As soon as the two sides of Shirakawa Electric and IBM sat down, Shirakawa Kaede first motioned to Heitaro Nakajima to distribute a blue book to each other.

"Regarding the technical specifications of CD-ROM, you can study it, it has a qualitative improvement in all aspects of parameters for floppy disks."

Louis and Robert took the blue book, opened it and looked at it carefully.

To be honest, they were amazed by both the capacity and the speed of the scan, as to why they only focused on these two parameters, because they were intuitive enough.

The capacity of 700MB is compared to 1MB, and any ordinary person understands the difference.

THE READ AND WRITE SPEED IS BETWEEN 100~300KB/S WITH THE CURRENT FLOPPY DISK TECHNOLOGY.

It looks like it's about 150KB/s on a CD-ROM, but be aware that this is only double the speed of the optical drive.

As they have been dealing with computers all year round, of course they understand what double speed means, and if there is a double speed, there must be multiple times the speed.

From the perspective of ordinary consumers, the capacity and data scanning speed are all spikes floppy disks.

The improvement brought by these two points will make consumers have a very different experience in terms of user experience.

So Louis and Robert, of course, would have been amazed by the specifications in the Blue Book, and even had a hint of rejoicing, snickering at their own foresight.

They understood all too well what that meant, and the floppy disk was already on its way to the grave.

But despite thinking so, Louis had a look of displeasure on his face.

"Mr. Shirakawa, you have made CD-ROM technical specifications with Sony and Philips without authorization, which will make IBM very passive."

The determination of CD-ROM specifications also limits the technical standards of optical drives in some aspects.

With the release of the Blue Book, IBM's voice in the CD-ROM has been partially reduced.

"Mr. Luis, first of all, the optical drive is for CD-ROM, and the specifications of the latter are developed after extensive verification by Shirakawa Electric.

There is no doubt about this aspect, we are the world's most authoritative CD-ROM experts. ”

Kaede Shirakawa is now confident enough to say this, and Sony and Philips will also be a little later in the research on CD-ROM.

"I would also like to remind you, Mr. Louis, that from the very beginning Shirakawa Electric came with sincerity.

But we didn't get the attention we deserved, so to this day the CD-ROM thing remains on paper. ”

"Alright, Mr. Shirakawa. We're here today to solve this problem, aren't we? ”

Seeing that Shirakawa Kaede was about to pull the topic back again, Louis quickly interrupted him and began to get into the topic.

"Of course," Shirakawa Kaede shrugged.

"Okay gentlemen, now let's talk about the standardization of optical drives. Robert: What advice do you have on this? ”

For the technical problems of the optical drive, Louis first consulted his own technical director.

"I've seen the optical drive brought by Shirakawa Electric, and I don't comment on the internal structure, after all, it's a matter of trade secrets for each company.

In terms of data interface and working mode, I suggest that it should be closer to the computer in an all-round way. Because at the end of the day, optical drives exist to serve users.

The user uses the computer to achieve his own purposes, so whether it is hardware or software support, the optical drive should obey the logic of the computer. ”

Robert's view of the hardware of optical drives is very simple, that is, the computer is the service object.

"Mr. Shirakawa, what do you think?" Louis set his eyes on Kaede Shirakawa.

After thinking about it for a while, he turned his head and discussed a few words with Heitaro Nakajima, and finally Shirakawa Kaede nodded and agreed with IBM's suggestion.

If you want to use the optical drive on a computer as an opportunity to introduce it to the market, it is also necessary to obey the requirements of the computer in certain specifications.

Of course, these so-called specifications are probably hardware factors such as interfaces and form factors.

Shirakawa Kaede doesn't mind giving them to IBM, as long as it doesn't involve its own core interests.

"Very well, so let's talk about the parameters that affect performance." Louis was pleased with Kaede Shirakawa's concessions.

"Regarding the scanning speed, error correction logic, and data picking mechanism, we hope that Shirakawa Electric can provide detailed technical information.

Because we need it to write the corresponding software, as well as open the system to give certain permissions to the user.

Of course, we have a non-disclosure agreement in place for all of this, and IBM has a strong reputation in this regard. ”

"In principle, we agree to IBM's request, but please forgive me for taking the liberty of asking, on which models does IBM plan to apply such a configuration as an optical drive first?"

Providing more detailed technical information is a necessary means to develop software and hardware, and Shirakawa Kaede can understand.

But as a manufacturer of optical drives, he was more concerned about the platform that IBM applied first.

In response to Shirakawa Kaede's question, Louis and Robert glanced at each other before answering.

"We think big opportunities are a good option because, you know, those businesses always have all sorts of stuff to store.

The floppy disk capacity is too small to store a large amount of data. A hard drive would do the trick, but it's too big to store.

So we all agree that mainframe users are absolutely hard to say no to a configuration like an optical drive. ”

Luis makes sense to say this, and many companies have a few G's at every turn. If you store it with a floppy disk, it's definitely a disastrous choice.

Today's hard drives are already 1G in size, but they are about the same size as washing machines, which is a problem for companies to store.

But with CDs it's different, a few G's are just a few discs, which takes up less space than a book.

I believe that those commercial companies will never reject the new technology of optical discs, and IBM knows very well what their demands are.

But when Shirakawa Kaede heard that IBM wanted to apply optical drives to mainframes first, he frowned.

"Mr. Louis, I agree with your judgment about mainframe users. But for the first promotion platform, I suggest you add a personal computer. ”

"Personal computers?" Louis looked at Shirakawa Kaede in surprise.

"I'm sorry Mr. Shirakawa, but you may not understand that the PC market is not mainstream right now.

And for individual users, such a huge capacity as 700MB is completely unnecessary.

As Gates said, 640KB of content is enough for anyone. ”

The Gates that Louis is talking about is the famous Bill Gates.

Last year, a newspaper reported Bill Gates' views on memory capacity.

I don't know if this paragraph is true or not, and I don't know if Gates really said it.

But it does not prevent Louis, who at the moment uses it to prove that individual users do not have such a big demand for large-capacity storage.

Shirakawa Kaede almost laughed out loud when he heard him say this, "Mr. Louis, the reason why individual users are satisfied with the current 640KB is because they have never seen the style of CD-ROM.

If Mr. Gates had been in person and had seen the Blue Book, I think he would have retracted what he had said. ”。

What is completely unnecessary, what 640KB is enough, it is entirely because there is no such large-capacity storage device in reality, to the user Hoho.

Kaede Shirakawa bets that as long as the public has experienced the enormity of 700MB, there will be no going back.

Do you really think 700MB can only be used to store data? Later pictures, multimedia files, easily stuff it up.

"But..."Louis's idea is still more conservative, after all, it is to be introduced to the masses as a standard equipment for computers.

If the evaluation is not high, won't it drag down the reputation of your IBM PC?

"Mr. Louis, don't you ask us what the price of Shirakawa Electric's optical drive is?"

"Huh?" Louis looked at Shirakawa Kaede's smiling expression and seemed to have some reactions.

"So what is the price of Shirakawa Electric's optical drive?"

"$199 for a two-time drive and $425 for a four-fold drive."

"Wait!" Louis raised his hand and motioned for Shirakawa Kaede to wait for a moment, "How many times the optical drive Mr. Shirakawa said refers to the scanning speed?" ”

"Of course," Shirakawa Kaede nodded, "These are just the two most basic scanning magnifications, and we will develop higher scanning magnification drives in the future." ”

Louis and Robert looked at each other, and both saw the disbelief in each other's eyes.

What they can't believe is not the scanning speed of the optical drive, but how much it sells.

It's too cheap~

A floppy disk with a capacity of only about 1MB can be sold for two or three hundred dollars, and a floppy drive can be as high as $400.

In such a comparison, Shirakawa Electric's optical drive is more like doing charity.

"Mr. Shirakawa, I have to warn you that such a price is too low."

Louis, a black-hearted capitalist, couldn't stand Shirakawa Electric's pricing strategy at all, and felt that it was a bit cheap and excessive.

"I see what you mean Mr. Louis, but we want to make it a standard PC and make it accessible to the masses.

The excessively high price is not conducive to the promotion of CD-ROM. Especially if you want people to break the habit of using floppy disks, you always have to come up with something exciting. ”

In fact, Shirakawa Kaede already feels that he is dark enough, and the cost of an optical drive is lower than that of a CD player, and the cost of four times the speed is not more than 50 dollars.

Now selling for $200 or more than $400 is already a huge profit, who knows that IBM still thinks it is kind-hearted.

Hearing Shirakawa Kaede say this, Louis's eyes rolled and another idea popped up.

"It's better to buy optical drives at this price, but the market-oriented pricing power belongs to IBM."

"Mr. Louis, Shirakawa Electric will not compromise on pricing power, and this does not need to be mentioned."

Just kidding, how can the pricing power of such a monopoly product be handed over to others.

Shirakawa Kaede refused without even thinking about it, he knew what IBM had in mind. It's nothing more than raising the price of the optical drive when the time comes, and then make a profit yourself.

But IBM's heart is too dark, and Shirakawa Kaede is worried that the price they set is too high, which will affect its rapid expansion in the field of optical drives.

For example, IBM's own personal computer 5150 series, the cheapest price is $1535, the ordinary configuration is 2000~3000 US dollars, and the high configuration can reach 4000 US dollars.

Yes, you read that right, this is the price of a PC in dollars.

Although the people of the United States are rich, such a high price is destined to prevent explosive growth in PC sales.

But how many people know that IBM's personal computers are only about $600 if you only calculate the cost of parts.

The profits are amazing, and they are far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

IBM may be able to explain the high R&D expenses for such pricing, but in Shirakawa's view, this is still a bit too high.

In the case of guaranteeing profits, appropriately reducing the selling price is more conducive to the expansion of market share.

If the pricing power of the optical drive is handed over to them, Shirakawa Kaede suspects that IBM may sell it for $1,000.

After all, compared to the $400 of the floppy drive, it's normal for my dimensionality reduction blow to be twice as expensive.

It is true that someone will pay for $1,000, but a few people will pay for it.

Therefore, Shirakawa Kaede felt that it was enough to maintain a price similar to that of the floppy drive.

It is both profitable and does not worry about sales, and it can be regarded as making up for the shortcomings of the current disc that cannot write data.

Seeing that Louis wanted to say something, Shirakawa Kaede motioned for him to be calm.

"However, considering that the application platform of the optical drive is divided into mainframe and personal computers, our optical drive will also be designed accordingly.

For example, mainframes have high security requirements, and we will design a series of insurance measures for optical drives.

For example, the optimization of the shockproof structure, data analysis, there will be additional chips to do auxiliary work, and so on.

Of course, due to the increase in design costs, the selling price will also increase. ”

"A different version of the optical drive?" Louis's eyes lit up, "Mr. Shirakawa can talk about it carefully." ”

(End of chapter)