Reinventing the Millennium.

Chapter 223 Gadgets (Two in One)

On November 11th, at two o'clock in the morning, at the Hilton Hotel.

Fang Zhuo, who was jet-lagged, slowly opened his eyes, as energetic as when he was lying on the bed three hours ago.

Because he has an appointment with Smith, the global senior vice president of IDG, tomorrow afternoon, he forced himself to go to bed early even if he was not sleepy.

Simply get up and continue to use the computer to look at the Internet in the United States at this time.

Compared with China, which is vigorously developing Internet infrastructure, although the United States is also much richer, social media that seems to make the Internet come to life has not yet been born. Fang Zhuo found a few things when looking at consumers' evaluations of Apple Ipod on Amazon. It feels like a group of demons dancing on the Internet.

Amazon's model is similar to that of JD.com, but it has already been well established and mature, including warehousing, logistics, multi-category, and user reviews.

Because consumers who buy iPods often use English slang, Fang Zhuo has a little difficulty reading it.

- "This music player is so good! I can finally put all my favorite songs in one player! Aside from being a bit pricey, it's really good!"

——"I bought it for two days, the sound quality is not as good as the walkman, and the power is not as good as the walkman. Now I am wondering why I spent $399 on it! In addition, it does not support windows. Every time I use it, I have to go to My brother's room uses his Mac, do I have to buy another Mac for this gadget???"

- "I think it's trendy."

——"A product that surprised me, it would be better if some shortcomings can be changed."

——"Protest, why only white? This is racism!"

Fang Zhuo had a detailed understanding of the real users’ feedback on the iPod in the market. He almost fell off his chair when he saw the speeches related to “racial discrimination”. He hurriedly continued to scroll down, trying to find more fun on the webpage.

It's a pity that the Beacon of Freedom at this time is not as fragmented as it was later, and the happiness is limited.

Generally speaking, consumers on Amazon gave the Ipod an upper-middle rating. Many comparisons were made with the classic walkman, and everyone could clearly hear the quality of the iPod.

Fang Zhuo had the actual iPod in his hand, and after reading the iTunes research information sent by Pan Ben, he felt that the development of this industry in the US market was quite clear.

Well, one more thing to add is that websites aiming at free sharing of mp3 music format are being surrounded by copyright representatives.

Therefore, the subsequent version of Ipod supports Microsoft + iTunes to discuss copyright + the difficulty of obtaining free online mp3 music has increased. These finally made Ipod replace Walkman and become the best-selling music player in the 21st century.

It also successfully turned Apple from danger to safety, and has the ability and spare energy to develop epoch-making mobile phone works, which has made the market value more than 300 times that of this time.

Fang Zhuo wrote down his scattered thoughts on the computer, and it lasted until four o'clock in the morning before he finally fell asleep, turned on the bed, and fell asleep.

At nine o'clock the next day, Fang Zhuo woke up a little tired. He used the intercom to check on the situation of the employees, and after a brief breakfast, he called Yang Wan and Guan Jin to the room.

Yang Wan, as the vice president of the marketing department, is the only one of this level who came to the United States with Fang Zhuo, because he is still learning English silently after work, which is really admirable.

When Fang Zhuo was picking people, he was surprised to see the name of the retired athlete. After asking, he got an answer of "learn more to be at ease", which is in line with his consistent impression of low-key hard work.

As for Guan Jin, she was Xu Huaizhe's junior in "Win in China" back then. She graduated from finance and trade in Beijing. Fang Zhuo's eyes.

Fang Zhuo simply cared about the jet lag of the next two, and then assigned tasks to them.

"Yang Wan, everyone is relatively unfamiliar with the market here. Since the procedures for M1 have not been completed in the past few days, you should train the other five people in the use of professional vocabulary."

"Also, this trip, if you add six people, we will divide into two groups at most to talk to the channel."

"The United States is too big, and many situations are different between different states. Our time is very precious now, and we can't distribute the goods in detail. The main goal is the national chain supermarkets."

"I'm here to talk to the high-level officials. When you need to connect with me, don't ask questions."

After hearing these words, Yang Wan felt that the situation he was about to face was quite blank, but he still gritted his teeth and agreed. The division of labor between different functions is like this. The boss takes care of his part, and the employees have to take care of their own.

If the boss can understand the situation of the supermarket from top to bottom, then why do you need people like yourself?
"Mr. Fang, I will also take people to the field for a walk in the past two days to inquire about it." Yang Wan said, "I heard that there is a Chinatown in New York. If it is difficult to find out the situation on the front line of the supermarket, then I will ask here. people."

Fang Zhuo's eyes lit up, and he made sense, but he didn't know much about the situation in Chinatown. Presumably, IDG's Vice President Smith didn't know the same.

He pondered for a while, unable to be sure at the moment, he only talked about the situation of domestic supermarkets for Yang Wan as a reference, but this kind of thing missed a little bit, mainly relying on understanding after contact.

"Guan Jin, just follow me. You are responsible for the accounting between channels. We will set up a profit line according to the actual situation. This line can be negotiated." Fang Zhuo didn't say the specific number, he was sincere My feeling is that as long as I make money, I can talk, "Check and make up for the gaps, and remind me not to forget about the arrangements."

The price of M1 is 319 US dollars, and the cost price of exporting from China to the United States is 240 US dollars, and there is almost a space of 80 US dollars in the middle, because the versatility of different channels needs to be considered, and the contact with the first channel is more important.

Otherwise, the prices of different channels are different, and there will be no synergy in the distribution of products, which may still have a negative effect.

"Mr. Fang, are you going to see Mr. Smith this afternoon?" Guan Jin asked, very comfortable with the role.

"Well, Smith is Xiong Xiaoge's friend in IDG in the United States, and we will rely on his contacts for this trip." Fang Zhuo nodded, this was something he and Pan Ben confirmed yesterday.

Guan Jin asked: "Then shall we prepare some gifts for meeting?"

Fang Zhuo had a feeling that this person was more assistant than administrative assistant, he shook his head and said, "Well, no, I have already brought some good tea and cultural crafts."

Guan Jin had no more problems, and quietly continued to listen to the boss' instructions.

When noon was approaching, Fang Zhuo took the two of them to dinner with the other five. They talked and laughed without putting any pressure on everyone, but encouraged everyone to take this as a good opportunity to get in touch with overseas markets.

Now that M1 has chosen to enter the US market, these people have seized the first opportunity to appear in New York through the language barrier.

If the effect of M1 here is good, there is no reason to give up other similarly mature markets, such as European countries, which may be the second test for the people in front of them.

Sometimes, people need some luck, like Guan Jin, she is not the latest in the group, and there is Qi He from the marketing department, who was only recruited last month, and at the end of the month he was selected because of his oral ability go abroad together.

It is said that because he likes to watch foreign movies, he helped translate subtitles during school, and sometimes went to the English Corner to look for seniors, so he practiced his oral English very well over time.

As the old saying goes, if you don’t overwhelm yourself with a lot of arts, you will have no extra study time when you need to show off.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Pan Ben came to pick up Fang Zhuo, and Guan Jin also got into the car as an assistant.

"President Pan, how are you? Did you see Smith today?" Fang Zhuo asked.

"I see." Pan Ben said in embarrassment, "but the time is short, he is very busy, and he didn't give me a chance to express it."

Fang Zhuo smacked his lips and continued to ask: "How did Mr. Xiong arrange it? Is the relationship in place? Can the M1 procedures be settled?"

"The procedures are all right, M1 is not a contraband, and there are similar products on the market here." Pan Ben shook his head, "Mr. Xiong said that this is his good friend when he was in the United States. Arrangements, their positions in the group do not belong to each other."

Fang Zhuo frowned, this is different from what he said when he came here, are we going to talk about ownership?
He looked at the foreigners outside the car and said, "Then we'll see each other. The boat will go straight when it reaches the bridge."

At 45:5 p.m., in the New York office of IDG Capital, Fang Zhuo, Pan Ben, and Guan Jin met IDG Global Senior Vice President Smith, who was [-] minutes late, a tall white man with strong vision.

The senior vice president made a phone call while entering the office, first nodded to the three Chinese people who had been waiting for a long time, and then pointed to his mobile phone.

Fang Zhuo stretched out his hand, signaling this guy to get busy with work first.

However, I didn't expect the other party to talk on the phone for half an hour, and the three of them had been waiting for four, five, 10 minutes since they entered the office.

Fang Zhuo looked calm, trying to figure out what this situation meant. At least, Old Xiong's favor was not as important as he thought.

"Hello." Smith hung up the phone, shook hands with the three of them one by one, and apologized first, "I have a relatively urgent investment. I am really sorry to delay your time."

"It's okay, Mr. Smith, work is the most important thing." Fang Zhuo replied in English, and then said, "Mr. Smith can speak English, so I have no problem communicating."

Smith laughed, and replaced his poor Chinese with his mother tongue: "Chinese is too difficult. I have learned it for more than a year and still can't pronounce it correctly. You must sound weird."

"Language, you need to use it frequently to learn quickly." Fang Zhuo laughed.

Smith first praised: "Mr. Fang's oral English is very fluent."

Then, he said: "China is an important emerging market in the world, and it is good to master such a foreign language."

After the two chatted in this way, Smith's speech was not as negligent as the late + phone call.

Soon, Fang Zhuo turned the topic to serious business.

The smile on Smith's face faded, and he didn't hide his opinion. He said directly: "I don't think this kind of hardware splicing gadgets has any future. What I know is that Apple's Ipods don't sell very well."

"Fang, if you want to expand the market for this thing in the United States, I advise you not to waste your energy and time. Why don't you take a good look at the beautiful New York and the hot girls this trip."

Fang Zhuo was stunned. He had already thought about the checkpoints here when the call was over, but he didn't expect that the biggest reason was that the other party didn't like the mp3 music player at all.

"Even the products made by high-tech companies like Apple in the United States are not popular, Fang, please forgive me for being straightforward, why are you wasting time?" Smith asked puzzled.

Fang Zhuo has always believed in his own vision, in various senses.

Therefore, he could clearly see that the expression of the white man in front of him was either pretending or mocking, or genuine bewilderment and confusion - behind it was a complete disbelief that Huaxia had made something that could be popular in the United States and that local companies did not have. products that do.

"Because Ipod does not support Microsoft, our M1 supports Microsoft." Fang Zhuo explained the direction of the product.

"Then where do you put the walkman?" Smith spoke quickly, "Do you think you can overthrow a product that has been popular in the world for 20 years? Why? Do you know how popular the walkman is? "

Fang Zhuo was dumbfounded, as if no one from Sony's own company was as confident as Smith.

He said in a deep voice: "Mr. Smith, because the M1 came into being with the development of the Internet, if the Walkman is the classic of the last century, then the M1 is the product of this century."

Smith smiled and said stubbornly: "Fang, I appreciate your confidence, but it's hard to impress a venture capitalist with this alone, because I see such confidence every day."

"Mr. Smith, M1 needs a trial. This kind of trial will bring you surprises. It doesn't require much, it just needs to be connected to the chain channel and placed on the counter or booth." Fang Zhuo tried to persuade.

Smith stared at Fang Zhuo, then glanced at the two people next to him who were obviously nervous, and shrugged: "Pan told me, you want to contact Wal-Mart executives, right? I can give you the contact information, but I don't Will give recommendations for products that I am not optimistic about."

In other words, a prominent intermediary disappears, which will double the trouble for subsequent communication.

But at the very least, it can be regarded as getting a high-level contact number.

Fang Zhuo resisted the urge to frown and expressed his thanks.

"Hey, Fang, good luck." Smith said as the group of three left, "I hope there is a product that belongs to the 21st century."

Facing the opinion that the senior vice president still insisted on expressing, Fang Zhuo said with a smile: "This should not be hope, because it has already appeared, Mr. Smith, since you are learning Chinese, I recommend you to read the story of Bole and Maxima , from the "Ma Shuo" written by our country's famous poet Han Yu."

"I'll take a look when I have time, thank you for your recommendation." Smith nodded, and a busy phone rang again on the desk.

Fang Zhuo waved his hand: "Thank you for your help, too."

Yike's 2+1 people left IDG's New York office.

Smith looked at the closed door, smiled nonchalantly, picked up the phone, and continued to work on his work. IDG had already studied the player released by Apple.

The conclusion is that the gadgets with existing hardware stitching have a limited future.

(End of this chapter)