Cutting-Edge Technology R&D Center

Chapter 36: Collaboration Models on the Blackberry Platform

Meanwhile, two men appeared at the airport in Gancheng, engaged in conversation. “Boss, aren’t we going to look for that developer now?” Li Fan asked, dragging a suitcase, somewhat puzzled as to why the boss had booked a hotel first. Gancheng’s airport wasn’t very large; after all, it was a second- or third-tier city. “Li Fan, look at the time—it’s already 4:00 p. m. What kind of business can we discuss now? We can’t rush things. This dear sanitation worker is our opportunity. I’ll send him a text first and arrange a meeting place for tomorrow.” Chu Tian checked the time, thought for a moment, and sent a text to the other party. After receiving a reply, they immediately booked flights to Gancheng, but they still arrived a bit late—it was already nearly 5:00. Their original plan was to meet the next day, but sending a text now would show how seriously they took this and leave a good impression. Wang Hao had just come out of the flea market, where he’d bought some brand-new parts to build a signal booster for Fang Bing. He wasn’t one to splurge—he still had about 40,000 left from his top-scorer bonus, and he needed to save that money for other purposes. Even though Director Zhao from Yan’da University’s admissions office had promised him a four-person dorm room for his studies in Yanjing, he couldn’t possibly set up his server in a dorm. He would definitely have to rent an apartment in Yanjing, where real estate was exorbitantly expensive, so he was saving this money for that purpose. But as soon as he stepped out, his phone beeped. Curious, he glanced at it and saw that someone from BlackBerry had arrived. After pausing for a moment, he sent a text message in reply. Chu Tian had barely gotten into the taxi when he received a text from Wang Hao. After reading it, he immediately replied, then turned to the taxi driver and said “Driver, change the destination—let’s go to Golden Avenue.” After leaving the secondhand market, Wang Hao saw the message from BlackBerry. Thinking about the college applications he had to fill out tomorrow, he arranged to meet up right away. Since he didn’t have anything else to do anyway, he picked up the parts he’d selected at the secondhand market and headed toward Golden Avenue, which wasn’t far away. He found a Chinese restaurant and booked a private room. The restaurant wasn’t very large, but it gave off a very clean impression. Wang Hao sent a text message to the other person and waited quietly there for him to arrive. “Sir, is there a Mr. Wang here who reserved a private room?” Chu Tian asked as he stepped into the restaurant, breathing a little heavily, as if he’d just been running. “Yes, in Room 201. Go on up,” the owner said with a slight nod; he’d already been briefed about this guest before they arrived. Chu Tian led Li Fan up the stairs with quick, steady steps. As soon as they reached the second floor, they spotted Room 201. After catching his breath, he knocked lightly on the door. “Come in.” Wang Hao heard the knock and stood up. Chu Tian pushed open the door and was taken aback by Wang Hao’s remarkably youthful appearance. He glanced at the door number—clearly marked “201”—and realized he hadn’t gone to the wrong room. “Stop staring. If you’re from BlackBerry, then I’m the one you’re looking for.” Wang Hao felt a bit exasperated; he really did look too young… No, wait—he actually was young. He couldn’t help but chuckle wryly to himself. His knowledge far surpassed that of his peers, which made him feel out of place whenever he looked at them—so much so that he even had the illusion that he was already old. “Hello, I’m Chu Tian, the CEO of BlackBerry.” Chu Tian quickly extended his hand and gave Wang Hao a light handshake. Wang Hao was taken slightly aback, then smiled softly. “I thought only a manager would be coming.” To be honest, he really hadn’t expected the CEO of the Blackberry Guild to show up. “The program you developed is excellent. BlackBerry is looking to expand, so here we are,” Chu Tian said with a light smile. “Let’s cut to the chase. Mr. Chu, do you have a suitable proposal for a partnership?” Wang Hao said. The other man’s praise didn’t faze him much—flattery was just a standard tactic. Although he hadn’t personally engaged in business negotiations, he read widely, including books on psychology, sales, and business. “All right, I won’t even bring up an acquisition—I doubt you’d agree to it anyway.” Chu Tian looked at Wang Hao, whose face still had a youthful look but who had remained composed and calm ever since he walked in. The other man wasn’t a fool; BlackBerry’s operating capital couldn’t support a high-priced acquisition, and Chu Tian saw no reason to offend Wang Hao, who appeared remarkably mature. Wang Hao nodded slightly. Indeed, an acquisition was out of the question—not for any other reason, but simply because he was too lazy. An acquisition would inevitably require him to open up the source code, much of which he had written according to his own ideas. If the other party couldn’t understand it, he’d have to teach them. “I wonder if you’d be open to the idea of letting us handle the distribution of this software entirely,” Chu Tian mused. He decided to proceed with the second plan he’d prepared—the first, of course, had been an acquisition, but that had been rejected the moment they met. “Tell me more.” Wang Hao glanced at Chu Tian with some surprise. He had originally assumed this would be a revenue-sharing partnership, but the fact that the other party seemed prepared to pay a distribution fee piqued his curiosity. The other party had ruled out an acquisition right off the bat, yet had proposed a distribution arrangement—it felt like nothing more than a change in approach, which piqued Wang Hao’s curiosity; this was likely not as simple as he’d imagined. “BlackBerry will act as the agent for this cleanup software. All revenue generated by the software goes to you, and I can also provide a three-million commission. However, the operational rights to the software remain with us,” Chu Tian said after gathering his thoughts. This was a partnership model he’d been mulling over for a long time—and the most promising bargaining chip to secure this incredibly powerful junk-cleaning software. He was certainly not the only one who had discovered this software; in fact, he suspected that major platform providers had already contacted the developer. If he didn’t seize this opportunity to propel Blackberry to new heights, he would surely regret it if he lost out to the competition. After all, Blackberry was just a small platform and didn’t have much competitive edge against the big players. He was willing to make concessions in other areas—and to secure this app, he was even prepared to commit all available funds, provided it didn’t affect Blackberry’s normal operations—simply to acquire this cleanup app and use it as a cornerstone to expand the Blackberry platform’s influence. “You want to expand the platform’s influence?” Although Wang Hao’s tone was slightly puzzled, he was already certain in his heart that such a loss-leading move had only one purpose: to increase the Company’s value. “That’s right,” Chu Tian said without hesitation, nodding slightly.