"Forgive me for being an old man, but I just love to miss the past when I get older. To be honest, Mphone technology is not a new product. I have seen the prototype of Mphone functions on different electronic products in the past twenty years.
Like the touch screen, when Apple first launched the Newton handheld computer, John Sculley was hosting the Newton handheld computer launch conference. He was as confident as you at the press conference, thinking that this was a product that would change the world.
Although Apple is now in decline and can only rely on music players to maintain the company's operations, they had a very glorious time in the 1980s. It was precisely because of Apple's strong promotion of personal handheld computers and its appreciation of Newton handheld computers. The high expectations led to everyone following the trend and making handheld computers.
At that time, they already had touch screens, handwriting input, and supported many Apple computer-compatible text formats, and could edit text, tables, and even pictures on them.
It's a pity that Newton didn't change the world as Sculley claimed at the press conference, and was even hastily axed due to poor sales. "
Bill Gates fell into memories under the scorching sun. Memories can allow the old man to taste the taste of his youth. "I remember clearly that Sculley and Jobs parted ways, and they had huge differences over Apple's future."
As a post-90s generation, Zhou Xin actually doesn’t know much about this period of history. He only has a vague impression of Sculley: “Bill, I remember wasn’t it Steve Jobs who invited Sculley to come to Apple as CEO?
I still remember to this day that Steve Jobs invited Sculley, who was then the president of Pepsi-Cola, and asked him: Do you want to continue selling sugar water for the rest of your life, or do you want to change the world with me? "
This became a legend in the industry after Apple reached its peak. Zhou Xin was deeply impressed. He also used similar metaphors when inviting some experts from state-owned enterprises.
Bill laughed, surprised that young people like Zhou Xin still knew this joke: "It seems that you really know Apple very well, I thought young people like you didn't know this.
Yes, Jobs and Sculley jointly created the success of the Macintosh computer in 1984. As a major shareholder of Apple, you must have met Jobs and know how stubborn he is.
After the success of the first-generation Macintosh, Jobs quickly fell into inflation and misjudged the real needs of consumers. The subsequent Macintosh computers were not successful and instead brought huge deficits to Apple.
Sculley wanted to restore Apple's image in the minds of consumers and really change the world like Jobs did when he persuaded him to come to Apple, so he launched Newton. "
Zhou Xin actually knows Newton very well, because NewPay acquired Confinity, and the earliest application scenario of Confinity was the Newton handheld computer.
He and Peter Thiel talked a lot about Confinity. Peter said that the reason why they do electronic payments is because they have a patent on encrypted transmission of infrared signals. The earliest handheld computers that supported infrared signal transmission only had Newton.
Later, other handheld computers gradually also supported infrared functions.
Zhou Xin said: "As you mentioned this, I have actually seen the video of the Knowledge Navigator launched by Apple in 1987. Do you have a laptop here?"
Bill Gates asked the servant to bring the laptop, and then Zhou Xin searched for this video on Apple's official website: "In fact, this video already has the prototype of a smartphone."
Bill Gates and Zhou Xin sat in front of the computer and watched the video quietly together.
The video, titled "Apple Knowledge Navigator Video," was released in 1987 and was produced for Sculley's keynote address at a 1987 higher education conference.
The general content is that a university professor returns home and makes a video call with his colleagues through a tablet-like thing. During the video call, they can use the screen to share data and share the latest results in scientific research.
After watching the video, Zhou Xin said: "The current video calling function of WeChat is actually a bit similar to this. With the development of communication technology in the future, maybe in the future we can directly transmit 3D images of the human body."
Bill Gates nodded: "But Sculley is still not as good as you. Sculley's ideas are still too shallow. He only thinks about what he can do and what he wants to do.
I didn’t think of using more power to join in the construction of the ecology.
What he showed was only part of the many functions of the Mphone. This part did not have much imagination. It was just an extension of the personal computer on the mobile side. He did not expect that the mobile chip would be powerful enough to provide developers with a sufficient platform for them to develop their own capabilities. of ingenuity. "
When Sculley was working on Newton, the biggest limitation came from the chip. They asked the Bell Telephone Company to design a mobile processor called The Hobbit, but it had a big flaw, that is, the performance was not high.
To meet Apple's vision for Newton, three Hobbit chips were needed, so the price would have to be at least $6,000 to make money, which was $6,000 in the late 1980s.
Obviously the market cannot accept this pricing and this product.
Zhou Xin said: “My ideas are based on the work of my predecessors, and Microsoft’s past success has inspired me a lot.
Only with enough openness can we get enough support and improve the entire ecology.
If Microsoft is as closed as Apple, it may not be Microsoft that is successful in the operating system now. So I'm thinking about opening up Mphone's operating system to other mobile phone manufacturers. "
After hearing what Bill Gates said, Zhou Xin guessed that the other party was coming for the Matrix, but he was not sure what level of cooperation Bill Gates wanted to achieve.
In Matrix's first round of financing, Zhou Xin gave the Melinda Gates Foundation about 4% of its investment share in order to express its support for Bill Gates' role as a broker.
Bill Gates secretly thought it was bad, because in order to win the market share of mobile operating systems, Microsoft can only compete for the market of small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers.
Compared with MOS, Microsoft's mobile operating system does not have an intuitive advantage. On the contrary, MOS has proven itself on smartphones.
Large giants build their own operating systems, and the market of small and medium-sized mobile phone manufacturers is squeezed by MOS. Microsoft faces a huge crisis on the new battlefield.
Bill Gates tested: "The operating system is one of the biggest advantages of Mphone compared with other mobile phones. If MOS is opened to other mobile phone manufacturers, Mphone's advantages will be indirectly weakened."
Zhou Xin thought to himself, I will definitely not open MOS to other mobile phone manufacturers. This will just put a little pressure on you.
Zhou Xin's strategic plan is to build an open source mobile operating system similar to Android, but not now, but together with the smartphone chips that Xinxin will launch later.
It is equivalent to giving Chinese mobile phone manufacturers a complete set of solutions from mobile phone chips to operating systems. Integrated mobile phone chips in the traditional mobile phone era have laid a good foundation for cooperation with domestic manufacturers.
In the next cooperation, this type of cooperation must be continued, and Zhou Xin will use Xiaomi's ultimate cost-effectiveness to force domestic mobile phone manufacturers to go abroad.
Zhou Xin said: “Whether we want to open MOS to other mobile phones essentially depends on the choice, whether the software ecosystem is more important or the hardware is more important.
Microsoft's success tells me that the software ecosystem is more important. If MOS can become Microsoft in the field of smartphones, then Matrix will become as much a company as Microsoft. "
This is the thinking of the personal PC era. It is obvious that Bill Gates also thinks this way. After listening to this, he realized that Matrix and Microsoft would be direct competitors. He asked:
"Newman, have you ever thought about merging with Microsoft? Matrix will merge with Microsoft. After the merger, we will unify the operating system market in the field of personal PCs and smartphones.
Microsoft's market capitalization is US$100 billion. If Matrix goes public, Wall Street's valuation of Matrix will also be around US$100 billion. So if we merge the two, the valuation will have to be multiplied by at least four.
To exert a stronger effect than one plus one, just like after the merger of Google and Baidu, their market value is much higher than the sum of the two companies' separate valuations.
This is the capital market's optimism for the alliance between powerful companies.
What I just mentioned is only a benefit in the capital market, but there are also a lot of benefits in technology. The technical advantages accumulated by Microsoft in mobile operating systems and mobile computers will become Matrix's technical advantages.
More importantly, if you accept this proposal, Microsoft will make you CEO. If you want, I can also give up the position of chairman of the board of directors, and you will become the helmsman of Microsoft with as much power as I did before. "
Bill Gates offered a huge bargaining chip. To be honest, Zhou Xin was a little moved. He had feelings for Matrix, and Matrix was also very important in his career.
But this kind of importance depends on whether the chips offered are high enough. In Zhou Xin's view, his career in Silicon Valley can be sold, because sooner or later he will not be able to keep it.
As long as the other party can guarantee that after the merger of Microsoft and Matrix, Mphone's suppliers will remain unchanged and chips will still be purchased from Xinxin instead of designing chips themselves or purchasing chips from Intel, Zhou Xin can accept it.
"It's a very tempting idea, isn't it?" Zhou Xin said seductively, but his expression was very calm. In his heart, the position of Microsoft president is not a good one. He does not have the energy or time to take charge of the Microsoft ship. Giant wheel.
Bill Gates also noticed this: "Newman, you don't seem excited at all. When I was your age, the president of IBM told me that you would be the CEO of IBM, as long as you were willing to Microsoft sold it to me.
I definitely couldn't help the smile on my face. "
Zhou Xin explained: "This is just a private communication between the two of us here, and it is still far from becoming a reality."
Bill Gates said: "As long as you agree, I will take care of everything else. You have to believe that Microsoft's board of directors and investors will only vote for Newman as Microsoft CEO, and no one will vote against it.
Just the news of Newman becoming Microsoft CEO is enough to cause Microsoft's stock to rise by 50% on the Nasdaq, not to mention the news of the merger between Microsoft and Matrix. "
Zhou Xin shook his head: "Bill, the biggest problem in this matter comes from supervision. Are you sure the supervision is willing to see the merger of Microsoft and Matrix?
Microsoft has always been the focus of antitrust attention, and it is almost impossible for the merger of Microsoft and Matrix to obtain regulatory approval. "
It is a recognized fact that regulators dislike Microsoft. Even though Bill Gates makes huge political donations to the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party every year, this dislike has not changed at all.
What's more important is that not only do regulators dislike Microsoft, but public opinion also dislikes Microsoft. At least private opinion is quite unfavorable to Microsoft.
Even if the merger is not obstructed by the regulatory authorities, it will be suspended due to the pressure of public opinion.
This is a very likely reality.
And not only does America dislike Microsoft, but European countries don't like it either. Microsoft has made a lot of profits in these EU countries, but it hasn't brought many jobs or taxes.
Although the same is true for Matrix, Mphone can collect more taxes as a physical product. More importantly, Mphone is an electronic product with suppliers from all over the world, which is completely different from Microsoft's products.
Therefore, if the merger with Microsoft is just a one-time deal, it is cost-effective, but if it is regarded as a long-term transaction, the harm will far outweigh the benefits.
Zhou Xin was able to figure out this problem with a little thought, but he did not reject Bill Gates directly, but said: "This matter is too big, I need time to think about it.
Similarly, Microsoft also needs to seek regulatory consent.
After regulatory approval, we will discuss the subsequent details. "
Bill Gates thought that as long as the other party did not refuse directly, it meant there was an opportunity. As for supervision, it could be achieved through operation.
When Zhou Xin was still vacationing in Bill Gates' villa, Bill Gates had already mobilized his own energy to inquire about this matter.
In the era of mobile Internet, the speed of message transmission is much faster than before.
In the past, all kinds of well-informed people lacked a channel for information exposure, but now it is different. Weibo gives such people an opportunity to show off their skills:
"The latest news is that Microsoft is exploring the possibility of merging with Matrix, which is likely to become the largest commercial merger in the 21st century."
This piece of news came from a well-informed person within Microsoft. News of Microsoft's previous major mergers and acquisitions came from him first.
"What? Did I hear it correctly? Please tell me downstairs that today is not April Fools' Day."
"Although Newman and Bill Gates seem to have a good relationship, this personal relationship is not enough to facilitate such a big deal."
"No, I don't want to change my phone."
"Plus one, if Microsoft acquires Matrix, I will have no choice but to stop using Mphone, no matter how easy it is to use."
"Can you please stop making April Fool's Day jokes? Where will Microsoft get the cash to acquire Mphone? Now is not the Nasdaq bubble, the capital market will infinitely support such large-scale business mergers and acquisitions."
"Microsoft's shareholders might really agree to the acquisition of Matrix, even if they use half of their shares to raise funds, they would be willing to do so."
(End of chapter)
