mijobooks Chapter 486 New Challenges
Chapter 486 New Challenges
Fiona's intelligence was sent early Wednesday morning. Ling Yun was reviewing the Singapore factory's production capacity report sent by Liang Mengsong when a new email notification popped up in the lower right corner of his computer. The sender was Fiona, and the subject was only three words: See attachment.
The attachment was a PDF with a colorful Google logo on the cover and a line of smaller print below: Android Project Business Plan Summary. Lingyun opened to the first page and saw Android's core strategy—open source, free, and forming an open handheld alliance with multiple mobile phone manufacturers. The list of manufacturers already expressing interest included HTC, Samsung, Motorola, and LG.
He picked up the phone and dialed Fiona's number. It rang twice before she answered.
"How did you obtain this business plan?"
"A headhunter friend in Silicon Valley sent it to me. Google is hiring mobile system development engineers on a massive scale, offering salaries 30% higher than the market rate. They're also in secret talks with HTC about a manufacturing agreement, and prototypes are already in production." Fiona's voice was low. "Mr. Ling, Android's strategy is very similar to yours."
Ling Yun turned to the last page of the project plan, which showed Android's projected timeline: SDK release in 2007, first commercial model on the market in 2008. He closed his laptop. "Let's have a meeting."
There were about a dozen people in the conference room. Wang Jianguo came in with a coffee cup, and Li Mo rolled up the progress chart for the StarCore 2 and tucked it under his arm. Ling Yun projected the Android project plan onto the big screen and waited until everyone had read the first page before speaking.
"Our competitors are no longer just Apple and Nokia. Google has entered the fray. Their strategy—open source, free, and partnering with phone manufacturers—is almost identical to Spark OS. The difference is that Google has the world's largest search engine, Gmail, and YouTube. They can use these products to drive traffic to Android."
Wang Jianguo stared at the list of open mobile phone alliances on the screen. "HTC, Samsung, Motorola—these are also the companies we are talking to for cooperation."
"So they will steal some geek users who value 'customization,' as well as overseas users who are tied to the Google ecosystem. But Android has a fatal weakness—it's new. It's 2006 now, and Spark OS has already iterated to its fourth major version, with over two thousand native apps in the app store. Google needs to build its ecosystem from scratch, which will take at least two years. What we need to do in these two years is to run faster."
Li Mo put down his pen. "I've taken a look at the technical aspects. Android is based on the Linux kernel and uses Java for application layer development. The advantage is that it has a low barrier to entry and developers are easy to find. The disadvantage is that the virtual machine layer consumes a lot of memory and performance."
"Therefore, we need to double our investment in system optimization next." Ling Yun stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote a line: Lightweight, fast startup, low power consumption, "especially lightweight kernel trimming and boot speed. Android started late, but Google has no shortage of money or manpower. It will catch up very quickly."
Li Mo jotted down a few notes in his notebook: "We are already working on modularizing the kernel for the next version of Spark OS, and the boot time can be reduced to less than three seconds."
At this moment, Zhao Hu pushed open the door and placed a fax in front of Ling Yun. The fax header bore the Qualcomm Legal Department logo, and the content contained only one sentence: Qualcomm has filed an application with the U.S. International Trade Commission requesting a Section 337 investigation into StarPhone and related components imported into the United States, alleging infringement of three essential patents of the Qualcomm WCDMA standard. Simultaneously, Qualcomm has filed sales injunction applications in the Mannheim Court in Germany and the High Court in the United Kingdom.
A few seconds of silence filled the conference room. Chen Zhongming spoke first, "This is the second wave. Last time it was a chip supply disruption; this time it's a direct patent ban."
"They're still making an example of us." Ling Yun placed the fax on the table. "Qualcomm is also contacting two second-tier mobile phone brands that we're currently negotiating with. These two companies originally planned to use Spark chips for their mid-range phones next year, but Qualcomm offered them a deal that's hard to refuse—a 40% discount on licensing fees, on the condition that they don't use Spark chips."
Li Mo swore, not loudly, but everyone heard it.
Ling Yun didn't show the anger Li Mo had expected. He leaned back in his chair. "Qualcomm is telling everyone that whoever uses Spark's chips will be in trouble. But we're not like we were three years ago. The first generation of StarCore is in mass production, the second generation is about to be taped out, and Noah's Ark's baseband chip will make its first call next year. We have more than 3,000 core patents, including a combination of power-saving technology and touch algorithms that Qualcomm itself is using. We can't fight this head-on—accelerate Noah's Ark's progress while using our non-communication patents to negotiate cross-licensing with Qualcomm. Use the competition to force a negotiation."
The head of the legal department adjusted his glasses. "We are ready with our cross-licensing negotiation strategy. We have a 60-day response period for Qualcomm's Section 337 investigation. The sales ban applications in Germany and the UK can proceed through the jurisdictional objection process in the local courts. This will not affect sales in the short term."
Ling Yun nodded. "In the short term. In the long term, there's only one way to completely break free from Qualcomm's control—Noah's Ark. Have Liang add another protocol stack testing team to his team and reduce the compatibility testing cycle by one-third. The funding will come from the strategic reserve fund, with no budget limit."
Chen Zhongming wrote it down.
At this moment, Fiona sent another email, which Lingyun instructed Wang Jianguo to project directly onto the large screen. The email contained only one sentence: "Nokia's board of directors approved the MeeGo project today, and all company resources are being shifted towards the touchscreen system. Motorola announced its entry into the Android camp, codenamed Droid."
A render of the Motorola Droid popped up on the large screen. It features a full keyboard slider design, a 4.0-inch screen, and an interface somewhat similar to the StarPhone. The president of Motorola North America wrote in a press release, "This will be the most anticipated smartphone since the iPhone."
"The most anticipated." Li Mo read the sentence aloud in a flat tone, "Every company they hold a press conference says that theirs is the most anticipated."
"Let them talk. We'll do it." Ling Yun stood up, placed the marker in the pen slot under the whiteboard, and said, "This time next year, there will be four camps in the market—Apple's iOS, Google's Android, Nokia's MeeGo, and our Spark OS. This game has only just begun." He walked to the conference room door, paused, and said, "Tomorrow morning, Liang Mengsong, Mr. Ni, and everyone here will have another conference call to discuss chip and baseband strategies under the new circumstances. You can go back and rest tonight."
The corridor was quiet after the meeting. Ling Yun walked back to his office, where Zhao Hu was waiting at the door. "Mr. Ling, Steve Jobs sent an email while you were in the meeting," he said, handing over his phone.
The email was short, just one line of English: "Google is coming. Don't blink. —Steve."
Ling Yun stood by the window, finished reading the email, and replied, "Didn't blink when Microsoft came. Won't blink now." He put his phone back in his pocket. A row of streetlights illuminated the park outside, and the crane's boom slowly rotated in the night. There was another tough battle to fight tomorrow, but tonight, he had to go home first—his daughter was waiting for him to tell her a bedtime story.