Author: Gong Jinhui
This April, the mobile phone circle is particularly crazy, new product launches one after another, Xiaomi, Huawei, Glory, OPPO, vivo, realme, one plus, iQOO, Red Devil and other players compete to show muscles, only the figure of Coolpad is missing. Of course, Coolpad is not idle, and has done a big thing with Tencent Cloud.
Originally, on April 18, Coolpad announced that it had reached a strategic cooperation with Tencent Cloud to establish a joint laboratory for the next-generation operating system to jointly promote the research and development of underlying technologies, explore the next-generation operating system, and continue to help the development of the digital economy. Clear-eyed people can see that in the context of the homogenization of mobile phone hardware, Coolpad and Tencent Cloud explore the next generation of operating systems, intending to build software innovation into their own advantages or selling points, and form differentiated competition with Rongmi OV.
In my opinion, Coolpad's starting point for laying out the future in advance is good and worth affirming, but there is one thing that needs to be faced: let's not discuss whether Coolpad's exploration of the next generation of operating systems can be successful, even if it can be successful, it is not an overnight achievement. This means that Coolpad's move can only be regarded as a long-term expectation at best, and it is doomed to become a climate in the short term, and it will not help much to improve its overall competitiveness.
But the reality is very cruel, the mobile phone industry does not advance or retreat, will not wait until the cool to grow before starting to compete, on the contrary, the competition has always existed, and it is getting more and more intense. For a small factory like Coolpad, after the mobile phone market enters the stock era, its living environment will deteriorate day by day with the passage of time. To put it bluntly, the cool days will continue, and there is no sign of improvement at all.
An important reason is that Coolpad not only launched fewer new products, far lower than rongmi OV, but also the sales of each new product are very dismal, and the big sale has become a luxury. Last year, Coolpad only launched two products, COOL 20 and COOL 20 Pro, which is far from the more than ten new products released by Rongmi OV. At the same time, the sales of coolpad's two new products are very sluggish, selling only 126,300 units last year, which is not even as good as the first sales of Rongmi OV's single new product.
The former has been listed for more than half a year and has only received more than 10,000 reviews on the Jingdong platform; the latter's market performance is even more difficult to say, and in the past 5 months, it has only won more than 500 reviews on the Jingdong platform. Considering that COOL 20 Pro was released in early December last year, and was basically not welcomed by users after listing, therefore, last year Coolpad mainly relied on COOL 20 as a product to fight the world, and its equal "can't sell", the overall performance is naturally lackluster.
According to the financial report, coolpad revenue in 2021 was HK$665.4 million, down 18.03% year-on-year, with a loss of HK$572 million, an increase of 45.34% year-on-year. It is not difficult to see that Coolpad wants to sell without sales, to make profits without profits, and life is very difficult. As one of the few listed companies in the mobile phone circle, Xiaomi's revenue last year was as high as 328.3 billion yuan, an increase of 33.5% year-on-year, which is 585 times that of Coolpad, and the net profit was 22 billion yuan, an increase of 69.5% year-on-year, which is also far beyond Coolpad.
Obviously, there is a huge gap between Coolpad and Xiaomi, which is in the first echelon of the mobile phone market, and the gap is so large that it is almost impossible to catch up, even if it takes more time, it will not help. However, Coolpad is still very eager to be in the first echelon, and in October last year, Coolpad chairman Chen Jiajun released a bold statement, "Now the market opportunity is very large, and our goal is to return to the first echelon within 3 years." ”
I have to say that don't look at the low sense of existence of cool, but it can't stop its ambition, and the outside world is generally pessimistic. You know, the so-called first echelon refers to the top five players, namely Rongmi OV + Apple, Coolpad wants to return to the first echelon, at least to achieve sales comparable to Rongmi OV + Apple, or slightly behind them, but the gap is not very large. Therefore, there are only two roads in front of Coolpad, either sales usher in rapid growth and continue to catch up, or expect Rongmi OV + Apple to make mistakes and sales plummet.
In fact, no matter which road is not easy to take, it is extremely difficult to achieve. Chen Jiajunli Flag has been half a year, in the past six months, Coolpad only released a COOL 20 Pro product, sales do not go up is an indisputable fact, to achieve high-speed growth is not realistic. It is even more unlikely to expect industry giants to make mistakes and lead to a sharp decline in sales, because they are mature, sophisticated enterprises, and it may be inevitable to make small mistakes, but the probability of making big mistakes is minimal.
Therefore, not to mention that Coolpad cannot cash in Chen Jiajun's Flag in 3 years, even if it is given 6 years or even longer, it is almost impossible to return to the first echelon. Of course, if Chen Jiajun intends to forcibly redefine the "first echelon" and find a step for himself, it will be another matter. In other words, under normal circumstances, Coolpad's return to the first echelon within 3 years is basically no drama and difficult to ascend to the sky.
Why am I so determined, you may ask? The fundamental reason is determined by the comprehensive strength of Coolpad, and the strength cannot support its ambitions. In order to occupy a place in the fiercely competitive domestic market, Coolpad is fully prepared in three aspects: new team, new capital, and new strategy, specifically:
In terms of the new team, Coolpad recruited Four people from Xiaomi, Qin Tao, Hu Xing, Li Yujing and Sima Yunrui, Qin Tao as senior vice president, the other three as vice presidents, they have rich experience in mobile phone industry trading and product building, and maintain deep insight into industry trends and user needs.
In terms of new capital, since the end of 2020, Coolpad has raised more than HK$2.1 billion in the capital market, including the signing of a HK$833 million share subscription agreement in October 2021, led by the internationally renowned investment institution SIG, and followed by Honghui Investment under Chen Jiajun.
In terms of the new strategy, Coolpad will start from three aspects: channel, supply chain and system innovation. The channel has changed from the common distribution channel model in the industry to the digital channel management model; the supply chain gives priority to the use of domestic components, and 80-90% of the components have been localized; system innovation is to create a leading next-generation operating system, "In the past six months, our Linux kernel core branch code contribution has ranked among the top 2 Chinese mobile phone brands." Qin Tao once said.
It can be seen that there are people in Coolpad under Chen Jiajun's rule, and the direction of force has been clear, compared with the past hard life of their own, there is indeed great progress, but in the mobile phone industry, Coolpad's hard-earned "advantages" are not obvious, not enough to help it attack the city.
The so-called new team, Qin Tao, Hu Xing, Li Yujing and Sima Yunrui are all mid-level millet, to Coolpad as an executive, from the side to show that Coolpad is not as good as millet, and millet executives are still active in the front line, they will compete with the former leaders, which is better or worse at a glance. At the same time, OV and Glory have also established a perfect talent echelon, and high-level and middle-level talents are readily available.
The so-called new capital, coolpad with more than 2.1 billion Hong Kong dollars in hand is indeed stronger than in the past, but it is not remarkable in the mobile phone industry, and Rongmi OV is not bad money. Taking Xiaomi as an example, Xiaomi has invested 10 billion yuan in car manufacturing, and mobile phones, as its main business, can naturally enjoy more capital blessings. In fact, for the high-investment business of mobile phones, HK$2.1 billion is really not much, and there are very limited things that can be done.
The so-called new strategy, in the construction of channels, Coolpad takes the route of "rural encirclement of the city", first from the township market and then gradually cover the city, by the end of 2021, Coolpad has established more than 3200 authorized service stations across the country. Coolman thinks that the layout of the township market can avoid the sharp edge of OV? It is naïve, they have established about 200,000 outlets in the national market at all levels, more than 10,000 millet offline stores, and Glory is also accelerating its penetration into the township market.
In terms of supply chain, to tell the truth, users do not care whether the components are domestic or foreign goods, but only care about the product selling points brought by the components and the cost performance derived from them. Unfortunately, the product selling points of COOL 20 and COOL 20 Pro are not attractive to users, and they do not have cost-effective advantages. Of course, there is a saying that Coolpad insists on using domestic components, which helps to promote the development and stability of the mobile phone industry chain, which is what the industry cares about, but it is not what users really care about, and it cannot satisfy users.
As for system innovation, among the many third-party customized operating systems, Coolpad's own CoolOS is rarely mentioned by the outside world, the popularity is not good, and the user reputation has not been established. I am curious, Coolpad even this generation of operating system can not do well, CoolOS has not reached the industry's first-class level, why do a good job in the next generation of operating system? Is it difficult to cooperate with Tencent Cloud to make everything work out?
In my opinion, the operating system based on the secondary development of Android, even if it adds the elements of the Internet of Everything, it is not the next generation of operating system, and only huawei Hongmeng, a completely new operating system, can be regarded as a real next-generation operating system. At present, I don't know how Coolpad defines the next generation of operating systems, but with all due respect, I am more optimistic about Huawei leading the next generation of operating systems than Coolpad.
All indications show that Coolpad has only achieved a stronger self than in the past, but compared with the incomparably powerful Rongmi OV, there are almost no advantages and chances to win. Far from saying, take the immediate point, this year is about to pass 1/3, Coolpad a new machine has not been released, Rongmi OV has released N new machines, to create a lot of explosive models, this alone, Coolpad to take what and Rongmi OV to fight?
In fact, not only me, but even Chen Jiajun's friends are not optimistic about the prospects of Coolpad. You know, the mobile phone industry has high investment, fierce competition, complex supply chain, and has long been a stock market, and every new player like Coolpad is a nightmare. Many friends around him said to Chen Jiajun, "Just wait for the money invested to float in the water" and "no one thinks it can be done." Indeed, Coolpad's return to the front line is difficult and the hope is extremely slim.
I think that cooperation with Tencent Cloud can not save the lonely Coolpad, rather than focusing on the long-term next-generation operating system, it is better to live in the present, first create a blockbuster to prove themselves, step by step steady. It is not easy to do the machine, cool and do and cherish!