Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 140 Business Book Listing Plan

Traditional material manufacturers conduct material research and development one by one, taking their time, and emphasizing going with the flow... However, Anlong Precision, a subsidiary of Zhiyun Technology, has dozens or even hundreds of projects underway simultaneously in order to develop aluminum alloys.

In order to carry out so many projects at the same time, almost all the R&D teams of domestic universities with a little reputation and high-end aluminum alloy materials received commissioned R&D orders from Anlong Precision...

Then, people came up with it. Well, although the system accounted for more than half of the credit, the system also needed the support of scientific researchers, and scientific researchers needed R&D funds to support it.

Therefore, spending huge amounts of money is still the most critical factor in the field of scientific research...at least for Zhiyun Technology.

In addition, when Zhiyun Technology was developing the aluminum alloy body, it also built a large number of patent walls in the aluminum alloy field, blocking most of the way for latecomers.

Now, fruits are also trying to do it, but there will be no results in the short term...

However, it is not reliable to always use plastic. Plastic is too low-end material and looks cheap.

So now Apple is working on a glass cover for the phone, but glass, as everyone knows, is easy to break.

Even if the most advanced glass material is used, according to previous tests by Zhiyun Technology, mobile phones with glass back covers have nearly three times more body failures than mobile phones with ordinary aluminum alloy back covers.

This is the main reason why Zhiyun Technology gave up using glass materials on the S9 phone... the glass technology these days is still a bit lacking.

But fruits have no reason to dislike glass materials...it's because they can't get suitable aluminum alloy materials.

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Zhiyun Technology continues to conduct in-depth research and development on aluminum alloy materials. In addition to the materials themselves and the process, it has also formed a strong team to develop various color schemes.

I don’t know how many different colorants I tried, but I finally settled on two color schemes, silver-gray and black, before the release of the S9 phone.

Now there are four new colors: gold, pink purple, red and dark gray.

Although these aluminum alloy body technologies and color schemes were originally developed for mobile phone projects, they can also be used on laptops.

The dark gray color scheme is not suitable for use on mobile phones, but is more suitable for use on laptops. This led the notebook team led by Wang Kuan to simply abandon the pure black color scheme and choose this dark gray color scheme to replace black as the main model with dark tones.

At the same time, for the female market, a lighter pink and purple tone was chosen. This color combination looks very beautiful and cute.

However, the pink and purple color matching technology is not yet mature, and the processing cost is slightly higher. It is estimated that it will not be used when the first batch is released.

At this time, Wang Kuan said: "Because our own aluminum alloy craftsmanship is more outstanding, we can make it lighter and thinner. At the same time, due to the narrow frame design, the overall appearance is smaller. In addition, our unique dark gray color scheme makes the overall look more textured!"

At this time, Xu Shenxue also got started. He first picked up a Yun Book 13. It was not big, but because of its aluminum alloy body, the texture was very good.

The combination of these two gives people a very strange feeling of lightness yet a little heaviness.

A very strange feeling.

In the middle of the front of the notebook, near the top, is Zhiyun’s Baiyun logo, which is also the only external pattern on the entire notebook.

After lifting it up and looking at it, I found that the laptop does not have many interfaces. In addition to the power interface, 3.5 headphone interface and two USB interfaces, there is only one network cable interface and one external video interface.

All other messy interfaces have been cancelled.

In fact, according to Xu Shenxue's idea at the beginning, the network cable interface did not need to be retained...but the problem is that contemporary WIFI is not very popular, unlike in later generations where almost every household and all public places can provide WIFI signals.

Taking into account the actual office needs, Xu Shenxue still allowed to retain this network cable interface, but in Xu Shenxue's plan, this broken thing will have to be cancelled in a few years&...it's just an eyesore to look at.

Also eye-catching is the video interface... This is also used for office purposes, so that those who work on the go can easily connect to the projection equipment and output the images.

Limited by contemporary technology and the overall environment, many things have to be retained... This is also a helpless compromise.

Otherwise, according to Xu Shenxue's idea, ultra-thin notebooks can only retain two interfaces, Type-C that combines charging and data transmission.

There is no need for a 3.5 audio interface, you can use Bluetooth headphones or Type-C headphones.

Two Type-C, totally enough...

Sadly, times have changed!
Many of Xu Shenxue’s ideas cannot be realized at the moment…

However, if it is not possible now, it does not mean that it will not be possible in the future. Xu Shenxue has asked the technical department to start the research and development of a new type of socket, requiring it to be multi-in-one, trying to use one socket to meet the needs of charging, power supply, and data transmission, and it must be able to be plugged in from both sides.

The Yun Book 13 has too many interfaces, which Xu Shenxue thinks is a bit messy. Wang Kuan said: "We have boldly cancelled many interfaces, making it the notebook with the fewest interfaces. Many manufacturers' notebooks often retain multiple interfaces for task diversity and expandability."

Xu Shenxue said: "Don't pay attention to the practices of ordinary manufacturers, or even the opinions of some so-called ordinary consumers. You have to know that among our users, few people will use this thing to create diversity!"

"Its core usage scenarios are airport terminals, coffee shops, airplanes, hotels, and conference rooms!"

"It is very important to understand the usage scenarios. This means that our notebooks do not need too many messy functions. They only need the core portability and excellent battery life, plus a high-end and classy appearance design. Other aspects can be put aside!"

Wang Kuan said: "Don't worry, Director Xu, we also designed it according to this requirement!"

"The battery life is the best. We have specially equipped this 13.3-inch notebook with a large-capacity lithium battery of 45 watts per hour. Combined with our power management technology and specially designed energy-saving function settings, it can last for eight hours when connected to a wireless network. If the wireless network function is turned off and energy-saving conditions are adopted, only basic text editing functions are retained, and the screen brightness is adjusted to the lowest acceptable limit, the battery life can even reach 13 hours." Xu Shenxue said: "This battery life data is not bad, and it must be maintained or even improved. For a mobile office device, battery life is its key lifeline and a strong demand of users. We must pay attention to it!"

Afterwards, Xu Shenxue turned on the computer and tested it again. After the laptop was turned on, there was nothing much to say about the system. It was directly using the WIN system, but it was pre-installed with some small components developed by Zhiyun Technology, such as the energy-saving module...

In terms of configuration, the screen is very good, using an LCD screen with an aspect ratio of 16:10 and a resolution of 1280*800.

Some contemporary portable notebooks have a screen aspect ratio of 16:10, which is mainly used by Apple and some other manufacturers also use it. It is relatively more suitable for office work, multitasking, etc.

Some are 16:9, which is narrower and can be heavier, but the screen is not very office-friendly.

For many years thereafter, there were notebooks with both aspect ratios, but later on, notebooks from major manufacturers gradually tended towards 16:10...mainly because this ratio is more suitable and can better meet diversity.

In terms of hardware configuration, Xu Shenxue clicked on it and took a quick look. There was nothing special about the hardware configuration of this prototype, and it was not even high-performance.

At this time, Wang Kuan said: "Our laptops use Intel's Core 2 chips developed for ultra-thin notebooks. Different models are equipped with different CPUs. This engineering prototype used for testing uses a chip with a main frequency of 1.86GHZ."

"The running memory configuration is 4GB of memory, and the storage uses 256 flash memory!"

"When it is actually launched on the market, we will also launch a low-end version with 2GB RAM and 128GB storage!"

"The 2.4-inch version is designed with performance in mind, so it uses a GHz chip and has better heat dissipation performance."

While listening, Xu Shenxue started to operate it directly!

Wang Kuan continued: "We use multi-touch technology on the touchpad, which allows users to perform multi-touch operations similar to those used on mobile phones."

The whole notebook looks and feels good to use!

At least Xu Shenxue likes the 13-inch version more, which already feels like the ultra-thin notebook of later generations... As for the 14-inch one, it is too thick and he doesn't like it very much.

He immediately said, "This thing is not bad. Now that it's made, there's no need to drag it out. I'll find the market and choose a time to put it on the market!"

"After making something, it is always necessary to take it to the market for testing... It will take time to prove whether this product, which is highly similar to the Apple Notebook in product positioning, can gain a foothold in the competition!"

The next day, Xu Shenxue, Ji Chenghe, Gu Zhiming, notebook project leader Wang Kuan, and some leaders from other departments all appeared in the conference room of Zhiyun Technology.

"The theme of today's meeting is very simple. We have already made our ultra-thin business notebook. The engineering machine is pretty good. Now we are discussing how to mass-produce it and bring it to market!"

At this time, Dong Jingban's assistants also took out the YunBook 13/14 notebooks, which were still in a highly confidential stage, and showed them to the executives present for experience.

This was the first time that many executives saw the actual notebook.

They all knew that the company had such a project before, but many of Zhiyun Technology's projects, especially the smart terminal projects directly facing consumers, are generally kept confidential. On the one hand, this is to prevent other manufacturers from getting the news in advance and making targeted responses, and on the other hand, it is also to allow consumers to maintain a sense of expectation.

Then, according to marketing needs, some true and false news are released from time to time to maintain basic popularity.

After these Yunbook notebooks were distributed and everyone had a brief experience, An Dayu from Weiku Industrial said: "We have been following up on the notebook project and have carried out research and development of the production line at the same time. There will be no major problems in subsequent production, but the overall process requirements are relatively high and the mass production cost is not low."

Ji Chenghe said as he looked at the computer: "The higher cost is within our expectations. Anyway, our selling price will not be too low!"

"We are taking the high-end route. Unique and leading technology is our core selling point. We don't need to consider the cost-effectiveness issue!"

Ji Chenghe took a quick look at it, without even turning it on, and then said, "Just for this laptop, with its appearance, workmanship, and our brand value, it's not a problem to buy it for six or seven thousand!"

"If it's a version with 4GB of memory and 256GB of storage, the price could be over !"

Gu Zhiming on the side was a little worried: "Although we are taking the high-end route, the price is not too expensive. It is already not cheaper than the notebooks of our main competitor, Apple!"

Ji Chenghe said: "The price is not a big problem. From the appearance and design positioning, our notebook is basically the same as the fruit notebook, but our notebook is even thinner and lighter, especially the narrow frame looks very pleasing to the eye... If you don't consider other things, this narrow frame alone is worth a thousand yuan!"

"Then our Zhiyun brand should be worth at least one or two thousand yuan!"

"Plus, it's thin and light, and its good looks and workmanship are only around one or two thousand yuan. Adding these together can almost support this price!"

"Fruit still uses its own system. In the field of mobile phones, the IOS system is very good, and closed systems also have huge advantages. However, it is different in the field of notebooks. Their relatively closed MAC OS system is not suitable for general office use. We found that many people will install a WIN system after buying a notebook from Fruit."

"To some extent, we still have certain system advantages!"

"Of course, more importantly, no matter how well this notebook is made, it must be positioned at the high end!"

"Too low a price will lower our brand image!"

Ji Chenghe actually doesn’t care much about how the laptop is made, its performance, or its configuration. He only cares about the brand.

If they just make notebooks priced at five or six thousand, he will raise objections no matter how well they do... Notebooks at this price are the battlefield of Weiku Electronics and have nothing to do with Zhiyun. If they really do that, there will be no dimensionality reduction attack, but it will lower their own brand value.

Zhiyun Technology has put in so much effort, advertised every day, and used so much marketing money to establish the Zhiyun brand at the high-end level... If it launches a low-priced notebook into the market, it would be self-destructive of the brand!
(End of this chapter)