When Tang Huan came to Chicago, it was already March, and it happened to be the coldest time here.

Chicago is the third largest metropolitan area in the United States after New York and Los Angeles, and Motorola is headquartered here, not to mention its bustling neighborhood.

Christopher Galvin, who was waiting, finally greeted Tang Huan at the airport.

As soon as he got into the car, he couldn't wait to hand over a "brick" and proudly introduced: "This is Motorola's technical ingenuity, and the DynaTAC8000X will soon be finalized." You can now dial the number from the headquarters and try it out. ”

Weighing the two-pound, almost one-kilogram chunk in his hand, Tang Huan smiled playfully and asked casually, "There is already a communication network now?"

"The experimental cellular network provided by Bell Labs is called the Advanced Mobile Phone System, or AMPS. Christopher Galvin introduced with great interest, handing over an explanatory document.

Cellular networking was a concept developed by Bell Labs as early as 1947, and in the 1950s and 1960s, it received wireless channel support from the Federal Communications Commission and worked with Motorola on this field.

A giant in the communications industry and a supplier of wireless electronic equipment that occupies an important position in the defense industry also complement each other.

Motorola's commercial motivation to invest resources in research and development mainly comes from products such as car phones, and in 1973 it came up with a prototype and applied for a patent, and the DynaTAC8000X is just a commercialization of this foundation, with a total of $100 million invested in research and development.

DynaTAC stands for DYNamicAdaptiveTotalAreaCoverage - the meaning of dynamic adaptation to the full coverage area. It takes 10 hours to fully charge the phone and only 30 minutes of talk time.

Compared with the 12 keys from 0 to 9, pound sign, and asterisk on the keyboard of common mobile phones in the original time and space, DynaTAC8000X also provides 9 additional special buttons such as Rcl-recall, Sto-store, and Pwr-power.

Tang Huan skillfully dialed the number, and the person who answered it was Martin Cooper, the father of mobile phones who had been prepared for a long time, and after the two exchanged pleasantries, the experience ended.

No surprises. As Tang Huan predicted in advance, the DynaTAC8000X, running on the AMPS, has the inherent drawbacks of analog communication, poor anti-interference ability, and noise.

As for secrecy, think about it and know what it's like, don't mention it.

However, in Tang Huan's opinion, the call quality provided by DynaTAC8000X and AMPS is not satisfactory. But this is already a big step forward in the development of communications, and there are good business opportunities.

Tang Huan casually handed the DynaTAC8000X to Chuck Smith, CEO of Pacific Communications, who accompanied him, and then asked Christopher Galvin, "Has the price of the DynaTAC8000X been set?"

"It should be around $4,000. "Christopher Galvin doesn't hide it, and he answers all questions.

"Has the FCC's review passed?" Tang Huan nodded and continued to ask.

"We are applying, and we will be able to get it all done and listed within the year. Christopher Galvin asked with a smile. "Now rest assured. ”

"It's not that simple, AT&T's AMPS. It's not that easy to talk about. Tang Huan's attitude was very cautious.

"No, Pacific Communications is from the Bell system, and you should have a lot of common language. Christopher Galvin raised his eyebrows, a little incredulous.

"Do you really think that there are seven melons on a vine, and the interests are not divided between you, me and him. Tang Huan shook his head slightly, "AT&T has shares in Pacific Communications and Fangyuan Computer Company. But I had to wait until 1984 when they completely split up to use Bell Labs' resources, which is the result of the old spicy negotiation skills. Moreover, the recent Pacific Telecom allowed the old rival MCI to access its own local telephone network, which also made the American Telephone and Telegraph Company feel uncomfortable. ”

"There is still more than a year to go, and AT&T will completely disintegrate. Your Fangyuan computer company is not worse than it in terms of market capitalization, what is there to scruple about. When you buy back the part of Pacific Communications held by AT&T, you will be completely equal. In order to consolidate Tang Huan's determination to invest in cellular communication systems, Christopher Galvin can be said to have racked his brains to motivate.

……

Although Motorola has a bit of a history and operates a business closely related to the defense industry, its operating income is in the multi-billion dollar range, just like that of the emerging Fangyuan computer company.

In other words, everyone is a brother in a phalanx, and no one wants to condescendingly put the spectrum of a large enterprise.

Therefore, Tang Huan received the most grand reception at Motorola, and the board members and important executives all attended the welcome banquet.

In addition to visiting Motorola, Tang Huan also made a special effort to learn about the operation of AT&T's AMPS experimental network in Chicago.

AMPS is equivalent to GSM and CDMA, which are familiar to people in the original time and space, and both belong to a communication technology standard.

Although AT&T has the results of AMPS, it does not mean that it will be the first to make large-scale commercial investments in this area. A giant like it has a business strategy that focuses on the old and the old.

What's more, AT&T is currently in the stage of planning and separating its business, and all kinds of interests are entangled, so how can it continue to strategize on expanding its business territory.

AT&T's 1981 formal projection of the potential of cellular telephony predicted that it would not reach more than 1 million subscribers by the year 2000.

Obviously, from the perspective of latecomers, this forecast is ridiculously low, and it also shows AT&T's contemptuous attitude.

However, this does not prevent AT&T companies that are interested in entering the computer field from using the AMPS card to carry out all kinds of bargaining, and Tang Huan does have a bit of such a big deal.

However, during the meeting with Motorola's senior management, Tang Huan was still very optimistic, and said bluntly: "I think there are two irreversible trends in the current communication industry, one is that the data transmission service surpasses the traditional sound transmission service, and the other is the popularity of the mobile phone DynaTAC8000X." ”

Finally, Tang Huan made it clear to Bob Galvin, Chairman and CEO of Motorola, that "Pacific Communications will build a cellular communication network with DynaTAC8000X as the terminal. (To be continued......)