Microsoft - Great two-sided

Microsoft - The world's leading information technology group and its owner - billionaire Mill Gates, is not only the richest and most powerful but also the most accused in the world. Had how many haters of Microsoft, hate Bill Gate to the bone, among them, there are also partners who used to fight hard together, once believed, hoped and finally realized that this "giant" too dangerous

Sendo and dream of premature death

Seven years ago (1999), Hugh Brogan had a dream: to produce millions of customized smartphones at the request of customers and moreover they could use the Windows operating system. Brogan believed he was right and decided to go

Microsoft hopes that the giant's money and reputation will turn his ambition into reality. Brogan met Man Taylor - Microsoft Development Manager, he was full of confidence in his success if he cooperated with Microsoft to knock on network providers.

For its part, Microsoft rated the sensitive and technological experience of Sendo because Hugh Brogan was the CEO (CEO) and two other founders worked at Philips Elecronics and Motorola. The software giant also dreamed of a partner to implement the strategy of jumping into the mobile phone field as a person who had embedded a nose into the personal computer industry.

Everything seemed to be very smooth, but 4 years, Brogan's dream was broken into smoke, he lived with great frustration along the circle of constant lawsuits. In October 2002, the 38-year-old CEO lost to Sendo Holdings PLC at the headquarters located on the outskirts of Birmingham, England. Most of the staff present at the meeting thought that the Chairman was giving a speech about the upcoming progress of Sendo.

But it did not happen, instead of washing cold water into 325 employees - those who yearn for the success of their first child - the Smartphone Zi00, that: they were betrayed by Microsoft. . And so the results of hundreds of people who worked hard for years with 10 million USD actively research and development have been canceled.

This makes Sendo lose about 300 million USD in estimated revenue. And what's not to be expected, Sendo forces mobile industries to develop a Symbian-based Smartphone like Nghia. Coach Brogan said bitterly: "We have to do this to save the company" and he also explained: Microsoft has played a double-sided game for Sendo.

Six weeks later, on December 20, 2002, Sendo filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in court in Texakana, Texas, USA, on charges of fraud and intellectual property theft and the plot to destroy the Sendo Group. Many people in the world can't even believe: Why is Microsoft lacking in morality ', to do such a ruthless and risky thing? Sendo argues that Microsoft had a "plan" of trust and stole Sendo's technology, pushing Sendo to the brink of bankruptcy. And how has Sendo made the word "flag bearer" of Microsoft become a bitter enemy?

Lesson Sendo

After a year of alliance, the product of Sendo and Microsoft is the first phone to use Windows operating system, with the code name Stinger. By that time, Microsoft had poured $ 12 million into Sendo, equivalent to 5% of the share and a position in the company's board of directors. With the name Zi00 announced, Sendo's debut product appeared before the public in February 2001 at Cannes. With the color screen, modern Windows software and the ability to connect to a PC, Zi00 foretold a new era of mobile communication.

However, 3 months later, Sendo still did not receive the operation code for Zi00 from Microsoft. Worse, according to Sendo, Microsoft did not make the payment commitment, making the British company into a series of financial difficulties. The two sides agreed to postpone the launch of Zi00 to the market until December 2001, but then Microsoft did not move any further, Sendo said.

What surprised Sendo most was Microsoft's lack of cooperation. Microsoft should have changed Stinger to meet the demands of potential customers such as Telefonica Moviles (Spain), T-mobile lntemational (Germany). These two networks refused to buy Zi 00 because they could not access Microsoft software source code. Sendo cannot do anything to solve this problem.

When Sendo was financially shy, Microsoft forced the partner to borrow $ 14 million if he did not want to go bankrupt and had to pay immediately if Sendo could not sell Zi 00 before April 2002. Even Sendo could not replace it. What could be changed because Microsoft did not complete the software for the ill-fated "smart" phone, it continued to be unfavorable for Sendo, after a deadline to pay, Microsoft was doing a humane job. not asking for money right away, but making a request for a technical check in Sendo's process, then gradually abandoning destiny-free Sendo, the British company continued to put effort into the goal of delivering the first shipment into Mid-autumn Fortunately, on September 27, 2002, Sendo received Zi00 operation code from Microsoff.

But then the biggest shock came to Brogan: on October 22, 2002, two weeks after the launch of Zi00, Europe's second largest mobile network - Orange (France Telecom owned) - launched a power. Microsoft smartphone called SPV is produced by Taiwan's High Tech Computer (HTC). At that time, the whole mobile industry was surprised to see a little-known technology company that makes smartphones using Microsoft's operating system. The angry Brogan blushed red, he understood immediately that HTC did this because Microsoft provided the technology to them - especially many of the features and technology of Sendo (Microsoft stole it during the checkout process). technical investigation). In a lawsuit filed with the court, Sendo said Microsoff gave HTC trial versions of the Zi00 model to develop a similar new product.

A week after Orange's announcement, Brogan completely ceased relations with Microsoft, his sales managers had to cancel the delivery. Now, Brogan still faces an arduous battle to counter Microsoff. He has received silent support from other companies that have been hurt by the giant "giant" software. The truth about Sendo's breakdown can be explained simply because the company is too young and has little market experience. But whether winning or losing, the reputation of Microsoft was also affected, they played not very well.

Microsoft and HTC benefit

Not long after, the whole world knew that: Bill Gates had a secret weapon - it was a Taiwanese Company with the name of High Tech Computer Com. Microsoft Corporation has long wanted to expand Windows' domain to manipulate the smartphone market. Microsoft software is available on all smartphones and PDA phones that HTC sells to phone networks such as Orange, Cingular, T-mobile and Vodafone.

What makes Microsoft loyal to this "confusing" partnership? The boss of HTC is Peter Chou, a man who always sets high and demanding requirements for his employees. Taiwanese companies are famous for cutting costs to a minimum, HTC's president still spends a lot of money urging engineers to work under his direction. a code-name phone called "Star Trek" to the lab repeatedly several times because he was not satisfied with its audio and visual features. " This is a 4th generation product, These are products we will sell for the first time. The first three generations were eliminated , "he said. Chou announced the 4th generation Star Trek model is the most perfect model.

The phone is equipped with MP3 player, Camera, e-mail, and all components on a miniature version of the Windows operating system. His Seattle partner was really impressed. "In terms of new design, you will almost never know what Peter will launch," said an expert. Star Trek is considered the thinnest Smartphone on the market today.

While many competitors in Taiwan are suffering from declining profitability rates and increasing competition, HTC still has an ideal growth rate. Last March, the company announced last year's revenue doubled, reaching $ 2.2 billion, profits tripled, to $ 356 million. Since 2003, HTC's stock price has increased by more than 1000%. Most analysts believe that there is no sign of a market decline. Although handheld device sales currently account for only 6%, but in 2009, Smartphone market share will increase to 26%, Gartner researcher predicts.

JPmorgan Chase & Co predicts: HTC may increase revenue to $ 5.3 billion next year, profit of $ 988 million. HTC's revenue for the first quarter of 2006 increased by 81% compared to last year, thanks in part to the consumption of eye-catching phones like Universal, a PDA with a rotating screen.

In fact, the relationship between HTC and Microsoft began in 1997, when a group of engineers separated from a subsidiary of Digital Equipment Corp. to establish HTC. They quickly decided to focus on the market of handheld devices running on Windows OS. The first result of this Taiwan engineering team is the IPAQ ultra-thin pocket machine.

In 2002, HTC developed the first Windows Smartphone. Gradually, they worked closely with Microsoft partners, each year Chou went to Seanle about four times to meet Real Gates, Steve Ballmer and other senior leaders of the giant. Previously, not long ago, HTC had a lot of engineers working with Microsoft but almost no one tried to sell HTC products to US phone networks. HTC does not want to disclose sales figures in the US, but people have witnessed a new step forward. Last January, Cingular Wireless announced plans to sell a version of Star Trek.

At the end of March, Harris Corp. In Melbourne, Fla., which signed a $ 600 million contract to supply 500,000 Windows-based smartphones for the US Census Bureau. By 2010, employees of the Department will be able to use HTC products provided in this contract. On April 5, Modeo LLC also said it would broadcast TV on HTC mobile phones.

Back in Taiwan, HTC is now following its own path. Previous competitors have diversified their business, jumped v8o the curtain market. liquid crystal and civil power, HTC still produce wireless devices. However, according to a report by Joey Cheng, an analyst at Goldman Sachs Group Inc, HTC still has to compete in the pocket machine market for Windows operating systems. Last year, Motorola set up a plan to produce a thin-walled Windows smartphone called Moto Q. Expected to be launched in early April, but the Q model was delayed until spring next year.

Thus, HTC will face many major obstacles. While HTC dominates the pocket machine market running on Windows operating systems, Nokia accounts for three-fourths of the market share for Symbian-based phones and 8 percent on Windows operating systems in the global market. It is the HTC and Microsoa collaboration that makes it difficult for the manufacturer to develop products using Symbian or Linux operating systems.

Another threat comes from Blackberry from Research in Motion (RIM), the professional product for office workers in the US. BlackBerry has long occupied a relatively large market share in the US and to increase competitiveness in this market segment, HTC and Microsoft have immediately launched Direct Push technology to support e-mail access in Outlook, Task, schedule . for Windows Mobile 5.0, compete directly with RIM.

Obviously we are seeing that the relationship with Microsoft and HTC seems to be doing very well, but Peter Chou is alert to avoid having to "crash" Hugh Brogan. get a bloody lesson when recklessly "making friends with tigers." Microsoft is more frightening than people think.