Rebirth Tokyo 1986

Chapter 341 Opening New Markets
Chambers is an outstanding professional manager. Although he has only recently taken over Xinghai Technology, he still manages the company very well.

Masato Takeshita was very satisfied. As soon as he arrived at the company, he kept nodding and praising, "The company is developing very well. No wonder you are a genius who has promoted the concept of minimalism to the world in such a short time."

The explosive popularity of a concept requires the right timing, location, and people; minimalism is no exception.

The opportune moment was when developed countries in Europe and America began to embrace the concept of environmental protection, and minimalist clothing designs aligned with this trend.

Japan, another developed country, is currently in an economic recession, and people generally don't have much money.

Minimalist clothing satisfies everyone's pursuit of cutting-edge fashion while saving a lot of money, so it is naturally popular.

The advantage lies in location. Xinghai Group has long invested in large supermarket groups in various countries, allowing it to open its own stores directly next to supermarkets.

In addition, Xinghai Group has opened direct sales stores around the world to further enhance its control over the market.

This move is also intended to maintain price uniformity in the global market and prevent franchisees from unilaterally lowering or raising prices for their own profit.

As for the people, the minimalist style of clothing is in line with people's daily needs and is a supplement to everyone's clothing needs.

Furthermore, it allows people to stand on the moral high ground and look down on those who dress extravagantly and wastefully, which is "not environmentally friendly."

Of course, having the right timing, location, and people only means that minimalist style will become popular and trend worldwide.

However, the exact time required is uncertain.

If no one promotes it, even if minimalist style aligns with people's new clothing choices and environmental concepts, it may take more than ten years, or even several decades.

But if someone promotes it, it's a different story; it might become a global sensation in a short time.

Of course, that's a miracle that only happens in the internet age.

For example, the Ice Bucket Challenge, which raises awareness about ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis), became a global phenomenon in a very short time.

Even with companies promoting their products aggressively, achieving the same goal would still take time.

The skilled ones need a few years, while the less skilled ones may need more than ten years.

Now that Xinghai Group has seized the highest ecological position in the minimalist style, it naturally needs to complete its publicity work as soon as possible and then package itself as a representative of the minimalist style.

Only in this way can we establish ourselves as the premier high-end brand with a minimalist style, and then generate substantial profits.

In addition, the power of mid-range brands should not be overlooked.

However, this level is destined to be the most competitive, and even if Xinghai Group is a promoter, it can only occupy a place.

At the lowest level, there will be a state of chaos and disorder, where anything can happen.

During the years that Chambers served as president of Starlife's US branch, he perfectly fulfilled Starlife Group's goal of promoting a minimalist style.

This not only popularized minimalism in Europe and America, but also directly linked minimalism with Xinghai Life's clothing brands.

When people talk about minimalism now, the first thing that comes to mind is Minimalism, a subsidiary of Xinghai Apparel, and its several mid-to-high-end brands.

"No, I'm just taking advantage of the company's growth."

Chambers was very humble, lacking his usual domineering demeanor.

But that's normal; being domineering depends on who you're facing.

The two chatted for a while before taking a car to the Seikai Technology First Laboratory in Kanagawa.

Good news came from Fujio Masuoka, chief scientist of Xinghai Group: their first flash memory card compatible with digital cameras can finally enter the commercialization stage.

Masato Takeshita happily examined the black flash memory card in front of him, which was about 3.5 centimeters long and about 2 centimeters wide, and then subconsciously asked a question.

"Is this the digital camera flash memory card that our company produces?"

Fujio Masuoka proudly replied, "That's right, this is the commercially viable flash memory card for digital cameras that we developed."

"It can store 16MB of data, which is enough to meet the photography needs of most people."

A photo can take up a lot of memory depending on its format.

In later times, a medium-quality ordinary photograph was about 2MB in size; a high-quality JPEG photograph was about 10MB in size.

As for the best RAM format, it requires 20 to 30 MB.

Xinghai Group's commercially available digital camera flash memory cards don't quite have enough of these types of photos.

But this was in the early 90s, and even the standard quality photo formats of later generations had not yet appeared on the market.

Furthermore, for the vast majority of ordinary people, a 354*472 pixel ID photo of a few dozen KB is sufficient to meet their daily photography needs.

So even if the flash card only has 16MB of storage, there's no need to worry about photo storage for now.

In fact, digital cameras were looked down upon by professionals for a long time because the technology was underdeveloped in the early days and the image quality was far inferior to that of professional cameras.

Even many large companies are influenced by this idea, believing that digital cameras will not become popular.

Clearly, these people are wrong, terribly wrong.

They overestimated the public's pursuit of photo quality and overlooked the importance of device convenience.

For most people, when the difference in photo quality isn't significant, they'll naturally choose whichever is most convenient.

In terms of convenience, digital cameras, which don't require buying film, are obviously more user-friendly.

Furthermore, these people have overlooked the rapid pace of advancement in digital technology.

Later digital SLR cameras were no less advanced than film SLR cameras.

"That's fantastic! When will it be available to consumers?"

Masato Takeshita was getting impatient; he was eager for his company's flash memory business to have another source of profit.

"The camera that Sony and we are jointly developing, which uses a memory card, will still be some time away, and I don't know the exact time."

"Okay, I understand. I'll call the Sony president in a bit and urge them to hurry up."

Sony holds the dominant position in the digital camera market, so even if they're anxious, there's nothing they can do.

At most, we can urge Sony, but whether it will be effective depends on how much importance Sony places on its digital camera business.

Generally speaking, there shouldn't be any problems with Sony.

Because Sony was the first company to commercialize digital cameras and has been pushing forward the development of its digital camera business ever since.

At this moment, Chambers, who had been listening attentively, suddenly interrupted.

"I think we can't put all our eggs in one basket with Sony. Nikon and Canon can also become our partners."

“Nikon, in particular, is relatively small in scale but its camera technology is very advanced, making it a reliable ally for us.”

Sony is too big, and Chambers is worried that Sony will gradually abandon Starsea Group and start producing flash memory cards on its own.

It's just that there wasn't a suitable opportunity before, so I never said it.

The young man did not respond after hearing this, but instead stood in front of the flash memory card and began to think.

About half a minute later, Masuoka Fujio, who was also thinking about the same question, responded in agreement.

"I think the president's concerns are very reasonable. Sony is a large and powerful company, and if given the opportunity, it will definitely produce its own products."

"We cannot deliberately walk into a dead end; we should join forces with more companies."

The development path of digital camera flash memory cards will be similar to that of mobile phone memory cards. Ultimately, the format will be standardized, allowing every company to produce similar products.

However, if they can directly bundle their own flash memory cards at the factory stage, they can gain a first-mover advantage and make it easier for consumers to buy their products.

After all, people tend to have more trust in products manufactured by the original manufacturer. Even if the price is higher, they are willing to buy products manufactured by the original manufacturer.

Apple's various chargers and data cables are the most typical examples.

Many users still choose original Apple products even though chargers that sell for tens of yuan elsewhere, while Apple phone chargers sell for hundreds of yuan.

"Alright, then Chambers, you'll be in charge of this. Sony is a bit too powerful; it's really not suitable to tie them down."

Masato Takeshita foresaw Sony's future plans in the digital camera field and even produced a chewing gum memory card that mimicked a chewing gum battery.

However, the product didn't become as popular as chewing gum batteries, and in the end, CF flash memory cards still dominated the market. "Hey, please rest assured, president."

Chambers was confident because no one would refuse an auxiliary plugin that could increase the sales of their own devices.

Digital cameras often lack sufficient storage capacity, and flash memory cards can solve this problem.

Of course, manufacturers could also directly integrate memory cards into digital cameras, but the price would increase significantly, making it difficult to promote in the general market.

Later, Apple dared to integrate storage into the phone, eliminating the need for a memory card.

That's because Apple has built a strong brand effect and won't lose customers due to the lack of this auxiliary device.

The digital camera industry is in a stage of fierce competition, and every company is being cautious, naturally not daring to offend users by disabling external flash memory cards.

In addition to flash memory cards for digital cameras, the lab also has similar products for mobile phones, pagers, and PDAs.

Yes, handheld computers appeared in the 1990s.

However, handheld computers are not very advanced at present, and their models are relatively primitive.

The emergence of handheld computers is largely thanks to John Sculley, the current president of Starsea Foods.

He first proposed the concept of a handheld computer in 1992. However, a concept alone is not enough, and it ultimately failed miserably at Apple.

However, apart from digital cameras, other memory cards are unlikely to become popular in the short term.

The best time for another killer flash memory card, a mobile phone memory card, to be released will be when a large number of files, songs, and pictures appear on the computer.

The rapid development of mobile phone memory cards in the past was due to the widespread dissemination of novels, music, videos, and pictures on the Internet.

At least during the feature phone era, Masato Takeshita's main purpose in buying memory cards was to download novels, songs, and videos.

In addition to these small memory cards, the flash memory lab also houses high-end portable hard drives for computers.

The problem is that the price is too high, so it can only be sold in small quantities in the high-end market and cannot be popularized, so it is not profitable.

Flash memory chips are the most important chip products in the laboratory, and the technology is always at the forefront.

As for CPU microprocessors and DRAM memory chips, Xinghai Technology adopts a follow-up development strategy.

We don't require world-class technical capabilities, but we need to reach a first-tier level.

For example, if Intel launches a powerful CPU, Starsea Chip must launch a similar product within one to two years.

After inspecting the first laboratory, the three of them went to the second laboratory located in Tokyo.

This is Xinghai Technology's R&D center for mobile phones and other devices, which is closer to the product end.

This was also part of the integration that began at the beginning of the year.

Xinghai Technology's laboratories are divided into two main categories.

The first major research and development direction is various components, such as chips, and memory modules and memory cards made from chips...

The second category of research and development focuses on finished electronic devices, such as computers and mobile phones...

We need to focus on both upstream and downstream operations, and make money from both.

After entering the laboratory, the three of them naturally went to the mobile phone R&D department.

Since it was getting late, Masato Takeshita got straight to the point.

Does the phone already have games pre-installed?

"Yes, as requested by the president, we have already included 'Soviet Blocks' and 'Snake'."

Professor Ryosuke Takada from the University of Tokyo, the new head of the Starry Sea Second Laboratory, responded respectfully, without a trace of scientific arrogance.

His long career as a university researcher had made him mercenary.

Unfortunately, the school has limited funding, and we have to use various means to obtain research grants each time.

Can I try it out?

"Of course, please."

After saying that, he handed the new phone, which was not yet online, to his guild leader.

Where is the game?

"it's here."

Following Takada Ryosuke's directions, the young man finally found the game in the second-level sub-interface.

He shook his head in dissatisfaction. "The game is too far inside. Just add a game icon to the main page so everyone can find it easily."

Built-in games are the biggest highlight of the new phone and must be prominently displayed.

Of course, large-scale publicity is unnecessary.

He worried that this would offend some wealthy but conservative people, leading to a decrease in users.

"Yes, I understand!"

Aside from the game being too deeply embedded in the interface, there are no other issues with the phone's interface.

After a quick glance, Masato Takeshita promptly opened the classic game "Snake".

Perhaps due to a lack of experience, the young man tragically crashed into a wall on the very first level.

However, he didn't mind and quickly started the next game.

This time he was much more careful, but he still failed to pass the first hurdle.

Undeterred, he played more than a dozen rounds before finally capturing the last point.

"Can't the customs clearance record be saved?"

Masato Takeshita looked at it repeatedly but couldn't find the save function.

"Sorry, this feature is not available at the moment. Would you like to add it?"

Takeshita Masato thought about it carefully, then shook his head.

"Let's leave it at that for now, the phone doesn't have much memory."

"Yes."

The young man then asked Ryosuke Takada about mobile games while handing his phone to Chambers, the president of Seikai Technology and Seikai Electronics.

"Chambers-san, you should give it a try too."

"Yes, President."

If there is something good on the top, it will be great on the bottom.

The whole company knows that Masato Takeshita likes playing games, so many employees play games.

Chambers was no exception.

Although his maneuvering wasn't as agile as the younger man's, it was more steady, and he finally succeeded in passing the first level on his fifth attempt.

"Not bad, impressive."

"It's all thanks to the guild leader. I think you're the one who cleared the level so quickly because of your skill."

"Okay, that's a bit much. I know I'm a terrible player, you don't have to go to such lengths."

"Yes, understand."

Compared to Snake, Soviet Blocks is much simpler, but equally fun.

Based on his own feelings, Masato Takeshita made a simple judgment and felt that the new phone would definitely be welcomed by some people.

(End of this chapter)