Entertainment mogul: Starting his business with the internet

Chapter 424 The First Generation Machine is Born

The last day of September, in the golden autumn month, coincides with the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Afternoon sunlight streamed through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows, casting dappled shadows on the spotless floor of Devon's Intelligent Aerospace Division UAV R&D Center, while the air was filled with the distinctive, crisp smell of new circuit boards.

Song Ci stood tall and straight in front of the huge demonstration platform, his expression as calm and composed as ever, with only a faint glimmer of light dancing deep in his eyes—the excitement unique to a tech entrepreneur.

Standing beside her was Liu Shishi, who had shed her glamorous costumes and heavy makeup from the screen, wearing only a simple off-white knitted long dress, her long hair loosely tied up, revealing her beautiful shoulder and neck lines.

She looked around the futuristic space with curiosity, and at the sleek, titanium-gray quadcopter drone on the platform.

This was her first time at Devon headquarters, and everything here gave her a sense of novelty, unlike anything she had experienced at Tenda Group.

"Chairman Song, Madam, this is the company's 'First Wing No. 1' prototype aircraft," said Xue Yue, General Manager of the Business Unit, beaming with joy.

His tone was filled with barely suppressed excitement; after months of hard work leading his team, they were finally seeing the first signs of success.

Song Ci smiled and nodded, delighted by the launch of the company's first drone. Regardless of the product's parameters and performance, Devon Manufacturing finally had its first independently developed product, marking the first step in a long journey.

"Chairman Song, next, Engineer Chen will introduce the various performance features of 'First Wing One' to you."

As soon as he finished speaking, the large screen behind everyone lit up, clearly displaying various parameters and design drawings.

Chen Ming, chief engineer of the R&D of Devon UAV, picked up a remote control that looked like a game controller and explained loudly: "Chairman Song, the core advantage of 'Chuyi-1' is, first and foremost, stable hovering."

Based on GPS and barometer fusion positioning, it can achieve automatic hovering within an error of 2 meters in environments without strong interference.

This is absolutely leading in the current consumer market; currently, only DJI's Phanton 1 can rival it.

As he spoke, Chen Ming gently moved the joystick, and the drone on the platform rose gracefully, emitting a low hum, and hovered steadily at a height of 1.5 meters above the ground, without moving an inch.

Liu Shishi's eyes widened slightly. "Chuyi-1" was quieter and more stable than she had imagined.

"Secondly, it's easy to use." Chen Ming noticed the surprise on the proprietress's face, handed the remote control to Liu Shishi, and added with an encouraging smile.

"We've optimized the flight control algorithm and preset multiple flight modes. Even first-timers can quickly master the basic operations. Madam, would you be interested in giving it a try?"

Liu Shishi looked at her husband, and Song Ci smiled gently and nodded lightly: "Give it a try, it's very safe."

She awkwardly took the remote control and placed her finger on the joystick as Chen Ming instructed.

The cold touch and slight damping made her a little nervous, after all, this was the first "baby bump" developed by her husband's company, but she was more excited and eager to try it out.

Carefully pushing the left joystick, "First Wing One" obediently rose slowly. Pushing the right joystick again, it flew steadily forward, drawing a smooth arc in the spacious research and development center.

"Wow!" Liu Shishi couldn't help but exclaim softly, a pure smile of surprise blooming on her face.

The feeling of controlling a mechanical creation to soar freely in the air is so wonderful, as if it extends one's senses.

She tried to make "First Wing One" hover, and the drone indeed remained stable in mid-air, like a tamed mechanical falcon.

Song Ci's gaze fell on his wife's focused and excited profile. The radiance she exuded because of the novelty made him feel more satisfied than if he had signed any big deal.

Taking a step closer, he whispered to his wife, "In the future, we'll install a high-definition camera on it, so we can use it to capture unique shots on set."

Liu Shishi's eyes lit up. Her keen eye as an actress allowed her to instantly grasp the value of this feature: "Wouldn't that mean we could capture many angles that were difficult to achieve before?"

"Chairman Song and his wife have excellent insights!" Xue Yue chimed in at the opportune moment. "The value of consumer-grade drones lies in aerial photography. We are already collaborating with Sony to develop a high-precision stabilization gimbal and a system compatible with high-definition 4K cameras."

The company plans to launch a consumer-grade multi-rotor drone targeting photography enthusiasts and professionals early next year.

The core selling points are superior stability, cinematic image quality, ease of operation, and a reasonable price. The goal is to establish the Devon drone brand and build a professional reputation through its high cost-performance ratio.

Song Ci nodded in satisfaction: "Approximately how much would this product be priced?"

"The DJI Phantom 1 is priced at approximately $680, which is equivalent to 4700 yuan. We plan to leverage our company's financial strength to price it at no more than 3000 yuan, and initially, through appropriate subsidies, quickly capture the market of photography and travel enthusiasts."

“Great! A drone priced around 3000 yuan is indeed very cost-effective!” As an internet mogul, Song Ci never hesitated to spend money in the early stages to seize the market, and immediately expressed his support for Xue Yue’s plan.

Chen Ming picked up the conversation, pointing to the parameters on the big screen, "Chairman Song, this is the company's core strategy for drone development: high cost-effectiveness!"
We have integrated the supply chain and have a high self-developed ratio of core components. While ensuring leading performance, our target price will be far lower than that of similar international products.

Mr. Xue and I are confident that "Chuyi" will become a truly mainstream consumer product, a "flying camera" that truly enters the mass consumer market.

As she spoke, Liu Shishi tried a few simple flying maneuvers: rotating, moving backward, and circling in a small area.

Every command received a precise and rapid response, and the pleasure of this "point and fly" control made her quite fond of it.

After a short test flight, the remote control was gently placed down, and the drone landed smoothly under Chen Ming's control.

“It’s amazing,” Liu Shishi said, turning to Song Ci, her eyes still brimming with excitement, her tone sincere.

"Although I don't quite understand the technical parameters, it's really easy to operate and very stable. I feel like it can really become a part of ordinary people's lives."

Song Ci held his wife's hand, gently stroking the back of her hand with his fingertips, his deep eyes filled with admiration and pride.

It wasn't just an affirmation of his wife's ideas, given the promising future of the low-altitude economy; it also reflected pride in the company team's achievements.

Zhuozhuo looked at the "First Wing One" that was quietly parked on the platform, its titanium gray fuselage reflecting a cold yet powerful light.

"This is just the beginning." Song Ci's voice was deep and resolute, addressed not only to Liu Shishi, but also to all the engineers present, and more like a declaration to the future.

At that moment, Tang Jun rushed over with a stack of documents in his hand.

Song Ci asked curiously, "Why are you here?"

Tang Jun explained with a smile, "I heard that you and your wife came to the company. I was working overtime, so I came to see if there was anything I could do for you."

"I had some free time, so I came with Shishi to take a look at 'First Wing One'," Song Ci said, then changed the subject. "Old Tang, you're working overtime even on the Mid-Autumn Festival. You should find some time to find a girlfriend; life can't be all work." Tang Jun smiled and agreed, but he had his own plans. A successful man has no shortage of wives: "Chairman Song, if it's convenient for you, I'd like to report on the drone development plan?"

Song Ci raised her wrist, her gaze falling on the exquisite watch face: "Okay."

Upon hearing this, Tang Jun immediately looked at Xue Yue and Chen Ming: "President Xue and Engineer Chen, let Chairman Song see our long-term plan for the Intelligent Aerospace Business Unit."

The two exchanged a glance. Originally, after the chairman visited "First Wing No. 1" today, he could have gone home to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival. But having a boss like Tang Jun, who was known for his arrogance, was truly frustrating.

The group moved to the conference room, where Song Ci sat in the main seat, with Liu Shishi to his left, enthusiastically experiencing the work report atmosphere of the technology company.

Xue Yue began by saying, "President Tang, I just mentioned to Chairman Song the plan to officially launch the first drone early next year."

Tang Jun nodded and picked up the materials: "Chairman Song, due to time constraints, I didn't have time to prepare a PPT, so I can only give a verbal explanation."

"It's alright, let's begin."

"After the initial product is launched, we will immediately develop a control app and basic post-processing software that are compatible with mobile phones and tablets."

Simultaneously, we will open up our software development kits to attract global developers to create applications for drones, such as flight path planning, industry-specific customized functions, and creative features.

"You want to build a drone ecosystem?" Song Ci was taken aback upon hearing this, then chuckled, "You actually have designs on Tengda."

Tang Jun said confidently, "Dewen can have a strategic partnership with Tenda! We can use Tenda's cloud services for data processing and storage."

Leveraging social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo to build drone user communities and engage in word-of-mouth marketing. Gaode Maps provides high-precision maps and location services.

Xue Yue and Chen Ming's eyes lit up, and they secretly admired him. Both of them came from technical backgrounds, and they were indeed not as farsighted as this vice president from Tengda in terms of product planning.

Song Ci readily agreed: "Regarding the cooperation between Dewen and Tengda, I will instruct Zhang Yong. Dewen is currently in its initial dormant stage, and I will have Zhang Yong provide as much assistance as possible."

Liu Shishi smiled and said, "They're all my own sons."

Song Ci chuckled lightly: "Tengda has other shareholders, so we can't be too blatant."

"Thank you, Chairman Song!" Tang Jun smiled and continued his report: "From 2014 to 2015, the company will rapidly iterate its products in areas such as performance improvement, obstacle avoidance enhancement, and intelligent flight."

They will launch portable folding models to capture the travel and vlogging markets, as well as higher-end professional photography models.

After a brief pause, the material is turned to the next page: "Another strategic priority is to quickly penetrate the industry application market. First, develop agricultural plant protection drones with large payloads, long endurance, and precision spraying capabilities."

Secondly, we will develop high-precision surveying and mapping drones for power facility inspection. Finally, we will develop public safety drones equipped with night vision, thermal imaging, and loudspeaker capabilities.

Seeing that Tang Jun was about to continue, Song Ci raised her hand to signal him to stop: "This three-year plan already requires the company to invest a lot of funds and resources. Only if the strategy can be implemented can there be a future."

No matter how perfect the plan, if it cannot surpass the competition in key performance indicators such as battery life, image transmission distance, wind resistance, and accuracy, it is ultimately just empty talk.

Even with leading core technologies, building a supply chain for key components such as motors, ESCs, batteries, and chips requires huge investments; it's a long and arduous journey.

Tang Jun's expression softened slightly, and he said humbly, "I was presumptuous. Your advice hit the nail on the head."

Song Ci sighed, "In fact, drones are just like smartphones. They must take the high-end brand route to avoid falling into the low-end price war and always maintain the ultimate product strength and technological innovation."

"Mr. Chen, you're a technical expert. Could you tell me what key technologies for drones urgently need to be overcome?"

Chen Ming adjusted his glasses and solemnly replied, "Chairman Song, adaptive hovering and low-power algorithms are key technologies for improving autonomy, stability, and endurance, especially in complex environments or resource-constrained scenarios, where they are of paramount importance."

Song Ci paused briefly and said, "I know about low-power algorithms. The core is to reduce computing and communication power consumption and extend battery life. This requires both hardware chip optimization and algorithm optimization."

Hardware issues require your own lobbying efforts. As for algorithm lightweighting, I will coordinate with Huitengda Group to lend you the Tianwen supercomputer for a trial period; please make the most of this opportunity.

"Thank you for your support." As the former president of WeChat, Tang Jun knew all too well the importance of "Tianwen" to Tengda Group; it was the hub for the entire Tengda big data recommendation and operation.

Even with the prestige of Song Ci at Tengda, it would still take considerable effort to persuade the board of directors to use "Tianwen" even once.

Xue Yue and Chen Ming were well aware of the importance of supercomputing to internet companies, and they repeatedly expressed their gratitude.

"Tell me about the adaptive hovering technology. I'll handle any problems that can be solved." Song Ci's expression was calm. With his authority at Tengda, using "Tianwen" once or twice was no problem for him.

Dewen's potential is no less than Tengda's, and they will repay this favor in the future.

Chen Ming then reported: "Chairman Song, adaptive hovering refers to the drone adjusting its control parameters in real time."

Maintaining positional and attitude stability in response to external disturbances such as wind and load changes. Technical bottlenecks include...

After listening to the chief expert's introduction, Song Ci's expression turned solemn: "I understand. The strategic significance of this technology far exceeds the breakthrough of a single function."

Once mastered, this breakthrough will reshape the industry landscape and establish a long-term monopolistic advantage. The drone company that controls adaptive hovering will be able to upgrade from an equipment manufacturer to a rule-maker for intelligent airspace.

The old approach remains the same: you can tackle hardware issues such as gyroscopes and sensors step by step. For parts that require cooperation with hardware manufacturers, you can jointly develop them and share patents.

Tang Jun, you will lead a technical barrier-breaking team to tackle the technical bottlenecks that Engineer Chen just mentioned. We must overcome them one by one. If we need manpower, we'll hire; if we need funding, we'll submit a budget request. I will fully support you.”

Tang Jun dared not slack off and immediately accepted the task, promising to do his best.

Song Ci encouraged him, saying, "You've worked hard. If there's a breakthrough in adaptive hovering technology, you'll receive your due compensation from Dewen in full."

Tang Jun's pupils widened slightly, and his heart suddenly burned with excitement. There was finally a clear hope for Dewen's shares.

After some words of encouragement, Tang Jun, Xue Yue, and Chen Ming politely declined the chairman's invitation to dinner and went home after get off work.

Just as they stepped out of the conference room, Tang Jun suddenly remembered something and leaned close to Song Ci, whispering, "Chairman Song, should the company develop military equipment...?"

Song Ci's expression hardened, and she interrupted sharply, "Shut up! How can this be discussed in this kind of setting!"

(End of this chapter)