Top of the big era

Zhou Buqi did not go north for the time being.

The capital is too windy in April, which is far less comfortable than staying in the south. In addition, there are some work matters, Zhou Shaoning came over from Canada.

The trend of platform computers has emerged, and Asda intends to launch its own brand of tablet computers.

In addition, another very important thing is that the government intends to promote Asda to cooperate with China Mobile, China Unicom, Huawei, and ZTE, and try to cooperate in the international patent bidding market.

Huawei and ZTE are the two major communications giants in Pengcheng and are mortal enemies. It is very important for these two companies to put aside their differences and cooperate.

Zhou Shaoning ran over in a hurry, "Now it's clear that Google's interest in Motorola is based on the patents in their hands, not Motorola's mobile phone business."

Zhou Buqi smiled and said, "No surprise, the cooperation has been reached?"

"No."

"Um?"

"Google wants to acquire Motorola, but there are still big differences internally. They don't only have Motorola as an option, they also have Nortel."

"What?"

Zhou Buqi was slightly startled.

Subconsciously, I thought of the pretty girls in Nortel School.

Zhou Shaoning explained: "Nortel Technology is a communications equipment manufacturer in Canada with a history of more than 100 years. At that time, our country's technology industry had zero foundation, and the first step to go global was Nixon's visit to China. In addition, Canada's During the year, we continued to provide free food assistance to the country. The country approved Canada's Nortel Technology to come to the country to carry out business and help us build a communication system. Later in the country, Datang, Panda, China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and ZTE Companies such as Huawei and Huawei have continued to develop based on Beike Technology’s system.”

Zhou Buqi had never heard of it, "Oh! That's awesome!"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Yes, this company used to be a giant in the industry. However, its operations have become worse and worse in the past twenty years. Many major scientific research projects have been chosen in the wrong direction. A lot of scientific research funds have been spent, but the wrong choices have been made. After a long time, it was overtaken by companies such as Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson. The market was gradually eroded, and it declared bankruptcy two years ago."

Zhou Buqi was surprised, "Bankrupt?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Well, times have changed and they can't keep up with the development of the Internet era. Motorola's fate today is because it failed to keep up with the mobile Internet and fell in the era of smartphones. Nortel is even worse. They can't even keep up with PCs." The Internet era has not kept up.”

Zhou Buqi tried to analyze, "So now Google is going to rush in to carve up Nortel Technology's assets? Patents?"

"Yes." Zhou Shaoning smiled, "This has already happened. Two years ago, Ericsson spent US$1.1 billion to buy Nortel's CDMA assets, and Avaya bought the enterprise network for US$900 million. department. Now, Nortel’s remaining core assets are mainly its 6,000 core patent portfolio.”

Zhou Buqi asked: "It's been two years, what's going on with Google?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Because these patents are of high value, network equipment vendors, mobile operators and mobile phone manufacturers around the world are interested, including technology giants such as Apple, Google, Huawei, ZTE, Motorola and Ericsson."

"very competative?"

"Yes, if there is a fake horse bidding, the price will only get higher and higher."

“What is a fake horse auction?”

Zhou Buqi was a little embarrassed. He had a wide range of knowledge, but he couldn't explain some relatively professional terms to him, which he didn't understand.

Zhou Shaoning said: "It is a method of asset auction for bankrupt enterprises. The bankrupt enterprise proposes a minimum price, and then the bidders can only keep raising the price. They cannot negotiate or lower the price. This method can often achieve sky-high prices. Ericsson originally bought it The starting price for Nortel's CDMA assets was only US$430 million, and Ericsson was the highest bidder and was sold for US$1.1 billion."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "So how much are these patent assets in Nortel's hands worth?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "The starting price is only 1 billion US dollars, but the competition is too fierce. The bidding has been postponed several times to further ferment the market and cause competition among technology giants from all sides. It is said... It is said that Google has prepared 4 billion Dollar."

"Want to spend $4 billion to buy a patent worth $1 billion?"

Zhou Buqi has seen the courage and determination of overseas technology giants in the field of technology precipitation.

Zhou Shaoning said in a deep voice: "Yes, Google has an urgent need for patents, which will affect the future life and death of the Android system. If Google is allowed to do this, Google will not acquire Motorola. If not Google’s participation, without Google’s control, Asda would never have been able to buy the Motorola brand.”

In front of "Motorola", the "Astar" brand is a younger brother.

If Asda wants to acquire Motorola's mobile phone business, it must follow Google's lead and have Google take the lead and control the transaction.

Google got the core patents that Google wanted, and left the rest of the business to Asda. The elder brother eats meat and the younger brother drinks soup. Even drinking soup was extremely satisfying for Aisda.

However, if Google successfully bids for the 6,000 patent portfolio held by Nortel Technology and spends such a large sum of money, it will definitely close the deal with Motorola.

By then, Asda will have gained nothing.

Zhou Buqi was foresight, and he knew that Google eventually succeeded in acquiring Motorola Mobility, which meant... Google failed in the Nortel patent matter, so it settled for Motorola as the next best option.

It does not matter.

The important thing is that he is now very interested in Nortel's 6,000 patent portfolio.

What kind of patent is it that is so valuable?

With Google's strength, how many times the price was paid to bid for it, but it still failed? So who bought this part of the patent?

Zhou Buqi asked: "What exactly is in Nortel's patents?"

"Well……"

Zhou Shaoning looked at Boss Zhou with a somewhat complicated look.

How do you say this?

You don’t understand!

Zhou Buqi said angrily: "What is the general direction? Is it related to the mobile Internet?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "There are many, such as... By the way, the core competitors are two, one is Apple and the other is Google. Both parties should be actively planning for the next era!"

"The next era?"

"Yes, 4g network."

“In Nortel Technology’s patent, is it 4G?”

Zhou Buqi opened his eyes wide.

Zhou Shaoning said: "These are the core patents. Nortel is the global leader in this field. Their 4G patent portfolio is the best and has the highest technical content. Whoever gets this part of the patents will replace the 3G network with the 4G network in the future." In this era, we will have greater advantages.”

Although Zhou Buqi is not an expert in this field, he can basically make a general judgment based on his foresight and experience.

Google bought Motorola.

So this Nortel Technology should have been acquired by Apple. Then, Apple gained a first-mover advantage in the 4G field and could conduct research and development of 4G mobile phones at a technical level earlier.

At the same time, there are cost advantages.

If the patent is in the hands of Apple, the patent fees paid by the iPhone will be reduced and the cost will be compressed; Android will have to pay a large amount of 4G patent fees, the cost will be greatly increased, and the competitiveness will be reduced.

This gave Zhou Buqi a headache.

You have to accept it even if you don’t accept it!

The hard power is there, and competition is nothing but competition. Even if he wanted Aisda to rush in and grab the patent, he wouldn't be at that level.

Even Google is no match for Apple, let alone Asda.

Zhou Shaoning's thinking is different from that of Boss Zhou. What he values ​​most is Motorola's mobile phone business. Technology serves products, and there are too many factions of technology, all kinds and diverse.

The choice of technical route should be reflected in the market performance of the product.

It’s not who has good technology who is great, but whoever has good products is great.

Just like Sony, which is gradually being eliminated by the times, in the past few years, it has developed too many products with top technology, but because the products were not recognized by the market, the high-tech technology behind them was also wasted.

In contrast, smartphones, a relatively low-end product, are more recognized by the public and the market, and a series of patent portfolios surrounding smartphones can be sold for sky-high prices.

In this regard, Zhou Shaoning has a richer understanding of the industry, so what he is most worried about now is that once Google wins the bidding for Nortel patents, it will be miserable.

Asda's layout plan for mid- to low-end phones will come to nothing.

Zhou Shaoning said in a deep voice: "In two months, Nortel's patent auction will begin. No matter what, we must prevent Google from winning! Let Google make up its mind to reach an agreement with Motorola!"

Zhou Buqi raised his eyebrows, "What do you want to do?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Support Apple."

"What?" Zhou Buqi was amused, "Support Apple? How?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "The bidding is a cash transaction, and it is very difficult for large companies like Apple and Google to use billions of dollars in cash at one time. The reason why Google intends to initiate a transaction with Motorola is because the reason behind this transaction is It is mainly an equity transaction and does not require the use of cash. The cash in the accounts of these American giants is stored in offshore companies."

The United States has a global tax law, which means that if a U.S. company makes money in other countries and transfers this profit back to the United States, it will have to pay income tax again.

This is too confusing.

Therefore, large international companies in the United States basically spend all the money they earn overseas. If they cannot spend it, it will be stored in the accounts of offshore companies.

Even for Apple, it is difficult to spend billions of dollars in the account at its local headquarters.

Therefore, Google can only offer a maximum of US$4 billion in Nortel's patent bid, because it cannot afford any more. However, it turned around and was able to acquire Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion because the deal did not require much cash and could be exchanged for Google shares.

Zhou Buqi suddenly realized, "So Apple is short of money?"

Zhou Shaoning said: "Yes, there are many companies bidding for Nortel's patents. Domestic mobile, telecommunications, Huawei, and ZTE are also involved, but they have no chance. The two major forces are really the most competitive. One is Google, one is the anti-Google alliance led by Apple. I mean, Asda is going to join the anti-Google alliance!"