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

"A year ago, I asked a team at Midea's U.S. branch to secretly research a technology, and now it has successfully applied for a global patent called "short message service", Chinese name is text messaging, which is a technology that sends text or numbers to each other through mobile phones or other communication devices. Xu Zhi said simply.

He Guoyuan pondered for a moment and said, "This is equivalent to email on the computer?"

Xu Zhi said: "It's almost, you can think like this." ”

He Guoyuan said: "Email is indeed very important on the computer, but mobile phones can make direct calls, and the existence of text messages doesn't seem to be so important, right?"

"Mobile phones can indeed talk, but many times, not everything can be 'said', and the specific environment must also be taken into account, such as one party is inconvenient to speak, at this time, text messages are not very useful?" Xu Zhi simply gave two examples, the role of text messages in the future is so great that it can be said that it is not less than the call function of the mobile phone itself, but in this era, it is difficult to describe clearly, only when it needs to happen, people will know how important a most ordinary thing is.

"That's right. He Guoyuan nodded and agreed with this point of view.

"SMS will be an important patent of our Midea company, and perhaps in the future, we can negotiate with some communication giants with this, but at present, the practical value is not high, so we need to be responsible for the new short-distance communication technology. Xu Zhi paused and said: "I will give you two plans, first, we can seek cooperation with some top universities in Europe and the United States, as long as we can develop a stable technology, no matter how much money is invested, it is cost-effective." The second is to recruit people for research and development in the mainland, which lacks communication equipment, but the research and development of basic technologies should not be bad, and you may be able to get unexpected surprises. ”

He Guoyuan smiled: "Okay, but I think technology is the most important, we can do it on both sides at the same time, just invest more money." ”

"Okay, I agree. Xu Zhi naturally will not object, compared to the profits that "Pokemon" can bring, even if there is a lot of investment now, it is nothing, not to mention that if Bluetooth technology really appears in advance and controls the patent in his own hands, then he will have more say in the field of mobile phones in the future.

"Then I'll arrange this later. He Guoyuan said.

"Okay, whether the Pokemon game project can succeed or not depends on your development speed. Xu Zhi said cautiously.

There are two factors that are extremely important in the transformation of the game market, one is good ideas, and the other is the speed of hardware upgrades.

Pokemon is a game that requires a clear LCD screen and communication technology that is as efficient as Bluetooth.

Once Bluetooth technology appears, it will also change the field of handheld game consoles very much, from a stand-alone machine to a network, and a variety of interactive new games will be born with this function.

And the new LCD will also have another huge market, that is, laptops and future mobile phones and LCD TVs.

The copyright of "Pokémon" is already in their own hands, and now there is a very high profit from making animation, and it can also increase its popularity, and in the future, the two technologies can be successfully developed, and they can also directly occupy the entire market with their huge fame.

"The chairman is assured that he will resolutely complete the task. He Guoyuan assured with a smile.

Xu Zhi nodded, and asked again: "How is the negotiation with IBM on the development of personal computer standards?"

He replied: "Most of the patents have been agreed, 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., the response in Europe has been slow, but there are also a few companies eager to try, and in Asia, Japan has also participated in several companies, such as Fujitsu, Sony, etc., and of course, the Midea company in Xiangjiang.

But in the era when software standards were not yet widespread, language became an obstacle to the rapid entry of European and Japanese computer companies into the international market, and by the time these brands were thriving in their own countries, the United States, which had the largest market, had already risen several giants.

Although Midea is located in Xiangjiang, the first computer was developed for the global English-speaking country market, and with the huge amount of money obtained from the game, the Honor series of computers has also successfully entered the American market and occupied a certain share.

Needless to say, Apple is the creator of the personal computer age, and its founder Steve Jobs is an American entrepreneurial hero with a reputation of his own.

The other giant is IBM, the blue giant of the United States, with a market capitalization of 18% of the US GDP at its peak, and a monopoly on almost 80% of the world's banks, government servers and supercomputers.

Among these three companies, IBM is the boss, with its huge brand effect, even if its computer operation performance is average, it has also obtained millions of annual sales.

Midea's Honor series, with some unique designs, classic built-in games and office software, also quickly occupied half of the U.S. market, with global sales of 600,000 units last year, second only to IBM.

In terms of technical strength, the computers of the Honor series are not weaker than IBM's 5150 computers in terms of personal experience and computing speed, but the brand effect is so magical, even if there are more than 100 Best Buy chain electronic supermarkets, the sales volume is not as good as IBM.

The third is Apple, Apple I and Apple II are popular all over the world, but in the past two years, Apple's new products Lisa and Macintosh have failed one after another, resulting in Apple's stock price plummeting on the NASDAQ, but only from the data, Apple's sales are still not weak.

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

But soon, all the companies involved found a problem, one that would put the entire computer industry in trouble.

At present, there are dozens of well-known computer brands in the market, each of which has its own unique design, which causes the confusion of computer accessories on the market, the simplest point is the size of the readable software hard disk sold by the computer, each one is different, which brings great inconvenience to software manufacturers, sales staff and customers.

The same is true for other accessories, and as the PC market expands, it is imperative to set standards for PCs.

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

However, in this life, because of Xu Zhi's interference, Midea's Glory series computers have a large number of patents for later generations, these patents are the results of countless computer companies in the original history through market testing, and they are naturally very popular with customers in this era.

As for Apple, both IBM and Midea executives admired their unbridled imagination, but Jobs was clearly caught in the magic barrier, and he only wanted to design the best personal computer, not the most market-oriented.

Launched in 1983, Lisa's computer technology is amazing, and many of the interior designs are not outdated even in the 21st century, but they do not meet the market at all, and the price is as high as 9998 US dollars, which is a sum of money that many Americans can't make in a year, so it is completely pounced!

The same is true of Macintosh in 84, and what makes IBM even more unexpected is that after inviting Apple to participate in the formulation of personal computer standards, it was actually refused, so IBM quickly contacted Midea, and the two negotiated many times.

A struggle for the right to speak in standard-setting began in the shadows.

He Guoyuan said: "IBM agreed to adopt the glorious mode in terms of motherboard interface, multimedia interface and mode, mouse, USB interface, heat dissipation, etc., but it refused to make concessions in terms of CPU, motherboard, graphics card, etc. ”

"They thought it was beautiful, a bunch of inconsequential standards for us to set, but he controlled the core component standards. Xu Zhi couldn't help but shake his head, with the golden finger of the memory of later generations, in terms of some non-core hardware, the Honor series computers have unparalleled competitiveness, and there are other options for the other party.

In terms of graphics cards and CPUs, Midea has recruited nearly 1,000 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, which may not be as good as Intel's trump card products, but it is also enough to enter the market for misplaced competition.

The process of standard-setting is for the manufacturers of the world in the future, and if you take a step back now, you will inevitably lose a lot in the future.

Xu Zhidao: "We don't ask for the so-called monopoly operation, just fair competition, if they don't agree, then don't do this standard, let's play their own games in the future!"

"In this regard, I will continue to communicate with IBM. He Guoyuan said helplessly, the setting of this standard is actually a continuous test of both sides, unless one side is very strong, or everyone will compromise in the end, especially in the electronic field, many patents owned by different companies complement each other and are missing 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 are rivers and lakes, the formulation of standards is not only reputation, but also a very considerable net income, once a technology is set as a standard, that is, all manufacturers need to pay patent fees in the future, not to mention the more standards controlled, the greater the right to speak in the industry in the future, any company is very excited.

Xu Zhidao: "Don't worry, some of the patents we hold in our hands are also very valuable, anyway, our requirements are just to ask for fair competition, just drag on for a while, IBM is now very ambitious, want to monopolize the entire personal computer market, if you can't unify the standards, they can't do this at all." ”

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

"No one can say what the future holds, and it's not interesting to think too much, just do our own products and services. Xu Zhi smiled, he doesn't care about IBM, although in the original history IBM developed the standard of personal computers, but its internal management is too swollen, after a popular product, I thought that I would sit firmly on the Diaoyutai, and placed the management experience on the mainframe in the ever-changing personal computer market, once sold millions of dollars 5150 was naturally abandoned by the market, and after entering the 90s, its main business mainframe was also seriously impacted, and the personal computer business plummeted, and there was no day to turn over。

Relatively speaking, Xu Zhi feels that he should pay more attention to electronics companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Toshiba and Sony.

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

"Of course, this is just a business, although it is a competitor at present, but the personal computer market has just begun, who will be hostile to each other at this time. Xu Zhi shrugged and said.

"That's right, I calculated that in the first half of this year, the global personal computer shipment volume was 60% higher than the same period last year, and the growth rate of Honor computers was as high as 80%, and 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 a Best Buy supermarket in the United States, and now some banks in the United States are begging Bruce to take out a loan to open a new supermarket." ”

Bruce is the general manager of Best Buy supermarkets in the United States, because of the rapid expansion of the personal computer market, and Best Buy opened the way with funds, and quickly formed a one-stop service supermarket chain integrating sales and after-sales in many large cities in the United States.

This kind of self-circulation has brought great convenience to the expansion of Best Buy, and once Best Buy supermarkets are really all over the major cities in the United States, even if it is impossible to form a monopoly, it will also form a certain voice in the field of electronics.

"With the existence of Best Buy, we are really invincible, and your investment is really a stroke of genius. He Guoyuan said with admiration that with Best Buy, its own products, especially games and computers, have a great advantage in sales.

"Alright, don't be a sycophant. Xu Zhi smiled and said: "I will go to the mainland in a few days, I may stay for a month, this kind of thing I explained to you needs to be completed as soon as possible, if there is anything, contact me by satellite phone." ”

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