The long-suffering Cool Group has returned to public view in recent days, but it is not the various new products it released in April but the patent dispute between the company and Xiaomi. The timing of this indictment coincides with the fact that the node happens to be in Xiaomi. The key period for IPOs in Hong Kong, so the market is also paying special attention to the game between the two sides.
The “China Business” reporter noticed that behind this round of infringement lawsuits, Cool has quietly begun a new round of layout in the domestic market. Despite the fact that Cool CEO Jiang Chao had publicly stated in the beginning of the year that the market should be focused on the United States, from the current situation From the perspective of Cool, it is still difficult to abandon the domestic market. However, in this Red Sea, how much space is left for Coolpad?
Deny 'touch porcelain' millet
On May 11th, Coolpad held a media conference in Hong Kong on the case of Xiaomi's patent infringement case. Cool expressed that the company initiated patent litigation against 8 companies including Xiaomi Technology, which involved 4 valid patents and 8 mobile phones. Cool Chief Intellectual Property Officer Zhang Na said that since 2014, Cool has repeatedly sent a warning letter to Xiaomi, which covers matters concerning the alleged infringement of Coolpad's patent rights on the Xiaomi series mobile phones, but a series of warning letters did not receive responses from Xiaomi; Seven cases were filed, of which six were in Shenzhen and one was in Jiangsu. The next step is that Cool will focus on China and continue to maintain rights with Xiaomi.
Xiaomi also responded on the same day and said that it has not received any notification from the court. At present, the company's business activities are all normal, and all mobile phone models are selling as usual. At the same time, Xiaomi also questioned the validity of Coolpad related patents, and Several patents submitted by Cool submitted an invalid request.
The reporter learned from the official website of the State Intellectual Property Office that of the four patents currently involved in litigation, three each received a notice of invalidation request acceptance in late April and early May. In response, Zhang Na told reporters that Coolpad has continued to have The relevant patents were used to make payments. Xiaomi's operations were merely to delay the proceedings. In response to Xiaomi’s mention of not receiving a court notice, Zhang Na said that since 2014, Cool has sent a large number of patents to Xiaomi. The letter of infringement, these letters were sent via EMS, 'unsigned letters will be returned by the EMS, but Cool did not receive a letter of return, and Xiaomi did not respond positively to these letters,' Zhang Na explained further. 'The company has evidence that it was originally with Xiaomigou, but the current case is currently under trial and it is not convenient to disclose it.'
It is worth noting that this is the second time that Cool has filed a lawsuit against Xiaomi this year. In January 2018, Cool had once filed a complaint with Xiaomi to court. Xiaomi said at the time that he had not received any suing documents and the fact of the infringement was not clear. The case did not make any definite progress, but the millet products involved in the Cool Action lawsuit were the same as in January.
Since this lawsuit is in the sensitive period of Xiaomi's IPO, some insiders believe that this move of Cool was 'touching porcelain' with Xiaomi, but Zhang Ke, the president of Cool China, denied this. Zhang Ke told reporters. A series of infringement lawsuits against Xiaomi have been dealt with. This time only happens to be at the timing of Xiaomi's IPO. Moreover, Xiaomi’s sales strategy does not overlap with Cool’s operator system. There is basically no competition between the two parties and therefore there is no 'Touch porcelain' one said.
China is seriously injured
As a veteran mobile phone company in the country, Cool did its best in the era of operators. However, with the rise of Internet mobile phones and the subsidy of operators subsided, Coolpad chose the wrong teammates twice in the critical period of the development of the industry – the “Great God” brand. Leaving, being dragged by LeTV, missed the industry window of its own transformation. In 2017, the whole crash of LeTV became the last straw to overwhelm Cool.
In August 2017, Liu Jiangfeng left Cool, and the vision of 'five years and three years' (ie, cool sales of over 100 million in 5 years, cool mobile phones returning to the industry, and Coolpad's market capitalization of 100 billion yuan) was lost. The Coolpad can only be busy dealing with all kinds of debt crisis in 2017. There is hardly any new machine released.
In January 2018, Coolpad issued two consecutive announcements. Le Feng Mobile sold 897 million shares and 551 million shares of its holding company. After two transactions, Le Feng Mobile ceased to be a shareholder of Coolpad, which also marked the LeTV formally took off from Cool, and the company’s debt crisis began to ease. Jiang Chao told this reporter that currently there are only more than 100 million yuan of disputes in the communication process. The previous debt problems have been solved. .
It is worth noting that at the beginning of this year, Jiang Chao publicly stated that the future Cool will place all the focus on the U.S. market. However, since April, Cool has successively introduced four new machines, of which three are customized by operators. The money is an online product, and the current cool is still difficult to say 'no' to the Chinese market.
Zhang Ke told this reporter that there is no 'road conflict' between China and the US in China. The Chinese region suffered serious injuries in 2017. Therefore, at the group level, the focus of business is currently on the United States. Cool will not withdraw from China. Market; The current cool debt crisis has been resolved, the company's upstream and downstream supply chain, the customer system has been completely normal; this year the goal of sending the domestic market is to achieve the eighth industry, that is guaranteed annual shipments of 10 million or so .
Zhang Ke stated that Cool's 'small goal' is tailored to the needs of downstream customers. Whether it is online or offline operators, the demand for such customized machines still exists; Coolpad will not go with head businesses at present. Competition, first to ensure their own survival. In addition, Zhang Ke stressed that since April this year, Cool China has relied on products to achieve profitability, and the company's 5G products are also ready, is expected to be available in May next year, due to follow the operation Business has long-term cooperation and good relations, so 5G era Cool is capable and has the opportunity to preempt.
Wang Yanhui, secretary-general of the China Mobile Phone Alliance, told reporters that the most important problem faced by the crisis-ridden Coolers is to survive. With cooperation with operators, Coolpad can guarantee at least a certain degree of shipments, and survival is not a problem; but 5G The promotion of era products has been completely different from that of 3G and 4G. The operator level has not occupied the leading role of the market. The strength of manufacturers is a more important factor. As for the future market changes of Coolpad, it needs to continue to observe.
'Americanization' Acceleration
On the last day of 2017, Jiang Chao stated on Weibo that in 2018 Cool will grow on the land of the United States and be renewed.
Compared with the Chinese market, the vast majority of mobile phones in the U.S. market are sold to consumers through operators. In the U.S., operators use 'contract machines' or other preferential purchasing policies to allow users to buy far less than the market. The price of mobile phone products, which is why operators always firmly control the US mobile phone market. In the long run, this model is already ingrained in the United States, and operators’ control over mobile channels will continue to exist for a long time. , ZTE, which has an operator gene of its own, has a place in the U.S. market.
Cool CEO CE Chao told this reporter that among the top five operators in the United States, Cool has already entered into formal cooperation with the four companies, and the remaining one is also in negotiation. At the same time, the business team of Cool in the United States is also rapidly localizing. At present, the revenue of the U.S. market accounts for more than 80% of the group's revenue. In addition to the market decline in China, this is also related to the rapid expansion of the U.S. market.
Jiang Chao said that the polarization of the US market is extremely serious. The high-end market with more than US$600 accounted for 67%, while the low-end market with US$200 or less occupied 27% of the market; this 27% share was basically taken to ZTE in the sea. Cool, TCL (Alcatel) are divided. Before ZTE once occupied more than half of the market share, Cool and TCL (Alcatel) share is equal, but currently ZTE into a banned sales vortex, so Cool has gained a lot of market space, 2018 The growth rate of the cool US market is expected to reach 60%, and the shipment volume is expected to exceed 5 million.