Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 317 The Future of Kunlun

Nokia's mobile phone business wasn't ultimately killed by Apple; it was its own arrogance that killed it.

But even without Apple, at least you'll have some dignity when you leave.

In his previous life, Steve Jobs may have been calculating Nokia's market position until his death, but at this moment, he has a more conflicted mindset.

On one side are representatives of the decadent old era, and on the other side are new Chinese challengers.

Moreover, he understood Chen better than Nokia's top management.

Chen is adept at using various conditions to seek personal gain.

Therefore, he didn't believe Chen Xuebing's words at all, expressing a rather indifferent attitude.

Who would believe it if someone just started by saying Nokia was targeting him without any reason?

They must want something, so they made up an excuse.

Chen Xuebing knew he didn't believe him, so he slowly began to explain the origin of the story.

"During the press conference, Wang Jianzhou from China Mobile gave me an order for 30 contract phones."

After explaining the background, he paused and said:
"They want contract orders."

"Of course, it's definitely not the N95. Judging from the global feedback on that phone's launch, it's not hard to sell. You know, 3G phones need to be internet-enabled. If it were the N95, Wang Jianzhou would definitely be happy to agree. He might even dare to ask for two million or three million."

Chen Xuebing put some pressure on him.

The person on the other end of the line took a quick breath.

Chen Xuebing then said, "But they just want to cram some junk Symbian phones into China Mobile's 3G contract orders."

Upon hearing the word "Crappy," the person on the other end gave a long, comfortable "hmm," indicating their agreement.

This is the attitude and spirit that a true teammate in the touchscreen camp should have towards other types of phones.

Nokia, in particular.

"However, China Mobile now has better 3G terminals, namely my Kirin, and will not offer high prices for those inferior ones."

"So, they want to use their sharpest sword to pry open a gap in my Kirin phone, or even cut it off completely, to completely defeat me in terms of sales, or to prove the performance deficiencies of Kirin in some other way, so as to prove that touch screen phones are garbage, and then negotiate with Wang Jianzhou to sell their precious Symbian phones to China Mobile at a high price."

Jobs sighed deeply.

He felt that what Chen Xuebing said was true; if the N95 were to be released in China ahead of schedule, the news should be announced soon.

The delay of the iPhone has caused Apple to lose its first-mover advantage over Nokia in the first half of 2007. If the Kirin chip is crushed by the N95 due to supply chain or technical experience issues, the market will form the perception that "touchscreen phones are vulnerable", which will seriously damage the expectations of consumers, developers and operators for the iPhone.

He had to admit that Kirin was now the "only spark" in the touchscreen camp, and that everyone was now united through that press conference.

Jobs' tone turned serious: "How do you plan to deal with this?"

"It's not too bad. We have many allies in TD technology. Nokia can't handle China's 3G standard. It's unlikely that the N95 will be made into a TD version. It will most likely enter China with the 2.5G standard. Even if it is made into TD, it's unlikely to perform very well."

Chen Xuebing felt a sense of satisfaction as he spoke.

Nokia was the dominant force in analog communications, participating in the development of standards since the 1G era. It was also a standard setter for GSM and led the development of the WCDMA protocol, holding over 20,000 communication patents.

At this point, being able to say "they are not as good as me" is possible, even though it's within such limited space and based on the fact that Nokia had never developed TD.

But it was also very enjoyable.

No matter how many basic patents they have, it doesn't mean they can achieve better enhancements than Spreadtrum's tireless research and development around TD.

The continuous improvement of the technological foundation gave Mr. Chen a sense of pride and accomplishment that he could never find in sales success.

This further solidified his resolve to propose the conditions that would follow.

"Hmm," Chen Xuebing's tone shifted again: "But you know, Nokia's cameras, professional tools, and durability were indeed very strong. Their CEO, Karasworth, even told Wang Jianzhou that we were just 'glass toys for a niche market,' and said: 'Who would use a phone with a non-replaceable battery and no keyboard?'"

Chen Xuebing added a sentence himself, and then said, "Wang Jianzhou and I have a good relationship. These are his exact words that were relayed to me."

“FUCK!” Jobs muttered under his breath.

They were unhappy with Nokia, and also complained that the Kirin chip was too similar to the iPhone, even the sealing design was exactly the same.

Aside from its appearance, Kirin is almost a Chinese copy of the iPhone. Although the iPhone's system is much stronger, it also has an internet ecosystem that Kirin lacks.

So he is now working day and night to urge reform.

Chen Xuebing immediately seized on this phrase: "What?? You want to FUCK Nokia? No, no, no, you can't do it. Even if you come to China, you still won't be able to handle TD."

Having said that, he remained somewhat self-possessed.

"In China, you can only let us represent you, FUCK Nokia."

Jobs knew the other party was about to make demands.

From his perspective, if a real war broke out, he would certainly hope that Kirin could survive and wear down Nokia, but he also knew that some of Chen's internet thinking was even more advanced than his own.

If the Nokia N95 fails
Of course, it's unlikely; it's absolutely impossible for them to lose in terms of sales.

But he absolutely did not want Chen to become a hero who would rise to fame by fighting against Nokia.

Thinking it over, he softened his tone: "Chen, actually I think the Kirin's design far surpasses the N95. You have many areas where you can beat Nokia, and in some design aspects, the iPhone is also learning from you."

Chen Xuebing's face darkened: "Are you planning to take Nokia's second hit?"

"Karasvo's tone doesn't sound like a friendly person, and you can probably guess what he'll say about you later."

"That condescending tone, looking down at you"

"The US is Nokia's bigger market; you can only succeed in their market."

Chen Xuebing used extremely sarcastic remarks, and Jobs, who was not in a good mood, interrupted him after a few sentences:
"I've already agreed to share the supply chain with you, what more do you want?"

“It’s not just this kind of sharing, it’s deep sharing.” After saying that, Chen Xuebing became more specific, “You need to send someone to accompany us on a trip to coordinate production capacity.”

"in addition."

Chen Xuebing quickly pulled a piece of paper filled with technical terms from his desk drawer, glanced at it, and said:
"I also need your core graphics rendering engine's underlying optimization documentation and debugging tools."

"Kunlun OS needs to achieve touch smoothness and animation response comparable to iOS, and Apple is the absolute benchmark in this field."

"Also, we need to improve our system-level API interface specifications, power management, and sensor response accuracy."

"Of course, we only need some non-sensitive hardware abstraction layer interface documentation, especially interface definitions and best practice guidelines for capacitive touch screen accurate response algorithms, low-power sensor scheduling strategies, and efficient background task management mechanisms."

As he was speaking, Lu Weibing, who was standing next to him, had already leaned over to look at the contents of the paper. He quickly picked up a pen and added a note to the paper:
Touchscreen!

Chen Xuebing shook his head.

That's too sensitive. This document was compiled by Lin Bin long ago; it's a technical document, not code, that could potentially enable iPhone support, and it pertains to shared system-level design principles, not iOS-specific features.

Kunlun UI started by copying Apple's interaction logic. Apple has been studying this system on computers for many years, and these technical documents can greatly shorten Kunlun's technical ramp-up period.

These are the benefits that the Kunlun system has the opportunity to enjoy; anything more is just wishful thinking.

"There are also reliability testing standards and data for core components."

“You know, they are very likely to buy our phones to do drop tests, temperature and humidity cycling tests, salt spray tests and so on. We need these to build a reference benchmark for our testing system.”

This isn't exactly sensitive data, but for Singularity, a company that has never produced any products, its data accumulation in this area is practically zero.

Given Apple's meticulous attention to detail in refining specifications and the compatibility between the two companies' products, their hardware integration data is still quite valuable for reference.

Steve Jobs was silent for a few seconds on the other end of the phone; only his faint breathing could be heard.

Then came the creaking sound of a chair scraping against the floor, and it seemed that Jobs had stood up.

"List."

"First, the supply chain coordinator. Tim will assign someone to go around with you, but remember, he is only responsible for communication, not for guaranteeing results. Apple's influence is not a magic wand; a shortage is a shortage."

"Second: graphics rendering and system APIs." Jobs paused, seemingly quickly assessing the value and risks in his mind, before simply saying, "We can provide documentation."

Chen Xuebing smiled.

But Jobs immediately poured cold water on the idea: "We need to sign an agreement to prohibit reverse engineering, and it will only be allowed for the OS version iteration and optimization of the phone you are currently releasing. I mean V1.0, the first generation Kirin phone, that's all."

"The documents will be encrypted and subject to strict licensing agreements and auditing terms. If we discover even the slightest leak or unauthorized use, all our agreements will be terminated immediately, and we will see you in court."

"Third, reliability test data." Jobs paused longer this time, seemingly more concerned about these.

"These data... were painstakingly examined by Apple engineers using microscopes, and we can only give you a partial summary of the baseline values ​​and key failure models, limited to drop, temperature cycling, and basic humidity. I think salt spray is unnecessary, as the salt content on the coast of China is different from that of California."

“Furthermore…” Jobs’ voice suddenly rose, filled with warning: “These data are ‘references,’ not ‘standards’! I don’t want to see news reports of ‘Kirin phones exploding despite being based on Apple’s standards’!”

He took a deep breath, as if trying to control his impatience:

"That's all, Chen. This isn't a gift. You'd better really FUCK Nokia."

He has a strong engineer's vibe and is very thoughtful.

Lu Weibing frowned deeply.

Chen Xuebing, adopting his bandit-like style, bluntly stated: "We will definitely study your technical documents, otherwise they will be useless. We cannot simply copy your documents, as that would only make Qilin worse. However, we can promise that there will be no patent disputes. If we use your technical ideas, we can pay some licensing fees, but you must offer a friendly price."

The other end hung up abruptly without saying a word.

Chen Xuebing grinned and looked at Lu Weibing.

Lu Weibing smiled and gave a thumbs-up.

"This is the last time I'll help you. From now on, you'll have to handle these technical details yourselves. Call the heads of the Kunlun System's technical departments and have a meeting."

As Chen Xuebing spoke, he suddenly remembered something, "By the way, in which region was the Nokia N95 first released?"

"It must be their European stronghold! WCDMA!"

"Okay, let's try to buy two units as soon as possible. Also, let's find out about their Asian OEM factory."

"Hiss!" Lu Weibing gasped, looking at Chen Xuebing with a hint of confusion.

Chen Xuebing raised his hand and tapped the table.

"Take the initiative!"

A meeting was held.

Chen Xuebing didn't mention the Qilin at all; the meeting's agenda was to discuss the optimization of the Kunlun system and the technological self-reliance route.

Chen Xuebing divided the autonomy of Kunlun OS into five levels.

L1: Kernel control, holding a Linux kernel seat and leading submodule development.

L2: Protocol stack reconstruction, self-developed communication protocol (replacing TCP/IP)

L3: Hardware Abstraction Layer Independent
L4: Architecture Instruction Set Autonomy
L5: Closed-loop toolchain, self-developed compiler
This is the development outline that Chen Xuebing has currently drafted for everyone, and it also represents Kunlun OS's true ability to withstand risks.

To be precise, the ability to resist sanctions.

At the meeting, he first proposed that the Kunlun OS business unit should be more vigilant and establish a risk assessment system for possible foreign policies and interference from international companies.

It also proposed that "the higher the level of autonomy, the lower the possibility of interference." It called for the establishment of a confidentiality mechanism, requiring personnel at a certain level to sign confidentiality agreements and receive agreement subsidies.

This made everyone a little nervous.

And excitement.

Everyone realized how much the chairman valued it.

In terms of optimization, the Kunlun Systems Business Unit immediately compiled a list of technical support providers and company names that could contribute to system improvement, and submitted it to headquarters for coordination by Qidian and Gu'an Group.

We also discussed the overseas name for Kunlun, and decided to use the first letters of "Qilin" (in English) and "Kunlun" to name it "KOS".

After making these arrangements, Chen Xuebing planned to leave Shenzhen.

I've been shuttling between Shenzhen and Shanghai for over two months now because of the Kirin phone.

Although the pre-sale figures haven't been finalized, he can't afford to linger here any longer.

Protocol stack reconstruction and autonomous architecture instruction set – this is Kunlun's future. Next, it will have to face the issues it has been avoiding.

chip.

These two characters, each stroke and line, represent hundreds of millions or even billions, with the unit being US dollars.

But at this point, no matter how well he plans every step, the chip can still instantly choke him.

It was 2006, so there were still many opportunities.

However, investing in chips requires an extremely large pool of funds to support it.

The stock market investments have already been made. No matter how you calculate it, the returns that can be realized in the next year will be no more than tens of billions.

It sounds like a huge number, but if it really gets going in the chip industry, it probably won't be enough.

The situation has reverted to a traditional approach:

make money.

(End of this chapter)