(.) "How's the progress of R&D mind?" Zhou Liwen broke the temporary silence and asked Liao Yuancheng.

Liao Yuancheng said thoughtfully: "The chip can barely meet the requirements, but the main problem at present is the touch screen technology, I communicated with Samsung before I came back, according to them, I am afraid it will take 6 months at the earliest to come up with the next generation of products." ”

"6 months ......?" Zhou Liwen shook his head, a little puzzled: "Since even Samsung's technology can't meet this requirement for the time being, how can Apple come up with a product?" Bill, can you find a way to ask? ”

Bill thought for a while and shook his head slightly: "I'm afraid it's difficult, Apple's secrecy work has always been good, and with what I know about Apple, they don't have patents in this area, not to mention that since Jobs established Apple, their business ideas have never had a precedent for developing their own hardware." ”

Zhou Liwen and Liao Yuancheng glanced at each other and nodded silently. Indeed, Bill is right, Apple Computer is a well-known high-tech company, but it is not a manufacturer in the true sense of the word, but a company that integrates creativity, R&D design and branding.

Compared with Zhou Liwen's OR company, Apple is very different. Whether it is the original Apple computer, or the "personal digital assistant" launched by IN and later, that is, the original PDA product, or the ITCE and IP products that were successfully developed after Jobs returned to Apple. Without exception, none of the parts of these products are manufactured by Apple, which is only the designer, the creator, and the owner of the brand.

As a simple example, when Apple designs a product, such as an Apple computer, it will place an order for customization from various parts manufacturers in a similar way to a compatible machine, and then hand it over to the foundry to produce it according to Apple's design requirements, and finally sell it with Apple's imprint.

This is a business model that is very popular in the United States, and also in the world. The advantage of this model is that as a high-tech company, it does not need to have its own factory, but only needs to focus on R&D, design, marketing and sales. Similarly, in other industries, this model is also popular, such as sports brand Nike, etc., which are based on brand design, and the manufacturing is handed over to the foundry, so as to reduce costs and obtain maximum profits.

Zhou Liwen's company is slightly different, he owns a stake in Scopa, and from this point of view, Zhou Liwen's OR has its own chip manufacturer. If you add Sha Zihao's foundry and TCL's downstream factory, Zhou Liwen's OR company is more like a traditional high-tech company than Apple.

However, Zhou Liwen himself knows that as the company becomes bigger and stronger, Apple's model is the most worth learning. Having your own factory certainly has many advantages and disadvantages, especially the dependence on costs and orders, which consumes too much energy and resources of the company. But anyway, when Zhou Liwen just started to create or, don't forget that his foundation at that time was in the mainland. The difference between the market and the market, coupled with the ferocity of MediaTek at the beginning, Zhou Liwen chose to use his own factory as the basis for his business strategy, and there was nothing wrong with it.

And now, Zhou Liwen has gradually adjusted his business strategy. This is also one of the reasons why he returned to China some time ago to give Sha Zihao the dominance of the foundry. As for Scopa, Zhou Liwen is also considering separating Scopa's chip factory from the main body at an appropriate time, so as to adjust the industrial structure, but these are all for later.

Then the question arises, the news from Bill that Apple's IPD is about to be completed, will Jobs tolerate a product that does not meet the design requirements? Or is he hot-headed and ready to repeat the mistakes of Apple's failure? Take out IPN when touch screen technology hasn't been solved yet?

Zhou Liwen thought about it for a long time and didn't come up with a result, so he could only ask Bill to find a way to find out the situation. After the brief meeting, Zhou Liwen went to the R&D center accompanied by Liao Yuancheng and looked at the R&D progress of the OR tablet.

Basically similar to Liao Yuancheng's introduction,From the surface, the design of the tablet has been very perfect,Due to the second half of last year,The emergence of a new type of polymer lithium-ion battery,The battery life of the problem has been initially solved。 Of course, the cost of such batteries is still too high, mainly due to the production process and technical reasons. According to the new energy company that cooperates, that is, ATL, with the gradual improvement of production technology and technology, the cost of this battery will also decrease accordingly, but it is unlikely in the near future.

But even so, it is equivalent to solving a big problem. But when Zhou Liwen tried out the products of R&D, he found that the current touch screen large screen technology is indeed a little unkind. In a situation where smartphones are barely up to the mark, the problems that arise on the tablet side are obvious. And Liao Yuancheng introduced that this is already the best touch screen provided by Samsung, and it is a specially customized product. But Zhou Liwen still shook his head at this, if this kind of product is launched, the OR company will not be successful, and it may not be necessary to smash the brand.

"Let Samsung speed things up, and if that doesn't work, find other companies and ask if there's a new product coming up. Jobs wasn't a fool, and if their IPN used this kind of stuff, do you think he would be confident? ”

Zhou Liwen frowned and said, Liao Yuancheng and Bill were also puzzled, Bill thought about it and asked a question: "Maybe Samsung solved the technical problem, but didn't provide it to us?" ”

"This is impossible" Liao Yuancheng immediately denied it, and said categorically: "Samsung's research laboratory with us is impossible to hide from us in terms of touch screen technology." Besides, if they really have a technological breakthrough, why would they do it? You must know that at present, we are Samsung's largest buyer of touch screens, and orders for mobile phones alone account for their main production share. Offering the best things to Apple and deliberately hiding the truth from us is not only a deception, but also a violation of the cooperation agreement between the two parties, and if we find out, I am afraid that the breach of contract alone will be enough for them to drink a pot."

Liao Yuancheng is right, o is not an ordinary company now, not to mention that it is impossible for this kind of problem to occur in business cooperation between large international companies like this. The company's lawyers are not vegetarians, and even if they don't consider the company's image and the impact of the incident, just the breach of contract can demand a huge price from the U.S. government and the South Korean government. As a Samsung Group, it is absolutely impossible for them to do this, this is simply a detriment to others and themselves.

"Check it out, whatever the case may be, and I want to get the exact news as soon as possible." Zhou Liwen didn't want unwarranted suspicion, he needed accurate answers. No matter how well Apple keeps the secret, the secret will eventually be known to the outside world. After all, touchscreen technology is not in Apple's hands, and if Jobs wants to finalize a product and start production, he must place an order through the production factory and then hand it over to the foundry. There are many places where secrets can be leaked in these links, and there has never been an event in this world that can be completely kept secret.

After explaining this matter, Zhou Liwen focused on the research and development of OR smartphones. The development of the third-generation smartphone has entered the final stage, and the development of the fourth-generation smartphone has also been put on the agenda.

Unlike the first generation of smartphones, the third-generation smartphones have not only been optimized from the system, but also increased the proportion of touch screens. Of course, this is based on Samsung's commitment to come up with new products in 6 months. In addition, the battery capacity of mobile phones has been further increased using the latest lithium-ion battery technology that has just emerged, so that it can be satisfied with longer standby and use.

In terms of chip technology, the third generation of smartphones has also gone further, faster and more powerful. The storage has been further expanded, and the new operating system has been upgraded with enhanced software applications, higher resolution and richer colors for photography and videography. In Zhou Liwen's view, if you remove some small regrets that cannot be achieved for the time being in hardware, this third-generation smartphone that he has great hopes for has already had the most successful product of Apple in the future - IPCB's 3% scoop function.

Although, today's prototype has not yet officially appeared, but all the design has been completed on 8. According to the design results, Zhou Liwen is very much looking forward to its real appearance, and the same as the IPCB in history, when it appears in the market, it will usher in the real glory of the OR company, thus laying the foundation for OR's unbreakable hegemony in the field of smartphones.

Apple's secrets won't be hidden for long, which Zhou Liwen knows very well. But time is a factor that determines success or failure, and if Apple launches a truly commercial tablet before OR, it will be a huge blow to Zhou Liwen. Therefore, in the next few days, Zhou Liwen has been paying attention to the progress of this matter, but he still didn't get any news until January, and just when he was waiting a little anxiously, he received an invitation from Chambers instead.

"Charity reception?"

"It's all good old friends, on the one hand, to raise some money for the party, and on the other hand, everyone gets together together, and by the way, Senator Michael will also come to participate when the time comes." Chambers said meaningfully.

Zhou Liwen hesitated slightly, asked about the time and place of the reception, and then agreed.

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