Reborn since 1993

Chapter 1279 Getting to the Card Table

Upon hearing Zhu Zhaojiang's words, veteran figures such as Ren Yuefeng, Hu Zixian, and Chen Tao could all sense the ambitious aspirations of the new head of the mobile phone department.

Leading the mobile phone division back to the top three in global mobile phone shipments—this is a slogan that not just anyone would dare to shout.

However, Ren Yuefeng and the others were not surprised by Zhu Zhaojiang's attitude. After all, given Zhu Zhaojiang's current status and the resources he had, it would be too pessimistic for him not to even shout slogans.

After all, Zhu Zhaojiang is twenty-eight years old this year, the prime of his life. If he is not young and vigorous, can he still be called a young man?

When Dongling High-Tech was first established, Li Dashanren and Zhang Ao were much younger than Zhu Zhaojiang is now.

Back then, Li Dashan dared to lead his men to confront Microsoft in America, to go head-to-head with Siemens in old Europe, and even dared to turn against Toshiba when faced with the threat of supply disruptions.

Back then, Dongling High-Tech didn't know what arrogance was; they were all about fighting back if they were not convinced. After all, they didn't have any resources, and they had nothing to lose.

Zhang Ao greatly admired Zhu Zhaojiang's performance, which was why he thought highly of Zhu Zhaojiang—their work style was very similar to his own!
Li Dongling listened to Zhu Zhaojiang's plan for Shenzhou Mobile next year, which basically involved releasing more phones and maintaining Shenzhou Mobile's position in the high-end phone market, thus securing the most lucrative piece of the mobile phone market.

Then they launched Coolpad to target the mid-range mobile phone market, and Transsion to target the mass-market mobile phone market.

In addition, efforts will be made to improve the phone's appearance, color, and design, including the release of candybar, slider, flip, rotating screen, and full keyboard phones.

Other mobile phone manufacturers have already launched slider and flip phones. If they can launch a rotating screen phone, then Dongling Hi-Tech will be the world's first manufacturer to launch a rotating screen phone!
Next year, Dongling Hi-Tech will launch at least five new models. Although this may seem like a lot, compared to companies like Samsung that play the reskinning game, Dongling Hi-Tech's approach is quite conservative.

Samsung releases hundreds of new phones every year; they've almost lost count of how many models they've produced.

This was the way things worked in the era of feature phones. Everyone had similar functions and configurations, so the only way to differentiate them was through design and color.

"The second-generation Shenzhou Global System must have a camera function, and its performance must be improved."

Li Dongling said, "The Shenzhou mobile phone brand should become the leader in the global high-end mobile phone market and a target for other brands to imitate!"

Every year, new phones must have breakthroughs in hardware or functionality; Shenzhou phones cannot be equated with mediocrity!

The mobile phone camera function is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions in mobile phone history. Since its invention, everything can be recorded, from celebrity scandals to all sorts of outrageous things, making it possible to see anything. The only thing missing is the ability to photograph ghosts in broad daylight...

Well, that's all hindsight. From its inception to decades later, the mobile phone camera function remains one of the most important functions of a mobile phone.

Even in the smartphone era, it has become one of the biggest selling points. Apple phones, which have been constantly caught up by Android phones, have gone from being far ahead to still being far ahead in mobile phone photography, with better video quality, better live streaming quality, etc. It can be seen that photography has become one of Apple's biggest selling points.

I wonder what Steve Jobs would think if he knew that Apple, which once led the global smartphone era, had become a company that relied on cameras to gain attention.

"Shenzhou Mobile could acquire an optical lens company to develop lenses specifically for Shenzhou Mobile phones, and in the future, it could also sell the mobile phone lenses to other manufacturers in need."

Shenzhou's high-end mobile phone lenses are poised to become one of its main selling points in the future!

Li Dongling was speaking to Zhu Zhaojiang as a “suggestion,” but everyone present understood the meaning behind his words.

This is just a suggestion, but if the camera on the new phone has problems and doesn't meet Li Dongling's requirements, someone will have to take responsibility!

"The logistics department can work with the Shenzhou mobile phone division to find suitable lens manufacturers for acquisition!"

Gao Peng, who is in charge of the Dongling High-Tech parts supply chain, stepped forward and spoke at this time.

The Dongling Hi-Tech parts supply chain was established and led by the logistics department, and the entire Dongling Hi-Tech parts procurement orders are handled by the procurement department under Gao Peng's leadership.

This is why the Logistics Department wields so much power, and it's also why Zhou Zhengyang, the head of the Discipline Committee, keeps a close eye on the Logistics Department. It's because the Logistics Department has too much power and too much illicit activity, and it's hard to guarantee that someone won't be able to control themselves.

The acquisition of the lens company, which adds a new supplier to Dongling High-Tech's parts supply chain, is something that the logistics department will definitely have to deal with.

Gao Peng simply stepped forward and took on the order. The logistics department was all about buying and buying, and when it came to acquisitions, Gao Peng was a master at it.

"Acquisition targets don't have to be limited to domestic ones. If there are suitable acquisition targets overseas, we can acquire them as well, and we can increase the acquisition budget accordingly!"

Li Dongling said that Dongling High-Tech will not be "short of money" next year, but its funding will be much more abundant than in previous years.

Next year, Dongling Hi-Tech's main theme will be selling off assets!

Selling off all their internet company shares at a massive discount is expected to bring in a huge amount of cash. Just cashing out Yahoo stock alone could recoup at least tens or hundreds of billions of dollars. A portion of this cash will definitely be set aside as cash flow reserves to weather the storm.

But we can't save it all, otherwise what's the difference between us and the landlords and rich people of the past?
If others hoard guns and you hoard grain, your granary will belong to someone else!

The landlords hoarded so much grain, but when bandits and soldiers arrived, it was all robbed clean.

Therefore, we can't be too stingy. While ensuring cash flow, we need to invest in research and development, and we should make acquisitions when necessary. It's better to invest money in self-defense than to use it for compensation or fines later.

Otherwise, if others surpass you, the cash flow you've accumulated will only be enough to keep you barely surviving.

After giving instructions to Zhu Zhaojiang and Gao Peng, Li Dongling's gaze swept over the group of executives in the conference room, finally landing on Luo Zheng, who was sitting next to Chen Tao.

Luo Zheng is a disciple of Academician Ni, the current chief engineer of Dongxin Semiconductor. He joined Dongling High-Tech after leaving Lianxiang and is responsible for the research and development of communication technology under the technology department.

The built-in antennas and baseband chips of Shenzhou Global Pass were developed with the participation of Luo Zheng's communication technology department, and were even led by him.

"Next year, the time for voting on the 3G communication technology standard will arrive!" Li Dongling said to Luo Zheng.

Since Dongling High-Tech established its Communication Technology Department three years ago, it has been investing heavily in research and development of communication technologies.

In recent years, some research and development achievements have been made, such as built-in antennas for mobile phones, but this is not the most important purpose of establishing the Communication Technology Department of Dongling High-Tech.

The communications technology department of Dongling High-Tech has only one goal: to avoid paying the "Qualcomm tax" to Qualcomm in order to cope with the arrival of the 3G and 4G era.

Of course, Li Dongling didn't say it so bluntly, but he still told Luo Zheng that the reason for setting up the communications technology department was that they didn't want to pay too many patent and technology fees to other companies in the 2G and 3G era.

Dongling Hi-Tech is willing to accept patent exchange, even if it means taking a loss, since Dongling Hi-Tech started too late in communication technology research and development.

Even products like the Shenzhou Global Pass released this year still paid Nokia a portion of their patent licensing fees.

There's no way around it; the patent wall Nokia built during the feature phone era was just too damn thick. It's simply unrealistic for Dongling Hi-Tech to completely bypass it.

Let alone now, even 30 years from now, as long as mobile phones still exist, they'll still have to pay Nokia patent fees.

However, Dongling High-Tech has also established a number of patents over the years, especially those related to mobile networks and mobile communications.

Li Dashanren can barely accept the patent and technology licensing fees because that's the rule of the game. Dongling High-Tech is paying now, but in the future, when Dongling High-Tech gains momentum, they'll have to pay Dongling High-Tech too. Fortune turns, and one day Dongling High-Tech will be in charge!

However, Li, the philanthropist, could not accept that for every machine sold, regardless of the price, he had to pay Qualcomm 5% of the selling price as tax.

Li the philanthropist has always been all talk and no action, but when did he end up being the one being exploited? This is something he cannot accept.

Luo Zheng shifted his body slightly, knowing that next year would be the time for his communications technology department to shine.

Li Dongling has spent a lot of money on his department over the years, and next year, they'll have to put their abilities to the test.

"According to our information, next year on the mainland side, it is highly likely that Datang Telecom will be the main player, and China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile, as well as manufacturers such as Huawei and ZTE will also participate. In addition, the Ministry of Information Industry will also send personnel there."

Luo Zheng said that next year's 3G vote will basically be a pie-sharing process. It will depend on which 3G standards become internationally accepted. Whoever wins will get a piece of the market for 3G patents, 3G base station equipment, 3G mobile phones, 3G chips, and so on.

Leaving aside the size of the overseas market, in China alone, the market size of 3G base stations, mobile phones, and chips is conservatively estimated to be over one trillion RMB.

"I heard that Datang Telecom is planning to use the TD-SCDMA technology it obtained from Siemens as one of the 3G standards to be promoted in mainland China!"

Luo Zheng mentioned the widely circulated rumors that Siemens' 3G technology lost out to Nokia and Ericsson in the competition for the WCDMA standard in Europe, leaving it in an awkward situation of dying before it could be put to use.

At this time, Datang Telecom extended an olive branch and took over Siemens' 3G technology. Although there was a lot of discussion about this standard in later generations, and people thought it was a trap, compared with the other two 3G standards, Siemens' 3G technology had poor signal and slow network speed, and almost killed China Mobile, which was responsible for promoting TD base stations in China, in the 3G era.

But despite its many flaws, this standard is still China's own, and it sits at the table with America and old Europe, sharing the global communications market!
However, this also shows that Siemens is really eager to make progress in mainland China. They are willing to give anything for base station orders in mainland China.

"What stage has Dongling High-Tech's 3G technology reached now?" Li Dongling asked Luo Zheng.

(End of this chapter)