The night after the interview, Gu Biao was not in a hurry to let all the subordinates who came to persuade him return to San Francisco.

Instead, he opened a hotel in Watson and let them stay for two days, don't be in a hurry, wait for the follow-up external conditions to mature, and then officially go back to work.

When he was discussing with his subordinates just now, he proposed the plan of "increasing the cost and selling price of game consoles and reducing the cost and selling price of game cartridges", and the inside story is easy for future readers to understand-

That is to change the memory slot-type cartridge socket into a floppy drive, and use a 3.5-inch floppy disk as the storage medium for future home console games.

The technical details of this are exactly what he talked about with his subordinates during secret discussions and kept them secret from CNN female reporters.

The "floppy disk of game cartridges" may sound unbelievable to later generations, but it has been verified in history. For example, when Nintendo launched the FC game console in the third quarter of 83 in history, it was originally a cartridge with a memory slot, and in 85 and 86, it began to consider the development of floppy disks, and made an FC modification using a floppy drive.

Moreover, Nintendo still uses a 5.25-inch floppy disk with a spicy chicken, which is standard in the 70s, and the cost of the floppy drive is also high. If Gu Biao wants to use it, how can he use the 3.5-inch floppy disk just developed by Sony at the end of 81, as well as the supporting floppy drive.

In this way, it can also postpone the piracy problem that has plagued Nintendo the most in history for several years - the reason why Nintendo's floppy drive machine was only used for three or four years in history, and it was abandoned when it got SFC in 90, mainly because the content of the floppy disk was too easy to pirate.

There is no need for any professional piracy technicians, that is, ordinary consumers, as long as they can buy an empty floppy disk, they can directly copy it, which is equivalent to not giving away the game software in vain.

But this problem, Gu Biao does not exist now, because he knows that Sony's 3.5-inch floppy disk technology has just entered the patent protection period, and there are no other users, Gu Biao is sure to force Sony to block the source of supply, so that there will be no blank disks on the market within three years, and the hardware will be manufactured as read-only disks when it leaves the factory, which can resist for a while.

In the future, the 3.5-inch floppy disk can't be controlled and explodes, Gu Biao will give up the floppy drive again, and then Tiankun's game machine will have occupied the market, and he will not be afraid of transformation.

For this matter, in the past two days, Gu Biao had asked Akio Morita for relevant technical information, and he calculated it himself, because the machine itself is equipped with an additional audio preprocessing chip, and a floppy drive is added, and only a memory slot circuit is omitted, so it is necessary for the cost of the whole machine to rise by more than 20 US dollars.

That is, the pre-sale price has risen from $120~$130 to $150~$160. And the benefit in the future is that the game floppy disk can be at least $10 cheaper than the game cartridge -

Later generations of 3.5-inch floppy disks, almost at the beginning of the 21st century gradually phased out, in IN2000 and even when the XP system appeared, the price of imported 3.5-inch floppy disks has fallen below 20 yuan, and domestic ones are 10 yuan.

In the late 90s, the IN95/98 system era, the price of floppy disks was probably double the above figures.

Going back further, after the appearance of IBM's first floppy drive PC in 1988, the price will probably double throughout the DOS operating system era. That's about $10 a piece.

Further back, there is no historical record of how much the 3.5-inch floppy disk should be sold for in 1983, because after Sony developed this floppy disk, it was stagnant in the laboratory stage for 7 years without customers wanting, and it was delayed from 81 to 88 before it was mass-produced for IBM.

Gu Biao directly inquired privately through the channel of Akio Morita, and Akio Morita quoted him $30 a piece at first, and later said that if the amount is large, he can consider 25.

But this price obviously can't satisfy Gu Biao, and he has the confidence to cut it again - after all, he is also the first guy on the earth to find a way out for Akio Morita's new invention, shouldn't he give more discounts?

What's more, the reason why Akio Morita bites a relatively expensive price is not because the production cost of 3.5-inch floppy disks is really that high, but because the 5.25 inches, which are more cumbersome than 3.5 inches, have smaller capacity, and have a slower access speed, are sold more expensive.

Therefore, Akio Morita is reluctant to sell his new generation of products cheaper than backward old goods, doesn't that seem very Lo.

Gu Biao also needs to slowly mediate, persuade, and set conditions.

……

However, it is precisely because the mediation with Akio Morita has not yet been officially launched, so Gu Biao's idea is still on paper, and he has not really asked Professor Erikson and Li Kaifu to stop their original plan.

Gu Biao's idea is to advance the two-line plan in parallel.

He never fights uncertain battles, and he will never do things that pat his head.

He knows very well that in the 80s, if a game console development project had been achieved to 70% of the level, pulling out two modification lines, and the two project teams would go hand in hand, the R&D cost would be at most $2 million more than that of a single line advancement.

In this case, it is better to keep a spare tire and rear hand for internal competition.

The new plan is going to go, and the old plan is also advancing simultaneously, and the addition of people is not reduced.

In this way, the first thing is to observe the market reaction, so that after CNN's news is broadcast, the survey feedback will also be collected to see if consumers buy the floppy drive type. If Gu Biao's prediction is wrong and the new plan is not purchased, then there is a way out.

On the other hand, Gu Biao also wants to leave a spare tire to threaten Sony and threaten Akio Morita.

Because if he decisively all-in the floppy drive plan and completely stop the original research and development, after Akio Morita knows, he will be able to sit on the ground and start his neck.

So the best thing to do is to finish the old one as planned, burn an extra $2 million, and get a remodeling line out.

The 2 million cannot be saved, and internal competition must be used to run in more potential technical problems.

Just like Tengyun's online games in later generations have become so big, when making chicken mobile games, you have to lick the dog-eat-dog inside the two studios of Meiguang Zai to prevent slackness.

However, in the early 1980s, global software and electronics companies had not even perfected adversarial testing, and Gu Biao actually said that he wanted to engage in an internal project team competition model, which really shocked all executives, including Schulhoff.

At the same time, he was amazed by the ruthlessness, wolf nature and foresight of the boss.

In good conscience, if it weren't for Gu Biao's divine prophecy about Atari to prove his foresight and prestige, this matter would never have been passed so unanimously today. Subordinates will feel that they are not fully trusted, and they may even turn away from them.

But Gu Biao has a high prestige, and those people can only obediently implement it without understanding.

……

The next day, Gu Biao invited Akio Morita for an interview, still at Kissinger's breakfast meeting.

Akio Morita has been focusing on the U.S. market for the past two years, and has been working in the U.S. almost all year round. It's just that most of the time in New York or San Francisco, and I don't come to Watsangton very much.

Washengton wasn't a business center after all.

Gu Biao had to let him come, but he could still find time.

Considering that it was a bit aggrieved to let such a big guy make a special trip, Gu Biao also prepared a little sweetness for the other party - introducing Akio Morita to know two more assistants to the Secretary of State.

Akio Morita is a social controller who befriended high-class wealthy businessmen and politicians in the United States, and he is very happy to come to treat him with such a good thing.

As a result, conditions such as "knowing the assistant secretary of state" were sold by Gu Biao as vegetables in the vegetable market, and the price was clearly marked.

No, the "clear price" is somewhat affordable for the "brain capacity of the assistant secretary of state".

To be exact, it was just a change that Gu Biao returned after receiving a big sum from Akio Morita.

After getting to know the people he should know, Akio Morita found a reception room, sat down with Gu Biao, and asked humbly:

"Gu, you must be just for the thing that consulted me on the phone three days ago? What are your plans, do you suddenly want to enter the field of personal computers? Want to develop a computer with a 3.5-inch floppy drive? Then I would like to thank you for your support. ”

"It's not a computer, it's a game console. I think, you can take a look at the news. Gu Biao said, turned on the TV prepared in the reception room, and then stuffed a screen recording tape into a Sony video recorder plugged into the TV.

A CNN text from earlier in the day immediately began to play on the screen — Gu Biao had recorded it in advance, because he couldn't have asked Akio Morita to come here.

But Akio Morita can also see that the tape is real, not fake.

"Do you want to get a floppy drive game console? and the game cartridges of the future will all use our 3.5-inch floppy disks?" asked Akio Morita excitedly, after a little stroke.

After the development of Sony's 3.5-inch floppy disk was completed, it has been piled up in the laboratory for 15 months, and no one cares.

He has looked for IBM, Wang An, and Apple, but they don't want it.

Akio Morita even approached two home computer manufacturers that were well-known at the time, but later ruined, Commodore and Spectrum, but none of them would use them.

You know, these two companies and even the corresponding computer brands, later generations of Chinese must have never heard of it, because they are ancient companies that collapsed before the IN95 system appeared. It is estimated that only the post-70s generation, who have been using computers since the DOS era, are likely to have seen this kind of ancient goods.

So, after a year and a few months of sales, Akio Morita was a little desperate.

Now Gu Biao said that he is willing to use the new generation of floppy disks that no one wants from Sony to make game consoles, can he not be excited.

"I'm going to use Sony floppy disks for a game console, but I have a few conditions. Gu Biao said unhurriedly.

Akio Morita: "Just say it, I'll try to cooperate." ”

Gu Biao: "First of all, I need engineers from Sony to send technical support to cooperate with our research and development - mainly to solve the data interface, circuit design and structural integration of floppy drives and game consoles. ”

Akio Morita didn't even think about it: "Of course this is as it should be! We at Sony will provide a full range of technical support, and I can even ask the R&D director of the 3.5-inch floppy disk project to personally lead the team to cooperate with your development." ”

Gu Biao: "Don't worry, this is only the first point, my second request is ......"

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