The birth of the synonym of cheap mobile battery "Anker (anchor)" secret story

ByArwen - 7

In the summer of 2011, Steven Yang retired from Google and made accessories for smartphones that are cheaper and superior to those of leading manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung, to create products that the world needed the most at that time Anker ) Was launched. Accessories such as batteries, cables, and chargers are indispensable for using smartphones, but when Yang retired Google, it was time to set up a company, manufacture home appliances and sell products It seems that he did not have any know-how.

How Anker is beating Apple and Samsung at their own accessory game - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/22/15673712/anker-battery-charger-amazon-empire-steven-yang-interview

While recalling Mr. Yang just when he launched Anker, "I was a software engineer at Google, so I did not have a acquaintance in the home electronics manufacturing industry." That Anker started from a really small team that directly sells products to customers at Amazon Marketplace. The company name "Anker" is in GermanAnchorIt is said that it attached from "anchor" which has the meaning of.

Several years have passed since then, Anker has grown to become the most popular brand in Amazon mobile battery sector now. After Pokemon GO was released in July of 2016,Demand gained worldwideAlthough it is a mobile battery that attracted a great deal of attention, from a long time ago, standard smartphones were often handy in some cases, even though the full smartphone was fully charged, the full day battery did not hold. The mobile battery market has grown into a huge market that produces about $ 360 million (about 40 billion yen) in the 12 months until March 2017, leading the market with Kmashi, Jackery, iMuto etc. It is "Anker" to do.

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While smartphones have made dramatic progress over the past decade, batteries never continue for a long time. Mobile phones, especially smartphones have large screens, excellent cameras, and are thinner and operate faster, so batteries can only last about 36 hours at the most. This is due to the fundamental part of lithium-ion batteries, and the capacity is also restricted in limited size.

According to Linden Archer, a professor at Cornell University's Department of Chemical Engineering, today's lithium-ion batteries are showing only about a fifth of the potential storage capacity. But still, today's battery technology demonstrates about 90% of its performance. Mr. Joanna Stern, a technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal, stated that "The stagnation of battery technology is the only thing that Anker can prosper as it says" The majority of Anker's success is in the fact that batteries do not last long " It can be said to be the number one factor.

Anker knew that it needed to make a mobile battery to cope with the user's "distress". However, for Anker, the manufacture of mobile batteries was not the initial purpose of starting a business. Mr. Yang said, "Assuming you have a Dell or HP laptop you bought in 2009, you will want to buy a new one, because the battery will be useless in 2011. However, At that time, there were only two options to purchase batteries directly from manufacturers such as Dell and HP, or purchase inadequate batteries because they are inexpensive, "he says. In the late 2000s, he came up with the opportunity to start Anker I am talking about what happened.

Mr. Yang seems to want to provide high quality accessories, that is, cost less than exchanging with the original manufacturer, but still provide high quality of sufficient quality to earn the trust of consumers. However, before actually selling such products, Yang needed to find a way to make such "inexpensive high performance third party accessories".


After Mr. Yang retired from Google in July 2011, it seems that it took twelve months to prototype the battery of the first laptop computer. In addition, the team will move to China / Shenzhen to find a reliable manufacturing partner. Mr. Yang talks about why he went to China immediately after prototype saying "I stayed in California and I knew that it would not work if I tried to send prototypes in FedEx if I could do it." I will.

Especially in the United States many hardware companies are fierce competition, missing the deadline and lagging behind several months. A solid supply chain is a very important factor for the survival of hardware firms and it seems that the whole consulting industry is helping to allocate superior suppliers to ventures.

Dongpong Zhao, who was in charge of the sales department in Google of Google, saw a white feather arrow to avoid such a pitfall. Zhao joined Anker at the beginning of 2012 and helped Yang to build its supply chain. Anker around this time was composed of about 10 people, "It was not like an actual company, it was like a small family run," Yang says. In cooperation with Zhao, Anker has built a supply chain in the first year and has started testing for selling products directly at Amazon.


From there, Anker is a smartphone made by HTC "HTC SensationWe will work on the development of replacement batteries for. About that time Mr. Yang said, "We were able to make the battery cell of the mobile phone a little more than it was, in the early stages we established a close relationship with suppliers in Asia including BTR as supplier of Panasonic and anode It is possible to test new batteries and develop them quickly. "

And, as Mr. Yang says, "There is no doubt that I saw the explosive increase in smart devices as a great opportunity," From there, Anker actively participates in the market of smartphone related accessories such as mobile batteries, chargers, and cables I will continue to advance. And by the end of 2012 we began to spend a lot of resources on mobile batteries, and around this time we heard that 100 to 1000 products were sold per day.

However, "Challenge was not to sell the product," Yang said. "We made products and confirmed that they are of high quality, so that's why we spend a lot of money on R & D and product development." As Yang says, Amazon's marketplace seems to have changed Anker's products to highly profitable by devising reviews, prices and search rankings.

True breakthrough is rare for the accessory market where the trend of home appliances is highlighted. However, Anker has focused on mobile batteries based on the recognition that "although the battery itself may not be improved, charging time is improving". In fact, according to PhoneArena's survey, it seems that it took more than 2 hours on average to charge 100% of the device in 2013, but as of 2017 charging is about half that time.


In such circumstances Anker released a card size USB quick charger "PowerPort 5" with five USB ports. Initially released in 2015 it was the only USB quick charger that could charge five devices simultaneously at optimal speed. Also, in the "PowerCore" series, which is the standard of Anker's mobile battery series, mobile batteries with a credit card size and a thickness of 1 inch (about 2.54 cm) capacity of 10000 mAh have also appeared. This means that you can charge the iPhone 7 with the battery empty fully in about 60 minutes, which can be done about 4 times.

An ultra-compact and lightweight mobile battery "Anker PowerCore 10000" with a large capacity of 10000 mAh that can be purchased on the 2,000 yen range - GIGAZINE


In addition to its technical advantages, Anker products also have a strong commitment to appearance. Elisa Lu, a brand manager, reveals that he is committed to the packaging of each product so that users can enjoy the product until they receive the product and open the package and use it. Anker products are in white and light blue boxes, and the brand logo "Anker" is printed on the front of the box.

In addition, Anker sells red cables and red battery packs, all of which have strategic objectives in terms of business. "When you buy a product you want to know that you are obtaining products from a trustworthy company," Lu said, even though it is an accessory for smartphones by sticking to the details of the package, it's like smartphones It seems that he is producing a special feeling as if opening a product such as.