Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 391 Starting over
Clarify the various businesses of Xinghai Technology and improve the initial layout of the subsidiary Xinghai Electronics' PHS (Personal Handyphone System) industry.

John Sculley, filled with intense reluctance and anticipation, knocked on the door of Masato Takeshita's office.

"Chairman, I plan to lead the company into the handheld computer market."

The handheld computer was Sculley's last project at Apple.

The device uses resistive touchscreen technology, which means that you need to use a stylus to write and draw on the screen.

The idea is great, but the technology is too advanced.

Apple's handheld computers not only have terrible network connectivity, but their stylus technology is also very poor. They frequently make mistakes or fail to write anything after a long time.

Most importantly, it's extremely expensive, costing over $5000.

This amount of money is enough to buy 5 very good computers, or 10 computers that can keep up with the mainstream market.

As for minor issues such as the equipment being ugly and bulky, there are just as many.

Therefore, the first thing Steve Jobs did upon returning to Apple in his previous life was to cut this project, and he often mocked it during his speeches.

It can only be said that the hatred between the two was indeed very deep.

However, despite its many shortcomings, it cannot overshadow its status as a pioneer of the iPhone.

If you put the two devices side by side for comparison, it is clear that the iPhone is an optimized version of Apple's handheld computer.

In addition, Apple's PDA made another significant contribution.

To advance this project, Sculley partnered with ICON Computers to establish a new chip design company. This new company was later known as ARM.

That company that contributed 90% of the world's chip architecture foundation in the smartphone era.

"Sure, go for it! Xinghai Electronics isn't afraid to spend money."

Although he knew that handheld computers would not be a successful project for the time being, the young man didn't care at all.

Xinghai Electronics needs to engage in more unprofitable businesses in order to accumulate technology in various aspects.

Xinghai Group must also have its own RISC chip design and manufacturing companies, similar to ARM.

He doesn't want to become like the Chrysanthemum Factory, constantly being threatened and held hostage.

In addition, the handheld computer project can also stimulate Xinghai Software.

Don't assume that you can rely on one operating system for everything; new operating systems can replace it at any time.

"Thank you, thank you for your support, Chairman."

Scully was prepared for rejection. He knew very well that no handheld computer project had succeeded so far.

A piece of equipment weighing four or five kilograms, or even five or six kilograms, simply does not meet people's expectations.

Unexpectedly, the president agreed without even asking.

Indeed, there is a world of difference between companies with money and companies without money.

Apple is meticulous in considering every project, sometimes even to the point of being stingy. Xinghai Group, on the other hand, is bold and decisive, not afraid to spend money, but rather afraid of not being able to spend it effectively.

A thought flashed through his mind, and he quickly continued.

"Which chairman doesn't know how much funding the company can approve?"

"Funding?"

Considering that the handheld computer project was mainly for technological accumulation, Masato Takeshita gave a rather conservative figure.

"The initial investment is $1 million, and the total investment over three years will not exceed $3 million."

$3 million is a very large number, enough to meet Xinghai Electronics' investment in the handheld computer project.

"Okay, thank you, Chairman."

"There's no need to thank me. The company should focus on innovation and breakthroughs in various technologies."

The young man's lips curled up slightly, and then he solemnly gave his instructions.

"The core of a handheld computer is the operating system and the chip, but the most influential factors on the user experience are the touch screen technology and the capacitive stylus."

"Therefore, we must work hard on touch screen technology and capacitive stylus to avoid situations where words cannot be written or are written incorrectly."

"Furthermore, the input method also needs to be redesigned and adjusted so that users can use our devices more easily."

User experience is always the most important factor in the consumer electronics market.

If the user experience is poor, even the best product is useless.

"Yes, understand."

Scully quickly jotted it down, decisively prioritizing user experience.

"Ah That's good."

Masato Takeshita smiled and then continued to offer his suggestions.

"In addition, the design of handheld computers should reflect industrial aesthetics. The handheld computers on the market are all designed too ugly. We need to find more design talents to study this."

"The weight is also unacceptable. Each one weighs several kilograms, which does not conform to the design concept of handheld computers at all. It must be kept under 1 kilogram."

The biggest advantage of handheld computers is their light weight and convenience for office work; if this advantage were lost, there would be no point in designing them at all.

"Okay, these are indeed the mistakes I made before."

Apple's handheld computers are full of compromise.

The earliest design concept for the equipment was naturally to make it lightweight and compact, but unfortunately, the technological capabilities of the 1990s simply did not support it.

But the board kept demanding that the product be released as soon as possible. The final product was an expensive, clunky toy riddled with bugs.

This time, Xinghai Group did not set a launch date for the handheld computer portion, which naturally allowed them to strive for excellence.

If it were as bulky and ugly as Apple's PDAs, Masato Takeshita would never have released the device.

It's only a few hundred million, which isn't even as much as Xinghai Electronics' monthly revenue.

In fact, this year should be a year of explosive growth for the global mobile phone industry.

The top three companies in the industry, Motorola, Xinghai Electronics, and Nokia, all easily surpassed the $20 billion mark in profits from mobile phones.

Motorola had the highest profit, close to $35 billion; Xinghai Electronics, the second-largest company, had a profit of about $30 billion; Nokia had the lowest profit, but still more than $20 billion.

Of course, it can't compete with computer companies.

After all, the 1990s were a period of explosive growth for the computer market, while the mobile phone industry was just starting out.

However, mobile phone sales will soon surpass those of computers.

Firstly, mobile phones are communication devices, so people have a greater need for them. Secondly, the price reduction of mobile phones far exceeds that of computers, making them affordable for more people.

It's fair to say that in the future, companies that sell mobile phones will far outperform those that sell computers.

"Well, making mistakes is okay, the most important thing is to correct them little by little. I hope I can hear good news in a few years, and then I can give Apple a good thrashing."

"Yes, Chairman, please rest assured."

Scully was filled with motivation at that moment, feeling as if he had returned to the 1980s.

Back then, whether he was working at Pepsi or Apple, he was full of passion every day.

Xinghai Electronics is innovative, and so is Xinghai Communications. Looking at Xinghai Communications' latest technology, Takeshita Masato praised, "Great, but you must continue to work hard and strive to surpass Qualcomm in the CDMA technology field."

Although he doesn't understand this technology, it doesn't matter.

As the president, his most important tasks are to delegate authority and recruit talent, and he also needs to provide generous rewards in terms of funding and benefits.

As a result, Xinghai Communications made rapid progress in the CDMA field. Even NTT, a domestic company, began to consider introducing Xinghai Communications' related technologies.

However, this is unlikely to happen, because NTT has its own pride.

"Don't worry, Chairman, our research progress has caught up with Qualcomm, and we will soon become number one in CDMA technology."

Kenji Ono was full of confidence because his family had stronger financial resources.

Although the business continues to lose money, it doesn't matter much, as the company still has over $10 billion in cash flow.

"That's right, we should maintain this stance and strive to make our technology the next generation standard in China."

Japan is currently using PDC technology, but no one else uses this technology except the Japanese, and there is little room for improvement.

If Japan does not want to be controlled by foreign companies in the telecommunications market, it will inevitably give Xinghai Communications an opportunity to enter the market.

"Yes, we have been working towards this goal."

Japan's 2G standard is already set in stone, and no matter how much the Xinghai Group tries to change things, it won't amount to anything.

Therefore, both Wu Kun, Xinghai Communications, and Masato Takeshita have placed their bets on the future, taking a shortcut to overtake their competitors.

After discussing mobile communication technology, the young man shifted the topic to PHS (Personal Handyphone System) base stations.

“The PHS (Personal Handyphone System) business was insignificant in Japan, but after everyone’s transformation, it became very suitable for telecommunications companies that had not made significant progress in the mobile field but had a strong advantage in the fixed-line telephone field.”

"This will be a huge market with billions of people, and everyone must pay attention to it."

The PHS (Personal Handyphone System) business will be Xinghai Communications' cash cow for some time to come, thus supporting Xinghai Communications' overall development.

Even though Masato Takeshita knew how important Seikai Communications was, he still had to repeatedly emphasize it to reinforce the message.

"President, please rest assured, the people we sent to Thailand are all key personnel. If there are any problems with our base stations, they will be resolved on-site immediately."

"If it really can't be resolved, the company will send more people over."

To address the various challenges of communication base stations in tropical regions, Xinghai Communications has established a related laboratory in Thailand.

This is how we can obtain firsthand information and thus better solve problems.

Of course, this is also related to Kenji Ono's ambitions.

Kenji Ono prefers to enter the markets of Southeast Asia and Brazil as soon as possible, rather than China.

In Southeast Asia, the telecommunications companies in various countries are relatively weak. With Xinghai Communications' entry, it is easy to control a portion of the shares of these companies, thereby creating a powerful influence.

As for Brazil, although it is a relatively strong country with a larger population, it has a large Japanese population, which can be used to quickly establish a presence in the telecommunications industry.

After all, selling base stations doesn't have the same potential as directly entering the telecommunications market.

“Very good, our company should have this attitude. Only by doing a good job of localization can we better develop the industry.”

Since everything was going smoothly with the PHS (Personal Handyphone System) business, Masato Takeshita didn't chat much.

Next, he will talk about a major event that will definitely affect the global telecommunications industry landscape.

Have you been paying attention to Chinese telecommunications manufacturers lately?

“I’ve been keeping an eye on them, and I feel that ZTE and Huawei, the two telecommunications equipment manufacturers located in the Special Economic Zone, are both very good.”

"Although the equipment developed was rather crude and rudimentary, it was well-suited to the characteristics of China."

"And both companies share a similar characteristic: they are very willing to invest in research and development."

ZTE and Huawei are currently insignificant small companies.

However, a closer look at China's telecommunications market reveals the valuable aspects of both companies.

One company boasts strong R&D capabilities and is on the right track. The other has exceptional sales skills and a world-class customer service attitude.

As long as China doesn't want its telecommunications market to be controlled by foreign giants, these two companies will rise sooner or later.

Of course, even Kenji Ono couldn't have imagined the glorious achievements of the two companies in the future.

It not only nearly wiped out American telecommunications equipment manufacturers, but also almost completely wiped out Japanese ones.

Only Europe is still barely holding on.

This is normal, though. Sony was initially looked down upon by its American counterparts, but it quickly crushed its American counterparts with top-tier technologies like Trinitron.

"That's right, you have a good eye. I also have high hopes for these two companies."

While praising others, Masato Takeshita also casually praised himself, but his expression quickly turned serious, showing how much he valued the matter.

"I'm prepared to have you make initial contact with both companies to express our investment ideas."

“No problem, President. Even if you hadn’t told me, I would have contacted the heads of these two companies anyway.”

Kenji Ono had been wanting to take action for a while, but he was too busy at the moment, so he planned to do it later.

Now that the chairman has made a request, he naturally needs to act as soon as possible.

"Yes, we must find someone with a gentle personality."

"Tell them that if they react arrogantly and rudely, Okinawa and Hokkaido will be the end of their careers."

Okinawa and Hokkaido are the top choices for Japanese companies to send their employees.

For employees who travel to either location, it's essentially the end of their careers.

"Yes, Chairman, please rest assured."

Kenji Ono felt that no one in the Xinghai Group would dare to make an arrogant mistake in China.

Because every employee of Xinghai Group is well aware of their chairman's emphasis on the Chinese market.

Not only do they fly to Chinese cities like Beijing every year, but they also vigorously promote Sino-Japanese friendship in Japan.

It can be said that Xinghai Group's strong support even suppressed the various nonsensical opinions held by domestic proponents that did not align with the wishes of other Asian countries.

"Yes, just remember that. The Chinese market is our future."

The Internet age is an era that requires a sufficient population; only a large enough population can generate a large enough user base.

Of course, a large population doesn't mean a bad economy.

If it were a country like India with 10 million elites and 1 billion others, it would be difficult to rise rapidly through the internet.

Putting aside everything else, at the very least, there needs to be enough customers who can afford to go online.

"Yes!"

Although he felt that ZTE and Huawei could only supplement Xinghai Communications in the future, and that China's telecommunications industry would never surpass Japan in his lifetime, this did not affect his earnest and sincere agreement with his chairman.

There's no need to refute it; he probably already stepped down from his position by then.

Having finished discussing important matters, Takeshita Masato finally had the leisure to tour the various experimental sites of Seikai Communications.

Although he couldn't understand it at all, just seeing everyone working together made the young man feel very at ease and reassured.

(End of this chapter)