the price of Mphone2 will be the biggest reason for Newman’s failure.
But when I actually got the Mphone2, I knew I was wrong. The texture and the whole screen alone made it very expensive, and the price could not be lowered.
And if the pricing of Mphone2 is the same as that of Mphone1, it will not only deny other mobile phone brands a way to survive, but even their own Mphone1 will be ignored. "
Similar remarks are not uncommon in major online forums of Amerikan. One experience made the 20,000 viewers present become the tap water for Mphone. They are comparable to the enthusiasm of Apple fans in later generations.
Returning to Zhou Xin's mansion in San Francisco, Bill Gates was convinced of Zhou Xin's answer: "I also have a sense of urgency. Compared with Mphone, the tripartite alliance between Microsoft, Nokia and Intel is only on paper. The agreement, even this paper agreement, is still just talk.
It's a pity that Matrix does not need external financing. Its cash flow is healthy enough, otherwise Microsoft's best partner would definitely be Matrix. "
Zhou Xin thought to himself, you finally brought it up, I don’t need to take the initiative to bring it up myself, he doesn’t really want to take the initiative to bring it up, it would be very passive.
Zhou Xin continued: "Who said Matrix does not need external financing? Matrix needs to consider external financing. Matrix is indeed not short of money, but we need external financing.
The first is to rapidly expand scale and build Matrix's global sales system. Compared with mobile phone companies with long histories such as Nokia and Motorola, Matrix's global sales system is much weaker.
We have entered almost only 30% of the countries and regions, and we only have flagship stores in the top cities of these countries and regions.
Second, due to strategic considerations, Matrix needs more strategic investors to provide Matrix with resources other than money. "
Smart people don’t need to say too much, just hit the mark. Bill Gates quickly understood: "Microsoft is definitely the best partner.
I can help you contact the real top people in Washington and Wall Street. They can help Matrix provide a lot of convenience for Amerikan and even global business.
We can do this, launch a private equity fund from Emerging Investments, then open the private equity fund to purchase shares for them, and finally invest in Matrix through this private equity fund.
In this way, the control of Matrix is still in your hands, and they can enjoy the dividends brought by the development of Matrix, which kills two birds with one stone.
As for me, the Bill-Melinda Foundation needs a certain share of the investment. "Bill Gates said.
After listening, Zhou Xin asked: "I have no objection, but I have to make sure they have enough influence.
General problems actually don't affect me. They have to ensure that they can provide sufficient help to Matrix and me on some key events.
For example, Microsoft was previously sued by a Colombian court in the name of antitrust. They had to help me resolve a conspiracy like this. "
Solving these problems is only one aspect. Relying on Matrix and Amerikan to connect with truly influential people is another aspect. NewPay is preparing to start a personal lending business similar to Huabei, but there are not enough influential people to support the business. Zhou Xin didn't dare to move first.
(End of chapter)
