360 brings in the Coolpad master: How much of a role can he play?

Qihoo 360 invested 400 million US dollars to form a strategic alliance with Coolpad. This is definitely the most shocking event in the industry this year, and of course it also stole the limelight from the Honor 6 Plus launch conference tonight.

Making mobile phones has always been Zhou Hongyi's ambition. On the surface, Zhou Hongyi has been dormant since his last failed attempt to make mobile phones, but in fact he has never given up his efforts and attempts in hardware, especially in the past year, he has been ambiguous with OnePlus, Meizu, ZTE and Coolpad, but the timing was not right. Now he has finally found Coolpad, which is willing to cooperate with 360.

Personally, I am optimistic about the cooperation between 360 and Coolpad. It is basically a combination with complementary advantages.

To be successful in making smartphones, you must have a strong ability to integrate the industry chain. Huawei has demonstrated this in its close battle with Xiaomi. Specifically, Huawei will quickly come up with corresponding products for products that Xiaomi has, and will continue to release products that Xiaomi does not have, completely overwhelming Xiaomi. Huawei can do this because of its hardware design, software development, system design, product technology, sales channels, etc. This is the ability to integrate the industry chain, and it is also the reason why Xiaomi is anxious when facing Huawei.

Huawei is great, but 360 has no chance to cooperate with Huawei. When it was developing special-purpose phones a few years ago, Huawei killed its hopes. I won’t go into details about the reasons. So, looking at domestic manufacturers, there are only a few that have the strength and will cooperate with 360.

Lenovo acquired MOTO on its own, and it wanted to go it alone and expand. Of course, Lenovo is not short of money, and does not need 360's investment. As for ZTE, it is estimated that it wants to cooperate with 360. It is said that they have been ambiguous for a long time. However, Zhou Hongyi's Internet thinking and way of doing things cannot cooperate with ZTE. ZTE is a bit old-fashioned, and the corporate atmosphere and way of doing things cannot keep up with Zhou Hongyi's pace. As for Hammer and OnePlus, it is okay to talk about feelings, but as for investing in Xiaomi, it is still a bit lacking.

Therefore, Coolpad Dasheng is the best choice. Dasheng was born out of Coolpad. It has been in the mobile phone industry for many years and has rich experience. It is a skilled player who knows everything about the industry chain. Moreover, Dasheng is now operating independently and needs resources, not only money, but also traffic, channels, brands, etc.

In this way, 360 and Coolpad Dasheng are the best match in terms of size, and there will be more drama in the market competition, and there will be more room for imagination in the future. However, the question is how much drama will 360 and Coolpad Dasheng have together?

First of all, let's talk about some numbers. As of the third quarter of this year, 360 has 670 million (official figures) smartphone users in terms of mobile security, and the monthly active users of 360 Browser are said to be 350 million. This number is quite amazing. As for Coolpad, the data from the third quarter also showed that Coolpad's domestic mobile phone market share was 7.7%, and it is the largest manufacturer in terms of 4G smart terminals. The newly independent Dashen has established cooperation with Aishide, and will achieve a sales target of 3.5 million offline next year, and the combined sales volume with online sales is expected to exceed 10 million units.

The numbers show us the traffic and user scale that the two parties will achieve after the cooperation. Through the exchange of resources between the two parties, Coolpad's product design capabilities, operations and layout, the market space can be anticipated.

As for attention, in the Internet era, smartphone products still need to pay attention to the eyeball economy. For example, Xiaomi has become very successful, and the topicality and attention brought by Lei Jun himself have played a big role. In this regard, Zhou Hongyi is not inferior to Lei Jun. He is a famous red-coated cannon and a hot topic figure. To some extent, he has even surpassed Lei Jun. At least Zhou Hongyi has appeared on entertainment programs such as "Day Day Up" many times, and the effect is still very good.

In this regard, although Dashen has performed well, it still lacks a soul figure. Now that Zhou Hongyi is here, when people mention him in the future, they will definitely think of Dashen mobile phones. Don't forget that Zhou Hongyi invested 500 million US dollars to establish the company, and he is half a son.

Zhou Hongyi was indeed a little anxious about the previous push for a special phone. He wanted to disrupt Xiaomi but didn't know how to do it, so he was a little hasty in making the move. Now, Xiaomi's plan has been revealed, and there is basically no mystery about what the next step will be. 360 has also accumulated more experience in the past two years. In addition to software products, it has put more thought into hardware products such as 360 Smart Key, 360 Router, Portable WIFI, 360 Kids Guard, and Kids Bracelet, and has its own layout model. Now is the time to introduce smartphones and connect all the software and hardware layouts. It is the right time to cooperate with Coolpad Dazen.

As for the mobile phone market in 2015, I personally think that it will usher in a major change, the strong will become stronger, and a number of mobile phone manufacturers will be merged or eliminated. Although some mobile phone companies are constantly talked about and seem to be prosperous, they are actually facing many problems. Especially with the emergence of issues such as patents, some companies that lack accumulation have less chance of survival.

In addition, with the continuous efforts of manufacturers such as Huawei, Coolpad, and Lenovo, and Samsung's exploration of the mid- and low-end, the mobile phone market will be difficult to navigate next year. In this fiercely competitive world, only those who have the ability can win the future and continue to survive.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.