Shirakawa Kaede, who had been in the United States for almost two months at the end of July, finally returned to the land of neon again.

"Shirakawa-kun, here~"

As soon as he left the airport hall, Shirakawa Kaede saw Asuka Kobayashi, who was wearing a light-colored long dress, waving at him.

"Tsk, it's an honor for Kobayashi to pick up the plane in person."

Shirakawa Kaede greeted her from afar, and then was not polite, and sat directly in her co-pilot.

As for the follow-up Kojima and Sama, after putting away their luggage, they silently sat in another car behind them.

"Go to Shirakawa Electric, or go home?" Regarding Shirakawa Kaede's ridicule, Asuka Kobayashi smiled and didn't bother to pay attention to him.

This guy sometimes owes his mouth, and he can't get rid of him easily.

But ignore him, it always seems that something is missing.

"Go to Shirakawa Electric."

Shirakawa Kaede's mind is not as complicated as Kobayashi Asuka, and he has not been in Neon Native for two months, and there are a lot of things piled up here.

He had already slept on the plane, and he didn't have to fall due to jet lag.

As for Seiko Matsuda, who had been living with him in North America, he had already returned by flight yesterday.

As a master of time management, this bit of scheduling is not difficult for him at all.

"How's it going, are things going well in the United States?"

Asuka Kobayashi started the car and chatted with him about the harvest this time.

"Overall, it went well." Shirakawa Kaede stretched and relaxed.

First of all, Shirakawa Electric's new generation of Walkman was successfully launched, and the feedback in the North American market was quite good.

If nothing else, before Sony didn't launch a higher-end model.

Shirakawa Electric's Walkman will occupy a mainstream share in the high-end market.

As long as we continue to introduce innovative products and take technology as the driving force, Shirakawa Electric will not stop moving forward.

Meanwhile, in the low-end segment, the FM-02 swept the market with an ultra-low pricing of $63.

Aihua, who was still promoting at a low price, fell into complete silence after encountering this opponent.

If nothing else, Aihua should soon disappear in North America.

In addition to its performance in the market, Shirakawa Electric is also formally signing an agreement with the local government in Auckland.

In the next two years, Shirakawa Electric expects to invest $30 million to build a 1,000-person Walkman factory in the area.

Construction is scheduled to start this year and start production next year. In the future, the Oakland plant will supply the vast majority of the Walkman needs in the North American market.

Although the manufacturing cost has increased, at least it has saved a tariff. In addition, building a local factory will save a lot of unnecessary trouble in the future.

And Europe has already sent people to take the lead, trying to gain a firm foothold this year.

Most of the overseas work has been completed, and he will not have to fly there again in a short time.

Back in Ota-ku, Shirakawa Kaede began to eagerly check the performance of the local walkman business.

Although the overall financial statements for July have not yet been released, the clues can already be seen based on the statistics of previous weeks.

With the advent of the summer vacation, the launch of Shirakawa Electric's new generation of Walkman has also ushered in a wave of sales.

Especially for the low-end models, the ultra-low price of more than 10,000 yen has attracted countless students to buy them.

This price is quite low for all products in the entire consumer electronics sector.

Most students can basically buy an FM-02 with their pocket money, and the Walkman that they used to envy is now within reach, so what is there to hesitate about.

The FM-02 has now become almost the standard for students, and everyone has one.

Students wearing earbuds and holding FM-02 can be seen everywhere on campus.

With a rich color scheme and a mini cute design, they are the new favorites of the students.

There is no doubt that with the launch of FM-02, Shirakawa Electric once again occupies the absolute mainstream in the low-end market.

And with the leapfrog sinking of prices, the consumer group has also further expanded.

This is equivalent to making the cake bigger, and then the extra part is eaten by Shirakawa Electric in one bite.

Panasonic, which had previously put pressure on Shirakawa Electric, was no longer seen as a threat by Shirakawa Kaede at this time.

He knew that the lowest price for the Walkman was almost here, and it wouldn't change for years to come.

This time, the price of more than 10,000 yen has almost reduced the cost of the Walkman to the limit.

The price has bottomed out, and there is no room for further price reductions, so everyone's bottom line has been clearly laid out.

Even if Panasonic continues to follow up, as long as there is not much price advantage.

Shirakawa Electric, which occupies the lead, will definitely continue to be the mainstream of the market.

I have to say that the ultra-low pricing of Shirakawa Electric this time is a bit unmartial.

In the past, everyone competed in the market, even if it was a price war.

It is also a constant adjustment, slowly descending into the price range.

After all, capital is profit-seeking, and everyone wants to make money.

Guaranteeing as many profit margins as possible is the tacit approach of each other.

However, Baichuan Electric directly set a jumping price at one time, and other players who have just entered or are on the way to the stadium still how to play.

Of course, Shirakawa Kaede did this on purpose, not because he wanted to be charitable, and he didn't want profit margins.

However, in the past few months, as more and more audio equipment manufacturers have entered the market, Shirakawa Electric's market share has become lower and lower.

Instead of waiting for everyone to slowly eat away at their market share, it is better to be ruthless.

I'd rather make less profit than clean up the smoky walkman market.

The models that have just been released by other manufacturers, or the projects that are being developed to benchmark the previous generation of low-end machines of Shirakawa Electric, have all suffered a devastating blow.

One of the best examples of this is Aihua, the new model did not sell for two months before it collapsed, and the loss is not small.

In Shirakawa Kaede's view, the only one who can compete with himself in the low-end market is Panasonic.

The other party also has a complete industrial chain and has a unique advantage in cost.

However, it is already the second half of the year, and it is likely that the time for Panasonic to launch a walkman at the same price is likely to be next year.

Shirakawa Kaede put the data sheet in his hand, and his mood finally relaxed.

Aihua and Pioneer are no longer a concern for these second-scale manufacturers, and the future walkman market is likely to be the world of large manufacturers.

Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, NEC, and then counting their own Shirakawa Electric, there are probably only a few.

To be honest, it is the first two that are really in Shirakawa's eyes, and Sony is the most technically strong in the audio field, which goes without saying.

Shirakawa Electric also relied on a one-step ahead design to barely keep up with it, otherwise the result is really not easy to say.

This is not enough technology, creativity to make up.

As for Panasonic, it's like what was just said. Its complete industrial chain has unique advantages in manufacturing costs.

Perhaps in the future walkman market, the most unlikely to be eliminated is Panasonic.

Although the market share may be limited, as long as the price is low enough, it can survive.

If Sony and Shirakawa Electric are technology-driven companies, then Panasonic is marketing-driven.

This is the lack of technical creativity, and the low price is to make up.

And the remaining two Hitachi and NEC, they are too mixed, and audio is not their strong point.

In fact, Panasonic does miscellaneous, but Panasonic has a complete electronic industry chain.

Hitachi and NEC's industrial chain is not in the field of consumer electronics, the former's main profit pillar is in the industrial field (power industry, machinery industry, semiconductor industry), and the latter's pillar industry is communication and semiconductor.

At the same time, these giant conglomerates are so intricate that the Walkman business doesn't even get noticed at all.

So in general, in the field of audio consumer products, Shirakawa Electric does not instigate Hitachi and NEC.

This is the general pattern of the current Walkman market, with three main players and two wandering players beating the side drum.

Tsk, I just don't know when Shirakawa Electric will grow to this day, spanning many fields and dominating.

The future is promising, but it is also a long road.

After going through the information here of Shirakawa Electric, Shirakawa Kaede came to Yasuda again to ask for market feedback on the new model.

"Yasuda-san, how has the market feedback from our new generation of Walkman?"

After all, there is a new function, and Shirakawa Kaede also needs to pay attention to the market's evaluation of it.

"The overall evaluation is quite good, especially the automatic strap flip function, which greatly increases the convenience of use."

As the head of the R&D department, Yasuda also pays attention to the market feedback of the new model.

"But if there are shortcomings or dissatisfactions, it's not that there are no shortcomings."

"Oh~" Shirakawa Kaede cheered up, "Tell me more." ”

"Endurance" Yasuda spat out a word that surprised Shirakawa Kaede a little.

"Endurance?" Shirakawa Kaede frowned slightly.

"That's right," Yasuda nodded, "because the automatic flip requires the motor to be reversed, and the working mode has changed."

Then the demand for power consumption of the motor will also increase, so the range will be relatively reduced. ”

"How long does the No. 5 battery we use now last normally?"

Shirakawa's Walkman roughly requires two to three batteries, and the high-end models also consume a little more power.

"Normal use is about an hour, but with the automatic strap function, it may only take about 40 minutes."

Regarding the answer given by Yasuda, Shirakawa Kaede's brows furrowed even tighter.

In today's era, the density of the No. 5 battery is not high enough, and the endurance is generally impressive.

Not only Shirakawa Electric has this problem, but Sony and other consumer electronics products have this common problem.

Now a few new batteries can't even last an hour on the new model, and roughly the tape is almost the same after listening to it.

I have to say that this is indeed a big obstacle for the user's experience.

"Can the design be improved?" If you want to increase your battery life, the first thing Shirakawa Kaede thinks of is to repair yourself.

Yasuda, however, shook his head awkwardly, "It's hard because we've adopted the most advanced brushless motor."

This kind of motor has just been commercialized for less than two years, and there will be no technological breakthroughs in the short term. ”

One of the keys to the battery life of the Walkman is the motor, and there are few places where other mechanical parts can continue to be optimized.

"That is, apart from external conditions, it is already difficult for us to make improvements?"

Shirakawa Kaede opened the battery cover of his Walkman and looked at the few batteries lying inside thoughtfully.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Yasuda nodded honestly.

Sure enough, the application of new technologies will also bring new problems. Either internally, or externally.

"In terms of design, we will find a way to continue to optimize, and as for the external conditions, I will go to the professors of the East Institute of Technology to find a way."

Although this is a common problem in the industry, Shirakawa Kaede knows that the demand for power consumption in products will increase in the future.

Problems must always be solved, not turned a blind eye all the time.

(End of chapter)