As for the IPO, Li Mu had his own rhythm.
At this stage, the number of users, product influence, and revenue of Makino Technology were steadily growing. No matter how one evaluated the company, it had nothing to do with the lack of money. At this stage, there was no need for a large amount of capital to support Makino Technology in the market. In other words, in the industry that Makino Technology was involved in, there was no real opponent in the world.
The so-called ability to fight was not simply commanding a small unit to fight two guerrilla battles. Instead, it meant that both sides were truly on the same level. The various armies would arrange their troops and then fight a battle to the death, or where the winner would be the king.
Therefore, Li Mu wanted to push back the pace of the IPO. At the very least, he wanted to push back the pace of the IPO until YYtunes occupied all the non- Apple users in iTunes. He wanted to push it until Mango-ME completely replaced the iPod, intercepting Apple's cash flow, and then plunging the entire company into a swamp of losses.
If the iPod failed, if iTunes also sank into the sea, all of Apple's product lines would fall into a state of anemia. No matter how much potential their products had in the future, if they could not survive the present, they had to die.
In fact, when Apple launched YYtunes and received favorable reviews from users, they immediately felt a direct threat from Makino Technology.
The first to be affected was the stock price. In the last two trading days of the week, Apple's stock price fell from $8.68 all the way to $7.36, a drop of 15% in two trading days. This was a great blow to Apple, as well as the capital and shareholders behind Apple.
The valuation of $7.36 was close to Apple's stock price a month ago. In the recent month, due to the gratifying growth of the iTunes-Store business, Apple's stock price rose significantly from $7.30 to $8.68, an increase of 20%. However, after a month of hard work, it had fallen back to its original state in two days.
What was more frightening was that no one knew what kind of news Makino Technology and YYtunes would bring this weekend. If there were continued to be unfavorable news about iTunes, then Apple's stock price would plummet on the next trading day.
And just this weekend, the team that Makino Technology sent to Germany had already begun to interview with Sennheiser and Bayer Dynamics.
The global headphone market was actually not large, only a few billion dollars in total, and a considerable part of this market did not belong to professional headphone manufacturers. This was because many users did not have the habit of buying headphones alone. Moreover, the music players that they bought came with the original components of major manufacturers. For example, the Sony Walkman sold a lot, but most Walkman users used Sony headphones that came with the Walkman. In this case, there were very few users who would buy another set of headphones.
After the headphones occupied most of the market, the remaining small part of the free market was extremely competitive. It was a situation where there were too many wolves and not enough meat. Therefore, whether it was Sennheiser or Bayer Dynamics, although they were well-known in the headphone enthusiast circle, their actual size could only be regarded as a medium-sized company in the international market, or even a small or medium-sized company. Therefore, when faced with a giant company like Makino Technology, they were looking forward to the possible cooperation.
At Sennheiser's headquarters in Hannover, Germany, the Makino Technology team met with the senior executives of Sennheiser. They first explained the cooperation intention and the details of Makino Technology's requirements to the senior executives of Sennheiser. They then told them that if they could accept the cooperation conditions of Makino Technology, then the chairman of Makino Technology, Li Mu, would communicate directly with them through video conference.
As soon as they heard that Li Mu was directly involved in this matter, the senior executives of Sennheiser paid more attention to this negotiation. Although Makino Technology hadn't put forward any conditions, in their hearts, they had already made up their minds to accept it no matter what and to hug the thigh of Makino Technology.
The person in charge of the Makino Technology team proposed a total of five cooperation intentions of Makino Technology to the senior executives of Sennheiser:
First, the two parties would develop a co-branded headphone. The overall quality of the headphone should correspond to the market price range of 60-70 USD.
Second, Makino Technology didn't have the strength and technical accumulation of acoustic hardware research. Therefore, the development of the co-branded headphone would be completed by Sennheiser alone, and Makino Technology would only give some opinions.
Third, the exterior design would be completed by the cooperation of Sennheiser and Makino Technology.
Fourth, although it was a co-branded headphone, the product wouldn't be sold jointly. Instead, Makino Technology and Mango-ME2 would be bundled together. Therefore, the cooperation model between Makino Technology and Sennheiser would adopt the pricing and purchase method. Sennheiser hoped that Sennheiser could reduce the shipping price as much as possible. On the basis of ensuring the quality, it would be best to control the shipping price at about 15-20 USD.
Fifth, Makino Technology attached great importance to Mango-ME2. At that time, not only would YY and YY network spare no effort to promote it, but YYtunes would also cooperate deeply. Therefore, the sales and exposure of Mango-ME2 were absolutely guaranteed. If Sennheiser agreed to the first four conditions, Makino Technology would definitely give Sennheiser a huge return in terms of overall shipments and brand awareness.
After Sennheiser's CEO, Muller, heard this, he didn't hesitate at all. "Gentlemen, Sennheiser is very willing to have a deep cooperation with Makino Technology, and we fully accept your cooperation requirements. I believe that with Sennheiser's strength, it is definitely the best partner for Makino Technology."
In Muller's mind, Makino Technology's intention to cooperate was like a pie falling from the sky for Sennheiser. Not to mention anything else, just the brand awareness of Makino Technology would bring a huge boost to Sennheiser's brand value, not to mention the huge sales that Mango-ME2 would bring to Sennheiser.
Although Sennheiser's direct profit margin might be squeezed out from this collaboration, it was definitely a win-win situation for him.
At this time, the team leader of Makino Technology smiled and said, "Mr. Muller, we naturally have a lot of trust in Sennheiser's strength, but there are some details that we still need to discuss further."
Muller nodded and said, "No matter what the problem is, please feel free to speak. We will do our best to facilitate our cooperation."
"Next, let's have a video conference. Our chairman and CEO, Mr. Li Mu, will talk to you directly."
Muller hurriedly said, "It's really an honor to have a video conference with Mr. Li Mu!"
After the laptop was connected to the projector and sound system in the conference room, the team leader of Makino Technology connected to Li Mu's work YY. After the video was connected, he said to Li Mu, who was sitting in Makino Technology's office, "Li Zong, Mr. Muller, the CEO of Sennheiser, has preliminarily accepted our intention to cooperate. Do you want to personally discuss the follow-up details with Mr. Muller?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "I'll talk to him about the follow-up details."
The team leader of Makino Technology turned the laptop to face Muller and the other leaders of Sennheiser so that Li Mu could see them through the laptop's camera.
When Muller saw Li Mu on the screen, he immediately greeted him enthusiastically in English. "Hello, Mr. Li Mu, I've admired you for a long time. It's an honor to have a video call with you!"
Li Mu smiled and also said in English, "Hello, Mr. Muller, it's nice to meet you."
Muller said nervously, "Mr. Li Mu, we have heard from your staff about Makino Technology's intention to cooperate. What I want to say is that Sennheiser is looking forward to cooperating with you and Makino Technology. We also hope that this cooperation can be implemented as soon as possible. We also hope that Sennheiser can help with the global sale of Mango-ME2!"
Li Mu smiled and said, "About this cooperation, I still have some details that I want to clarify with Mr. Muller."
Muller hurriedly said, "Please go ahead."
Li Mu said, "It's like this. Our product is expected to be launched in the next one to two months. So if we cooperate, our time is still very tight. First, we need both sides to start the design as soon as possible, complete the plan, and then enter the production stage. At the same time, we need Sennheiser to deliver at least one million custom-made headphones to Makino Technology in the next month, and three million more to Makino Technology in the following month."
Muller thought about it and said, "This is mainly a problem of design and production. In terms of design, we can start the exterior design as soon as possible. We have a lot of experience in this area, and we have a lot of design plans in reserve. When the time comes, we can take them out for you and Makino Technology to review and choose. If everything goes well, I believe it can be implemented within a week.
In addition to the exterior design, there is also the industrial design of the headphones. I think we can directly take out our best-selling and most recognized headphones in the 60-70 dollar range and use the industrial configuration of this headphone. This way, the sound quality is the most guaranteed. We can also cooperate with Makino Technology and directly tell the consumers that this co-branded headphone uses the same hardware as our best-selling headphone that is currently priced at 60 dollars. This way, on the one hand, we can save time on design, on the other hand, we can guarantee the sound quality of the headphones, and on the other hand, we can enhance consumer recognition. "
When Li Mu heard this, he immediately nodded and said, "Mr. Muller, this is a very good solution. If we confirm the cooperation, Makino Technology will also make a similar announcement to the outside world. If both sides make an announcement to confirm it, it will be more credible."
Muller said excitedly, "If Mr. Li Mu approves of this plan, then it couldn't be better."
Li Mu asked him again, "We can use this plan for the design, but what about the production?"
Muller hurriedly said, "There is no problem with the production. Sennheiser is currently like many other companies. Our headphone products are independently developed and then handed over to Japan's Fengda for OEM production. However, we only hand over the low-end products to Fengda for OEM production. The high-end products and flagship products are produced in Germany. The 60-70 dollar earphones you mentioned are already in the high-end category, so it will be produced directly in Germany.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
