Bo Hu nodded: Ji Li saved Meizu, Meizu revitalized Jili.
Text | Tang Bohu
The moribund Meizu has finally survived its hero.
According to media reports, Xingji Times, a mobile phone company under Geely Group, is negotiating cooperation with Meizu. Geely responded: We will not comment on market rumors.
Since last September, when Ji used more than 700 million yuan to establish the Star Era, the market has been speculating about how Geely will make mobile phones. At present, it can be seen that Geely uses the "buy, buy, buy" dafa that it is best at.
From a two-wheeled motorcycle to a flying car in the sky to a satellite in space, probably only Li Shufu knows what Geely needs.
Dim Meizu, the curve is aimed at millet
In 2002, founder Huang Zhang released the Meizu brand and launched the MP3 Walkman. Three years later, Meizu became the first brand in the field of MP3 Walkman in China.
In 2006, the MP3 market showed a downward trend, and Huang Zhang began to have the idea of making smart phones. In 2007, Meizu began the development of its first smartphone.
In 2009, after the Meizu M8 came out, it received a lot of attention with its low price, large screen and central iconic "M" home button design, and the phone was also placed in the Microsoft headquarters exhibition hall.
(Microsoft Beijing headquarters Meizu M8 image source: network)
Meizu M8 made a good start, letting Meizu lead the industry, at least 2 years faster than Xiaomi 1. Since then, Meizu's products have been released one after another, and reached their peak in 2015, with sales exceeding 20 million units.
However, with Meizu's desperate bet, attacking the high-end, cutting down the low-end brand Meilan that rushed to sales, and the executives leaving, Meizu accelerated the pace of entering a dead end.
According to Counterpoint Research, Meizu's market share in China was about 2% in Q3 2018 and about 1% in Q3 2019. In the past two years, Meizu's shipments have only been about one million units, and at the end of January 2021, Meizu's market share is only 0.1%.
Smart phones, there is no increase in China, even Xiaomi's Lei Jun has gone to the automotive industry to find opportunities, Meizu this edge mobile phone will only be expelled under the Matthew effect. Jili takeover is the best destination for Meizu mobile phone to continue life.
Interestingly, Meizu founder Huang Zhang and Xiaomi's Lei Jun have a lot of connections. Huang Zhang has always believed that Xiaomi mobile phones copied Meizu, after Xiaomi 9 came out, Huang Zhang accused Xiaomi of "untouchables and untouchable industries", which shows the depth of the grievances between the two.
Unfortunately, the business world also conforms to the laws of "love and separation" and "resentment". Now Xiaomi to do the car, Meizu is not unexpected, after being acquired by Geely, it will meet Xiaomi on the car track.
Xiaomi and Meizu have the same destination, which also reflects the two new development trends of the current mobile phone industry, that is, the mobile phone manufacturers represented by Xiaomi, who have gained a firm foothold in the mobile phone industry, need to develop new increments in new fields. The mobile phone manufacturers represented by Meizu, which are gradually declining in the mobile phone market, begin to need to use large companies to continue their lives, waiting for the opportunity to break through the share of head manufacturers.
The niche game mobile phone brand Black Shark probably provides another case. Recently, the media reported that Tencent intends to acquire Black Shark Technology, exert VR/AR hardware, and impact the meta-universe.
Regardless of the outcome, for Meizu now, nothing is more important than surviving.
Li Shufu's Meizu puzzle
Of course, to recruit Meizu, Jili Li Shufu is not a brain fever.
In September 2021, Geely Group established Hubei Xingji Times Technology Co., Ltd., announcing that it has officially entered the mobile phone industry and benchmarked the global market. According to media reports, Geely is currently poaching people from mobile phone manufacturers at 2 to 3 times the price.
(Source: Network)
Although the general direction of the mobile phone has been set at that time, it is not clear how Geely made the mobile phone. Especially in the case that 360 and Gree are unable to go through the path of building their own brands, how Geely chooses is a difficult choice.
According to the currently known information, Geely's mobile phone route can be basically determined, that is, to take the "buy, buy, buy" acquisition road that Geely is best at, which is much smarter than building a mobile phone brand by itself.
The first is brand recognition. Meizu made mobile phones in 2007, has established its own brand awareness and credibility in the hearts of the people, even if the sales are now sluggish, there are still millions of units, which is gree from scratch to do mobile phones can not be compared.
The second is the mobile phone research and development team behind Meizu. The mobile phone itself is based on the needs of consumers, to find an optimal combination of solutions, so a mature team is more important than the phone itself. Geely's acquisition of Meizu also values the R&D and operation and maintenance team behind it, and the acquisition is money for time.
However, there is also a problem here, in the past, Meizu was folded on the high-end road, and the sales of Meizu were also supported by the low-end brand Meilan. Meizu is also aware of this, and last September, Meizu announced that it would restart the Charm Blue brand after a gap of 1269 days.
However, Geely wants to take the high-end route, and Meizu itself is of course unable to bear this heavy responsibility. That auspicious blessing of Meizu, okay? Obviously, it is also very difficult, because Geely has almost nothing but money to give Meizu mobile phone money. Money, obviously, can not achieve high-end roads.
However, compared with the high-end dream, the biggest imagination of Geely mobile phone is the car-machine collaboration, which is the Internet of Things world built by mobile phones and cars. Here we need to mention Meizu's smart home strategy and Flyme OS.
At the end of 2020, Meizu probably realized that its mobile phone business was sunset, so it turned its focus to smart homes and officially released the high-end smart home brand Lipro. In March of the following year, Meizu updated Flyme 9, and voice assistant Aicy has learned to control the smart home.
Meizu has software capabilities, and Geely's car-machine collaboration lacks this soft capability. Therefore, for Meizu, which is hot in other companies, it has become a fragrant feast in the hands of Geely.
Geely is bound to take this step and continue the pace of Li Shufu's ecological chain, and there is no retreat.
Jili put the satellite: the crisis of "thick branches and large leaves"
On December 27, 2021, the Chinese Space Administration released news that the Starlink satellite launched by Musk's SpaceX company this year has approached the Chinese space station twice, because the space station had staff on missions at that time, and could only carry out "emergency evasion".
As of Jan. 23, SpaceX has sent 1,993 satellites, and Musk's crazy Starlink program must continue according to the target of more than 40,000 satellites.
Equally crazy is car maniac Li Shufu.
In 2018, Geely strategically invested in aerospace technology company "Space-time Daoyu", becoming the first automobile enterprise in China to independently develop low-orbit satellites.
In February 2021, The Star Connect Satellite Factory under Geely Technology obtained the approval of the commercial satellite manufacturing project approved by the National Development and Reform Commission. In September, Star Connect held the first star off-line ceremony, and the factory produced 500 satellites per year, marking that Geely's commercial satellites have entered the stage of mass production.
(Taizhou Starry Sky Smart Connected Satellite Factory Source: Network)
From cars to mobile phones to satellites, Li Shufu can be said to be becoming more and more like Silicon Valley Iron Man (Musk released tesla concept phone Model π last year). The only difference is that Geely's secondary market is not as high as Tesla's.
On January 24, the first day of the last stock trading week in the Year of the Bull, Geely Automobile opened low and closed down 3.5% in the end of the session. On the second day, it continued to open low and go low, closing down 3.94%.
Previously, Geely had two news, one was Geely's acquisition of Meizu, and the other was that Geely and Lifan Technology jointly established Ruilan Automobile and began to layout in power exchange. It is reported that the joint venture plans to build more than 5,000 high-speed substations by 2025, covering more than 100 core cities.
Not long ago, the Ningde era just entered the power exchange market. Compared with Zeng Yuqun, Li Shufu thinks further, in addition to power exchange, the business scope of Ruilan Automobile also includes battery operation, decommissioned battery energy storage and utilization, scrap battery regeneration and other battery ecology.
It is now difficult to classify Geely as a car company.
Looking at geely group's business segments, in addition to automobiles, Geely has invested in Cao Cao Travel; in 2020, it established Wofei Long Sky to do flying cars and drones; in 2016, Geely acquired Qianjiang Motorcycle and became the largest shareholder in 2019.
If the above is also related to the car, then Geely's Mingtai Group is doing track design, sports, and cultural tourism, which is completely business expansion. In addition, Li Shufu is also keen on education, and geely has founded 10 colleges and universities.
According to media reports, in January last year, Geely cooperated with Foxconn, Baidu, and Tencent to tinker with digital cockpits and automatic driving, and also asked Jia Yueting's FF whether Geely OEM.
From cars to mobile phones, power exchanges, from two-wheeled motorcycles to flying cars in the sky, to satellites in space, as well as sports, cultural tourism, and education that do not know how to classify, if you give Geely time, Li Shufu will definitely interpret the meaning of the two words "group" through his own efforts.
Geely has grown into a "thick branch and big leaf" tree, but what needs to be vigilant is the case of Evergrande, which also likes diversification and "buying, buying and buying". Maybe there is nothing wrong with it, but when the wind comes, the "thick branches and leaves" must at least break the arm, if not cause the tree to be uprooted.
At present, the way to strengthen this big tree is to connect these "thick branches and leaves". The Internet of Things led by mobile phones is an insurmountable level, and Geely's choice of Meizu is also the fastest way to achieve connectivity.
That in the under-screen camera, folding screen and other gimmicks emerge in an endless stream, the traditional car company from the Geely control of Meizu can bear this heavy responsibility? Just let the bullets fly for a while.
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