Video Game Empire

Li Xuan finally reluctantly persuaded the company's management to agree to his plan. However, the specific cooperation plan with the mainland still needs to be negotiated by Dongfang Electronics Co., Ltd. and the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University. Naturally, Li Xuan would not participate in person, but instead became a hands-off shopkeeper again.

The reason why Han Peng rushed back to Hong Kong was to discuss with Li Xuan about the possibility of acquiring the British company Acorn. That's right, Acorn is the later company that invented the ARM architecture. It's just that the current Aikang company is just a small company that has just been established for less than two years.

Before Han Peng went to the UK, Li Xuan once asked him to pay attention to this little-known small company in Cambridge. Han Peng didn't take this matter too seriously at first. But while attending a technology exhibition in London, he was surprised to find Icon's exhibit - the newly developed Atom personal computer.

Atom is a keyboard all-in-one computer with MOS6502 processor, 2KB memory, and a cassette tape drive. If that's the case, there's not much to be surprised by Han Peng. After Apple's Apple computer came out, the world imitated all kinds of microcomputers developed by it, at least hundreds of them.

The Atom computer of Aikang company, what really surprised Han Peng was that they developed a local area network. During the on-site demonstration, the technicians of Aikang Company connected 8 Atom computers together, and through a demonstration system, they could freely perform a series of operations such as file sharing, remote desktop display and remote keyboard entry.

The Atom PC is also very affordable, starting at £150 unassembled and £170 fully assembled. In other words, the finished machine is only equivalent to about 400 US dollars, which is very competitive. If the user thinks that the memory is too small and insufficient, it can be expanded to 12KB at most.

Li Xuan previously had a systematic plan for the computer products developed by Dongfang Electronics. The low-end computer mainly focused on the educational computer market, with cheap as the selling point. Mid-range machines mainly focus on the business office market, with application software as a selling point. High-end computers are workstation computers with high configuration and high performance as their selling points.

Apple's Apple computer, in Li Xuan's opinion, is a low-end computer, although its price is not cheap. In addition to individual gamers, Apple's consumers are the most important customers of all primary and secondary schools in the United States. And Atom is undoubtedly in line with Li Xuan's requirements for low-end computers.

Especially his local area network system is very suitable for school teaching. Teachers can operate students' computers through remote desktop display, remote keyboard input and other functions on their own computers, which will undoubtedly make teaching work easier and more effective.

"I have met with the two founders of Icon, Chris Currie and Herman Hauser. Hauser's attitude doesn't matter a bit about my proposal to acquire Icon by Dongfang Electronics. And Currie rejected me directly."

Han Peng introduced to Li Xuan in detail the process of his meeting with the two partners of Aikang: "But I noticed some details, there is a big difference between Hauser and Currie on the future development direction of Aikang. . Currie wants Ikon to focus on the general consumer market in the future. Hauser is just the opposite, he thinks Ikon should be a computer company dedicated to the field of laboratory equipment!"

Li Xuan listened quietly to Han Peng's narration. He didn't know much about Aikang. Except for the famous ARM architecture, he only knew that the company was known as "Britain's Apple" in the early days.

If the two founders work together, it is really not easy for Dongfang Electronics to start with Aikang. But since the two founders had obvious differences, they gave Li Xuan a chance to break through.

"How much information have you collected about this company? Of the two of them, who is more supported within the company?" Li Xuan asked.

"Hauser! Before Atom PC was launched, Acorn's main product was a semi-professional computer system for engineering and laboratory users, called AcornSystem, which has been developed from the original System1 to the present System3!

The Atom personal computer project was initially developed by Currie and another friend at Currie's home. Later, after Curry resigned from another company, he began to work full-time at Aikon, and then brought the unfinished Atom development project to Aikon! But most of the company's R & D personnel are dismissive of Atom, they prefer to continue to develop the previous System computer system! "Han Peng said with a smile.

Li Xuan also showed a smile on his face. No wonder Han Peng felt that Dongfang Electronics had great hope of acquiring Aikang. Hauser, who has the support of most of the company's employees, is not opposed to being acquired, while Currie, who has explicitly rejected the acquisition, is in a difficult situation within Ikon.

If Dongfang Electronics supports Curry's entry into personal consumer computers as a condition, it is likely to convince him to accept being acquired by Dongfang Electronics. In fact, it is not very difficult to develop a personal computer now, but it is a bit like a build-up game.

Of course, it doesn't mean that if you save a computer casually, you can make money in the market. Whether the machine configuration is reasonable and the cost is low will determine the final success or failure of the product.

Dongfang Electronics is also developing its own personal computer with the 6502 processor as the CPU. But if you buy Aikang, you can get mature products directly. More importantly, since Li Xuan knows that Aikang has the title of "British Apple", it shows that in the era of 8-bit personal computers, this company must have its own uniqueness.

The LAN system that Han Peng just mentioned is undoubtedly a trump card for navigating the educational computer market. Another reason why both Li Xuan and Han Peng feel that it is worthwhile to acquire Aikang is that Aikang is just an inconspicuous small company. annexation. For Dongfang Electronics, the copyright fee for "Pac-Man" has not been bought out, and there is no pressure at all.

"I decided to take a trip to Cambridge myself, but I will meet Mr. Currie for a while!" Li Xuan said with high morale. He was a little curious and longing for Aikang, and wanted to see what the company that developed ARM was like. of.

Since Li Xuan and Han Peng made the decision to acquire Aikang, Li Ke instructed the branch in London to start preliminary preparations. Buying a company is not something that can be done with just a few words.

Before Li Xuan meets with several of Aikang's partners, he must at least know their personalities, their status in the company, and their usual opinions. Only in this way can we make targeted decisions and improve our grasp of success in persuasion.

It has been a week since the British branch sent all the information Li Xuan needed back to Hong Kong. Li Xuan and Han Peng worked out a detailed plan and boarded the flight to London.

After the two arrived in London, they just took a short rest, and even before the jet lag was reversed, they went to Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. Cambridge and Oxford are the two most famous and important university cities in the UK.

Quietly I left, just as I came quietly. With a wave of my sleeves, I don't take away half a cloud!

The Cambridge described by the poet Xu Zhimo is undoubtedly full of romantic beauty, but Li Xuan, an engineering student, obviously has few literary talents. Even if he stood by the Kang River, he could not appreciate the poetic beauty contained in "Shadows in the Waves". Cambridge, in your manifesto, is nothing more than a quiet English town with a more bookish aroma.