Sennheiser's attitude almost made Li Mu impeccable. Muller showed all his thoughts without reservation. In summary, he said: As long as you are willing to play with me, I can do whatever you want me to do.
Li Mu likes partners who are knowledgeable about current affairs. They can see clearly what is best for them at a glance, and then they will succeed at all costs. Unlike some business leaders with big ideas, you obviously want to give them a meal. , he will also tell you what taboos he has, and he will tell you clearly that he doesn't want them, and he will bite his nose and face them.
However, Li Mu did not immediately decide to cooperate with Sennheiser. After all, this time the team went to Germany and not only met with Sennheiser, but also with Beyerdynamic. According to business etiquette, they must also talk to both parties. , and then make the next decision.
Therefore, Li Mu’s answer to Mueller was that after the team met with Beyerdynamic, he would carefully decide which party to cooperate with.
Muller naturally knew that Li Mu could not make a decision directly after just talking to him, so he said: "Mr. Li, I believe Sennheiser will not disappoint you, and we sincerely look forward to cooperating with you! "
…
Sennheiser's headquarters is in Hannover, and Beyerdynamic's headquarters is in Heilbronn. The two places are more than 400 kilometers apart. After the team ended the negotiations with Sennheiser, they flew non-stop from Hannover to Stuttgart, and then arrived in Stuttgart. Drive to Beyerdynamic headquarters.
Beyerdynamic's senior management also attaches great importance to the cooperation with Makino Technology. However, compared to the attitude of Sennheiser's senior management who wants to cooperate with Makino Technology at all costs, Beyerdynamic's attitude is slightly more rational and calm.
After a comparison in Li Mu's eyes, he felt that Sennheiser was the most suitable. Sennheiser acted like Tang Niu in "God of Cookery". For a giant company like Makino Technology, what they need is to have this kind of equipment around them. The attitude of the younger brother. As for whether such a younger brother will bite back one day, it actually does not exist. The size of Makino Technology has become so large that no younger brother can shake its foundation, but its strength is enough to defeat any betrayal. The little brother destroyed.
After the team finished talking with Beyerdynamic, they immediately set off back to Hannover, and then started the second round of negotiations with Sennheiser. This time, the negotiations directly entered the practical stage to confirm the relevant details.
The headphone prototype Sennheiser plans to cooperate with Makino Technology is Sennheiser's sub-flagship product in the field of flat-head earplugs, the MX858.
At present, most of Sennheiser's mid-to-high-end headphone models are over-ear and in-ear types. Originally, Sennheiser also hoped to cooperate with Li Mu on a certain product of over-ear or in-ear type, but Li Mu still insisted on choosing a flat head. earplugs.
The reason why we choose flat-head earplugs is because they are the most comfortable to wear and are also the most accepted by the public.
Over-ear headphones are relatively more fever-prone, but the wearing cost is also high. Over time, you will either get headaches or earaches. They are even more uncomfortable to wear in hot weather and are inconvenient to carry. They are really not suitable for use as headphones with the player. Moreover, Until Li Mu was reborn, he had never heard of any music player or mobile phone. The ones shipped from the factory were equipped with over-ear headphones, and the packaging space alone was not enough.
As for in-ear headphones, although the sound quality is better and will gradually become the mainstream of lightweight headphones, they are not yet popular enough. Most headphone users feel a lot of discomfort when they first use in-ear headphones. The level of acceptance is far less than that of flat-head headphones, because in the eyes of users, flat-head headphones are the type of headphones that least need to be adapted to. It is what headphones have always been like.
It’s not without reason that Apple’s EarPods have been used in its own product line for so many years without modification. Apple must also know that in-ear headphones have better sound quality, but it knows better that if EarPods are changed to in-ear headphones, it will only If it pleases a small number of users, most users will inevitably reject it, so instead of doing this, it is more appropriate to make a headset that is more acceptable to everyone.
Sennheiser's sub-flagship flat-head earplugs are priced around US$60 in most international countries and regions, and the price in China is even higher, which translates to nearly US$80. The overall price of this headset is The quality is also very good. At this price point, it is considered by consumers to be the most cost-effective product, and it is highly recognized by the mid-range market.
As for the shipping cost of this headset, Makino Technology and Sennheiser have reached a consensus. Makino Technology’s purchase price is US$15, and taxes and logistics are borne by Makino Technology. Under normal circumstances, the ex-factory price of Sennheiser MX858 At around 20 US dollars, although there has been a considerable loss in profits, there is still a certain profit margin. What Sennheiser cares more about is not this profit, but the huge boost to the brand after cooperating with Makino Technology. Lift.
Although Li Mu doesn't know much about the MX858 headphones, since it has withstood the test of the market, there is no need to worry about the overall performance. However, Li Mu put forward several requirements for the appearance of the headphones.
First, it cannot be black, but a high-end white + light gray color scheme;
Second, the wire controller should be reduced and reduced as much as possible. It should not be made into a huge cylinder, but should be designed into a flat body as small as possible;
Third, there must be a simple, refreshing and space-saving packaging box. The packaging box must abandon the blister style used by most Sennheiser products. Li Mu’s requirement is to design a flat cube plastic box with a transparent front cover and left and right earphones. And the wired controller should be presented in a transparent plastic cover, and the headphone cable should be coiled around the box in a hidden form.
To put it bluntly, it completely follows the style of later Apple EarPods.
As for the logo, Li Mu requested that while reducing the Sennheiser logo, Mango's logo be added. The main display area of the logo is on the back of the headphones and around the plug.
In addition to the logo, Li Mu also requested that the model of this headset be named MX858-Mango. On the one hand, it ensures that consumers know that this headset is the same as the MX858 except for its appearance. On the other hand, it also needs to be visible to consumers at a glance. , this is a joint model between Mango and Sennheiser.
When talking about specific cooperation matters, Muller made a request to Li Mu through a video conference, saying: "Mr. Li, I hope you can allow Sennheiser to sell this co-branded headset alone. If you agree, we will Raising its price relative to the ordinary MX858 in the end market will also make consumers more aware of the actual value of this headset."
Li Mu thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.
There are many ways to let consumers know the actual value of this headset. For example, it is customized in cooperation with Sennheiser and is derived from the MX858. However, most users may not understand the MX858 and are not sure about this customization. How different is the headphone from the MX858 at the technical level? Rather than this, it would be better for Sennheiser to sell it to the outside world at the same time. If the normal price of the MX858 is around US$60, then the customized version of the MX858-Mango will sell for US$70. In this way As a result, the actual value of MX858-Mango has been truly reflected.
In this way, the MX858-Mango model of headphones, when sold with Mango-ME2, can add many packaging selling points to Mango-ME2 in headphones, such as Sennheiser's popularity in the field of headphones, such as MX858 -Mango adopts the acoustic design scheme of MX858 and also carries out a new appearance design. In Mango-ME2, this headset is very cost-effective, which in turn quickly improves the cost-effectiveness of the entire Mango-ME2.
…
When Makino Technology and Sennheiser officially reached a cooperation on the MX858-Mango, the news that Makino Technology customized headphones for the new version of Mango-ME began to spread like wildfire in the headphone industry.
If this news first spreads from the Internet circle, it is more likely that Makino Technology employees will leak it to the outside world. If this news first spreads from the headphone industry, then there is no doubt that the source of the news must come from Sennheiser Er, or Beyerdynamic.
However, Li Mu had no intention of finding out which of the two companies the news leaked from, because for him, he had no intention of hiding the news. There would be no harm to Makino Technology if the news spread. If it could be spread more widely, If it is wider, it will also make consumers look forward to Mango-ME2 more. What’s even better is that after such news spreads, it can have a certain impact on potential iPod users and influence their judgments, and some of them will be affected. Convert to become a future user of Mango-ME2.
It's like Samsung has released a new mobile phone that supports MP3 playback, and Sony Ericsson has announced that it will soon launch a music mobile phone. This mobile phone not only has stereo speakers, but also is equipped with Sony's audio decoding technology. The sound quality is better than other mobile phones. Once Samsung's potential users receive such news, their desire to buy Samsung mobile phones will definitely be affected.
If he asks himself in his mind: Should I buy Samsung now, or wait and buy Sony Ericsson, which has better musicality? This is the success of Sony Ericsson.
If you can make users who have purchased Samsung mobile phones sigh in their hearts: Why didn’t I wait and buy Sony Ericsson? I really regret it! This is Sony Ericsson's greater success.
The same is true for Li Mu's hopes for Mango-ME2. Li Mu hopes that after combining so many advantages, it can make users who are planning to buy iPods temporarily give up the idea of purchasing, and then decide to wait until Mango-ME2 is launched before making a decision; more importantly, he hopes that it will It can make users who have already bought an iPod regret it.
The cooperation between Makino Technology and Sennheiser first spread in the field of headphones, and then spread to the Internet industry. For the headphone industry, the cooperation between Makino Technology and Sennheiser is bad news for them, but For the Internet industry, this is more like a fresh teaching course. They did not expect that an Internet company like Makino Technology could take the initiative to conduct in-depth cooperation with hardware companies in the non-IT industry. And although this cooperation has just been reached, But from the perspective of Internet people, Makino Technology's move is absolutely exquisite and highly targeted.
Who does Makino Technology target when doing this? Everyone on the Internet with a little bit of brain knows that it must be the Apple iPod.
Combined with the launch of YYtunes and the overwhelming recognition from users after its launch, everyone knows that Li Mu’s combination of punches must be murderous for Apple!
(End of chapter)