Corina? Menzerpoulos's attentive attitude later received an even greater surprise, and one of the business guests he allowed Tang Huan to entertain made her secretly say that her generosity was worth it.

In fact, Tang Huan called Sony and Philips together, mainly for the CompactDisc-CD technology.

As for inviting FritsPhilips, the fourth-generation president of Philips - Fritz? Philips is just a temptation, but I didn't expect the other party to come from afar despite the 76-year-old age.

The Philips family has been very rich since the last century, Carl? Marx's mother, was Fritz? Philips' grandfather's aunt. After being exiled to London, England, Marx lived in poverty, and often borrowed money from the family's banker relatives to make ends meet.

Fritz? Philips' uncle, Gerard Philips - Herard? Philips and grandfather Frederik Philips - Frederick? Philips, who founded the Philips company in 1891, Herard? Philips becomes the first president.

Fritz? Philips' father, Anton Philips - Anton? Philips joined the company in 1912 and played an important role in its growth, becoming its second president from 1922 to 1939.

After graduating from university, Fritz? Philips joined Philips and was appointed Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors of Philips in 1935.

In 1940, Anton? Philips fled to the United States with some of its corporate capital after learning for sure that the German Nazis would occupy the Netherlands.

Then. Philips has moved important production equipment. Company executives and other family members also left the Netherlands. And Fritz? Philips made the opposite choice and stayed in the Netherlands with more than 10,000 Philips employees.

By Fritz? Philips efforts, Philips survived the war.

And during the Nazi occupation, he succeeded in convincing the Germans that the more than 300 Jews who were working were necessary for production, thus saving their lives.

As a result of the workers' strike in 1943, Fritz? Philips was imprisoned in the Ficht concentration camp.

Fritz, so to speak? Philips is a legend. When Tang Huan saw him, the curiosity in his heart was not to mention, after all, it is impossible for words to record all history, and the person concerned is the first information carrier.

For a long time, the Philips company was under the control of the Philips family. Philips' brother-in-law is the third president, he himself is the fourth, and the fifth president is Fritz? Philips' brother-in-law.

This practice until 1977, accompanied in Fritz? This Nico Rodenburg next to Philips - Nico? It was only after Rodenberg took office that change began.

But. The first president to come from outside the Philips family had a poor tenure. Home appliance industries such as video recorders have always been at a disadvantage in competition with Japanese companies such as Sony.

Another Philips executive in attendance, Wisse Dekker, was Wise? Dirk, with an extensive resume, spent many years in the Far East for Philips before returning to the Netherlands to join the Board of Directors in 1979.

Tang Huan had an inexplicable smile in his eyes, and said in his heart that Philips's arrangement, I don't know whether it was intentional or unintentional, and he actually let Niko? Rodenberg and Wise? Dirk makes an appearance together.

You must know that according to the historical trajectory, the latter will take over the position of president of the former next year and clean up the mess that has been killed by Japanese companies.

Fritz? The presence of a heavyweight like Philips is definitely a top trick for a veteran, and it immediately suppressed the momentum of Akio Morita and Norio Ohga on the Sony side.

When the invitation was issued, Tang Huan had already explained that the meeting arranged at Château Margaux this time was more casual, and everyone didn't have to tie their nerves so tightly, just as I would treat you to play and relax.

As a result, everyone dressed casually, including the Japanese, who have always been dressed for official events, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery of Château Margaux together.

Such a poetic arrangement really made these business elites who were in the eyes of money all day long feel relaxed and happy, and their eyes, tone, and pace became soft and soothing.

Coupled with the various wonderful introductions of the winery manager, everyone listened with great interest and nodded frequently to express their admiration.

As one of the top five French wineries, the heritage of Château Margaux is naturally not something that can be explained in a few casual words.

For example, people such as the head of the winery, the director of winemaking, etc., are all doctors, and their professional standards have been recognized on the spot by celebrities with extraordinary insight such as Tang Huan.

After cultivating his sentiments, Tang Huan, the convener, finally began to get to the point, which made both Philips and Sony nervous from the relaxation just now.

Tang Huan used his speed to accumulate wealth, proving the accuracy of his vision.

Now, the CD technology jointly developed by the two companies has been taken by Tang Huan, and Philips and Sony are not only overjoyed by its potential value, but also can't help but worry that their original technology has made a wedding dress for others.

Driven by this complex emotion, the top management of both sides attached so much importance to this meeting, and the heavyweights went to great lengths to go to a small place like Château Margaux to have a vassal style.

In fact, the development of CD technology began as early as 1974, with the initial aim of providing a solution for storing digital signals in addition to traditional dense records that store analog signals, as can be seen from the name CompactDisc-DigitalAudio, which is also known as CD-DA.

Originally, Sony and Philips have made progress in this field, and you are chasing me, which can be described as very lively, but the past does not forget the future, and the tragedy of the videotape format war makes both sides feel uneasy, thinking that it is still a merger of the two companies. It's good to hold this field together

Thereupon. They joined forces in 1979. Jointly set up a project team to promote the research and development of the technology.

Among them, the Philips side is led by Kees Schouhamer Immink, and the Sony side is led by Doi Toshitada.

Finally, in June 1980, the specifications for the first version of CD-DA were developed and released by Philips and Sony.

Because the cover of this specification document is red, it is commonly known as the Red Book.

The content is very detailed, such as the length of the playtime. Philips abandoned his original idea of 60 minutes and listened to the idea that the opera should not be interrupted in the middle of the curtain and that it should be included in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which would be meaningless if it were not a medium acceptable to the user, according to the 74-minute version conducted by Forte Wangele, the longest known performance, in 1951, which was defined as 74 minutes and 42 seconds.

This standard is not free, and users must have a license issued by Philips, which costs $5,000 per order.

Sony and Philips' next job is to produce full-fledged commercial CD players, which is naturally difficult for both parties.

And Philips also has a world record label like Polygram under its name. It is completely foreseeable that a new cash cow will grow.

According to the plan. Next year, in 1982, the CD player, along with the accompanying music album, will be fully launched on the market.

But now Tang Huan suddenly jumped out and said that I have new ideas in this field, and I definitely don't sit back and pick peaches, let's sit down and talk about it in detail, how about playing with me?

In this regard, Sony and Philips are inevitably a little depressed, and nouveau riche like you are really thinking that personal computers and video game consoles can do anything.

Although they were a little disdainful in their hearts, the two companies did not dare to slack off, because the annual sales of the three major Silicon Valley companies under Tang Huan's name, Zheru, Fangyuan Computer, and EA, like himself, were all calculated in units of 100 million US dollars, and they were in the limelight, and they were completely in the posture of a newborn calf who was not afraid of tigers.

Compared with Sony, which has a better understanding of Tang Huan's strength, Philips can experience the kingly spirit from the style of Fangyuan Computer in the market of Western European countries, such as its own companies, which are willing to purchase Fangyuan computers on a large scale for office.

This trend is unstoppable, if you don't follow up, other peers who use this system will have to occupy the advantage of informatization.

Due to the fierce competition from Japan and the United States, Philips has been trying to deal with those departments and subsidiaries that have no hope of turning around in recent years to control costs, but they did not expect that now there are more procurement costs for Fangyuan Computer and Zheru Software.

Everyone said that this system was worth the money, and Philips also found benefits, so the importance of Tang Huan naturally skyrocketed.

Philips, who is not familiar with Tang Huan, has the same positive attitude as Sony, in addition to recognizing Tang Huan's strength, is also worried about Sony's unilateral defection, after all, the cooperation between the two sides on the CD is completely based on interests, and they have to be vigilant.

Fritz? Philips has been paying attention to the situation of European companies losing and retreating in the face of competition from their peers in the United States and Japan, and when they received an invitation from Tang Huan, a Silicon Valley gold digger who has recently called for wind and rain, he agreed without hesitation, in order to see what kind of industry rookie has emerged.

As a result, Fritz? Philips' first impression of Tang Huan was that this young man was not as superficial as some media portrayed as an upstart, but a skilled communicator.

For example, in the middle of the chat, Tang Huan mentioned football and scratched Fritz? Philips itch.

You know, in the original time and space, Fritz? When Philips lived to be 100 years old, he went to watch the home games of his PSV Eindhoven football club.

Tang Huan grabbed a good shot at what he liked, and the two even discussed finding a time for Chelsea FC and PSV Eindhoven FC to play a friendly match.

And Tang Huan and Norio Ohga talked about the topic of music, and the intimacy was also affected by Fritz? Philips saw in the eyes.

Obviously, these off-board efforts are all in preparation for the next negotiations.

For this kind of long-sleeved and exquisite, Fritz? Philips was not surprised, as the 35-year-old chose to stay in the Netherlands and deal with the Nazis in Germany in order to preserve the company's foundation, relying on similar social survival skills.

Fritz? Philips secretly sighed that it was worth the trip to meet this controversial figure with titles such as genius, nouveau riche, and marketing guru who did not hesitate to go into battle in person for advertising.

"In 1963, Philips introduced cassette tapes, which were a huge success. Later, the tape was used in answering machines, as well as in the mass storage of personal computers, which emerged in the 1970s, which was a remarkable innovation. ”

Hearing Tang Huan's praise, Fritz? Philips nodded and smiled, and the cassette came out at the same time as his tenure as president.

"Sony's success with videotapes is also to maximize the storage capacity of this medium."

Akio Morita bowed slightly, and naturally took responsibility for Sony's success.

Tang Huan drank the red wine in the crystal glass, and then shook it, "Just like this cup can hold all kinds of wine, tapes can record music, images, and computer data in an analog way, and CDs that provide digital recording methods can naturally do this." I'm interested in these applications and want to work with Philips and Sony to advance these standards using existing architectures. ”

The Dutch and Japanese present had a look of surprise on their faces, it turned out that the billionaire had this idea.

Akio Morita smiled slightly, "Don, can I ask, why are you so keen on CDs?" ”

"Because CDs are digital, the computer can read them directly." Tang Huan's fingers slid over the wine glass to accompany the explanation, "Traditional tapes can only perform sequential operations, while CDs provide the ability to read and write randomly. ”

"Reading and writing?" Nico? Rodenberg asked, "I heard you right. ”

"Of course. Isn't it normal to give users the ability to write directly to the data they want to store on a CD, just like tape? Tang Huan asked rhetorically.

"I understand Don's ambitions." Akio Morita nodded, "CDs can store 74 minutes of digital music, but I really can't form a specific concept of CDs that are used to store images and computer data. ”

"The CD-DA standard regulated by your Redbook does not provide data error correction and error detection, but it is required when CDs are used for computer storage purposes. Under this premise, the CD should be able to provide a capacity of about 700MB. The hard disk used in the second-generation Fangyuan computer Ultra is 10MB, which is equivalent to 70 hard disks. This cost difference is definitely clear to you. (To be continued......)