In brief: Feng Jun, Founder & CEO at Borqs, is talking about his way of building the #1 Chinese consumer electronics brand, and was interviewed by CHINICT President Franck Nazikian.

This is a summary of tweets sent during the interview.

• Aigo: #1 consumer electronics maker in China (in world soon?). Who is Aigo?

• Feng Jun created that 18 years ago out of Tsinghua (China’s MIT). Started CNY 220 (USD 26).
• So how did he turn that into a billion-dollar company? Mentions Deng visit of 1992, South China.
• Majored in civil engineering, not IT. But still sees that many things will change. Went to Zhongguancun then.
• Wanted to be a hero. Do good things. Create value. Stay away from the illegal.
• There were other players in Zhongguancun back in the day but there were smugglers. Those who win are king.
• Feng Jun: We win with partners. Franck: 1+1=11?
• IT can create new value for you and me. Why IT growing this quick? Creating a lot of new value.
• Feng Jun: 1+1=-1 if two folks aren’t adding up, or it’s 1+1=0. Two partners with same direction: 1+1=1.
• Same direction, different positions: 1+1=11. Very insightful.
• French President Sarkozy: “Everything is possible.”
• Aigo started building keyboards of very high quality. Had only USD 26 to start with. What to start with?
• Big contestant: Stone (四通). Feng Jun born in Xi’an, without relationships. Wanted to rely on hard work, not relations.
• Feng Jun: Mum and dad: never do illegal things. Don’t get into smuggling. What should I do?
• Delivery of products on tricycles!
• Tsinghua students on bikes! Lots of such fame in the media.
• With direct delivery on bikes, Feng Jun sees the customers, know what they need. Personal touch.
• “King of the keyboards”… after that in 1999, he started going into keyboards.
• They understand the market. They know what’s the need. (Just knowing about R&D apparently won’t do.)
• We must know what’s demand. Understand demand. Go out and understand the customer to get R&D straight.
• USB in 1999. Then it’s MP3 in 2002.
• Mentions the 1.44 MB floppy. MO. Zip. But USB — as of 1999 all computers have USB ports.
• MP3 flash memory + MP3 player = combined. Convenience for consumers. Direct PC connection. No drivers.
• Back in the day, all MP3 players were from South Korea. iRiver, Samsung, everything.
• Aigo is young. They can create new value. Doesn’t matter who those competitors there are.
• Moonlight and “romantic brands”. That worked in China. Romantic MP3s.
• With that Aigo beat Samsung in 8 months. This was back in 2003. MP3 #1 in China.
• Folks turned out surprised. “Samsung is a great company”, as it was supposed to be.
• 2005: R&D in digital camera. Feng Jun’s friends: He’s nuts. In 2005 digicams were all manufactured (mainly) by JP brands.
• Japanese brands were united, did very well. Feng Jun: Let’s create some value there!
• MP6? Lots of patents there. Accessible to all, old and new. Use MP6 to enjoy legal music. “Very convenient”. Use stylus.
• Use Aigo Pen, broadband, let folks enjoy LEGAL music. Wait. MP7 is coming soon in 6 months. TV series.
• Consumer buys book and points to a film he’d likes to see. Boom. It’s there. License paid in the form of the book.
• Had a good look at Aigo from the start, from keyboards to consumer electronics. Very insightful.
• Franck: What’s next for Aigo in terms of global strategy? (You’re key in China. What’s next outside?)
• Globalization of Aigo? Feng Jun: Lots of new R&D in China, but outside China, nobody knows.
• More and more folks on China + R&D. “Made in China” used to = piracy, bad quality. No longer.
• “No service = nothing”. Good brand needs good quality, good R&D, good service.
• Thank you Feng Jun.