My son is a reincarnated soul; I overheard his inner thoughts and became the richest man.

After a moment's thought, Chen Feng waved his hand and said, "In the prototype stage, there will be no cost restrictions. Buy back all the best-performing components available on the market and test them."

"I have only one requirement: to build a benchmark product at all costs and establish a performance ceiling. As for cost control during mass production, we can make reductions once the prototype is ready."

With this reassurance, Zhou Hai finally felt relieved.

He opened his notebook, pointed to the data, and said, "Since we're pursuing perfection, we have to talk about the storage medium, which is currently the core bottleneck of MP3 players."

"According to my sources, Toshiba of Japan has just mastered the technology of 1.8-inch micro hard drives. These are small in size and have a large capacity, making them perfect for portable devices."

"But it also has a competitor, which is flash memory."

Zhou Hai adjusted his glasses and analyzed, "Flash memory has obvious advantages: fast read and write speeds, good shock resistance, and smaller size, which is more conducive to your thin and light design requirements."

"But the drawbacks are also fatal. One is the small capacity. Current flash memory chips are generally only tens of megabytes. Although I heard that Toshiba may mass-produce 1G high-capacity chips this year, that is all laboratory data. Whether we can actually buy them is another matter."

"Secondly, it is expensive. For the same capacity, flash memory costs several times more than hard drive. Of course, if you use small capacity chips like 128MB or 256MB, the cost can be controlled."

"But... 128MB of space can only store about thirty songs at most. Isn't that too meager for high-end users?"

After listening to Zhou Hai's professional analysis, Chen Feng tapped his fingers lightly on the table and quickly made a decision in his mind.

"Since the advantages and disadvantages are so obvious, then things will be much easier."

Chen Feng's eyes were sharp. "For the high-end F series, go straight for Toshiba's 1.8-inch micro hard drives! What we need is massive storage capacity. Even if the size is slightly larger, we must ensure that it can hold hundreds or thousands of songs."

"As for the lower-end T series, we'll use a flash memory solution. We'll offer two options: 128MB and 256MB."

"Users who buy low-end devices are looking for cost-effectiveness and portability, and they are more tolerant of limited storage capacity. We will consider equipping our high-end devices with flash memory once flash memory technology breaks through and prices come down."

Zhou Hai nodded thoughtfully: "This strategy is very sound. 256MB can store fifty or sixty songs, which is definitely enough for students and ordinary office workers. 128MB is the entry-level size, which is just right for increasing volume."

"Okay, it's settled then."

Having solved the storage problem, Zhou Hai then steered the conversation to a more specialized area: "Besides storage, the remaining core issue is sound quality, specifically the choice of DAC decoding chip. Currently, the mainstream options on the market include Wolfson from Scotland and Cirrus Logic from the United States..."

"Stop, stop."

Chen Feng smiled and waved his hand, interrupting Zhou Hai's incessant chatter. "Director Zhou, all these technical terms are giving me a headache. I'm just a layman who doesn't really understand these things. You're the expert in this area, so you're the one who calls the shots."

"Whatever chips you need to purchase, whether it's Wolfson or Logic, as long as the sound quality is good, just ask the finance department for reimbursement."

Zhou Hai was amused by his boss's frankness and rarely showed a relaxed smile: "Okay, then I'll make the decision myself. I'll compare the solutions from several companies and choose the one with the warmest sound and the best resolution."

"By the way, Mr. Chen, besides these hard specifications, do you have any special requirements for these two products?" Zhou Hai closed his notebook and asked earnestly.

Chen Feng thought for a moment, then stood up: "That's all for now. My principle is for professionals to do professional things. If any new ideas come to mind in the future, I'll let you know."

"Okay, let's start with this framework and get the first prototype working. We need to physically handle the hardware to know where we need to make changes," Zhou Hai replied.

"Um."

Chen Feng nodded and asked the question he was most concerned about: "Director Zhou, can you give me a definite answer? Approximately how long will it take to see these two prototypes?"

Zhou Hai silently calculated the procurement cycle and debugging difficulty in his mind, and cautiously said:

"If all goes well, it should take two to three months. The main time-consuming part is the hard drive compatibility for high-end machines and the circuit debugging for the touch wheel. We need to repeatedly test the compatibility of different components; we can't ruin our reputation."

"Two or three months..."

Chen Feng pondered for a moment.

Although I can't wait to see the finished product tomorrow, I also know the importance of taking my time to make it better.

"Okay, three months it is. But let me make this clear from the start: speed is crucial, and quality is paramount. We're going to be competing head-on with foreign products; we can't afford to falter."

"Don't worry, Mr. Chen, if I can't produce something good, I won't have the face to accept such a high salary from you!" Zhou Hai made a solemn pledge.

After briefly explaining the administrative and logistical matters to ensure that everything was in order, Chen Feng left the R&D center.

The remaining stage is now up to Zhou Hai and his technical team to showcase their talents.

For someone who doesn't understand technology, the best support at this time is to give money and people, and then shut up.

......

After entrusting the development of MP3 players entirely to Zhou Hai, Chen Feng did not relinquish his responsibilities but instead shifted his focus back to the headquarters of "Legend of Mir 2".

At this point, a week had passed since schools across the country began their summer break.

In the office, Su Qing was holding the latest operations report and reporting her work to Chen Feng.

She was wearing a smart dark blue business suit today, and her expression revealed an undisguised excitement.

"Mr. Chen, the data has exploded."

Su Qing took a deep breath, her voice clear and strong: "Since the start of winter break, all data has seen explosive growth. As of noon today, the number of registered users has officially surpassed ten million!"

"The peak number of concurrent users has surpassed 950,000!"

"The most astonishing thing is the revenue." Su Qing pointed to a line of numbers on the report, "Last week, the total sales of prepaid cards from all channels exceeded 28 million!"

"Although the first two weeks of January were stable, with the surge this week, we conservatively estimate that the total revenue for the entire month of January will reach around 57 million."

This figure is more than double the total for the first half of January.

The power of the winter break effect is terrifying.

Chen Feng looked at the report and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

Although he had expected it, the impact of seeing that string of zeros in person was still overwhelming.

A turnover of 57 million.

After deducting the 15% cut given to internet cafes and newsstands, the company still pocketed over 48 million yuan.

After deducting taxes, operating costs, and marketing expenses, the net profit will definitely exceed 42 million.

In one month, he made a net profit of over 40 million.

In an era when the average wage is just over a thousand yuan, this is practically robbery.

If this financial report were to leak out, the entire business world would probably go crazy with jealousy!