In the field of personal computer hardware, Chen Zhiwen is actually not very sure about Midea's future. However, with the various terminal retail channels he has prepared and the fact that he can rely on mainland production to reduce costs in the future, there will always be some markets, but It may not be as able to gain a huge market share as many other products.
Even so, it is entirely possible to gain share in this market through other methods, such as investment. Lenovo, Dell, etc. have not yet appeared in later generations. Although history may have changed in this life, it will not affect these founders. With their abilities, they will succeed sooner or later. They just need to pay attention in advance and wait for the right investment opportunity. In the next ten years, Chen Zhiwen will be more confident that he can have a stronger influence on retail terminals in Europe and the United States. In addition, there is a Best Buy that specializes in electronic product retail. No matter what brand or country he comes from, as long as he wants to become big in the electronic consumer field, You have to cooperate with him more or less, and some giants who can grow in future generations have the capital to negotiate when they are young.
Of course, Lenovo's situation is still a bit special, and it may need to intervene at that time. How to do it will be decided based on the situation.
Some software will be Midea Group's main market in the computer field in the future. Word and Excel are just the beginning. Other market segments also have great potential. However, this requires a prerequisite, that is, the global operating system should be unified as much as possible. Otherwise, various in-house software will need to be matched to different brands of computers, which will not only increase the workload, but also easily give other opportunities to competitors.
However, Midea cannot make operating systems. The main reason is naturally that if you want to obtain huge profits from this area, you must have the strongest global hegemonic government behind it. Even European companies can create better quality products. The system cannot be popularized. Besides, from a technical perspective, the Windows system also needs to rely on Intel, which is also one of the important technology companies in the United States. Outsiders cannot operate it.
Since there is no way to operate it, it is natural to find a way to obtain some economic benefits.
After staying in Los Angeles for a few days and learning more about the achievements of Midea's U.S. branch, Chen Zhiwen came to Redmond, Washington, USA. This is also where Microsoft was founded and will be the future headquarters of Microsoft.
Although Washington State and the city of Washington share the same name, their locations are very different. It is located in the northeastern part of the United States, close to Canada, and is thousands of kilometers away from the capital of the United States, Washington, one to the east and one to the west.
The person who came to pick him up was the deputy director of Citibank in Washington State. As Chen Zhiwen's companies conquered the global market, they also cooperated with Citibank on many large-scale investments, involving funds of up to billions of dollars, so , and naturally became a super VIP customer of Citibank.
"Hello, Mr. Chen, I am Miller, the director of Citibank in Washington State." A middle-aged woman about 50 years old said very politely.
"Hello, Ms. Mirel." Chen Zhiwen politely replied. In the financial field, there are many female assistants, but few of them hold high positions.
"Mr. Chen, we have prepared the presidential suite at the InterContinental Hotel. You can have a good rest first." Milaire said with a smile.
Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said, "No, it's only two hours from Los Angeles. Let's go do some business first, right? Is it convenient for me to go to Microsoft's headquarters now?"
"Of course, the two founders of Microsoft welcome you very much," said Milaire.
"Okay, let's go first." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
Although, with his status, he has already gained a lot of popularity within the American technology industry, especially his history of investing in Apple, making him an idol in the investment industry.
However, it is still not suitable to suddenly come to Microsoft. Fame is great, but who knows whether the person who comes is actually me? It is also necessary to give Gates and others a buffer time. Therefore, it is most convenient to have an intermediary who is known to both parties and has status to introduce them.
You can also go to Jobs. Jobs also knew Bill Gates, but the history of the two is a bit entangled, so it's better not to get involved. It would be much easier to go to a financial institution. Microsoft has also cooperated with Citibank in Washington state, so it was natural to entrust Citibank.
The car soon arrived at a five-story small office building. There was no company mark on the building itself, but there was a "MICROSOFT" company logo across the door.
After everyone got out of the car, Chen Zhiwen saw at a glance the world-famous face of later generations: Bill Gates. There was another person beside him, who was relatively thin. He should be Paul Allen, who was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma next year. This disease is very harmful to people. Generally speaking, people basically cannot live long, but because of his money, this man has been using the most expensive treatment methods to extend his life, and he has lived until 2018.
"Hello, Mr. Chen, it's nice to meet you." After seeing Chen Zhiwen and his entourage get out of the car, Bill Gates immediately stepped forward and said. Although he had never met him, with Chen Zhiwen's current reputation in the American technology industry, It's not difficult to know what they look like. Besides, although there are other Asian faces on the scene, their status is obviously different.
"Hello, Mr. Gates." Chen Zhiwen also smiled and shook hands. Bill Gates, regardless of his status in the technology field, is worthy of respect for his investment in charity in the future. Although there are also some philanthropy in the United States. For tax avoidance purposes, the Gates Foundation also keeps most of its charitable funds in the United States, but the volume is too large. Even if a small part is given to people in need, the amount of help will be very large. Some are also donated to the mainland.
"Let me introduce you. This is my friend Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. This is the CEO of Microsoft." Bill Gates introduced several heavyweights one after another, and the others were just passers-by. .
Chen Zhiwen responded politely. Then, under the leadership of Gates, Chen Zhiwen and his party visited Microsoft's headquarters and laboratories, etc. However, it was only superficial things, and the core products would not be revealed at will.
Afterwards, several people came to an office, which should belong to Gates. In the sunny reception area, there were several luxurious sofas.
After sitting down, a secretary brought coffee, and Chen Zhiwen said: "Mr. Gates, the reason I came to Microsoft this time is to achieve certain cooperation in some software fields."
"Mr. Chen, please speak." Bill Gates immediately became interested. Whether it was the other party's capital or Midea's position in the electronics field, it was much stronger than Microsoft. If such a person came to Microsoft to cooperate, the boss would come in person. Then It must be of great significance.
"I know that IBM currently uses the operating system provided by Microsoft. Although we at Midea have released our own personal computers, the operating system is still imperfect, so we also want to introduce Microsoft's operating system." Chen Zhiwen said.
At the end of last year, Microsoft reached a cooperation with IBM to provide IBM with an operating system for personal computers. It can also be said that this is the predecessor of Windows.
This cooperation is of great significance in the history of computers. IBM outsourced the operating system software to Microsoft because of its excessive focus on hardware. It was through the massive users of this platform that Microsoft gained its first pot of gold and a large number of customers. , thus starting the iterative upgrade of its own operating system, and eventually evolved into the future technology giant Microsoft.
This is the starting point of the rise of Microsoft. Therefore, Chen Zhiwen has been waiting for this matter to be completed before looking for it. Otherwise, if he intervenes in Microsoft prematurely, if their cooperation with IBM is lost, it will completely change history. Well, this is different from the original investment in Apple. Apple's rise is entirely due to Woz's strong technical ability and Jobs' market acumen. It doesn't matter who provides the funds.
Moreover, now that Midea has launched its own computers, the cooperation with Microsoft is even more justified.
"That's no problem. We can definitely give Midea a preferential price, the same as IBM." Bill Gates said with a smile. Although Midea Computer has just started, it has strong capital behind it. In the entire United States, it is estimated that only a handful of computers can match it. Moreover, the split design, office software and game software launched by Midea have been favored by many IT enthusiasts and The praise from the media shows that this potential is huge, and it may not be as good as IBM, but if its own operating system can have another market, it is definitely better to have one more market.
"The price can be discussed further, but I think your operating system is not perfect yet. It will be better if there are some supplements." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"What kind of supplement?" Bill Gates asked curiously.
"Your system platform is very good and has high fluency, but it alone is not enough. If our company's Word, Excel and several games are added to it, it will definitely be more popular." Chen Zhiwen added.
(End of chapter)
