Reborn Tycoon Rise

"Secret weapon?" He Guoyuan asked curiously: "What secret weapon!"

"A year ago, I asked a team from Midea's U.S. branch to secretly research a technology. Now it has been successful. At the same time, it has applied for a global patent. It is called "short message service", and its Chinese name is SMS. This is a passed A technology for mobile phones or other communication devices to send text or numbers to each other." Xu Zhi introduced simply.

He Guoyuan thought for a moment and said, "Is this equivalent to emails on a computer?"

Xu Zhi said: "Absolutely, you can think so."

He Guoyuan said: "E-mail is indeed very important on the computer, but mobile phones can make direct calls. The existence of text messages does not seem to be that important, right?"

"It is true that mobile phones can make calls, but in many cases, not everything can be 'said', and the specific environment must also be considered. For example, if one party is inconvenient to talk, wouldn't text messages be very useful in this case?" Xu Zhi simply gave two examples. The role of text messages in the future can be said to be no less than the calling function of the mobile phone itself. However, in this era, it is difficult to describe clearly. People will only know when the need occurs. How important is the most ordinary thing.

"Indeed." He Guoyuan nodded and agreed with this view.

"SMS will be an important patent for our Midea company. Perhaps we can use this to negotiate with some communication giants in the future. However, at present, the practical value is not high, so the new short-distance communication technology , we need to be responsible ourselves." Xu Zhi paused and said: "I will give you two options. First, we can seek cooperation with some top universities in Europe and the United States. As long as we can develop a stable technology, we can invest in it again. A lot of money is worth it. The second thing is to recruit people for research and development in the mainland. The mainland lacks communication equipment, but the research and development of basic technology should be good, and maybe we can get unexpected surprises."

He Guoyuan smiled and said: "Okay, but I think technology is the most important. We can do both at the same time, we just need to invest more money."

"Okay, I agree with this." Xu Zhi naturally would not object. Compared with the profits that "Pokemon" can bring, even multiple investments are nothing now, let alone if Bluetooth technology really appears in advance and By controlling the patents in your own hands, you will have more say in the mobile phone field in the future.

"Then I will arrange this matter immediately." He Guoyuan said.

"Okay, whether the "Pokemon" game project can be successful depends on your research and development speed." Xu Zhi said cautiously.

There are two extremely important factors in the transformation of the game market. One is good creativity, and the other is the speed of upgrading of hardware facilities.

The game "Pokemon" must require a clear LCD screen and communication technology as efficient as Bluetooth, both of which are indispensable.

Once Bluetooth technology appears, it will bring great changes to the field of handheld game consoles. From stand-alone to networked, various new interactive games will be born based on this function.

The new LCD will also have another huge market, which is notebook computers and future mobile phones and LCD TVs.

The copyright of "Pokémon" is already in my own hands. Now, animation can also be very profitable, and it can also increase its popularity. In the future, if the two technologies are successfully developed, it can also directly occupy the entire market with its huge reputation.

"Chairman, don't worry, we will resolutely complete the task." He Guoyuan assured with a smile.

Xu Zhi nodded and asked: "How are the negotiations with IBM on the formulation of personal computer standards going?"

He Guoyuan replied: "Most of the patents have been agreed upon, but there are still a few disputes."

"Which ones?" Xu Zhi asked.

Since Apple detonated the personal computer market, a large number of traditional American electronics companies have entered this field, such as Hewlett-Packard, Texas Instruments, Xerox, IBM, etc. Europe has been slow to respond, but there are also several companies eager to give it a try. On the Asian side, several Japanese companies are also involved, such as Fujitsu, Sony, etc., and of course the Midea Company in Hong Kong.

But in an era when software standards were not yet popular, language became an obstacle for European and Japanese computer companies to quickly enter the international market. When these brands became popular in their own countries, the United States, which has the largest market, had already risen. several giants.

Although Midea is located in Hong Kong, the first computer was developed for the global market in English-speaking countries. In addition, with the huge funds obtained from games behind it, the Honor series of computers also successfully entered the US market. occupies a certain share.

Needless to say, Apple is the creator of the personal computer era. Its founder, Steve Jobs, is an American entrepreneurial hero and has his own reputation.

The other giant is IBM, the blue giant in the United States. At its peak, its market value was as high as 18% of the U.S. GDP, and it monopolized almost 80% of the world's banks, government agency servers and supercomputers.

Among these three companies, IBM is the eldest. Relying on its huge brand effect, even though its computer performance is average, it has achieved astonishing annual sales of millions.

Midea's Honor series, with its unique design, classic built-in games and office software, quickly occupied half of the US market. Last year, global sales reached 600,000 units, second only to IBM.

In terms of technical strength, the Honor series of computers are not inferior to IBM's 5150 computer in terms of personal experience and computing speed. However, the brand effect is so magical that even with over a hundred Best Buy electronic supermarket chains, the sales volume cannot compare with IBM. .

The third is Apple. Apple I and Apple II are popular all over the world. However, in the past two years, Apple's new products Lisa and Macintosh have failed one after another, causing Apple's stock price on Nasdaq to plummet, but it has only Judging from the data, Apple's sales are still not weak.

In addition to these three companies, other computer companies are also showing their talents and competing for this huge market.

But soon, all relevant companies discovered a problem, a problem that would put the entire computer industry into trouble.

Currently, there are dozens of well-known computer brands on the market, each with its own unique design. This has caused confusion in the computer accessories market. The simplest one is the readable software hard drive that is bundled with the computer. The size is different for each model, which brings great inconvenience to software manufacturers, sales staff and customers.

The same is true for other accessories. With the expansion of the personal computer market, the establishment of standards for personal computers has become imperative.

In its original history, IBM disclosed all the hardware design standards of its 5150 computer. With its huge sales volume and extraordinary influence, this set became the standard model for personal PCs around the world.

However, in this life, due to Xu Zhi's intervention, Midea's Honor series computers have a large number of later patents. These patents are the result of market testing by countless computer companies in the past. Naturally, they are also very popular among customers in this era. Welcome, coupled with the sales of Honor series computers, IBM cannot completely bypass Midea and formulate standards independently.

As for Apple, senior executives from both IBM and Midea admired their wild imagination, but Jobs was clearly stuck in a trap. He just wanted to design the best personal computer, not the one that best suited the market.

The Lisa computer launched in 1983 was technologically astonishing. Many of its internal designs have not become outdated even in the 21st century, but they are simply not in line with the market. The price is as high as US$9,998, which many Americans cannot earn in a year. The money was spent completely!

The same was true for the Macintosh in 1984. What IBM didn't expect was that after inviting Apple to participate in the formulation of personal computer standards, it was actually rejected. So, IBM quickly contacted Midea, and the two held many negotiations.

A struggle for the right to speak out about standard setting began secretly.

He Guoyuan said: "IBM agreed to adopt the Honor model in terms of motherboard interfaces, multimedia interfaces and modes, mice, USB interfaces, heat dissipation, etc., but it refused to make concessions in terms of CPU, motherboards, graphics cards, etc."

"What they had in mind was a bunch of irrelevant standards for us to set, but he actually controlled the most core component standards." Xu Zhi couldn't help but shook his head, relying on the golden finger of future generations' memory, some non-core hardware aspects , the Honor series computers have unparalleled competitiveness, and there are other choices if you can't compete with the other party.

In terms of graphics cards and CPUs, Midea has hired nearly a thousand people in several major branches around the world in the past two years to design an H-1 processor that can be used by itself. The performance may not be as good as Intel's flagship product, but it is enough to compete in the market. Enter the market to engage in misaligned competition.

The standard-setting process is to serve global manufacturers in the future. If you give in now, you will inevitably suffer heavy losses in the future.

Xu Zhidao: "We don't ask for the so-called monopoly, we just want fair competition. If they still don't agree, then don't follow this standard. From now on, everyone can play their own way!"

"I will continue to communicate with IBM in this regard." He Guoyuan said helplessly. The setting of this standard is actually a constant test by both parties. Unless one party is very strong, otherwise everyone will eventually compromise, especially in the electronics area. There are patents owned by many different companies that either complement or complement each other.

At this time, only by working together and empowering each other can we promote the explosive growth of the industry and ultimately benefit all players.

However, where there are people, there is a world. The establishment of standards is not only a reputation, but also a very considerable net income. Once one of its own technologies is set as a standard, that means that all manufacturers in the future will need to pay patent fees. Not to mention, the more standards you control, the greater your voice will be in the industry in the future, which is very exciting for any company.

Xu Zhidao: "Don't worry, some of the patents we hold are also very valuable. Anyway, our request is just for fair competition. Just wait for a while. IBM is now very ambitious and wants to monopolize the entire personal computer market. Without unified standards, they simply can’t do this.”

"But I'm worried that if the standards are unified, although we can get some patent fees, the previous advantages will be gone." He Guoyuan said with some worry.

"No one can predict the future. It's pointless to think too much. We just need to provide our own products and services." Xu Zhi smiled. He didn't care about IBM, although in the original history, IBM formulated the personal computer system. standards, but its internal management was too bloated. After launching a popular product, it thought it was safe to sit on the Diaoyutai, and put its management experience on mainframes into the ever-changing personal computer market. It once sold millions of products a year. The 5150 was naturally abandoned by the market, and after entering the 1990s, its main business, mainframes, also suffered a serious impact. The personal computer business plummeted, and it never turned around again.

Relatively speaking, Xu Zhi feels that he should pay more attention to electronic companies such as HP, Toshiba and Sony.

"It seems that IBM doesn't have many choices!" He Guoyuan said with a chuckle.

"Of course, this is just business. Although they are competitors at present, anyone with a discerning eye can see that the personal computer market has just begun. Who would be internally hostile to each other at this time?" Xu Zhi said with a shrug.

"That's true. According to my statistics, global personal computer shipments in the first half of this year were 60% higher than the same period last year. The growth rate of Honor computers was as high as 80%. The market potential is really huge." He Guoyuan said.

Xu Zhi took a sip of Sprite and said, "Of course, otherwise why do you think I invested more than a billion dollars to build Best Buy supermarkets in the United States? Now some banks in the United States are begging Bruce to get loans to open new supermarkets."

Bruce is the general manager of Best Buy Supermarket in the United States. Due to the rapid expansion of the personal computer market, Best Buy used capital to pave the way and quickly formed a one-stop service supermarket chain integrating sales and after-sales in many major cities in the United States, basically one branch. After opening, you can form your own hematopoiesis ability and repay the loan by yourself. Banks naturally like this kind of safe customers.

This self-circulation has brought great convenience to Best Buy's expansion. Once Best Buy supermarkets are really spread across major cities in the United States, even if it is impossible to form a monopoly, they will have a certain say in the electronic field.

"With the existence of Best Buy, we are really in an invincible position. Chairman, your investment is really a stroke of genius." He Guoyuan said with admiration. With Best Buy, our products, especially games and computers, have become more and more popular in the market. There is a huge advantage in sales.

"Okay, stop flattering me." Xu Zhi smiled and said, "I'm going to the mainland in a few days. I may stay for a month. The things I asked you need to be completed as soon as possible. What's the matter? If so, please contact me via satellite phone.”

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