Top of the Great Era

Chapter 3114 Cognitive War

Zhou Shaoning nodded. "This incident really sounded the alarm for us. It is really hard for us to compete with iPhone just by product strength and innovation. This is especially true when the timeline is extended. Originally, our Aster series, relying on a series of innovative product designs, has already left iPhone behind to some extent. The sales of iPhone5 and iPhone5s also obviously did not meet expectations. Unexpectedly, iPhone6 ​​came."

"So, Cook is more difficult to deal with than Jobs!"

Zhou Buqi had long realized this.

It is much easier to deal with a gentleman who has inner perseverance than to deal with a profit-seeking rogue.

Jobs also plagiarized.

But Jobs was more restrained in plagiarizing. He had his own product philosophy. If he thought something was not good, no matter how well accepted it was by the market, he would not imitate it. If he was willing to put aside his pride and insistence, Microsoft would not have been able to survive.

Cook is different.

He is not a designer and does not have any product concept. He comes from the marketing background and only cares about the market.

This is terrible.

If they see something good from their competitors, they can just copy it and use it. This will pose a fatal threat to competitors like Samsung and Asda who want to rely on product innovation to compete with the iPhone.

Zhou Buqi said: "Aishida finally came up with some innovations, and after our unremitting efforts to promote them, they were validated by the market. However, a year or so later, Apple followed suit and put our new designs on the iPhone. This led to the lack of sustainability of the advantages of innovation."

Zhou Shaoning nodded, "It is always easier to copy than to innovate."

Zhou Buqi sighed and said, "Technology is the core competitiveness? This way of thinking really needs to be changed! This is a wrong path!"

"It cannot be said to be a wrong path, but rather an imagination of technology by those people in China who do not understand the market but have the right to speak, sitting in an ivory tower. Or... this is a misunderstanding that oranges grown in the north of the Huai River are not as good as oranges grown in the north of the Huai River." Zhou Shaoning did hardware research in the United States in his early years, and later switched to the Internet. Later, he started an enterprise and founded Astar. He felt deeply that "China and the United States are different! In the United States, in Silicon Valley, technology is indeed the core competitiveness."

Zhou Buqi said in a deep voice: "It is true. Looking at Zhongguancun in the past few years, everything was imitated from Silicon Valley. Those who hold power have absolutely no understanding of the market and think that the logic that prevails in Silicon Valley can also work in China."

Zhou Shaoning said: "In the final analysis, it is still determined by talent."

Zhou Buqi nodded and said, "Yes, the density of talents."

Zhou Shaoning said: "Silicon Valley gathers talents from all over the world. If a company has the most talents, it can continue to move forward on the path of scientific research and innovation. They are not afraid of plagiarism from competitors. The competitors have thoroughly understood their own products and plagiarized them...they have already made newer inventions. Plagiarism can stimulate the technological progress and development of Silicon Valley."

At this point, the two people's ideas connected.

Zhou Buqi said: "The number of talents in China is far less than that in Silicon Valley, and there is also a lack of freedom for innovation. A company has spent countless efforts, relying on a few scientific and technological talents, and finally made a breakthrough in a certain field and made some innovations... but it was copied by others in an instant. This ruined everything."

Zhou Shaoning sighed, "This is a matter of probability. The more talents there are, the more open the policies are, and the higher the degree of freedom, the more innovation and research and development results there will be. Innovations in some areas can also occur in China, but the probability is too small. Silicon Valley can afford to be copied by others, because even if they are copied, they are likely to have newer products and ideas. But China cannot afford it because innovation is a small probability, and once it is copied, it is almost impossible to have newer inventions to replace it."

Zhou Buqi said: "Even Estar can't afford the cost of this kind of plagiarism."

"We can't afford it." Zhou Shaoning also came to this conclusion. "iPhone 6 really taught us a profound lesson. The differentiated designs we are proud of, such as fingerprint unlocking, AI assistant, and large screen, will be gone once the iPhone copies them. The same is true for the full-screen mobile phone with face recognition that we are planning. In the early stage of its release, we will have certain advantages. But once the iPhone copies it and has a similar design, we will still not be able to do it."

Zhou Buqi said, "That's the truth. R&D and innovation cannot change the industrial structure. This is not a development path that can promote the long-term competition between Estar and Apple. Otherwise, the iPhone 6 incident will only happen again and again. We worked hard to come up with innovative designs and promoted market recognition, but iPhone copied them and immediately became their own global hit. This has caused great damage to the morale of the team."

"The development of the domestic science and technology industry over the past 20 to 30 years is really a sufficient demonstration. Since the 1990s, those companies that focused on technology research and development and product innovation have basically failed. Even Peking University Founder and Tsinghua Tongfang are now on the verge of bankruptcy..." Zhou Shaoning said halfway, thought of something, and smiled, "By the way, there is a mobile phone company called Hammer, do you know it? It claims to be based on products and innovation, and it has indeed produced some very interesting new designs."

Zhou Buqi certainly knew this. “So, no matter how good the product is, Hammer is going to end up in a dead end if it chooses this path. Bad designs will be laughed at by peers and the market. Good designs will be copied for free by peers with greater market recognition, thus serving as a tool for others.”

The comparison between Chinese and American technology companies is actually similar to the comparison between Hammer and Astar.

In the market, Asda is more famous and has a better brand than Hammer, and it is more respectable to sell. In short, Asda's mobile phones are more recognized in the market and control the minds of more consumers.

This has created a dead end for Hammer. If the new design is not good, it will be ridiculed and laughed at, and the Hammer phone will become less and less respectable; if the new design is good and recognized by the market, Esda can copy it and put it in its own phone.

The brand of Astar is much bigger than that of Hammer.

It will also be more recognized by users and the market.

The phones of both parties have the same functions and designs, so which one will users buy? Of course, the phone of Asda, because users don't care who copied whom.

This resulted in the Hammer smartphone not being able to reap any benefits from its creative new designs, but instead helping its competitors a lot.

Zhou Buqi said: "If Smartisan wants to break through, it must first change the user's perception. It is necessary to create an industry-leading brand positioning for Smartisan, rather than doing any research and development, new designs, or new inventions. This is a cognitive war. If the market recognition of Smartisan is higher than that of Astar, or even becomes the number one in China, then if China develops some new designs and new inventions, it can gain a foothold in China."

Zhou Shaoning agrees with this. "Mr. Lei's Xiaomi has done a great job in this regard. As a brand that was also established not long ago, Xiaomi has gained much more market recognition than Hammer. However, in terms of product creative design, Xiaomi's contribution to the mobile phone industry is almost zero, and it is far from comparable to Hammer."

Zhou Buqi: "It's not just about creative design, it's also about technology research and development. Look at Huawei and ZTE, they both have top technology capabilities in China, but what's the result? Their phones are getting further and further away from the market. Technology research and development, product innovation, these are all very important, but there must be a big premise!"

"Cognition!"

“I heard Huawei is going to shut down its mobile phone business?”

"possible."

"It's a pity. With their level, they can definitely make better phones." Zhou Buqi then started to talk nonsense. "However, if Huawei wants to struggle to save its mobile phone business, it must change its understanding of the mobile phone business strategically and conceptually. Technological research and development cannot solve fundamental problems. If Huawei wants to achieve results, it must transform from technology to marketing! Establish new brand awareness through marketing!"

Judging from the time, it’s time for Yu Dazui to go on stage.

Huawei mobile phones should also enter a period of recovery under the new concept.

Once the brand is established, with the support of Huawei's technological accumulation and hundreds of thousands of talent reserves to create product ideas, Huawei's mobile phones will have the opportunity to soar into the sky.

However, Zhou Shaoning didn't take Huawei seriously at all.

All he could think about now was Apple.

This time, iPhone 6 imitated Aster 5 last year in every aspect, but it became a world-class hit model, which brought him a great shock. This also prompted Zhou Shaoning and Zhou Buqi to consider that they must change the strategic positioning of Aster at this stage.

Astar's goal is to become a world-class technology company.

If he only focused on the domestic market, he wouldn't have to worry so much.

Because the domestic brand of Aisda has been established, and the market recognition has been formed. With recognition, it is like sitting on the Diaoyutai, watching other companies' products have new functions and new designs, and copying them for your own use.

Anyway, other brands lack market recognition, so even if they are original, they won’t sell many.

Aisda has a higher level of cognition. Even if the ideas are all copied, they can still be popular in the market. If Aisda works a little harder and comes up with some independent new designs and technologies, it will be enough to arouse the collective excitement of the market.

Apple's position in the global market is similar to that of Asda in the domestic market. Especially in the Cook era, the iPhone's creativity has been greatly reduced, and the product concept has become more and more in line with the market... But this is not important, Apple's brand and market recognition are there.

Apple can't compete with me, but I won't.

When others come up with something new and interesting, they copy it and put it on the iPhone, which is enough to create one hot-selling iPhone after another.

What Zhou Shaoning is most concerned about now is how Asda can break through in the global market and find a way to compete with Apple in the long term.

Zhou Shaoning took a deep breath and said in a deep voice: "The Hammer phone is to Astar as Astar is to Apple. If we want to break through, we still have to engage in a cognitive war!"