America: My Time

Chapter 710 Conditions of Cooperation

Chapter 700 Conditions for Cooperation

John has said everything he needed to say. It wasn't that he insisted on cooperating with Akio Morita, but rather that Morita insisted on cooperating with him. He assured Sony that any problems that might arise in the future would have nothing to do with him. Sony wanted to join the internet cafe alliance because they saw the business opportunity. Just look at the number of arcade machines in Japan now, and you'll know how many personal computers the internet cafe alliance will need in the future. Even if they only take a third of it, it will be an amazing gain for Sony, not to mention the vast room for development.

Although detailed data from the US and Europe is unavailable, the changes in Taiwan demonstrate just how wildly and powerfully the internet cafe alliance has grown. Joining it guarantees significant gains, and by joining now, Sony can wait for its own technology to mature and forge its own path.

Akio Morita's idea was good, but reality didn't teach him the lesson that life is rarely perfect. His attempt to use the neon market to scheme against John was a gross overestimation of his abilities. What Morita could think of, John couldn't. It just goes to show that Morita had gained too much from his repeated collaborations with John, leading him to underestimate him. Morita, however, didn't realize that this was exactly what John wanted. If Morita weren't arrogant, why would he have willingly entered into this scheme?

It's impossible for ASUS to fully implement the internet cafe alliance on its own. At least for now, ASUS doesn't have the production capacity. The promotion of the internet cafe alliance and online games is just the beginning. Once it gets on track, this production capacity will be far from meeting the demand. Sony's entry is ideal. It will allow ASUS to extract a considerable amount of money from Japan. Given Japan's economy, even the membership fees from the internet cafe alliance alone are a substantial source of income, not to mention the patent licensing and chip sales from Sony.

Three days later, John appeared in Tokyo. Akio Morita breathed a sigh of relief upon John's arrival. Three days is neither a long nor a short time, but Akio Morita had been under considerable pressure during those three days, worried that someone would beat him to it and form a cooperation agreement with the cunning John.

For three days, Akio Morita, that old guy, kept a close eye on John. Not only him, but those old guys in the US were also watching John's every move in Taiwan. Ever since John's internet cafe alliance came out, those old guys have once again turned their attention to John. The personal computer game that they originally didn't care about has such an amazing impact.

In the eyes of these people, John didn't do much. He just made a small plan for the game company in Taiwan, did a simple understanding of ASUS's production, and then indulged in beauty, spending time with beautiful women. Moreover, he had two more beautiful women by his side, namely Zhang Yuyan and Xiao Qiang.

John's obsession with beauty is his self-protection; otherwise, it would make many people uneasy. Humans are flawed, while God is perfect! No one sees anything wrong with John's behavior. As members of the conglomerate, they don't think there's anything wrong with John; after all, it's in a man's nature to be attracted to beauty.

Although they knew this was John's way of defaming himself, only John did it so openly, and they all had to admit that John was very generous to the women around him. In the eyes of those old guys in America, John was most like Howard Hughes—talented and charming. However, John was different from Howard Hughes; John didn't court death and was very afraid of dying. He had the best security, which was what gave those old guys the biggest headache.

“Mr. Morita, aren’t you being a bit too hasty? Since I’ve promised you, I won’t go back on my word. There’s no need to rush!” John couldn’t help but sigh when he saw that the old man Akio Morita had come to his door so soon after he returned to his residence in Tokyo. The old man was acting too quickly.

“John, time waits for no one. It’s best to finalize this collaboration as soon as possible. It will put your mind at ease, and it will put my mind at ease too. We’ve been working together for several years now, and Sony has never held you back, so I believe this time will also go smoothly. Once our collaboration begins, Sony will quickly promote the internet cafe alliance and accelerate its expansion into Japan!”

John nodded and said, "Okay, in principle I don't object to this cooperation. But I want to remind you again that if Sony joins, your production costs will be very high. Moreover, ASUS has also made a decision. If Sony insists on cooperating, apart from the personal computers needed to start promoting the Internet Cafe Alliance, everything else can be handed over to Sony. It can be said that we can hand over the entire Japanese market to Sony!"

"John, I'm sure you have your own demands, don't you? It's impossible for you to hand over the entire Japanese market to Sony without any requests!"

“There are indeed requirements. We need a guarantee from Japan regarding the number of internet cafes that will be promoted through the alliance. You know the situation with the internet cafe alliance; without such a guarantee, it will be difficult for us to recoup our initial investment in the game, and there are also costs associated with internet promotion. The internet companies we partner with officially in Japan also need to be profitable. Without enough customers, it will put considerable pressure on us.” “No problem, that’s not a problem for Sony. What are your standards?” At this point, Akio Morita became cautious. If John’s demands were too high, he wouldn’t accept them, after all, Sony was also in it for the money.

John smiled calmly and said, "Not much. Our requirements are not many. We just need 3,000 internet cafes by the end of the year. I believe that with Sony's strength, this is not a big problem."

Hearing John's words, Akio Morita finally breathed a sigh of relief. It really wasn't a big problem. He had initially thought John would make exorbitant demands. Morita had even prepared for Sony to build it themselves, but now it seemed he had been overthinking it. John wasn't as cunning and treacherous as he had imagined. Three thousand locations were perfectly normal; even if each location had the smallest number, it would only be sixty thousand personal computers, negligible for the entirety of Japan.

"Sony has no problems. When can we sign the contract? And how many initial promotion points does the internet cafe alliance need?"

"This requires Sony to send someone to Taiwan to negotiate, but they won't have too high demands. After all, our focus is not on Japan. And since we have chosen to cooperate with Sony and are handing over the entire market to Sony, we naturally won't make excessive demands. ASUS is just earning licensing fees. Our focus is on Europe and the United States; that's our battlefield."

Akio Morita didn't see anything wrong with John's words. It was the truth. Originally, John had no plans in Japan and had repeatedly advised him against it, telling him about the various possible risks. Most importantly, his demands were very small.

Everything seemed to be going very well for Sony. At least Akio Morita couldn't see any problems. In his view, as long as the Japanese economy didn't have any issues, the cooperation wouldn't be a problem. What he didn't realize was that John was calculating against the Japanese economy and wanted to make a fortune before the Japanese economic bubble burst.

With both sides showing such sincerity, the cooperation was finalized. There was only a slight negotiation between ASUS and Japan regarding the quantity of personal computers ASUS would supply, but this was not a major issue. Moreover, even if the other party made higher demands, Sony would agree.

"John, from what I see now, your personal computer game really has potential. It's just that it needs to be played in an internet cafe. Most personal computers can't run your game. How long do you think it will take for this game to develop faster?" After reaching a cooperation agreement with John, the old man Akio Morita asked John about the game.

"It's hard to say. Taking games as an example, it won't be long, maybe two or three years. After all, Moore's Law is still reliable. At least Nvidia's chip research and development hasn't stopped. With the emergence of new-generation lithography machines and new wafer technologies, chip costs will decrease, so the price of personal computers will be quickly suppressed. However, in two or three years, games will also need to be updated and replaced, and it won't be like it is now. Moreover, game companies are not making money now, at least not yet. We cooperate with internet cafe alliances, which is why we have five-year contracts. After all, we also need to ensure the updates of games and protect the interests of game companies. Perhaps when personal computers become widespread, this cooperation model will no longer be needed. For now, this is the only way. After all, without platforms like internet cafe alliances, we can't do anything. Personal computers are not home game consoles."

Akio Morita nodded in agreement with John's explanation, saying, "That makes sense. It's just like an arcade game, only in a different form. The addition of multiplayer interaction makes the game more interactive, but not by much!"

Akio Morita's thinking is completely wrong. Of course, John wouldn't say much; what he needed to do now was quickly seize funds from Japan, not talk about long-term development. Everything would be resolved when the economic crisis hit and Japan fell into difficulties. This was also John's concern about not wanting Japan to promote its own internet cafe alliance.

John's goal this time is to make a quick buck while the Japanese economy is booming, to get everything he wants. As for the future when the Japanese bubble bursts and a crisis occurs, that's not his responsibility, at least not his responsibility. It's Sony's own problem, and no one can blame the internet cafe alliance.

(End of this chapter)