The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide

It's just that for Lei Jun, the more perfect Simo's career is, the greater the challenge he faces.

The more outstanding your predecessor is, it means that it will be difficult for you to achieve a breakthrough based on him.

One year after the release of Mphone2, with the expansion of sales channels, the accumulation of word-of-mouth reputation of Mphone1, and the global sales, sales exceeded 30 million in one year. This is a new milestone for smartphones, and even a milestone event for the history of mobile phones. It is the first time that a mobile phone at this price has sold such a high volume.

With a minimum price of US$749, the annual revenue from Mphone2 alone exceeded US$20 billion. Adding Mphone1, Bluetooth headsets, software revenue, and Apple product line revenue, Matrix's annual revenue in 2003 was 35 billion. Around USD.

This means that in the field of mobile phones, Matrix is ​​becoming a giant, putting great pressure on previous mobile phone manufacturers.

At the end of 2003, the company's annual reports have been released frequently. Nokia is still the well-deserved number one. No other company can shake the annual shipment volume of 400 million units. However, Matrix has devoured the part of the market where Nokia has the highest profit margin. Part of the market was almost swallowed up by Matrix.

This is obviously unacceptable to Nokia, and it also allows the outside world to fully recognize this new giant.

So much so that after the merger of Matrix and Apple in 2003 was approved by Amerikan's Department of Commerce, most Apple shareholders requested the use of Matrix's name instead of Apple.

Zhou Xin agreed to such a request without hesitation. Is there anything better than directly annexing Apple? It was originally a backdoor listing, but now it has become a shell with the name Matrix painted on it.

This has led to special attention on who will become the new head of Matrix after Seamus retires. There are various speculations from the outside world, including Nokia executives, Jobs, or airborne.

There is almost no option for Lei Jun in various speculations, because compared to his competitors, Lei Jun is too inconspicuous.

Because of this, when Matrix's internal appointment was made, the outside world was in an uproar, full of doubts about Lei Jun, questioning why this new recruit in the field of consumer electronics could hold such an important position as the new head of Matrix.

"I believe that Lei Jun can do this position well and he can lead Matrix to continue to move forward.

He may not be the most experienced choice, nor is he the choice with the most glorious past resume, but he is the best choice for the Matrix. "Zhou Xin expressed his strong support for Lei Jun in an interview.

Of course, Zhou Xin's statement does not mean that the outside world will accept it. Most of the Silicon Valley media practitioners have experienced the golden age of personal computers in the 1980s, so they have a lot of affection for Jobs, especially after Jobs returned to Apple and launched the iPods series. After the product, the Silicon Valley media believed that Jobs was the most suitable candidate.

“Although Newman gave various reasons for choosing Jun Lei, these reasons are too far-fetched and not only fail to convince me, but I think they also fail to convince most Matrix supporters.

After joining Matrix, Jun's main work focused on supply chain and marketing. For a rapidly rising giant like Matrix, with an annual order volume of up to 20 million, it is an order that any supplier must win.

Mphone's high pricing allows Matrix to not be too strict with supply chain management and leave sufficient profit margins for suppliers. Therefore, supply chain management is not difficult. Supplier management cannot prove Jun's ability.

As for marketing, Newman is Matrix's best marketing tool. As the proposer of the new media concept, Newman is a natural marketing master. Jun does not need to do any extra work.

Therefore, apart from the reason that he is also from China, Jun has no advantage over Steve Jobs in taking over a behemoth like Matrix. Another thing I forgot to mention is that before joining Matrix, Jun had no experience in the consumer electronics industry. "This is the question raised by a Silicon Valley technology magazine about Lei Jun's takeover of Matrix.

The current Lei Jun is not the Lei Jun who founded Xiaomi twenty years later. He has no reputation in Amerikan, no historical record, and only the support of Zhou Xin. To be honest, facing the doubts from the outside world, he is under great pressure.

When you have Steve Jobs under you, even though Steve Jobs is responsible for independent brand operations and there is relatively little interaction between them, the doubts from the outside world will still make Lei Jun shaken: What if I don’t do as well as Steve Jobs?

Lei Jun never doubted that he was not worthy of this position, nor did he doubt that he would not be able to do it well, because Matrix's foundation was too solid. Technology, product strength, brand image, supply chain management, etc. were among the key elements of a consumer electronics company. Matrix does not have any shortcomings, and it is not an exaggeration to describe it as having all its strengths.

Lei Jun was only worried that he could not compare with Jobs, because Jobs was in charge of Apple's business lines, and Matrix had already annexed Apple. Apple's name was not left, but the Apple brand was still there and would be operated as a brand under Matrix.

Lei Jun is worried that under his management, Mphone will be surpassed by the Apple mobile phone that Steve Jobs will launch, which will give the outside world more reasons to criticize.

"Simo, I have no doubt that Matrix will get better and better and become a well-deserved giant in the mobile phone field. We can unseat Nokia and become the mobile phone brand with the largest market share.

I'm not worried about Matrix being able to take a leading position in the new smartphone era. I'm just worried that I'm not doing a good enough job. "

As an older man and the former CEO of Matrix, Simo knows very well what Lei Jun is worried about and the doubts from the outside world, because he also experienced these in his last career at Nokia.

But compared with Lei Jun, he did not have a major shareholder that supported him like Zhou Xin, so he could only leave Nokia in despair.

Before Seamus retired, he and Zhou Xin talked about the next CEO, "I think Jun can do it, and Jobs is certainly good, but the problem with Jobs is that he has too deep feelings for Apple, and he can't master the Matrix and Apple well." A balance between the two brands.

Jun's experience in the field of consumer electronics may not be as good as that of Steve Jobs's, and his insight into products is not as good as Steve's, but with you at Matrix, these things don't actually matter.

The most important thing for the next CEO of Matrix is ​​execution ability. Jun is definitely better than Jobs in this aspect, and he can suppress his own ideas and execute them 100%.

Newman, I think you made the right choice. "

It is precisely because Simo also supports Lei Jun to take over Matrix and become Matrix's next CEO, so even if there are doubts from the outside world, such doubts have not affected the stability of Matrix's internal handover.

Seamus said to Lei Jun: "I believe you can do a good job. No one can do everything best, except maybe Newman.

You just need to operate Matrix according to your thinking. For some questions that you don't understand, ask Newman, he can always give solutions. "