The world is in trouble

Chapter 297: Sales Announcement! Judgment!

Next, two news items appeared on the internet.

First, Renren.com and Quantum Technology signed a cooperation agreement to develop a dedicated app for Quantum Phone platform users.

Secondly, Lightning Group bought back the Itchy Live Room from TOM Group.

The first piece of news caused quite a stir. What's going on?
Has Renren backed down?

From Lingxi Island until now, the two sides have been enemies for more than six years.

Even just a few months ago, the two sides were still locked in a fierce battle, and people on Renren.com were relentlessly attacking Er Gou, the leader of the cult.

Why did Renren suddenly back down?

As a result, an anonymous article was published.

"It has to be said that Renren.com is still very impressive, and Chen Yizhou is quite capable. When Liao Feng went to prison, everyone thought that Renren.com was finished, but unexpectedly it survived and developed its own unique path."

"Renren.com and Facebook are no longer in the same league. Facebook is the world's largest social networking site, serving the general public. Renren.com, on the other hand, focuses on high-end social networking and sharing, especially targeting the female market."

"But it must be admitted that Renren's success today is inseparable from the support of Microsoft China."

"Microsoft and Google have always been the behind-the-scenes forces attacking Er Gou in China, and Renren.com has also acted as a pawn in attacking Er Gou."

"But with the emergence of quantum phones, the conspiracy to suppress and smear Er Gou has, in a sense, failed."

"Of course, the most crucial point is that Microsoft headquarters has subtly changed its stance. A few years ago, Microsoft was dismissive of the 'Master of the Dog' and the X operating system."

"Even though Google is Microsoft's biggest enemy, Microsoft has no intention of collaborating on quantum technology. This is the arrogance unique to global giants."

"But soon, the 'Second Dog Master' also made Microsoft taste the bitter fruit of this arrogance."

"Fallout 3 and The Witcher 2 chose the PS3 platform, abandoning the Xbox, which boosted PS3 sales by about five to six million units. The previous evenly matched balance between the PS3 and Xbox 360 was immediately broken, and the scales of victory once again tipped in favor of the PS3. And now, the upcoming big-budget games from the 'Two Dogs' series include Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas, The Last of Us, and The Witcher 2. What does this mean?"

"If Er Gou (a popular streamer) can continue his legendary run, the combined sales of these four games could reach 50 to 60 million copies. They still abandon the XBOX 360 platform and choose to launch on the PS platform first. This means that the XBOX platform will lose more than 10 million users worldwide and will once again fall far behind the PS platform."

"Most importantly, the huge success of quantum phones has forced Microsoft to take the X operating system seriously."

"Microsoft remains the dominant player in mobile operating systems, but everyone can see that a new era has arrived. The old Microsoft mobile operating system is no longer suitable for the new smartphones, and a new revolutionary wave is on the way."

"According to relevant US media reports, Er Gou (a nickname for a tech company) and Microsoft have had several contacts, attempting to transfer some shares to Microsoft in order to help quantum technology gain a foothold in the United States and resist Google's strong offensive. Previously, Microsoft disdained such a small amount of shares, but now Microsoft has to take Er Gou's olive branch seriously."

"Therefore, Microsoft headquarters' attitude towards Er Gou changed, and Microsoft China naturally changed as well. Once Renren lost Microsoft's support, it was powerless to attack Er Gou."

"Another key point is that Microsoft headquarters has been evaluating Microsoft China's related businesses, whether it's the promotion of MSN or social networking, and they've seen a very limited ceiling. For domestic internet companies, the domestic MSN market and Renren.com are considerable assets, but for Microsoft, they are just a drop in the ocean, something that can be abandoned at any time."

"Furthermore, although Renren.com has stabilized its traffic and has a strong appeal in its unique niche, it has consistently been operating at a loss due to the low cost of advertising in China. In addition, Renren.com has cut off its gaming business, so profitability is a distant prospect. Therefore, it is highly likely that Microsoft will sell Renren.com again in the future."

"So from now on, Renren.com must start thinking about its future."

"This is the core reason why Renren.com switched to Platform X!"

It has to be said that some people's intelligence is really accurate. This person must be an insider, and a high-ranking one at that.

....................................

In fact, Chen Yizhou has reiterated this point more than once in internal meetings at Renren.com.

Survival!

Because he had clearly sensed that Microsoft's support for Renren was decreasing.

To this day, Renren.com continues to burn through cash.

Many people even feel that they have reached their limit and can no longer improve.

Small and beautiful, it looks beautiful.

But it's actually very painful, and some people can't see any hope.

Facebook stands like a behemoth in front of all other social networking sites.

Of course, QQ stands like an even bigger behemoth, towering over all other social networking platforms.

Chen Yizhou also tried an IPO; even if he couldn't list on Nasdaq, he could list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

But basically, it's no longer possible.

Renren.com will face serious trouble if Microsoft China stops its continued financial investment.

In Lin Xiao's view, both Yangyang Live and Renren.com were the darkness before dawn.

Of course, it will be dark for at least several more years, at least five or six years.

Yangyang Live is waiting for the live streaming boom to arrive.

Renren.com, on the other hand, is waiting for the tourism and online shopping markets to explode, and is now undergoing a complete transformation, becoming Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book).

In any case, over the past few years, Renren has been promoting high-end social sharing, which is geared towards the female market.

Taking advantage of this wave of mobile internet, we decided to make a more thorough transformation.

Of course, the four or five years in between are very difficult, as money has to be burned continuously.

Therefore, Xia Xi specifically sought out Lin Xiao.

"If Microsoft abandons Renren, should we take it over? Or acquire it outright?"

“Renren.com three or four years ago was completely the same as us and had no value. But now Renren.com has transformed more than half of its business and is now complementary to us.”

Lin Xiao: "It's up to you."

"Get lost..." Xia Xi said, "I'm asking for your opinion now."

Lin Xiao: "Buy it, completely transform it, and rename it Xiaohongshu."

"However, we don't need to bring it up ourselves. We can just wait for Microsoft to give up and Renren to come begging to us."

"No one will be scrambling for it this time, because this market opportunity won't appear for at least five or six years."

In addition, Lightning Group actually had another unexpected surprise.

That was the former Zhuanghu forum, which has now gradually evolved into the Zhihu of history, leaving everyone else in the dust on this unique track.

However, within the Lightning Group, it is currently considered a completely insignificant small business.

....................................

There is another market in China that no one has dared to really enter yet, and it remains a monopoly of the Lightning Group.

That is the matchmaking market.

Jiayuan.com has consistently maintained a market share of over 85%.

In terms of user numbers, it has reached an astonishing number.

However, revenue did not see a dramatic increase because the expansion of offline activities is limited and cannot be increased indefinitely.

The entire company now has several hundred matchmakers.

Moreover, the only option for pricing remains a VIP monthly subscription.

It is indeed making money, but... it is also more about taking on social responsibility.

It is authoritative and authentic to the extreme.

Even when it comes to making money and charging for services, they remain extremely restrained.

This effectively shut down the serious online dating market, leaving virtually no hope of profitability for any new entrant.

The only thing that can likely develop is dating apps, which emerged after the mobile internet boom.

However, Lightning Group no longer intends to do so.

Although this market is not small, some trade-offs must be made to maintain the overall image of the group.

Meanwhile, Wu Lingxi was already sharpening her knives.

Instagram, and even apps similar to OnlyFans, are already in the works.

However, it is highly likely that Wu Lingxi will not launch Onlyfans directly, but will instead invest in or control related companies indirectly.

Playing with color and female bodhisattvas is the real source of productivity.

………………

8 Month 31 Day!
Quantum Technology has released an announcement.

Three months after its release, the global shipments of quantum phones officially exceeded 500 million units.

When this data came out, professionals around the world trembled.

Even Lin Xiao himself trembled.

According to his plan, achieving sales of five million units within a year and a half would be quite remarkable.

As a result, it exceeded five million in just three months.

2 million units were shipped to the Chinese market, 2 million units to the US market, and a total of 1 million units were shipped to the Japanese, Korean, and European markets combined.

Lin Xiao never expected this sales distribution.

Sales in the US are the same as in China?
In his plan, he would be grateful if he could sell 50 units in the United States.

But they really underestimated the destructive power of a stunning product in the early days of smartphones.

The explosive power gained from overdrawing three to five years of design aesthetics and two years of product strength is simply too strong.

Of course, this shipment volume is still far from comparable to that of Nokia and Motorola.

Nokia, in particular, saw its shipments exceed 100 million units in just three months.

But this is the trend!
Especially in a mature market like the United States, the reaction to smartphones has been so strong that almost all users believe it's a game-changer compared to previous phones, and once they've used them, there's no going back.

Ever since.

Quantum technology can only increase production continuously.

As a result, Texas Instruments is the happiest person.

We originally thought that five million SoCs and baseband chips would be the maximum shipment volume, but now it may exceed ten million.

Meanwhile, the production capacity of Sharp's screens and Sony's CMOS sensors will be monopolized by Quantum Technology for a long time.

..............................

Just then, another message arrived.

Linksys Group announced that it will invest in the manufacturing of smartphones, with the first product expected to launch as early as next winter.

Furthermore, they will develop their own operating system, LeOS.

The reporter kept pressing for an answer: Is this operating system based on OS X or Android?
There was no response, but Google released a statement.

Welcome to the Android family.

At this time, there were still about five days before the relevant departments were to hold a meeting, which meant that the other party had essentially given them a head start.

This was a decision I made in advance; it wasn't a decision I made to go against the will of those above.

And what about that?
At that time, it was at its peak, and to some extent, it was a source of national pride, boasting the halo of being the world's largest PC manufacturer.

Their output and reputation far surpass those of quantum technology. Five days later!
This is a very high-level meeting.

Major domestic mobile phone manufacturers are preparing to develop smartphone production and manufacturing, and have basically stated that they will fully support the X operating system.

However, by this time, the market share of domestic mobile phone manufacturers was already very low.

Not only in the global market, but also in the domestic market, it has little presence.

Following this, HTC also announced that it would collaborate with Qualcomm and LG Group to produce the second generation of Android phones.

At that time, whether it is the chip, the screen, or the appearance design, it will be at the world's top level.

Google has also announced that it will release Android 2.0 next spring, which will be the world's best operating system.

Following this, Motorola announced that it would launch its first Android phone next year, which would be equipped with the Android 2.0 system.

This is nothing short of a bombshell!

Motorola is now the world's second-largest company and can be considered to be at its peak.

Its allegiance carries enormous weight.

then……

LG has announced that it will launch its first Android phone next year.

For a time, it seemed like a storm was brewing.

It has to be said that Google's influence is indeed formidable. Even though quantum phones are performing so strongly in the market, these giants still sided with Google in just a few months.

So far, giants such as Motorola, Lenovo, HTC, and LG have all publicly taken sides.

These four companies are all top global giants.

Currently, only a few Chinese mobile phone manufacturers are on the side of the X operating system, but whether it is ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad, OPPO, or VIVO, they are all relatively unknown in the mobile phone market.

OPPO only entered the mobile phone manufacturing field this year, and Vivo will not enter the field until next year.

Therefore, at present, the X operating system is only available on quantum phones, and no major players have publicly endorsed it.

Furthermore, Google announced that they are currently in active discussions with Samsung Electronics.

"The reason why these hardware giants stand with Google is, of course, because they believe in our technological capabilities and the mobile ecosystem we have built."

"Another key reason is that I don't think any mobile phone manufacturer would use an operating system that could be banned from sale at any time, right?"

"The situation in the United States is becoming increasingly clear, and I believe there will be a result soon."

"So I think all hardware manufacturers around the world need to consider the significant risks involved."

..............................

Almost all the world's attention is focused on Sony.

Global giants are now taking sides, with a large number already siding with Google.

And you, Sony, are the biggest ally in quantum technology, why don't you speak out publicly?
Loyalty that is not absolute is equal to absolute disloyalty.

Quantum technology, lightning, and Facebook are arguably Sony's most important and core allies.

If we don't express our stance now, when will we?

However, Sony was also embroiled in fierce internal struggles at this time.

Because Sony Ericsson is not entirely controlled by Sony, it does not want to align itself with a Chinese company, even though Sony has shares in Quantum Technology.

Ericsson, in particular, is even less inclined to side with quantum technology.

As for Nokia, the world's top mobile phone manufacturer, it disdains taking sides because it wants to promote its own Symbian operating system.

Sony has been embroiled in internal strife for many years.

Ultimately, Sony Ericsson's president, Bert Nordberg, offered his final opinion to the Sony Group.

"Because many giants have already sided with Google, Sony Ericsson can, as a precaution, launch two smartphones, with the main one using the Android operating system and the other using the X operating system."

Immediately, Sony's entire top management erupted in fury.

What kind of crazy idea is that?

Then, Kazuo Hirai made a phone call to Lin Xiao.

"Lin, this case in the California court is now of utmost importance."

"According to my sources, the judge and jury are currently inclined to believe that you have engaged in some plagiarism."

"Because the underlying architecture and design logic of the two systems are too similar, and the Android system is earlier."

"So, as one of my best friends, can you tell me if you're confident in this case?"

"Or do you have key evidence?"

Lin Xiao: "Yes!"

Kazuo Hirai: "I understand now."

next day!

The CEO of Sony Group bypassed Sony Ericsson and publicly announced that Sony Ericsson would launch its first smartphone, which would use the X operating system, in the shortest possible time.

at last……

Behind quantum technology, a giant has taken the lead.

However... just a few hours later, Sony Ericsson executives voiced a different opinion.

Sony Ericsson has indicated that it has not yet made a final decision on this matter.

This incident sparked another public outcry, directly exposing the internal conflicts between Sony Ericsson and the Sony Group to the world.

Of course, this can be considered as the premature public exposure of the conflict.

Historically, the differences and conflicts between Sony and Ericsson grew increasingly larger, until Sony ultimately invested to acquire almost all of Ericsson's shares in Sony Ericsson, abolished the Sony Ericsson name, and returned it to the Sony brand.

But now, all of this will probably happen sooner than expected.

But this also means that Sony will face huge upheavals in mobile phone manufacturing.

And right now, the most crucial manufacturer is Samsung!
Of course, globally speaking, Samsung's influence in mobile phone manufacturing is not as great as Motorola's; it's roughly on par with Sony Ericsson and LG.

LG has now aligned itself with Google's Android.

………………

Lin Xiao flew directly to Seoul to meet with Lee Kun-hee, the head of Samsung.

"President Li, the X operating system currently surpasses the Android system in every aspect."

"Even in terms of the ecosystem, our only weakness is that Lightning Maps is not as good as Google Maps, but this can be solved by spending money."

"But in key ecosystem applications such as Facebook, YouTube, and mobile games, the gap between Android and us will only widen."

"Most importantly, I will completely separate Xsoft from quantum technology, and Samsung Group will be welcome to invest at that time."

Lee Kun-hee's gaze sharpened: "Have you informed other manufacturers about your terms?"

Lin Xiao: "No, Samsung is currently the first and only one."

Lee Kun-hee: "Mr. Lim, do you have such high hopes for Samsung?"

Lin Xiao: "Yes."

Lee Kun-hee: "Mr. Lim, I have already felt your importance, and Dr. Yang is now the most important member of Samsung Semiconductor. He has praised your strategic vision to me many times, and even more so your breadth of mind and vision."

"So I'd like to ask, is it possible that X Semiconductor's next-generation chips will be manufactured by Samsung?"

Lin Xiao: "We only outsource manufacturing to the best foundries. If Samsung Semiconductor has shown a leading edge over TSMC, then I am very willing to cooperate with Samsung."

Lee Kun-hee: "Mr. Lim, Google is absolutely right. The most important thing for the X operating system right now is policy risk, and the whole world is watching the California court's ruling."

“Once a ruling is made that is unfavorable to quantum technology, no matter how excellent your system is, I believe that manufacturers around the world will not dare to use your operating system.”

Lin Xiao: "President Li, I believe the situation regarding this lawsuit can be turned around soon."

When Lin Xiao finally left Seoul, he still hadn't received a clear response from Samsung.

........................

Therefore, a strange trend has emerged globally.

Quantum phones continue to sell well, and their popularity is only growing.

The Google G1, a crudely made product, is almost completely unsellable.

However, Google's chances of winning among mobile phone manufacturers seem to be getting bigger and bigger.

Moreover, they continue to hype up the California court case, claiming that quantum technology is likely to lose, and constantly emphasizing the policy and legal risks of the X operating system.

This has drawn increasing global attention to the lawsuit between Google and quantum technology in a California court.

Who will win and who will lose?

At that very moment, Yahoo! Group released a major announcement.

Jerry Yang resigned as CEO of Yahoo and from almost all related positions within the Yahoo Group, retaining only his seat on the Yahoo board of directors.

Carol Bartz, the "Queen of Silicon Valley," will succeed Jerry Yang as the new CEO and chairman of Yahoo! Inc.

This means that Jerry Yang, the founder, has completely left Yahoo! Group.

Many people sighed with regret that Yang Zhiyuan, once a godfather-like figure in the early days of the internet, had now fallen from grace.

but……

Immediately afterwards, Yang Zhiyuan announced his second entrepreneurial venture.

Twitter!

"Thank you, Mr. Lin Xiao, for giving me tremendous courage."

"From now on, I will devote all my time and energy to Twitter."

"This is my second business venture, and also my second life."

"I want to advise everyone that Lin has achieved all his goals so far, and he has never failed."

"Therefore, our Twitter will fully embrace mobile internet, or more accurately, the X operating system!"

………………

Next, the eyes of global technology media will be completely focused on September 21st!
This is because the California court will hold its third hearing on Google's lawsuit against quantum technology on this day.

Many people believe that this court hearing will produce a result!
This outcome will also affect the future of the two operating systems.

........................

Note: I'm late again today, I'll correct it tomorrow. Please continue to give me your monthly votes, thank you everyone!

(End of this chapter)