Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 225 Research and Development of a New Generation of Mobile Phones

Wait until several major contributors have completed their impromptu speeches with little preparation.

Masato Takeshita waved his hand.
"The cafeteria is prepared early, with the best vegetables, beef and seafood in Japan."

"Let's go, let's have a good meal together tonight."

At the beginning, the young man's idea was to host a banquet at the most famous Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo to entertain the people who designed and manufactured the Xinghai mobile phone.

But this proposal was directly rejected by Lou Gerstner.

I don’t know what time NTT will send the first day sales data of Xinghai mobile phone.

If it is around eight or nine in the evening, including the time spent going to the hotel, it will be around 10 o'clock before you can have dinner.

It's really too late.

This is not a celebration party, but a jail term.

It would be better to buy the ingredients and put them in the canteen, then hire a chef to help prepare them.

Although it is not as grand as going to a hotel, at the same price, you can eat more comfortably and the food quality will be better.

Masato Takeshita thought about it and felt that it made sense, so he finally chose Lou Gerstner's suggestion.

He hoped that everyone would enjoy the meal at the celebration banquet rather than wait until after 10 o'clock in the evening for the sake of face, when many people would be too hungry to eat dinner.

Of course, to prevent any messy rumors.

After the 7-day sales of Xinghai mobile phones are released, we still have to have a dinner together at the best place in Tokyo.

He didn't want word to suddenly spread in the market that Xinghai Group was very stingy and was reluctant to spend money on treating its employees to meals.

The R&D project was a great success, but they only had one meal in the cafeteria to wait for rumors.

Big media won't risk offending people by spreading this kind of thing, and small media definitely don't take this into consideration.

And once a rumor is formed, it is difficult to debunk.

Most of the time, people only believe what they want to believe.

And many times, even if they know the content is fake, they will still speak ill of others out of jealousy.

As for the fact that the food in the cafeteria is better than that in the hotel, no one will care at that time.

A week passed quickly, and Xinghai Semiconductor received another fax report on sales.

The result was very good, reaching 19 copies.

If nothing goes wrong, at least 30 units can be sold in the first month.

The initial goal was achieved in one go.

The Japanese people are indeed wealthy and have a strong desire to buy domestic products.

As for the achievement of 100 million units sold in the first year, it is no longer an unattainable dream.

This result was beyond the expectations of the employees of Xinghai Group and NTT, including Masato Takeshita.

No one expected that so many mobile phones could be sold at once.

"We can't stop advertising. We need to increase the amount of advertising. Sony, Hitachi and other companies are also working hard to develop mobile phones. We need to seize more market share."

Under the guidance of Masato Takeshita, Xinghai Group's advertisements highlight the features of the mobile phone very well.

Convenient and fast, you can communicate anytime and anywhere.

The effect is very good.

The sales volume reached 18 in the first week, and advertising played at least one-third of the role.

"Yes, President!"

Lou Gerstner understood the power of Japanese electronics giants such as Sony and Panasonic better than young people, and he had always been on guard against them.

He had already developed several targeted plans early on to maintain Xinghai Mobile's first-mover advantage.

Sony President Norio Ohga doesn't know what Xinghai Semiconductor is thinking, and even if he knew, he wouldn't care.

Sony is now in its heyday.

Television has Trinitron technology, music equipment has Walkman, and the entertainment industry has music and movies...

Apart from games, Sony is already close to its peak in the future.

Not to mention Xinghai Semiconductor, even the entire Xinghai Group and Sony don’t care.

However, after learning that the Xinghai mobile phone was selling well, Ohga Norio couldn't help but feel a little anxious.

He urged in his characteristic aria-like tenor voice: “Speed up the development of mobile phones. If you can’t be the first company to try it, you have to be one of the first three.”

Norio Ohga knew that his arch-rival Panasonic was also developing mobile phones.

He could not allow the release of his own products to lag behind that of Panasonic.

Sony and Panasonic are a pair of mortal enemies.

From temperament to products, the two companies are in discord everywhere.

Sony’s principle is quality first; its products are expensive and focus on the high-end market.

Panasonic's principle is utilitarianism, and the price is as cheap as possible, mainly targeting the mid- and low-end markets.

Of course, the two companies' greatest hatred stems from competition over videotape format standards.

During the format competition, Panasonic agreed to support Sony's Betamax video format, but actually chose to support JVC's VHS video format.

This stab in the back completely ended Sony's dream of winning the format victory.

The hatred between the two companies is also growing.

At the same time, Hitachi is also accelerating its research and development progress.

The sales volume of Xinghai mobile phones has been noticed by everyone who is interested.

Naturally, Kazuo Inamori, a top business genius, will also increase his investment.

Of the giant companies in Japan that are known to be developing mobile phones, Panasonic is the only one that is sitting on its hands.

Because Konosuke Matsushita never thought of being the first to try something new.

He wanted to develop a lighter mobile phone so as to capture the Japanese mobile phone market in one fell swoop.

Panasonic’s strategies in the past have succeeded and failed.

Successfully, Panasonic's first mobile phone did sweep the Japanese mobile phone market.

The failure is that there was no splash behind the Panasonic phone.

It was soon defeated by up-and-coming companies such as NEC and Sharp, and became the other option in the Japanese mobile phone market.

After the celebration banquet, Masato Takeshita immediately contacted Ken Sakamura, the founder of the Tron system, through Ohara Zeping, who is also a professor at the University of Tokyo.

He wanted to develop a mobile phone operating system so that Xinghai mobile phones could have their own Symbian.

The Symbian operating system also contributed to Nokia's success in sweeping the world in the era of feature phones.

Of course, it's just part of the credit.

The operating system in the era of feature phones is far less important than in the era of smartphones.

"Hello, Professor Sakamura. I am Masato Takeshita, the chairman of Xinghai Group. It's our first meeting. Thank you for your guidance!"

"Hello, President Takeshita, I'm Ken Sakamura, please give me your guidance!"

After they exchanged polite greetings, the young man got straight to the point and said, "Professor Sakamura, I came to you this time because I want to develop a mobile phone operating system."

"Ask me to develop an operating system?"

Sakamura Ken was very surprised.

You know, he had almost become an ominous figure in the business world at this time.

Many companies have issued instructions not to contact Ken Sakamura.

These electronics giants are very afraid of angering the United States.

“Yes, but we are developing an operating system for mobile phones.”

In the era of feature phones, mobile phone operating systems were very simple and their value was far lower than that of PC operating systems.

Even if Xinghai Group develops it, it will basically not be targeted by the United States.

"Mobile operating system? No problem, I'll do it."

Although it is not his favorite PC operating system, Ken Sakamura is very willing to do so as long as he can make some contributions in the operating system field.

He has been marginalized by the school, and if he fails to make a contribution, funding may be further cut.

"Welcome Professor Sakamura to join us. It is an honor for our Xinghai Group."

The young man was very happy in his heart, but he did not forget the mission he came here today. He continued to ask in a gentle tone: "I wonder when Professor Sakamura will be free?"

"Time, I have it any time now."

Sakamura Ken showed a bitter smile.

Ever since the United States included the Tron operating system in the "Super 301 Act" prohibition content, Ken Sakamura has been in a situation where he has nothing to do.

First, major companies withdrew, government agencies gave up, and then even universities canceled his project.

It looked like the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, and even Eastern Europe could not be saved.

Japan does not want to offend the United States, which is about to win the Cold War, and does not want to be the last one to stick out, so it has no choice but to do this.

At present, only the soon-to-be-established European Union can raise the banner of resistance.

"Then can Professor Sakamura come to Xinghai Semiconductor headquarters at 10 am next Wednesday?"

"No problem, I'll be there on time."

Ken Sakamura nodded, hoping to make some achievements in the field of mobile phone operating systems.

After dealing with Professor Ken Sakamura, the young man was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling.

Not only the mobile operating system, but many software projects of Xinghai Semiconductor in the future will need the help of Professor Ken Sakamura.

Return to Xinghai Semiconductor to discuss the development of a new generation of mobile phones.

After listening for a while, Masato Takeshita found that everyone was basically talking about the same old things.

Use new materials to reduce weight, use new materials to reduce the size of mobile phones...

Only a very few people have new ideas.

For example, Hirokazu Kamiyama proposed learning Motorola's flip phone technology.

The young man simply called out his name, "Mr. Heng Gu, do you have any good ideas for the new generation of mobile phones?"

Yokoko Tomoji thought about it carefully, and then said softly: "I think we can expand the internal functions of the mobile phone."

“For example, having the time and date built into your phone.”

"In this way, mobile phones can replace some of the functions of watches and calendars, and sales should increase again."

The built-in time and date on the mobile phone may seem insignificant, but they are very important functions.

In the past, when watch sales dropped sharply, mobile phones came to dominate the market.

All I can say is that many times, it is not your peers who replace you, but cross-field innovations.

This sentence is indeed full of value and is a wise saying.

The film industry counts as one, and the watch industry counts as one as well.

But watches are luckier than film.
Because watches are partly luxury goods.

Even if the practical value is very low.

In order to show off their wealth, many people will buy an expensive and impractical watch.

"That's a great suggestion. Anything else?"

Yokogu Youji shook his head embarrassedly, "That's all I can think of for now, sorry."

"You, you." Takeshita Masato sighed helplessly, "You can think of two, which is already very good. You have to be confident and don't always underestimate yourself."

Then the young man raised his head and looked at Tomioka Tetsuya on the side, "You look eager to try. Tell me, what did you think of?"

"Okay, President."

Tomioka Tetsuya straightened his back and confidently stated several key research and development points of the new generation of mobile phones that he thought were very important.

"It is inevitable that the weight of mobile phones will be reduced. I have nothing to say about it."

"What I want to say is that we need to design the machine to feel better, not too rough."

The first generation of Xinghai mobile phone is very bulky and has many shortcomings in design.

Not only does it feel bad to the touch, but it also looks very average, full of cheap plastic qualities.

Of course, this is Masato Takeshita's aesthetic with a future perspective.

At this time, people pay relatively little attention to the appearance of mobile phones.

Whether it is the pioneer Motorola, or companies such as Sony and Hitachi, the mobile phones they develop look rather old-fashioned.

"Great advice, any more?"

Tomioka Tetsuya nodded confidently again.

"Also, I think a phone book function can be built into the phone."

"Most people can only remember one or two phone numbers. So when they go out, they have to carry a diary with them to record phone numbers, which is very inconvenient."

"If we can solve this problem, the phone will definitely sell well."

The phone book function is a major killer feature of the rapid development of mobile phones.

Because it really facilitates people's lives.

Without a phone book, many people would have little need for mobile phones.

After all, there are so many phone booths, why spend money on expensive mobile phones with poor call quality?

Masato Takeshita couldn't help but applaud, and praised while laughing, "It's a good idea."

"If our phones could tell time and calendar as well as store phone numbers, we would definitely sell more."

The young man wanted to know if there were any more surprises, and looked at Tomioka Tetsuya again with anticipation.

"Any more?"

Tomioka Tetsu also shook his head, "I can't think of anything else for now."

Whether it was the comfort level of the phone or the phone book function, these were the shortcomings he discovered when actually using the phone.

"It's been great."

Masato Takeshita was very satisfied with everyone's initiative and looked forward to continuing to call out names.

Unfortunately, the next dozen people failed to come up with any good ideas.

But this is normal.

Good ideas don't come easily.

At this moment, Yokoko Tomoji suddenly thought of something.

He leaned forward slightly and took the initiative to say, "President, what do you think, if we add a calculator function to our mobile phone?"

“Good idea, very practical.”

Masato Takeshita is not sure about others, but he himself did use a mobile phone calculator frequently in his previous life.

I believe there are many similar cases.

With Yokoko Tomoji's reappearance, everyone seemed to have come up with new ideas and proposed more applications.

For example, stock news function, weather forecast function, map function...

These features are difficult to implement right now, but they are indeed great ideas.

If the hardware meets the standards in the future, Xinghai mobile phones can be added.

"Very good, everyone's suggestions are very good."

"I'm here, let me say one too."

"I call this function the mobile phone text messaging function."

Text messaging is the biggest innovation in the mobile phone industry during the era of feature phones.

It is precisely because of mobile phone text messaging that people have a stronger motivation to buy mobile phones.

Because mobile phone calls were very expensive in the 90s and even in the early 21st century, many people were reluctant to make calls.

It’s different with mobile phone text messages, which cost only 1 cent each.

Anyone who can afford a mobile phone can use it.

Of course, the SMS function is actually more beneficial to telecom operators.

Many people are reluctant to make phone calls, but they don’t care about text messages.

Some individuals can even post hundreds of messages a day.

This is all small money.

(End of this chapter)