The Millennium Semiconductor Survival Guide.

Chapter 186 The First Experience of Mphone (4k))
Restricted by hardware devices, Mphone's built-in applications, WeChat and NewPay, only support the transmission of text content, and Weibo supports image transmission, but there is a strict limit on the size of the image, and only one image under 200k is supported.

There is a limit on the number of characters for posting on Weibo, and there is a limit on the length of voice messages on WeChat. NewPay only has the functions of logging in and showing the QR code.

Because whether it is WeChat or Weibo, the stacking of text information and image information will occupy a large amount of storage space during the use process.

In fact, instant messaging software itself does not take up much memory. The earliest QQ was only 220kb, and the size of the first version of WeChat in 2011 was also only 457kb. function.

"We hope that users can also experience the fun from the Internet through mobile phones. Starting from Mphone, mobile phones will have brand-new functions.

In the 30 years since the rise of Silicon Valley, the performance of chips has become more and more powerful, and the storage function has also evolved at an unimaginable speed, but only in the field of mobile phones, technological progress has not been reflected much in mobile phones.

Now it is different, with Mphone, mobile phones and mobile phone applications will develop at the same speed as the personal PC era. "

From a technical point of view, the technology supporting semi-smart phones was mature in 2000, and 220nm chips were sufficient for text content processing, and chips with ARM architecture could give full play to the advantages of low energy consumption.

The mobile phone chip adopted by Mphone is based on the ARM7 core, which is the first mobile phone chip with a running speed exceeding 500MHz.

在去年三星推出了第一款大型商用手机的芯片，S3C44B0X，这是一款基于66 MHz ARM7的产品，采用250nm制程。

This SoC was later powered by Danger Hiptop, a full-featured mobile phone that integrates a large number of communication applications, including browsers, email, AOL Instant Messenger, personal affairs managers, games, and other functions, with a 65000-color color screen , along with a full standard keyboard.

AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging software for mobile phones launched by AOL.

Samsung was able to do this in 2000, let alone in 2001, with Zhou Xin from a large number of Samsung's obsolete technologies after 20 years.

From the perspective of storage, DDR was launched in 1996. In the same year, Samsung launched DDR SDRAM. Later, eight semiconductor giants upgraded the DDR SDRAM standard, and got support from major chip manufacturers such as AMD, VIA and SIS. Support, this set of standards is called SDRAM II.

These eight semiconductor giants include Samsung, Hyundai, Texas Instruments, Hitachi, Toshiba, etc., all of which are well-known in the history of the storage field.

This set of mobile memory standards was still in use when the first iPhone was launched in 2007. The memory of the first iPhone reached 128m, and the storage options were 1GB and 2GB.

Therefore, when Zhou Xin launched the Mphone, he adopted the most advanced manufacturing process, with a memory of 32mb, which can be called a semi-smart mobile phone.

Considering that whether it is Weibo or WeChat, it will consume memory one after another during use. This is an unavoidable situation, so the first Mphone does not have built-in APP functions.

Based on the self-developed Linux kernel and the handspring handheld computer system, the MOS can support the installation of applications from the system itself, but only considers the memory and does not add the app store.

Now restricting Mphone from semi-intelligent machine to smart machine, one of the remaining problems is the touch screen. It took a year and a half for Apple to develop the first-generation iPhone in later generations just to achieve the ideal touch screen.

The other is communication technology. Technically speaking, the 3G standard has matured and has been rolled out on a large scale in Korea. Mphone also supports the 3G communication standard.

However, considering that the Nasdaq bubble has just burst, not only Internet companies, but also communication companies and basic software companies have experienced a sharp drop in market value.

Infrastructure companies like American Telephone Company have no motivation to promote 3G standards on a large scale. In their view, users will not buy 3G standards. Why should I spend this money?

Moreover, in the past five years, telecom equipment companies have invested more than 5000 billion U.S. dollars. Most of the 5000 billion U.S. dollars are financed by debt, and all of them are invested in laying optical cables and adding switches. They lack the enthusiasm for building 3G networks.

In the 1999G spectrum auction held by American in 3, the winner of the first round of bidding was auctioned at a price of 40 billion US dollars, but the winner was unable to pay, and the second round of auction was directly discounted by [-]%.

One can imagine the embarrassment of the current telecom companies.

The research and development of the touch screen is already on the way, and there is no way to grasp the construction of the 3G network this week.

"Next is the price, we have 1GB and 2GB versions, priced at $599 and $699 respectively.

If the audience at the scene completes the payment by scanning the code at the door when they go out, they can get a $50 coupon today. "

Richard Williamson and Henry Ramilau, Apple's software engineering manager and software R&D director, respectively, later led the software development of the iphone project and signed a non-disclosure agreement for two and a half years.

Although Apple's main project is now the iPod, after Jobs knew that Zhou Xin was going to make a mobile phone, he had already started the pre-research work on the iPhone in advance, and Richard and Henry were the two leaders of this work.

The iPhone pre-research work, which was originally to start in 2004, was brought forward to 2000.

"How about it, are you moved?" Henry asked.

Richard said: "Although we don't have to buy it ourselves, Steve will definitely buy a lot of Mphones back to the company for us to study, but I still want to buy one for myself.

Only by using it in daily life can you really appreciate the advantages of Mphone. I can see that Newman has high hopes for Mphone.

Even if Newman said nothing at the press conference, he only said two words: buy it.

I believe that Newman's fanatical supporters will definitely buy Mphone. You must know that Newman can sell more than 499 sets of keyboards for $[-].

Not to mention that the price of the Mphone is only US$599, which is not cheap compared to other mobile phones, but Newman’s loyal fans and product managers in Silicon Valley are willing to pay him US$500 just for Newman’s name. .

Of course, I am also one of Newman's fans. "

Henry smiled: "Well, who in Silicon Valley is not a fan of Newman?

Just because last year's game of Genting stopped the decline of the entire Nasdaq, it is enough to make the Internet practitioners in Silicon Valley grateful.

Not to mention that OpenAI, which Newman founded later, recruited a large number of senior engineers who were originally unemployed in the collapse of Internet companies after the Nasdaq bubble burst.

The confidence that Newman showed in the Internet industry made capital pay attention to Internet companies again. "

Richard nodded: "Yes, although there are many answers on Quora, they don't take Newman's role seriously. Economists believe that Nasdaq stopped the decline because the Fed stopped raising interest rates and the market value of listed Internet companies has fallen. It was bad enough.

But there are still many people who believe in this set. If it weren't for Newman, the downward trend would not stop so quickly. "

It was after the third quarter report of Riot Games last year that its driving effect caused the Internet companies in the entire Nasdaq to stop falling and rebound. The index rose from 2% to 3% at the close.

In the follow-up, Nasdaq even stepped out of the bull market. After this incident, some media began to name Zhou Xinguan the king of the Internet.

The online Wal-Mart has allowed Time Magazine to admit this, and the media that publicly admits this has become more and more valuable.

After the press conference, which lasted about an hour, there were a large number of booths at the entrance of the Moscone North Hall for the audience to buy Mphones.

"Sir, please bring me an Mphone." Henry walked towards the booth.

The Matrix staff asked: "Sir, do you use a credit card to shop or use NewPay to complete the payment? If you use NewPay to complete the payment, you can receive a $50 coupon."

Henry and Richard looked at each other, and then said, "Pay with NewPay."

The staff said: "OK, sir, have you brought your mobile phone and calling card?"

"You give me the phone card, we insert the phone card into the Mphone first, and then you need to log in to your NewPay account.

Use your NewPay account to scan the QR code on the left to receive the coupon, and then scan the QR code on the right to complete the payment. "

Almost everyone in the audience has a NewPay account.

Under the guidance of the staff, Henry completed the entire payment operation step by step. Looking at the payment completion interface that flashed on the phone, the audience queuing up behind him let out a burst of exclamation.

Compared with credit cards, has electronic payment been able to achieve this level?
After Henry completed the purchase, he had time to take a closer look at the Mphone in his hand.

Because the payment was completed through the Mphone, and the mobile phone card was changed to the Mphone, Henry took advantage of the situation and directly changed from the original Motorola mobile phone to the current Mphone.

The back cover made of glass and the round frame are just right when held in both hands.There is an M logo on the back cover, which is different from the distorted letters of the Motorola M logo. Matrix’s M is a cube, and then the lines that make up the M are highlighted. With the silver glass frame, it is extremely technological.

Under the premise of not affecting the typing experience, reduce the proportion of the keyboard on the entire mobile phone as much as possible and increase the screen proportion.

The gradually shrinking frame makes it not as big as the visual effect when holding it.

What impressed Henry the most was when he logged into his NewPay account, the typing experience on Mphone was the best among the mobile phones he had ever used.

Henry thought to himself, not only does typing feel the best on a mobile phone, it even surpasses most keyboards.

When Henry was exploring the functions of the Mphone, Richard also completed the payment, holding the Mphone in one hand and walking towards Henry with the packaging bag in the other.

Richard's expression couldn't hide his excitement, he said, "Henry, when I saw Newman use NewPay to complete the payment at the press conference, I already had the idea that this thing would subvert the original payment ecology.

Compared with credit cards, people only need to bring their mobile phones to complete the payment at any time, and no longer need to carry a card with them.

The more merchants that pay for the QR code payment method, the more people will not even need cash in the future. "

Henry shook his head: "No, no, NewPay is not just as simple as not needing a physical card.

Credit card discounts need to go to the bank, and the bank will explain to you one by one what functions and benefits our credit card has.

NewPay is different. You can receive coupons through your mobile phone, whether it is WeChat or offline QR code coupons, which can make you aware of the discounts you can enjoy at any time.

At the same time, after each payment is completed, you can only see your payment status from the paper bill when you use the credit card, and the paper receipt will be lost soon. Unless you have the habit of keeping accounts, the saved money will not be much at all. feelings.

NewPay is different. I just took a look at it. It has a billing function that allows you to see your annual, monthly or even daily payment status. At the same time, there is a summary form to tell you that you have used coupons in total. NewPay will help you How much money was saved.

This function alone can make users pay for Mphone. I only need 599 dollars to buy an Mphone, which can save a lot of money in daily life.

I call NewPay on Mphone mobile electronic payment. Compared with electronic payment, the convenience of this payment method has been greatly improved, and more importantly, the interaction between merchants and users has been realized.

Merchants can provide users with a lot of information they want to convey while providing coupons to users.

NewPay alone has so many things to study, and WeChat, which Newman put the most effort into introducing, probably has more surprises waiting for us. "

Richard nodded: "If we want to make a mobile phone, we must have an electronic payment function.

The question is, as a competitor, will Newman make NewPay compatible with Apple phones? "

Henry said: "For sure, Newman will spare no effort to promote NewPay, and he will never give up any opportunity for NewPay to expand just because we are competitors.

And don't forget that Newman is also a major shareholder of Apple, and Matrix and NewPay are two different companies. "

Richard said: "The better Mphone does, the more pressure we have.

With Steve's character, if the Apple mobile phone can't beat the Mphone by a large margin, he will definitely ask us to modify it repeatedly. "

When the later generations of Apple mobile phones were first launched, they would not even introduce what chip we used and how many points the chip could run. They only needed to introduce what we could do, which all previous mobile phones could not do.

The only introduction to the hardware is storage, which is still mentioned when talking about the price.

It wasn't until everyone was making smart phones, and Apple had the same functions as other mobile phones, that Apple began to talk about chips, and later it could only talk about chips.

If it were the first generation of Apple mobile phones using Samsung chips, how could Jobs say at the press conference what a powerful chip we use, the most advanced chip from Samsung.

But it's different now. With Mphone in front, if Apple mobile phones want to make electronic payments, they can only rely on NewPay.

Apple mobile phones want to do what Mphone can't do, only ecology. The problem is the current hardware, which determines that ecology is unrealistic.

2G network downloading APP is too slow. DDR2 will not be released until 2006. After DDR2 is released, the memory will be sufficient to support a large number of application downloads.

So at present, we can only make this kind of semi-smart phone. The hardware determines that even if you make an ecology or an app store, the experience of using it will be very different.

(End of this chapter)