I haven't invented anything earth-shattering. If I could be said to have one noteworthy ability compared with the average person, it's that I have a keen interest in reading the direction and timing of paradigm shifts.
I'm a man, and I think every man wants to be No. 1.
Having made up my mind, I went to see Steve [Jobs]. I brought a hand-drawn sketch with me, and I said, "Please make something like this." He said, "Don't show me such an ugly design sketch." But he also said, "You've got the right idea. I totally agree that the time has come when we can make the ultimate mobile machine."
I would say that hardware is the bone of the head, the skull. The semiconductor is the brain within the head. The software is the wisdom and data is the knowledge.
Whatever the country, whatever the culture, whatever the time, when you become a big enough organization, you start to collapse and slow down.
I don't care about the sort of things that will bring in chump change over the next two or three years. I think I'm better than others at sniffing out things that will bear fruit in 10 or 20 years while they're still at the seed stage, and I'm more willing to take the risks that entails.
Jack's [Ma Yun ] theory is that whoever controls data controls the world.
If something happened, like engineers starting to quit, things would go downhill fast.
Our proposal had more than just money. We would increase their staff and keep their headquarters, their brand and their management in place. We made them a comprehensive offer they couldn't refuse. Shareholders simply receive cash, but with the staff and management, we had to show that we could share the same vision. Employees would probably resent us if money were all [we offered].
But a big paradigm shift is staring us in the face. If I left things to someone else despite having my own thoughts on it, I wouldn't be true to myself.
I'd met Simon [Segars] for the first time in London. He struck me as a quiet, natural-born engineer and an orthodox successor [to East]. He has a home in Silicon Valley, and he said it's just a few minutes' drive away from mine.
I think I would have kept in contact with venture capital investors and entrepreneurs. I'm sure staying involved as something like a coach would be fun. If I handed over the reins to a successor, I wouldn't stick around [to pull strings] like a retired emperor.
I thought I might spend the rest of my time on golf. But thinking about it now, I'm happy playing whenever I have some downtime in my busy schedule, and even if I had all the time I wanted to play, my score probably wouldn't be very good.
[Simon Segars ] came by a few times.I told him, "If you understand the future of the internet of things that much, then you should add more engineers and go on the offensive." Simon had explained to analysts and others that he intended to do that sort of forward-looking investment, but he said it's tough for a listed company considering its share price falls if profits drop.
