Jobs, who ended the era of CD records with his ipod, released the iPhone at the Macworld conference in 2007, and the mobile phone ushered in the era of intelligence. Six years later, after the curtain call of the old king, the mobile phone Empire created by Nokia collapsed.
The era wheel driven by Apple drove into the “virgin land”, and oppo followed the rut – in 2007, oppo officially announced its entry into the mobile phone industry.
As an enterprise inextricably linked with Duan Yongping, oppo’s image of making a fortune has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people over the years, and its industry status has long been ranked in the forefront of the global mobile phone industry.
However, with the intensification of the “internal volume” of the mobile phone industry, the homogeneity of mobile phones is becoming higher and higher. The ways of oppo and vivo high price low distribution + offline marketing are no longer effective. As Xiaomi and Huawei began to make efforts in aiot, automobile and other fields, the news of oppo listing and financing to build cars was also rampant. In the noisy comments, there are not a few people who abandon the “disciples” on the road of “getting rich in silence”. However, with “Zhuyu in front”, oppo’s “involuntarily” seems to be logical.
Although the rumors of car making have been refuted many times, the incoming chips and the layout of the meta universe all show the anxiety of OPO as a mobile phone manufacturer, the upstream search of the industrial chain and the diversified expansion of intelligent terminals – if oppo wants to maintain its competitiveness, it is inevitable to burn money, and listing is not a reasonable option?
oppo’s anxiety
With the development of mobile network, the mobile phone industry has maintained a leading position in the field of “intelligent” terminals relying on the support of information and communication technology. However, although the mobile phone screen is getting larger and larger, the “imagination” brought by the expansion of uplink download continues to “overflow”. Therefore, mobile terminals are breaking through screen restrictions, iPads are selling well, and Xiaomi tablets are “making a comeback”; Intelligent terminals are also looking for the next generation of “hosts”, and intelligent cockpit and meta universe are ready to emerge.
In recent years, oppo’s expansion has been uninterrupted; The opposite is the high growth pattern of the smartphone industry. Poverty leads to change – the essence of oppo’s diversified expansion may come from the anxiety caused by the slowdown in the growth of the smartphone industry.
According to canalys, the global chipset shortage led to a 6% decline in smartphone shipments in the third quarter of 2021. Samsung ranks first in the world with a shipment of 69.4 million units and a market share of 21%. Thanks to the release of the iPhone 13 series, apple Q3 ranked second, with a shipment of 49.2 million, an increase of 14%. Xiaomi ranked third, with a shipment of 44 million units, accounting for 14% of the market share.
Oppo has followed closely, but it has only followed closely for many years. However, compared with Xiaomi, oppo’s latest performance has indeed achieved a higher growth. Although the performance of each mobile phone manufacturer has won or lost in different regional markets or market segments, the pattern of the mobile phone industry has formed a stable situation when the technology ceiling is visible. Between attack and defense conversion, gimmicks often dominate.
An embarrassing situation is constantly being copied among mobile phone manufacturers: CPU, baseband, memory and camera modules all use the same formula, but there are only some non essential differences in appearance, system and camera tuning. In such a competitive environment without secrets, from knowing the bottom to revealing the bottom, the product finally reaches the consumer level, and the most important decision-making factor is only the price. With the continuous start of the price war, there has been increasing friction between friends and businessmen, upstream and downstream.
Until the Huawei incident, the development of the mobile phone industry seemed to accelerate into the second half. The industrial background of “being controlled by others” has made mobile phone manufacturers accelerate the cultivation of the second growth curve. The exit of anxiety began to open gates one after another at the tracks such as “making cars, making cores and making the universe”.
It is true that oppo and vivo have “learned” from Duan Yongping, but the success of the little overlord model is only a part of Duan Yongping’s wonderful resume. Following the trend and developing talents are the core of Duan Yongping’s legendary industrial achievements. Oppo once took the initiative by virtue of marketing and quickly squeezed into the forefront of the mobile phone industry; Now the industrial pattern has changed sharply, and it is not too late for oppo to follow the trend.
Red Sea myth
In oppo helmsman Chen Mingyong, Duan Yongping’s “hermit” style also seems to be reflected. However, different from the identity of the latter individual investor, Chen Mingyong carries oppo, an enterprise, and bears the heavy responsibility of curing enterprise anxiety.
Therefore, in recent years, Chen Mingyong has become high-profile.
When the difficulties really came, Chen Mingyong did stand in front of the public again after years of opposition.
Chen Mingyong, who rarely appears, has been almost invisible for many years; However, looking back on the growth history of oppo, Chen Mingyong was the protagonist at the juncture of several important decisions.
Oppo released its first branded mobile phone in 2008. Prior to this, oppo has made great achievements in the audio-visual and audio-visual industry. With the decline of the industry, Chen Mingyong stopped the loss in time, smoothly cut into the mobile phone market and shared the dividend of the thousand Yuan era.
Subsequently, apple and Google entered the game. With the collapse of Nokia, the mobile phone industry ushered in the era of intelligence. Oppo’s large amount of unsalable and inventory virtually constituted a huge gap between the company and dealers. At that time, Chen Mingyong swallowed 700 million bitter fruits and consolidated the relationship between offline channels.
In 2011, Xiaomi suddenly emerged. Fan economy and Internet marketing reshaped the pattern of domestic mobile phone brands, and countless people followed suit for a time. At that time, Chen Mingyong did the opposite and made great efforts to lay out offline. Finally, it grew into the champion of mobile phone single brand sales in the explosive growth of smart phones and the rise of consumption in third and fourth tier cities.
Oppo’s three robberies were successfully tackled after Chen Mingyong’s “non conformity”.
However, it is not difficult to find that the road is full of ruggedness and challenges when consolidating the investment direction announced and rumored by oppo officials recently.
In 2019, oppo proposed the integration of all things. Subsequently, oppo also launched smart wear, TV and other products to join the integration of all things. However, the reality is very skinny, and these two businesses have not improved at present.
In terms of aiot, Xiaomi has taken the lead. According to the latest financial report, as of September 30, 2021, the number of connected devices on Xiaomi aiot platform exceeded 400 million for the first time; Millet smart TV business continues to maintain its leading position in the industry, with Chinese mainland shipments ranking the first in eleven consecutive quarters. The company’s aiot business revenue in the third quarter was 20.9 billion yuan, a synchronous increase of 15.5%, much higher than the year-on-year increase of 4.4% in mobile phone business.
In terms of cars, although Huawei does not build cars, with the advantages of ICT technology, Huawei has “surrounded” all aspects of smart cars; Xiaomi, after refuting rumors for many times, officially announced its entry into the auto industry and gave the time for mass-produced cars to go offline. In contrast, oppo’s attitude of making money is no longer dull. Although there are many layouts, they all “follow suit”. Most importantly, Huawei’s size and Xiaomi’s reliance on the capital market are the current financial disadvantages that oppo is difficult to erase.
Oppo is ready to burn money, but where does the money come from? We’ll see.
(talent magazine)
