Technological Supremacy Chapter 96: Here comes the war
California, Google headquarters.
The faces of the two founders were heavy. At the beginning of the new year, they received bad news.
According to statistics from the financial department, in the last year, Google acquired three mobile phone companies in one go, trying to enter the mobile phone industry, but suffered a historic defeat.
The four domestic giants are in full swing, launching multiple large-scale battles around the world and sweeping the global mobile phone market.
Even Apple's mobile phone sales plummeted by 53% in just six months, and Samsung's sales plummeted by 90%, and those who were beaten were almost out of the market.
This shows how tragic the global war in the mobile phone industry last year was.
The brand awareness and technical content are far inferior to Apple and Samsung's Google, and they were directly hit into the abyss of doom. The mobile phone department suffered huge losses, and even lost their underwear.
At the same time, the European anti-monopoly ruling came out, and those stubborn and corrupt Europeans gave Google a fine worth 4.34 billion euros.
Moreover, this huge fine is not a one-off.
If Google cannot meet the demanding requirements of European antitrust agencies in a short period of time, Europeans are likely to send them an antitrust investigation every year.
Crack~
Larry Page threw down the financial statement in his hand, pinched the bridge of his nose with his hand, "We are in big trouble now, those clingy Europeans and yellow-skinned Asians have made us passive .”
"And in front of us, there happens to be a steaming steak. If we want to get out of the current predicament, we'd better eat this steak now."
Sergey Brin didn't speak. The steak that Larry was talking about naturally referred to the charging of the Android system.
According to market research, it can be basically concluded that Apple and Samsung, which has betrayed Google, have been unable to stand up under the powerful offensive of the Big Four.
And the system used by the Big Four happens to be Google's Android.
Is it reasonable for Google to charge Android?
It is actually reasonable.
In 2012, Google reached an agreement with China's Ministry of Commerce, and the Ministry of Commerce agreed to Google's acquisition of Motorola. At the same time, Google promised not to charge for Android within five years.
This is the reason why domestic mobile phone manufacturers have been able to use Android for free.
Up to now, five years have passed. If Google charges for Android, it is completely reasonable, and there is no loophole in the legal scope.
The only risk lies in the resistance of the domestic Big Four.
The Big Four are too powerful now, accounting for 80% of the world.
However, are Chinese manufacturers really determined to resist?
Abandon the existing and mature Android, and re-launch a set of operating systems with independent intellectual property rights, starting from scratch?
Do they dare?
Sergey Brin had a fox-like smile on his face.
He is different from Larry Page. This descendant of immigrants from the former Soviet Union has a smart brain. At the same time, his personality is as cold as the cold current of Siberia.
Business is bloody. Every giant stands up and steps on the corpses of countless opponents, and Google is no exception.
"Currently, the annual global sales volume of smartphones is about 1.2 billion units, of which one billion units use our system. If each mobile phone charges a licensing fee of 40 US dollars, the net income will be 40 billion US dollars a year." Li Page muttered aside, he was used to the long thinking before his partner made a decision.
Suddenly~
Sergey Brin laughed, "Our problem has never been charges, but time."
Larry Page's eyes suddenly lit up, "Time?"
"I have spent a long time studying Huaxia." Sergey Brin said, "They have a strange tradition. No matter where they live now, there will always be only one home, and that is the place where they were born."
"Every Spring Festival, Chinese people will be like ants, returning from the city where they are currently working to the place where they were born, no matter how far that place is, no matter how difficult the traffic is."
"And during the period before the Spring Festival, everyone is not in the mood to work, looking forward to going home early, although in my opinion, life after returning home is meaningless, even boring, and there is nothing to do at home, but This is their tradition, no matter what, they have to go back."
Larry Page finally understood what Sergey Brin meant. The fee must be charged, but if there is a sudden showdown during the Spring Festival, those Chinese manufacturers will be caught off guard.
The Spring Festival is the most favorable time for Google.
...
In the dark, an invisible net is getting tighter and tighter.
Suddenly, the world's news about Google's imminent charges disappeared.
When the two founders of Google were interviewed by the media, they changed their previous style and never mentioned Android charges again.
Give the world the illusion that Google has given up on charging.
At the same time, they were making intensive preparations, waiting in silence for the most suitable showdown time.
And in the far east, there is a company that suddenly became silent, and that is Xingchen Technology.
This emerging technology giant that made everyone crazy last year suddenly no longer attracts attention.
There were rumors before that they were going to enter the lithium battery industry and planned to directly acquire the world's eighth largest lithium battery manufacturer, which excited the technology community for a while.
However, without any reason, the acquisition was abruptly terminated, and the Ministry of Commerce, which represented the company in contact with the outside world, withdrew all staff from the Baoshan base.
Throughout January, the only move made by Xingchen Technology was that the optical department launched a camera-level COMS sensor, officially entering the field of digital cameras and video cameras~IndoMTL.com~The partners are still the four giants of mobile phones, and among them only Xiaomi is in the field. Doing digital cameras, but with Huawei's acquisition of the old domestic manufacturer Seagull, the Big Four have begun to set foot in this field.
As the camera quality of mobile phones is getting higher and higher, digital cameras and video cameras have become a niche market, so this incident did not cause much waves in the technology world.
However, in the technology circle, there is another interesting rumor that has aroused everyone's interest.
It is said that Star Technology has continuously launched operations in North America, and signed a cooperation agreement with the two largest law firms in the United States, Klavas and Lipton.
In the future, if Xingchen Technology has legal disputes in North America, the two largest law firms in the United States will have full authority to represent it.
The news surprised people in tech circles.
Could it be that Star Technology has predicted that they will have big troubles in the United States in the future, so they spared no expense to hire the most expensive and best lawyer team in the United States?
In short, more and more confusing news came, coupled with the suffocating quiet atmosphere in the technology circle, some people in the circle began to doubt.
In this terrible silence, is there something big about to happen.
It's just that as the Spring Festival approaches, major companies begin to have holidays, and people gradually let go of their attention to the technology circle. In this busy year, those who want to go home make appointments with classmates and old friends in advance, and plan to take advantage of the Spring Festival to have a good time. Get together.
After all, no matter what happens in the tech world, life goes on.
Time flies, January just passed, time came to February 1st, an explosive news came out suddenly, instantly igniting the whole world.
At nine o'clock in the morning on February 1st, China time, Google officially issued an announcement, deciding to charge for the Android system.