20 years of restarting life

Chapter 3638 Ye Pinghe's Invitation

This doesn't mean that Symbian OS will always be exclusive. If Pro had agreed to Ericsson's investment and shareholding through licensing agreements, then Pro phones would be part of the Ericsson group, and Pro could naturally use the Symbian OS smartphone operating system under a paid agreement with Pro.

Or perhaps later, Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson will reduce their share of mobile phone manufacturing and sales, and instead begin to provide global mobile standards and services, just like Microsoft, and become a software vendor, before agreeing to allow these non-core mobile phone manufacturers to access the market.

At this point in the negotiations, both sides basically understood each other's thoughts and intentions, which can be summarized as "vastly different".

Although there was some disappointment, as long as everyone is willing to cooperate, they can still gain something, so it's not a complete waste of time.

Especially with so many reporters waiting for the press conference outside, even if Ericsson had to accept a slight loss, let alone the fact that this collaboration wasn't a loss for him, he would have to grit his teeth and accept it.

A preliminary agreement was reached quickly.

Pro intends to use Ericsson's 2.5 and 3G technology licenses, as well as its mobile wireless Bluetooth 2.0 technology, mobile phone chips, and other core components that are negotiable.

However, when Zhao Chang'an attends the press conference, he is required to present himself as the president of RIM and to downplay the independent operation of Pro, instead giving the outside world the impression that 'Pro is a newly launched sub-brand of RIM'.

Zhao Chang'an readily agreed, as he himself hoped to capitalize on RIM's influence during the early promotion of the Pro, and this press conference was clearly a good opportunity.

Moreover, setting aside some unrealistic fantasies, Zhao Chang'an was quite satisfied with his trip to Ericsson. As the world's first company to launch a Bluetooth phone, Ericsson's R520 and its subsequent T39 both supported GPRS 2.5 networks. Although the phones still had many quality issues, their Bluetooth connectivity was excellent.

This agreement resolves the Bluetooth technical issues currently facing Pro. If Ericsson does not agree, it will be difficult for Zhao Chang'an to find another company that can provide technical and component support in a short period of time.

Currently, Nokia and Motorola are among the companies that have a relatively mature grasp of this embedded mobile phone technology. In the North American market, although Motorola has publicly stated that the threat from RIM is insignificant, it has actually begun to bare its fangs at RIM in many ways, and has also begun to restrict RIM's access to components and technologies for its next-generation mobile phones.

This is one of the reasons why Mike persisted in his insistence on promoting the next generation of mobile phones, even after Zhao Chang'an rejected his proposal.

Because Mike couldn't get his hands on some of the enhanced features and functionalities of the phones, and because he still positioned RIM phones for the 'business and political elite' class—elites who didn't need flashy color screens, flip phones, or camera functions, but rather focused on secure and efficient connectivity.

As for Nokia, they were preparing to launch their own Bluetooth phones, so how could they possibly "aid" the Pro?

Just like Sven-Kai talked about Symbian OS, it's not that we can't give you (Pro) technology licenses, but first you have to get them to invest and become a family before we can talk about anything else.

Ericsson agreed to give Pro the mature Bluetooth technology because they even took out their mobile phone manufacturing area to form a joint venture with Sony, and at the same time divided the company into four modules, which showed that they had the intention of running away from mobile phone manufacturing.

If the joint venture can reverse the decline in mobile phone sales, that would be even better. If not, they should simply withdraw from the terminal market and pursue higher value-added patent licensing.

On March 3rd at noon, Ericsson President Dechuan K. and RIM President Chang'an Zhao jointly held a press conference at Ericsson's headquarters in Stockholm. At the conference, both parties warmly praised each other's enterprising and pioneering spirit, expressed a clear intention to cooperate, and signed a letter of intent for cooperation.

Following this, the attending journalists began actively asking questions, primarily targeting RIM President Zhao Chang'an. This marked the first time European journalists had interviewed and interacted with Zhao Chang'an. His previous visit to France as President of OneNano to secure a partnership with Alcatel was remarkably uneventful; he received virtually no interviews. This underscored his current international reputation and standing, a far cry from the subservient figure he was two years prior.

In the afternoon, accompanied by Siwenkai, Zhao Chang'an's team visited attractions such as Queen Island.

This kind of thing would have been impossible between European and American negotiation teams in the past. However, after so many years in the Chinese market, Ericsson has gradually learned some social etiquette and adapted to local customs.

In his previous life, Zhao Chang'an had seen a message that said Ericsson had given him a kickback of $800,000 three years ago. Keep in mind that at that time, the average monthly income in China was only $100.

Moreover, Ericsson was a repeat offender in this regard, having done such things to multiple countries. Eventually, his crimes were exposed, and the United States investigated him for twenty years, ultimately fining him a billion dollars.

This caused an uproar. First, people criticized Ericsson's unethical behavior, but more people condemned the Americans for being shameless, saying they didn't care about any sense of decency in order to make money.

It's important to know that Ericsson didn't bribe the Americans, yet they eagerly jumped out and shouted "I disagree," using their moral high ground to swindle a large sum of money from Ericsson.

At a silver shop in Queens Island, Siwenkai wanted to give Zhao Chang'an's team some small gifts, but Zhao Chang'an explicitly refused. He said that it was fine to spend money on food, drinks and entertainment, no matter how much, but if he, as the president of RIM, dared to accept these small gifts, the American Department of Justice, who knows, might use this incident to make endless moral, legal and business claims, and try to extort a large sum of money from him.

While Zhao Chang'an was visiting Queen Island, he received a call from Ye Ziyu, who said that her third grandfather wanted to see him.

If it weren't for Ye Ying's leg and the research institute jointly established by Ye Pinghe and Ye Pingbai, Zhao Chang'an really wouldn't want to meet Ye Pinghe. When Wen Ye learned that he was coming to Stockholm, he also suggested that if there was a chance, he could visit that research institute.

"There is no danger here. You can't see it just because you're not at a high enough altitude. I was like that before, always thinking that Ye Pingbai harbored deep malice towards me. Now I realize that I was overthinking it. On this path, I am actually on the same road as them, the two ancestors of the Ye family, the White Dragon King, and the deceased Elder Li. As for Bai Yide, Bai Feifei, and Bai Ling, they are still trapped in the mortal world and are far from reaching this level."

Wen Ye's words on the phone also piqued Zhao Chang'an's curiosity. Although he felt that Wen Ye was trying to appear sophisticated, since Ye Pinghe had extended an invitation, he didn't mind going to check it out.

Since Wenye said there was no danger, then there definitely wasn't any danger at all.

"Okay, how do we set off tomorrow?"

Zhao Chang'an stood by the sea, gazing at the Western-style buildings situated on several islands, and asked Ye Ziyu.

"It's a bit far, I'll pick you up tomorrow."

Upon hearing Zhao Chang'an's agreement, Ye Ziyu laughed happily on the other end of the phone: "How about eight o'clock?"

"It's a word."

Zhao Chang'an.