A revolutionary product can have a huge impact on an industry, especially in the field of consumer electronics.

After the launch of NB's "future window", several major color TV manufacturers in Japan and South Korea have carried out reverse engineering research on the ground plane right-angle picture tube color TVs sent back by their branches in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and other countries and regions. Due to the distance, it was not until the morning of the third day that the Philips physics laboratory, which has a history of more than a century, received five "samples" from its Singapore company.

The results of the autopsy were not optimistic, and as soon as Philips president in charge of the home appliance business, Fantersen, received the report from the laboratory engineers, he invited the directors to the headquarters for a meeting.

“…… Based on the completely flat NB picture tube, the grooved shadow cover plate structure is adopted, and the shadow cover plate is arranged in a groove-like small hole, the cover hole is large, the cover plate is extremely thin, and the point spacing is 0.24 mm. The image displayed by the flat panel display using this picture tube is accurate, and the brightness, contrast, and color purity are also greatly improved compared with ordinary displays.

At the same time, the trenched shade structure further improves the display resolution and reduces the point distance of the display. Brightness, contrast, and color saturation are also improved compared to traditional dot shades. It also reduces the color cast caused by thermal distortion. In addition, due to the thinner groove shade cover, the number of misplaced electron beams is reduced, which in turn greatly reduces the degradation of color purity due to light scattering, making the display more brilliant and colorful. ”

Philips is an indisputable consumer electronics company with undisputed strength and skill, and as early as 1984, it sold 100 million televisions. Since then, however, Philips TVs have become increasingly unsuccessful in the international market, and the traditional European market is being eaten away by Japanese manufacturers. Even the South Korean four-star group, which only emerged a few years ago. are trying to challenge it.

It's almost overwhelmed. Now it's another NB electron, and it's menacing.

The atmosphere in the conference room was extremely solemn, and after reading one document, the vice president of technology turned out another one from below: "In addition, they have also developed a deflection electronic coil technology. Including outsourced designs, NB Future Window has 27 patents, which the laboratory and patent affairs department consider difficult to circumvent. ”

Although NB's "future window" is not listed in Europe now, it does not mean that it will never get involved in the European market. Otherwise, it will never be a waste of money. Became the sixth top partner of the Barcelona Olympic Games.

What's more, although the plane right-angle color TV has not come, the advertising has been overwhelming. All of BNB News' TV and print media, including the newly launched sports channel, are promoting this "revolutionary" product across Europe, even opening a pay hotline to accept bookings from consumers.

A group director frowned and asked, "Mr. Duranger, is there any research direction in the laboratory?" ”

"There is a general direction, but you have to check the relevant patents first."

He turned again and asked, "Mr. Hahn, your department should have known all this before Mr. Duranger, right?" ”

Hahn, executive vice president in charge of marketing, shook his head. Feeling helpless, he smiled bitterly: "Mr. Piso, before that. NB Electric has never been involved in the field of home appliances, and its business rarely overlaps with ours, so it is not the focus of the marketing department. ”

As he was talking, a female secretary walked into the conference room quickly, whispered a few words in President Fantersen's ear, and then left a stack of materials, and walked out of the room with high heels "Tata Tower".

"Gentlemen, the situation is worse than we imagined."

Fantesen pushed the information in front of the vice president of technology, and said with a blank face: "Mr. Delange, please introduce it to us again." ”

The board members here are bankers and lawyers, and they are not very knowledgeable about electronic technology. D'Rangee quickly went through the materials and, in as much a way as they could, introduced: "Gentlemen, this is a list of patents filed by NB Electric in the Netherlands. As the vice president of technology, I have to regret to tell you that NB Electric has obviously put a lot of effort into the research of pure flat picture tubes, and the NB 'future window' is only one of them. ”

"What other tricks do they have?"

"Yes."

Dranger sighed secretly and lifted his glasses to confirm: "NB's 'Future Window' uses physical flatness, that is, the outer surface is completely flat, but they have also developed a visual flattening technique. As we all know, light is refracted and reflected, and once it passes through the display glass, its imaging will inevitably be distorted and distorted.

Therefore, to completely solve this problem, it is necessary to observe the position of the CRT and the refractive index of the glass on the surface of the CRT screen according to the human eye. Based on this, they used computer-aided design to design the ideal internal structure of the flat screen screen, that is, the outer surface plane, the inner surface surface surface and the shade surface surface. ”

Executive Vice President Hahn is a member of the company, and he is not ignorant of the technology of color TV, the core business of Philips, and suddenly exclaimed: "My God, it's incredible, they have gone so far!" ”

"It's farther than we think."

A company known for its development of new technologies was actually left behind by the fledgling NB Electric, and Draanger was very unhappy, and said with mixed feelings: "Around this structure, they have applied for a total of 18 core and subordinate patents, and there is no possibility of bypassing it at all." At this stage, the only one who can break this situation is Japan's Sony, because they have many technologies that NB Electric does not have, and they also have several patents on the research of flat picture tubes. ”

If it were Japanese competitors such as Sony, Panasonic, and Sharp, Philips would never be as caught off guard as it is now.

Because there is a special team that is studying its every move, as long as it is a patent they apply for in the Netherlands, there will be a special person to study it.

It doesn't look like much, but it's a staggering amount of work.

It is important to know that several major Japanese and Korean companies apply for at least 10,000 patents in the Netherlands every year. Like them, Philips goes to the United States, Japan and South Korea to apply for hundreds of patents every year.

The color TV business is already very average,Even if it loses part of its market share,It is undoubtedly a disaster for Philips, which focuses on the consumer electronics business。

What made everyone even more worried was that President Fantersen actually took over the conversation and said with great solemnity: "When Ms. Beyelinck sent this list in, she also brought another news, NB Electric Group has developed a 'exclusive economic zone' in Germany in cooperation with the county governments of Saxony and Leipzig. There are modern factories and experienced workers, and if you guess correctly, the new opponent we have to face is not a Hong Kong company, but a German color TV company registered in Germany and produced in Germany. ”

If it is a company registered in Hong Kong and manufactured in China, it is entirely possible to use the existing laws and regulations of the European Community to impose tariff and non-tariff barriers on it.

But if they were producing in Leipzig, they would be an East German company.

Everyone was silent, and it wasn't until Vice President of Technology Dron Rane sat back in his chair that Fantersen whispered: "There is no doubt that our color TV business is facing unprecedented challenges, so I need to hear your opinions on this issue." ”

Banker Piso knocked on the table and said thoughtfully: "They have just funded tens of millions of dollars to become the sixth top partner of the Barcelona Olympics, and the only thing that can support such a large investment is the color TV business, as long as they can seize their market share through a series of promotional means before they are fully rolled out in the European and even global markets, then they are likely to collapse themselves." ”

His opinion, in Chinese terms, is "a big step, easy to pull eggs".

If there is not enough strength, then NB Electric will really be dragged to death by such a big advertising investment, but NB Electric is not a small company in the true sense. At the same time, Hong Kong, where it is registered, is one of the most famous capital markets in the world, and such a promising company, as long as they are willing to give up part of their equity, some investment institutions are willing to take over.

It's too wishful thinking, and even if they are taken out by themselves, the skills are still there, and if they fall into the hands of Japanese manufacturers and South Korean four-stars, the threat to Philips will be even greater.

President Fantersen nodded slightly without compliment, and asked again: "Mr. William, what do you think?" ”

"The global market is huge, and no one can really monopolize it, so I suggest contacting them to see if there is any possibility of cooperation."

This opinion is more reliable, but people now have an absolute advantage, what conditions can they prescribe that can make them tempted, razors, compressed discs, or just made a DVD with some eyebrows?

Executive Vice President Hahn shook his head and whispered, "Maybe we should strengthen our cooperation with Sony, after all, only they can break this situation." ”

"But it takes time, a year at the fastest, two years, or even three years, and I don't think we can afford to wait."

This is the difference between the color TV industry and other industries,Other technologies are not counted,Light glass shell production line transformation,It will take at least8 months。 Under normal circumstances, a little fire can be produced continuously for at least 5 to 7 years, not to mention whether Sony can get the planar picture tube technology out in a short time.

Infringing manufacturing according to the technology developed by reverse engineering research is tantamount to self-defeating.

NB Electric's determination to protect its technology was vividly demonstrated as early as a few years ago. The lawsuit was fought from Spain to France, and then from France to the United States, and even China, which has almost no intellectual property protection, did not miss out, and actually won.

There is no hope at all if you don't strive for it, and there is still a glimmer of possibility of cooperation.

Fantesen weighed it again and said resolutely: "Gentlemen, I agree with Mr. Johannes and contact them first to see if there is any possibility of cooperation. (To be continued......)