Customized keyboards have a very long history, dating back to the time when computers were first born, but at that time, customized keyboards were mainly aimed at enterprises.

Some small companies specialize in producing distinctive keyboards and then promote them to companies in Silicon Valley.

Shafts have been around since the seventies and eighties, with Cherry developing the first shafts, and Alps and Topre continuing to improve them.

And the pursuit of keyboard tapping sound HiFi, that is, good, you can often see the keyboard tapping mahjong sound on Douyin, B station, is a kind of HiFi sound.

The quest for keyboard percussion HiFi can also be traced back to the 80s of the last century, when these enthusiasts modified their mechanical keyboards to improve the sound quality and feel of the keyboard.

Later, in 2010, the current sense of customized keyboards began to become popular.

Because this thing has no technical content to put it bluntly, the shell, PCB board, bottom cotton, shaft pad, positioning plate, etc., these things have no technical content.

After Zhou Xin made the customized keyboard in the current sense, other keyboard manufacturers only need to disassemble it to know what is going on.

Even if a patent is registered, other keyboard companies can take a redesign approach to circumvent the patent.

Unless you say that the keyboard is your patent, that's not realistic.

But the advantage of time is also an advantage, Zhou Xin asked Aimo to find three different companies to help them make a part of the kit according to the drawings.

Then the final assembly was all done by him and Cao Yongluo themselves.

To put it bluntly, this thing is very simple, similar to building blocks.

Twist a few screws, secure the shaft, and then stack them together in order and you're done.

When these components were scattered, Cao Yongluo didn't think there was anything, but felt that the keyboard with an aluminum shell was so heavy that he was stupid to buy it.

The only thing that looks a little good is this set of white and gray keycaps, which gives people a harmonious and unified aesthetic as a whole.

As a result, after the entire keyboard was assembled together, Cao Yongluo was stunned, because compared with it, there is no difference between the mainstream plastic keyboard and garbage.

The metallic texture is much better than the plastic texture, and the visual effect is much better.

Not to mention the characteristic design on the keycaps, and the simplicity and generosity of the overall white, gray and black color scheme, the whole body gives Cao Yongluo a feeling and wants.

Zhou Xin tapped the space bar and made a clicking sound, and Zhou Xin thought that it had met his expectations.

This product was a dimensionality reduction blow in 1999.

The shaft body is also a classic work of the shaft body developed by Huaguo in later generations, the Haili shaft.

This is a linear axis, which roughly means that there will be no lag from the time you press it to the bottom of it.

The customized axis body is mainly divided into linear axis and paragraph axis, and the paragraph axis will have a sense of pause when it touches the bottom, making you realize that you have completed this button.

Zhou Xin got up and motioned for Cao Yongluo to sit on Herman Miller's ergonomic chair: "Try it." ”

Cao Yongluo tapped the keys randomly on Zhou Xin's newly built TXT text.

Zhou Xin asked: "Isn't it cool?" You can push a little harder, and you can feel that the whole middle area is obviously pressable.

You open Quora, pick a random answer on the homepage, and you try it out by typing. ”

After Cao Yongluo fought for five minutes, his face began to flush with excitement: "This thing can definitely be hot."

It's so cool, with Matrix, typing is a pleasure! ”

Cao Yongluo felt that he couldn't stop, the first time a keyboard could give him this feeling, compared to this keyboard, other keyboards can't be called keyboards.

This is simply an epoch-making work of art.

He thought to himself, he might not be able to go back. This is also the psychology of many customized keyboard players in later generations.

Zhou Xin asked, "Do you know how much this thing costs?" ”

Cao Yongluo said uncertainly: "A hundred dollars? ”

This is already a month's living expenses for him. The cost of living for an Ameriken native college student in San Francisco is between $500 and $1,000 a month.

Zhou Xin: "No, five thousand dollars." ”

Cao Yongluo was taken aback: "So expensive? The price was far more than he had imagined.

Because the purchase was contacted by Zhou Xin, Cao Yongluo didn't know that this thing was so expensive, and after knowing it, he thought to himself, how could it be sold if it was so expensive.

Cao Yongluo has been here for almost a year, and he also has Americon classmates by his side, so he knows the average income of Ameriken.

For the vast majority of Amerionians, spending $5,000 on a keyboard is unacceptable, no matter how good it is.

Zhou Xin said after finishing his bad taste: "This is the price of customization, the accessories we just assembled are all customized, and they need to be slotted separately, of course they are expensive." ”

"It doesn't need to be so expensive after mass production, and the cost can be reduced to less than 50 dollars after mass production.

The price in my mind is probably around $1,000 because our target group is geeks, programmers in Silicon Valley.

We need to establish the brand image of Matrix in order to go to the high-end market in the future. ”

Cao Yongluo asked: "Didn't you plan to put the production end in Huaguo, if it was Huaguo, the cost of this whole set of production would be about 200RMB, that is, 20 US dollars, or even lower."

Even taking into account tariffs, the cost will be cheaper than producing at Ameriken.

I've seen that the average tariff on goods imported into Ameriken is 43%, and if the keyboard is assembled and imported to Ameriken, the tariff will be lower.

It's about above and below this level. ”

Zhou Xin nodded: "Of course I plan to put the product line in Huaguo, especially the PCB board, there are always Huaguo enterprises to do this, right?"

Keyboards require a PCB that is not very technical. ”

Cao Yongluo thought for a while and said, "This is too detailed, I don't know very well, I have to go back and investigate." ”

PCB is also a printed circuit board, which is a bridge that carries electronic components and connects circuits, and its main function is to make various electronic components form a predetermined circuit connection and play a transmission role.

As the key component of electronic products, PCB is used in almost all electronic products and is the mother of electronic products.

This technology can be divided into many subdivisions, which can be distinguished according to function, such as memory chip packaging substrates, MEMS packaging substrates, RF module packaging substrates, processor chip packaging substrates and high-speed communication packaging substrates.

It can also be divided into rigid printed circuit boards, flexible printed circuit boards and rigid-flexible printed circuit boards according to the flexibility of the substrate.

There are also a series of divisions,The PCB technology to be used in the keyboard belongs to a relatively low-end technology,To put it bluntly, there is no technical content。

But now Huaguo is also relatively low-end in the electronics industry, and Cao Yongluo can't even be sure.

Zhou Xin was a little interested: "Okay, you have studied it clearly and told me, even if no Chinese enterprise can do this, you can also ask which Chinese enterprise is willing to do it, we can support them, as long as they make it, we will give a certain premium to purchase them." ”

Cao Yongluo couldn't quite understand: "You don't need to think about it so much, it's better to choose which one is cost-effective and has stable production." ”

Then Cao Yongluo paused, but still said what was in his heart:

"Actually, when I first heard that you were going to sell it for a thousand dollars, I was a little sour inside.

This sour is not because you sell it at such a high price and you can make a lot of money.

This is sad, I have been to Pengcheng, including the manufacturing industry in Shenhai.

The manufacturing industry in China, their cost is 200RMB, according to the official exchange rate, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 8.28RMB, which means that they have to sell for about 20 US dollars without losing money.

But China's manufacturing industry sells for $20 or less.

And if you sell it to the Americans, you can earn $980, and the profit of the entire industry chain is $980, and the profit of Chinese enterprises may be less than $1.

This phenomenon pervades the entire chain of cooperation between Chinese and foreign enterprises, and I feel sad for the enterprises in China and the vast number of workers in China.

I don't blame you at all, you also paid for the design, you paid, in today's parlance, intellectual property.

You rely on design to enjoy high returns, this is a matter of course, I am just wondering when Huaguo's enterprises can also rely on these to enjoy high returns. Cao Yongluo was a little choked up when he said it.

This was a common confusion among young people in China at that time, especially after going abroad.

Because the gap is really too big, you can see that the living expenses of foreign college students are between $500 and $1,000, and the average annual disposable income per person in China's urban households in 1999 was 5,800 RMB.

The disposable income of rural residents is even less than 2,500 RMB.

This is a widespread social phenomenon, and Cao Yongluo has more access to information from the outside world, and he feels more uncertain about the future of the country than ever.

Zhou Xin got up and paced in the study: "I am willing to give Chinese enterprises such an opportunity, that is, I hope to use my strength to let Chinese enterprises participate in the manufacturing industry with higher added value as much as possible."

You said that I sell products, I can't make so much $980, I want to recruit people, I want to open a lot of offline stores, and I may have to borrow money from Americ Ken Bank, which also has the cost of capital.

The profit margin is not so high, you are now calculating the profit that is out of reality, I estimate that the final profit margin is about 30% to 50%, it depends on the speed of plagiarism of other keyboard companies, and the recognition of my brand after it is established.

I can't get used to this phenomenon, I'm also Chinese, I can be an American citizen, I can stay in San Francisco forever.

But I still had to choose to go back, and I only got a green card, including me asking Wu Shiqiang to go back and invest in Internet companies in China.

To put it bluntly, I don't have much to gain from.

Of course, I am not so noble, but now that I have achieved financial freedom and a new goal in life, I want to see how far I can help the development of China with my own efforts.

Maybe one day I'll get disheartened and run back to San Francisco to retire.

It's not impossible, the gap between us and Ameriken is really too big. ”

Here is a reference to the furious meow65less back to the future,Over the years, the domestic customized keyboard is too rolly,I like a lot of designs,But here I still choose my favorite one,As the main product launched by Matrix for the first time。 It's also my personal bad taste haha.

Today I changed 3 chapters and 9k, and it's still the usual practice to ask for a monthly pass!

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