Chapter 963
: The Preparatory Work Begins
He switched to the next image, which was a screenshot of the covers of several top international investment bank reports: Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase. The titles of each report went straight to the core issue.
Apple may open up operating system options in the Chinese market.
Cook's gamble: Trading iOS for a ticket to the HarmonyOS ecosystem
Is the era of closed ecosystems coming to an end? Apple and Galaxy Technologies reach a system licensing framework agreement.
"Three days after the blog post, Morgan Stanley's chief technology analyst released a brief research report, concluding in just a few sentences: After cross-verification from multiple sources in the supply chain, Apple is indeed in deep system licensing negotiations with Galaxy Technology."
"It's clear that they dug up Cook's original words, and a saying has already circulated in the United States: If Apple continues to guard the closed garden of iOS, we will lose an entire generation of consumers in the Chinese market."
The release of this report sent shockwaves through the global tech world. In the following days, at least three of the world's top financial media outlets confirmed the same news, each claiming to have its own independent source. At this point, the market was no longer debating "whether it's true or not," but rather "when will it be officially announced?"
Zhang Byte pulled up fragmented information leaked from the supply chain: Apple's iOS testing devices in the Chinese market were frequently transferred to Tangdu; Galaxy Technology's engineering team rented long-term office space near Apple's headquarters; and Apple's supply chain management department issued an additional storage chip stockpiling order to Foxconn, with the stockpiling volume far exceeding the demand of a normal new product launch cycle.
"After these fragments were pieced together by global tech media, the final picture closely matched the facts. The secret meeting between Cook and Wang was not a casual handshake and pleasantries, but a strategic alignment that both sides had been preparing for months. Apple relinquished its exclusive rights to iOS in the Chinese market in exchange for exclusive supply of Xuanwu batteries in the consumer electronics field and complete integration into the HarmonyOS ecosystem. The price of flagship models using Xuanwu batteries is significantly lower than the cost of Apple's self-developed battery solutions, and HarmonyOS's AI scheduling engine can significantly improve the battery life and smoothness of iPhones without increasing hardware costs. The price Apple had to pay was to proactively open a gap in the Chinese market for iOS's core moat: the exclusivity of its closed ecosystem."
Someone in the conference room gasped softly.
Liang Song took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. The movement was slow, as if he was processing information that required a recalibration of his cognitive coordinates.
Liao Qingfeng turned to a new page of the Xuanwu Battery supply and allocation table in front of him, his brows furrowing slightly, but the curve of his lips was not one of worry, but rather an excitement that had been ignited by his fighting spirit.
Huang Zheng stopped writing, looked up at the negotiation notes on the screen, subconsciously wrote a line in his notebook, crossed it out, and then rewrote it, this time with the pen pressed very deeply.
Chen Yuanzhou put his reading glasses back on, stared at the data on the screen for a long time, tapped his fingers lightly on the table, and muttered something to himself, as if he were deducing a roadmap for technology adaptation.
"The impact of this event extends beyond the capital markets."
Zhang Bytes switched to the next set of screenshots, and the headlines of major global tech media outlets filled the entire screen like waves.
The Wall Street Journal's front-page headline read: "Apple may be equipped with HarmonyOS; Cook is personally tearing down the walls built by Jobs."
The Economist's cover featured only the classic image of the bitten apple logo and the line: "When the apple is no longer an apple."
Wired magazine used a full page of black background with silver lettering, and the headline was just one word: "Redefining Surrender?"
An anonymous source, a former Apple executive in Silicon Valley, posted a strongly worded comment on social media: "This is digging its own grave. Apple and Samsung have been fighting a decade-long war in the high-end smartphone market, relying on the exclusivity of iOS. Now, putting HarmonyOS in is like handing over Apple's most valuable asset. Can an iPhone that runs HarmonyOS still be called an iPhone? Consumers buy Apple products not just for the hardware, but for the entire ecosystem experience. Replacing iOS with HarmonyOS is like replacing the engine of a Ferrari with someone else's; the casing is still the same, but the feeling of pressing the accelerator is completely different. Cook is trading Apple's brand soul for market share; this is doing business with the devil."
Zhang Yizu then pulled up reports from South Korean media.
An unnamed Samsung executive told the Seoul Economic Daily, "If Apple really opens up HarmonyOS as an option in some markets, it will be a major turning point in the history of mobile operating systems. The era of closed ecosystems will officially end, and open ecosystems will take their place. This is both a pressure and an opportunity for Samsung. We are also evaluating whether to follow Apple's lead and access HarmonyOS in certain specific markets."
Samsung's official account did not deny the report, but issued a vague statement: "Samsung is committed to providing consumers with the best user experience, and we are open to any technological collaborations that help achieve this goal."
Domestic manufacturers reacted more directly.
Yu Dazui, CEO of Apple's consumer business, posted a message on Weibo: "Welcome Apple to the HarmonyOS family."
The accompanying image is a silhouette of a pioneering bull with a small HarmonyOS logo hanging from its horn. This logo was designed when the HarmonyOS Ecosystem Alliance was established and has never been made public.
Less than two hours after the Weibo post was published, it was forwarded over a million times, and some people in the comments section joked, "Now it really has become the HarmonyOS Alliance."
Someone posted a screenshot of their HarmonyOS phone after two years, saying, "I've finally waited for this day."
Some people calmly added, "This isn't a welcome, it's a declaration of sovereignty. Apple is entering our ecosystem, not yours."
Xiaomi's public relations department also released a very restrained statement: "X-Mi has been fully equipped with HarmonyOS on all its flagship models for two years. We welcome more international partners to join the HarmonyOS ecosystem and work together to expand the domestic operating system industry."
The announcement itself was short, but the timing of its release clearly indicates that the company is paying attention to this issue, responding to consumers, supporting the HarmonyOS system, and expressing its support for the domestically developed HarmonyOS operating system.
"There is also an internal message from Google, which is relatively reliable."
Zhang Byte pulled up the last screenshot, which was a post by an engineer from the Android team on an anonymous technical forum, titled "Do we still have a chance?".
The gist of the text is: The Android team held an emergency meeting overnight to discuss how to deal with the potential loss of major customers after Apple adopts HarmonyOS. The conclusion of the meeting was not optimistic. Android's fragmentation problem makes it difficult to implement cross-device collaboration functions in the short term, while HarmonyOS connects all devices from the underlying architecture, which is something Android wants to catch up with but cannot.
The post concluded by saying that someone at the meeting suggested accelerating the development of IoT collaboration features in the next generation of Android, but the engineering challenges and the workload of compatibility testing pushed the timeline for this plan two years later.
Two years later, the ecological moat of HarmonyOS has been dug to an unknown depth.
Zhang Byte sat back down, placed the capacitive stylus on the table, and it made a soft, crisp sound. "This is the whole timeline of events. From the anonymous leak in Silicon Valley to the confirmation on Wall Street, from the pieces of the supply chain puzzle to Apple's continued silence, from the global media frenzy to competitors holding meetings overnight, all these reactions point to the same issue: Cook is personally dismantling the walls built by Jobs, and the tools for dismantling those walls are what we provided."
"So, there's a lot of attention and discussion surrounding us on social media. We haven't dealt with this yet. Does the boss have any instructions?"
With its current size and numerous products such as Douyin, Neihan, and Toutiao, Galaxy Technology has long been a significant giant in China's internet industry.
Therefore, these sensitive topics naturally require extra attention, especially since they are related to one's own company.
Upon hearing Zhang Yizu's question, Wang Donglai didn't hesitate for long. After a brief moment of thought, he said, "It's very simple. As long as these voices don't violate laws or regulations, there's no need to interfere too much."
"Although we led the development of HarmonyOS, once we open-sourced it, it became something that all domestic companies had to maintain. Anyone who dragged their feet or used underhanded tactics on this issue would not be accepted by the higher-ups."
"As for outside opinions, they are even less important. This achievement was earned through our own hard work and dedication. We can't keep accepting the world's standards and products while rejecting our own self-developed technologies and established standards; that doesn't make sense!"
Wang Donglai spoke firmly, each word resounding and powerful.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Then, Wang Donglai changed the subject and brought up another matter: "How is the popular science education on broad-spectrum anti-respiratory infection going?"
Zhang Yizu looked somewhat surprised, not expecting Wang Donglai to ask such a question.
He was naturally aware of this task.
However, before Wang Donglai asked the question, he never imagined that Wang Donglai would ask such a question or take it so seriously.
Aside from this unexpected feeling, he also felt a sense of relief.
Because of Wang Donglai's work style, Zhang Yizu did not become arrogant even when he was in charge of Douyin and many other products, and remained humble.
They have always been very attentive to the platform's business situation.
Therefore, after Wang Donglai asked the question, Zhang Yizu only had to think for a moment before replying, "Boss, we started making the necessary arrangements immediately after receiving the order."
"Firstly, we have increased the allocation of traffic to medical science videos. For creators of related science videos, we have also conducted information verification to ensure that their qualifications and certificates are complete, so as to avoid a situation where good and bad are mixed together."
"Furthermore, in this process, we also created several topics to attract more attention..."
When these topics were brought up, Zhang Yizu began to speak at length.
Wang Donglai nodded, then looked at Baili Xiu and said, "Everyone here is a senior executive of the company. I have some good news to share with you all: we have developed a new product."
Changing the subject, Wang Donglai brought up the situation of respiratory diseases: "The market for respiratory diseases will become increasingly larger in the next few years. Air quality, climate change, and accelerated global population movement are all factors that are pushing up the incidence of respiratory infections."
"Flu vaccines and antibiotics alone are not enough, because most respiratory infections are neither typical influenza nor bacterial. There is currently no truly broad-spectrum anti-respiratory infection drug to fill this gap globally. Wanwusheng is designed to fill this gap."
Wang Donglai's voice wasn't loud, but every word seemed to be nailed into the quiet air.
"The market potential is self-evident. Changqing Liquid's annual revenue of tens of billions of yuan is based on solving a seemingly small but extremely stubborn need. Respiratory infections are a much larger market than hair loss. They are not sporadic but seasonal, high-frequency, and cover all age groups. If Wanwusheng is launched to the market according to our estimated efficacy data, its size will not be lower than that of Changqing Liquid, and may even exceed it."
Baili Xiu stood up from the other end of the long table, holding a thicker research and development file in his hand. The clinical trial data summary on the cover was circled in red pen in several places.
"Let me add something!"
His voice carried a restraint characteristic of a technician, but those who knew him well knew that behind this restraint often lay an irrepressible excitement.
"The Phase III clinical trial enrolled tens of thousands of patients, covering dozens of cities across the country, from south to north, from coastal areas to plateaus. The data is very impressive. The conversion rate to severe illness was reduced by nearly 70% in the early treatment group, the average course of illness was shortened by several days, and the incidence of adverse events was less than one in a thousand. More importantly, it has an inhibitory effect on several currently circulating respiratory viruses and is not affected by viral mutations because it does not attack a specific protein of the virus, but rather a common pathway required for viral replication in human cells."
"This mechanism is entirely new; it's not an improvement on an old drug, but a small molecule compound redesigned from the ground up. We performed whole-genome sequencing and molecular docking simulations on it, and the target is clear, with extremely low off-target effects and very clean safety data. Its mechanism of action is completely different from traditional antiviral drugs. It doesn't race against the virus; it directly blocks the virus's replication pathway after it enters the cell, while simultaneously inhibiting the cytokine storm and protecting airway mucosal epithelial cells from excessive damage."
He closed the file, took off his glasses, and wiped the marks left on his nose by the frames.
"If Changqing Liquid is the starting line for Galaxy Bio, then Wanwusheng is the sign that we have truly begun to accelerate after crossing the first bend. Its significance is not just in terms of revenue; it proves that our methodology in small molecule drug development is completely replicable."
He put his glasses back on, his gaze sweeping over everyone present, and said earnestly and excitedly, "Changqing Liquid was luck, Meiyan Water was luck, Lidan Shugan Tablets were also luck, but Wanwusheng wasn't. It's the product of a mature R&D system operating continuously. From target discovery to lead compound screening to clinical protocol design, every step is procedural, standardized, and reproducibly verifiable. This means there will be a second Wanwusheng, a third, and a fourth in the future."
"Galaxy Bio is no longer a pharmaceutical company that survives on blockbuster products, but a biopharmaceutical platform with continuous innovation capabilities."
The conference room fell silent, but beneath that silence lurked an barely suppressed excitement and exhilaration. (End of Chapter)