Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 106 Tablet Watch Headphones
Wang Kuan was also a project manager, one of the middle and senior management in the company. He just hadn't come to Xu Shenxue to report his work in person before, so he seemed a little nervous. Now that he had calmed down, he began to speak:

"Thank you, Mr. Xu, for taking the time out of your busy schedule to listen to my ideas!"

"In my humble opinion, our company's Zhiyun mobile phone is directly targeted at the Apple mobile phone, and it targets the mid-to-high-end market, which makes our Zhiyun brand also have the characteristics of a high-end brand... In this way, can we also rely on the high-end brand appeal in the mobile phone field like Apple and launch a high-end ultra-thin business notebook?"

"Although the current ultra-thin business notebooks have only been popular for a few years, the market potential is huge. Our company has distributed quite a few Apple business notebooks!"
"So I thought, let's make a similar one. Mr. Xu, please take a look at this concept drawing I designed!"

As he spoke, Wang Kuan took out the notebook in his hand and opened several concept design drawings inside... Coincidentally, the notebook in Wang Kuan's hand was Apple's MacBook.

Xu Shenxue looked at the concept design drawings on the laptop screen, and then looked at some estimated configuration parameters.

But Xu Shenxue didn't look at it for too long. After a brief look, he pointed at the MacBook on the table and said, "The configuration is not important. We make high-end products. You don't need to worry about the configuration. If the price is right, the configuration won't be much worse. Moreover, an ultra-thin notebook only needs to consider the properties required for mobile office, such as battery life, lightness and portability. You don't need a discrete graphics card. It consumes a lot of power and it's hard to dissipate heat."

"Although the concept design looks good, it is just a concept design after all. I just want to ask one thing. With our current technical capabilities and the capabilities of the integrated suppliers, can we also make one of these things?"

"Oh, and there's also the 13.3-inch AIR. Compared to this MacBook, I'm actually more concerned about whether you can make a MacBook AIR!"

"Or let me ask you in another way, can you also make such a thin and beautiful notebook... Don't talk to me about performance configuration, I'm asking you about your appearance!"

Wang Kuan said: "Yes...they are just assembled products, only the system is their own, and many people will switch to the WIN system after buying this notebook, so the MAC system is not indispensable."

"In terms of internal design, notebooks have more space and design capacity, and are easier to make than mobile phones. With our hardware design and integration capabilities, we can definitely achieve such a compact and thin design."

"The cost will be higher. For example, if the shell is made of anodized aluminum, the cost will be higher."

After hearing this, Xu Shenxue immediately said, "Since you have this confidence, then fine, I'll leave this project to you!"

"Do it well, I have confidence in you!"

The smoothness of the matter exceeded Wang Kuan's imagination... He didn't have much hope in the first place, he just wanted to talk about his idea, and even if he wanted to do it, he would probably have to wait for the company to conduct various research.

But he didn't expect that Mr. Xu just listened to a few words from him, then took a look at the conceptual design drawings and directly decided on it, and asked him to be responsible for the project.

He immediately stood up excitedly and said, "Thank you, Mr. Xu, for giving me this opportunity. I will definitely do a good job on this business project!"

Xu Shenxue emphasized: "It's not a business notebook, but an ultra-thin business notebook, with ultra-thin at the front... Remember, appearance comes first, and everything else has to come second!"

What Xu Shenxue wanted was not an ordinary business laptop. He wanted a high-end, fashionable, ultra-thin business laptop. Appearance was the most important thing, and performance and the like were secondary.

If you want performance, why do you buy an ultra-thin laptop? There are a bunch of gaming laptops and business laptops for you to choose from. However, the gaming laptop and business laptop markets are already too crowded, and the profits are too low, which does not fit the high-end positioning of Zhiyun Technology.

So if you want to make a laptop, there is only one way, which is to go for a high-end, high-premium ultra-thin business notebook that directly competes with Apple's MacBook and MacBook Air.

What they sell is not performance, but lightness and appearance, and, well, battery life...

Maybe you can add another face!

After Wang Kuan left, Xu Shenxue kept Xie Jianyong and said to him, "You should also pay more attention to this notebook project. Don't let them go astray and try to improve the cost-effectiveness and configuration!"

Xie Jianyong said: "Don't worry, President Xu, our company's high-end brand gene is still deeply rooted in people's hearts, and this kind of thing will not happen!"

Xu Shenxue said: "Well, I feel relieved now."

"One more thing. Since you've already started the notebook project, I have another project here. You can also bring people to work on it!"

Xie Jianyong said: "Oh, what new projects are there?"

Xu Shenxue took out the Zhiyun C1 in his hand and said, "It's a tablet computer project. I thought about enlarging this thing and making it a nine-inch or ten-inch smart device. I put a better SOC on it and installed some office software under the Android ecosystem, and used it as a portable office device!"

Xu Shenxue finished speaking, then went to the desk and took out a notebook. He opened it and pulled out a very simple concept design drawing: "According to my idea, this smart device should be able to run various daily office software and process them. It should have WIFI function, and I can also make a version with 3G function!"

"The screen uses multi-touch, which can be operated directly with fingers. For the convenience of users, a wireless external keyboard can also be developed for use with it!"

Xie Jianyong listened to this, and then used his imagination to look at the simple concept design with only a few lines. After a while, he said, "Mr. Xu, do you mean that we should make a ten-inch mobile phone?"

When Xu Shenxue heard this, he was a little stunned... But after thinking about it carefully, it seemed that this statement was correct. There seemed to be no difference between a tablet and a mobile phone, except that the screen was bigger.

He nodded immediately and said, "You can say that, but the system needs to be specially adapted, and then the office properties will be stronger, so it needs to be paired with some special office software!"

Xie Jianyong said: "So, a large mobile phone that is convenient for mobile office?"

Xu Shenxue said: "That's about what I mean!"

Xie Jianyong asked: "What about the communication and entertainment functions?"

Xu Shenxue said: "For communications, we will make a 3G version separately, and for entertainment... we also need this..."

Xu Shenxue thought of the tablet computers of later generations. Although they were promoted as mobile office in the beginning, they were basically used for watching movies and playing games in the end... After a few years, they became learning tools or toys for children. Many people bought tablets and finally gave them to their children to use for studying or simply playing games.

As for mobile office, those who need it usually just bring a 13-inch ultra-thin laptop, and those who don’t need it don’t need it... However, there is still a certain demand for tablets in the service and sales industry, such as selling houses, cars, hotels and restaurants, etc.

Therefore, it is necessary to emphasize the features of playing games and watching movies.

Thinking of this, Xu Shenxue said again: "By the way, we can also find software manufacturers to develop some educational software, focusing on an educational function!" The student group is also a major user of tablets... Parents of elementary and middle school students buy them, and college students buy them themselves.

After hearing what Xu Shenxue said, Xie Jianyong gradually imagined what Xu Shenxue described in his mind... It wasn't difficult, he just had to enlarge the C1 phone.

Then Xie Jianyong imagined in his mind the scenarios of using this thing to handle various tasks or engage in other entertainment.

When I think about it this way, it seems like there might be some solution!

He immediately said, "Then I'll go back and find someone to try to come up with a preliminary plan!"

Xu Shenxue nodded, and then thought that since they had already started working on laptops and tablets, they had to start building projects for other ecological chain products as well. After all, many things cannot be produced in a day or two, and often require a lot of lead time.

After thinking about it for a while, Xu Shenxue said, "Oh, let's do two more projects. Make a wearable smart device similar to a watch, with touch interaction. In addition to the communication function, we have to add some health functions, such as monitoring heartbeat and recording exercise steps. Well, develop it as a sports smart device!"

"In addition to this sports watch, I'd also like to get an electronic bracelet without a screen that simply records the number of steps and heartbeats. I'd like to make this cheaper, a few hundred yuan would be enough!"

“Now that the brand has been initially established and there is an ecological entrance like Zhiyun mobile phone, we should make use of it and build an ecological chain around this Zhiyun mobile phone. We can try to make TVs, headphones, speakers and the like!”

"By the way, let's make a Bluetooth headset project!"

Xu Shenxue thought of the Bluetooth headsets from the original time and space. That thing was also very profitable. Basically, all major mobile phone manufacturers did not fall behind and rushed to make it. Of course, this thing looks small, but it is extremely technically difficult for modern times. It can even be said that the current Bluetooth 2.1 standard does not meet the standard of the Bluetooth headset that Xu Shenxue wants.

If the data transmission rate is too low, it will cause sound distortion and high latency!
But this thing can also be done slowly first, and then it will be too late to do it after the corresponding Bluetooth standard is improved and the data transmission rate is increased.

"For the Bluetooth headset project, don't use the stupid big ones on the market. They are useless. And they must be truly wireless. The two headsets cannot be connected together with a wire. They must be able to be separated separately. At the same time, any headset can be connected to the phone and used separately."

Having said that, Xu Shenxue thought for a while, went back to his office, took out the wired earphones adapted for the Zhiyun mobile phone, then held the earphones and said to Xie Jianyong: "This Bluetooth headset can only be made this big..."

When Xie Jianyong saw the size of the headphones Xu Shenxue demonstrated, he was speechless. Isn't there only an earbud and a small terminal left? How can a speaker, microphone, battery, Bluetooth component and a bunch of other control modules be stuffed into such a small space?

But he also understood Xu Shenxue...Generally speaking, Mr. Xu would not easily change the plans he proposed, and would force his way forward no matter how difficult it was.

Sometimes Xie Jianyong thought, maybe this is the advantage and disadvantage of a boss who doesn’t understand technology.

The advantage is that he doesn't understand the detailed technology, so he doesn't really care how you do it. He just needs to show him the results. He doesn't care about how to achieve it, and he doesn't understand it...

But the downside is that they often come up with some inexplicable requests that seem ridiculous to the technicians, such as this Bluetooth headset...

He knew about Bluetooth headphones, and he could even understand the kind of truly wireless Bluetooth headphones that Xu Shenxue wanted.

But such a small Bluetooth headset...to be honest, he felt it was a bit difficult to use.

It has such a small size, but it has so many functions. Although Mr. Xu didn’t say anything else, the battery life must be very long... So, what should we do?
It can’t be done...at least not with current technology.

So Xie Jianyong remained silent...

Seeing Xie Jianyong like this, Xu Shenxue said: "Don't worry, I'm not asking you to come up with a product in two or three months. I'm just asking you to start a project and try it out. If you don't have the technology, you can take your time."

Xie Jianyong was relieved by what Xu Shenxue said. He was worried that Xu Shenxue would set a time limit for him and demand that he finish the task within a certain period of time. That would be really a headache.

If there weren't too many time constraints, Xie Jianyong wouldn't have any objections. Anyway, the R&D department has so many R&D projects now, so a Bluetooth headset wouldn't make a difference!

In the past few months, Zhiyun Technology has launched a large number of scientific research projects. The overall design and development of mobile phones is actually only a part of it. There are also various miscellaneous R&D projects.

Right now, we have more than 3,000 R&D engineers of all kinds, and we are still recruiting... At the same time, we have begun to set up R&D centers in Beijing and Shanghai, and are preparing to set up a R&D center each in Europe and Silicon Valley.

Based on this scale of recruitment, it is estimated that there will be tens of thousands of people by the end of the year... These tens of thousands of people are not ordinary employees, but R&D engineers... and their salaries are very high.

Not only are their salaries high, but the funds spent on the various R&D projects they carry out are also enormous. A typical example is chip R&D... The cost of doing an experiment, that is, tape-out, can easily be several million or even tens of millions. If they are unlucky and the tape-out fails a few times, then tens of millions will be wasted.

Zhiyun Technology's speed and scale of burning money are both very large!

For those Internet companies that claim to burn money, their so-called R&D is nothing but childish play in front of R&D-oriented technology companies like Zhiyun Technology...not worth mentioning.

At Zhiyun Technology's current pace, it will have to burn tens of billions of dollars in R&D funds this year alone.

We will definitely spend more on R&D next year!

The speed and scale at which Zhiyun Technology is burning money has made a number of domestic mobile phone manufacturers and even people from other industries drool!

What does it mean to have hundreds of millions of R&D funds? At present, the total R&D investment of various enterprises in the country is only more than 500 billion...

Its main competitor, Fruit Company, is estimated to have spent just over a billion dollars on research and development this year...

And based on Zhiyun Technology's R&D growth rate, by next year Zhiyun Technology's R&D funding is expected to exceed that of the fruit company.

You are a startup company, but you are spending so much money, and putting it all into research and development which is like a bottomless pit. You must be crazy!

(End of this chapter)