I’m in Hollywood Chapter 1175: We do n’t care
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Compared with the simple communication with Ian Gnell yesterday, the information in hand is more detailed for the analysis of the causes and consequences of the sudden outbreak of the Ministry of Justice.
The Ministry of Justice ’s doubts are mainly manifested in two aspects. First, whether the high market share of Yahoo Browser affects the healthy development and technological progress of the Internet industry, and second, whether the cooperation between Yahoo and Microsoft in browser pre-installation deprives users. The right to choose software freely.
Of course, under normal circumstances, no government department will blame a company for no reason, unless the company has caused damage to the interests of users or peer companies.
The Ministry of Justice initiated the hearings of the “bitters” of At-Home, Excite and other Internet companies that compete with Yahoo.
The information in the hands of Eric specifically marked At-Home, an Internet company that also operates businesses such as search engines and web portal.
However, compared to the huge volume of Yahoo, At-Home's market value is only more than 7 billion USD. Moreover, At-Home's business is more inclined to search engines, and Microsoft's MSN portal currently uses At-Home's search engine tool.
In addition, the data also mentions that Microsoft not only participated in the early venture investment of At-Home, holding 7% of the company ’s shares, but also recently contacted Microsoft with At-HomeBoard of Directors in an attempt to acquire this company wholly. Companies to develop their own search engine business.
While Yahoo has been handling its expansion in the search engine business in a low-key manner, Eric has never expected that competitors will always be unaware. Microsoft's attempt to acquire At-Home is clearly not a whim.
Of course, the search engine business has a very obvious winner-take-all rule.
After years of accumulation, Yahoo has reached the field of artificial intelligence in the field of Internet search engines. Many competitors are still using a very primitive and inefficient tree search model. With the technology far ahead, Yahoo has spared no effort to continue to invest in this business. Eric is confident enough to ensure that the Yahoo search business will be the last winner.
Moreover, the most important point is that Yahoo has also accumulated a large number of patents in search engines due to the pioneering technology, which is enough to form patent barriers for many latecomers.
Now, since At-Home jumps out voluntarily, even if there is a clear shadow of Microsoft behind it, Eric absolutely does not mind pulling back with a stick.
Thinking about it this way, Eric turned to today ’s news report about the Ministry of Justice ’s questioning of Yahoo, only to find that the situation seemed more serious than he thought.
Most media are accusing either Yahoo of the browser market monopolization or fiercely, which has greatly affected their own development.
The AOL portal said eloquently that the web browser should belong to the basic Internet service category. Therefore, this basic tool software itself should not have any tendency. Yahoo sets the default home page of Yahoo Browser to its own web portal, which is a very obvious act of unfair competition.
The article on 《The New York Times》 requires that Yahoo should completely abandon the monopoly of the patented technology of the web browser and share it with the entire industry to promote the rapid development of the entire Internet industry.
NBC ’s online news site even distressedly called on the Federal Ministry of Justice to immediately initiate an anti-monopoly investigation against Yahoo Browser to stop Yahoo from continuing to occupy the market with this software and squeezing the survival space of other competitors.
All in all, the views of these media are basically that the excess market share of Yahoo Browser has seriously affected the development of the entire Internet industry, so it should be restricted.
It is conceivable that once this view continues to spread, and the Federal Department of Justice has taken substantial action on this point of view, then the share price of Yahoo will fall.
Moreover, due to the media ’s view that as long as it suppresses Yahoo Browser, the entire industry will benefit from it, Yahoo ’s stock price will fall, but the stock prices of other new technology companies of the same type will only rise again due to the opposite impact, so it will not affect the recent period. The Nasdaq index has continued to rebound in time.
While looking at the data of Eric, the staff has prepared the Boston Yahoo Headquarters video conference connection.
After hurriedly turning over the information, Eric looked up and found that Ian · Gernier in the call screen also looked dignified, so he had to make a relaxed expression and clapped his hands: "So, Ian, first Talk about how you plan to deal with the two queries raised by the Ministry of Justice tomorrow? "
Ian · Gernier did n’t talk much. After reading the information in front of him, he simply sorted out his thoughts and said: "With regard to the first question, our response is that Yahoo Browser has a very high market share. Not only did it not hinder the development of the Internet industry, but promoted the progress of the entire industry. It was Yahoo that first launched a simple-to-use graphical interface browser that connected the chaotic Internet to the lives of ordinary people. Over the years, all Companies have directly or indirectly benefited from the Yahoo Browser's unification of technical standards. If Yahoo did not do this at the beginning, but allowed the market to have multiple Internet format standards, then the Internet industry will definitely not develop so quickly. "
Eric nodded and asked, "So, what about the second one?"
Ian Genier continued: “First of all, Yahoo Browser is completely free. Therefore, pre-installing Yahoo Browser on the Windows system will not cause additional costs to users. Secondly, Yahoo Browser can be uninstalled, so we It does not deprive users of the right to choose freely. If they are dissatisfied with Yahoo Browser, they can uninstall the software themselves. On this point, if a stalemate is formed, Yahoo can also make certain compromises, such as adding users during the Windows system installation stage Do you need a prompt to load Yahoo Browser. "
Eric tapped on the desktop silently, thinking for a moment, saying: "Ian, you should understand that their purpose this time is to hope that we can allow other companies to launch the same type of browser to compete with Yahoo. This point , How are you going to respond? "
"We will not and do not have to compromise on this, Eric," Ian · Gernier is obviously also prepared for this, saying: "Yahoo Browser is enough to meet the needs of users. Open other companies to enter this field, in order to Competing with Yahoo Browser and realizing their own advantages, these companies will only take the initiative to develop differentiated standards, which will damage the entire Internet industry. Just as the entire Federation is accustomed to 110V AC, all household appliances are applying this standard. Now, someone wants to forcefully promote the 220V AC network of other countries, which will not form any benign competition and will only cause completely unnecessary waste of resources to the entire society. "
After listening to Ian, Eric said, "The last example of the voltage standard is very good. You can come forward in court at the appropriate time tomorrow."
Ian · Gnier smiled and said, "I think so too."
After that, everyone continued to discuss a lot of details freely. Until the meeting was nearing the end, Eric looked serious: "Since our competitors have painstakingly launched this hearing, then, while responding, we You must also fight back, otherwise, Yahoo will only be considered weak and can be bullied, and then more companies will definitely jump out. "
Everyone's already relaxed expressions have been put away.
The Eric paused briefly, and then continued: "About At-Home, although everyone knows that there is a shadow of Microsoft behind it, but since it jumped out this time, it should be expected to bear the consequences. I just watched However, the main business of At-Home is the Internet search engine. Although the patent system of Yahoo is mainly based on defense, it is enough for us to use it as an attack weapon when necessary. Give you a week to collect At-Home violations The evidence of the Yahoo technology patent is not only the search engine, but also the advertising business. I think they will definitely not let go of the model of imitating Yahoo Advertisement Alliance. We not only have to file huge claims this time, but also let them stop infringing on the Yahoo technology, so , Do you understand? "
People in the two meeting rooms all agreed. Ian Genier nodded, but said: "Eric, is it too hasty a week?"
Eric looked at the call screen and said: "I had each company in the Firefly system set up an additional patent management department, and I have reminded you of the importance of patents for the development of new technology companies on various occasions. It ’s just to keep you focused on the patent trends of yourself and your competitors. So do n’t tell me that you have n’t collected any relevant data on weekdays. If so, it ’s your negligence. ”
"Of course we have, but the evidence cannot be too complete," Ian Gnir nodded. "And, if we want to bring a lawsuit, our legal team must develop a detailed litigation strategy, which takes time."
"You only have one week," Eric insisted: "And, it seems that I need to re-check the work of the patent management departments of various companies, Carly, write this down."
Carolyn responded seriously and bowed his head to write on his memo.
In the Boston conference room, Ian · Gernier couldn't help but smile bitterly.
He is confident that Yahoo ’s patent management department will not make any mistakes, but if other brother companies are caught by surprise due to the sudden attack of Eric, he will have to be complained.
Eric ignored Ian · Gernier's thoughts and continued: "In addition, hasn't Microsoft recently launched its own digital music player?"
Everyone nodded and Tina · Brown, who was sitting next to Ian, actively said: "The player of Microsoft is called Zune, which will be released in the middle of next month. Yahoo just did a special topic for this last week. Personally reviewed. Zune uses Microsoft's William Morris Agency audio format, and Microsoft is said to also cooperate with Warner records to jointly operate an online music store. "
In fact, in June, Sony launched a digital version of the Walkman that competes with the Firefly electronic Fireflyer player. The product uses the ATRAC audio format unique to Sony, and the online music store of Sony also opens simultaneously.
Compared with Fireflyer, the digital version of Sony Walkman is not only inferior to Fireflyer which has experienced three generations of technical accumulation in various basic functions, but this product also has almost harsh anti-piracy restrictions , Users can hardly get any audio content from outside the Sony music store.
At the same time, Sony also once again demonstrated its inefficiency and its own side. Sony Records is for the benefit of its own department, and the music provided for the Sony music store is almost all outdated content.
In terms of the most critical price, the Sony digital Walkman is even more expensive than the Fireflyer player.
Therefore, you can imagine the sales prospects of this product.
With the cooperation between Firefly Electronics and the two major Record Companys of EMI and Universal, and the further promotion of Fireflyer players in North America, Europe and other places, the current monthly sales of Fireflyer have exceeded 3 million, and the total sales in 1999 are May reach 35 million.
Compared to that, the Sony Digital Walkman was launched in June. More than two months now, the total sales volume has not yet exceeded 300,000 pieces. It can only be described as bleak, which is not enough to pose any threat to the Fireflyer player. .
In the view of Eric, the biggest significance of Sony Digital Walkman is to resolve the monopoly of Fireflyer player. Whether it is Fireflyer player or Yahoo music store, there are competitors at this time, then the Firefly system will be subject to much less antitrust blame.
Compared to last year, this year ’s Firefly Electronics ’Fireflyer player is calculated based on 35 million sales volume. As the overall cost is further reduced, the overall profit will be about 2billion USD for Firefly Electronics.
In the face of such an attractive market, other technology manufacturers will naturally not give up. Microsoft has recently planned to launch its own digital music player.
However, unlike Sony who originally obtained a full set of digital music player patents from Firefly electronics in exchange for the micro camera module patent, Microsoft does not have this treatment, which means that Microsoft is destined to avoid Firefly electronics Well-built patent barriers.
After Eric and other Tina · Brown were finished, they bluntly said to Meyer: "Wait to contact Victor, since Gates and I play tricks, then, do n’t blame me for making the Zune of Microsoft not officially available for sale Disassemble and analyze Zune's prototype as soon as possible to collect sufficient evidence. "
After instructing Meyer, Eric finally looked at everyone and said, "Finally, there is one more point, everyone must have read today's news. To those people, Yahoo Browser seems to have become a hindrance to the development of the entire Internet industry. The culprit. People always sympathize with the weak, so this view will obviously be very marketable. Once it spreads, and the Ministry of Justice is in trouble with us at this time, then the stock price of Yahoo will definitely fall, but other new Instead, technology companies will benefit from it. The entire Nasdaq market will not be affected, and the Ministry of Justice will have no worries. Therefore, we cannot let these people be too good, and, do you know what our greatest advantage is? "
Everyone showed a curious look.
Eric did not wait for everyone to express their opinions and said: "Whether it is Wall Street or the new technology industry, we are worried that the Nasdaq index will start to fall again. However, we do not care. Whether it is Yahoo, Cisco, Amazon, etc Company, we are more concerned about the long-term development of the company, rather than the temporary gains and losses of the stock price. So, since they want to find the trouble of Yahoo, let the entire NASDAQ market be unlucky. We originally planned to be in the next crisis It was only when it was announced that it would not reduce its shareholding and layoffs to reduce expenditures and other strategies to maintain its share price. Then, there is no such restriction now, and I happen to need a sum of money recently. Therefore, starting tomorrow, the Firefly system will publicly announce a reduction Hold! "