Chapter 782 The Birth of the Portable Music Player

Chapter 782 The Birth of the Portable Music Player

Chapter 782 The Birth of the Portable Music Player

Soon it was November 1976;
Fang Xianming and Wang Zhiqun came to Yang Wendong's office together and handed him a document: "Mr. Yang, this is our agreement with Samsung Electronics. We didn't invest a penny, but we got 15% of the shares by converting our investment in Best Buy and Asian channels."

"Samsung is a large Korean conglomerate, so it's not short of money." Yang Wendong smiled and said, "It's really the most suitable for them to invest in it with channel resources."

Samsung of this era may not be as big as Future, but its scale is not less than that of Jardine Matheson, and even not much worse than Changxing. Its industry in South Korea is also very formidable. How could it be short of money?

It’s just that the current South Korean government is in a special state, and all major conglomerates are suppressed by the government. In the 80s, large conglomerates such as Samsung will be free, and may even privatize and merge state-owned enterprises to become stronger.

Wang Zhiqun said: "In fact, Best Buy's stores also cost money. This is just an indirect investment. In addition, we also need to use our after-sales channels."

"It doesn't matter. Best Buy itself needs to be rented out, and Samsung also has to spend money on after-sales service. Mutual benefit is the best." Yang Wendong said indifferently.

Fang Xianming smiled and said, "In that case, our investment in South Korea can be considered a success. I wonder if Mr. Yang has any plans to invest in other areas."

"No need. Many of South Korea's current large enterprises are state-owned enterprises. We cannot invest in them. It is not cost-effective to invest in them. Let's wait and see in a few years." Yang Wendong shook his head.
Samsung Electronics is special because it is just in its early stages and has great potential in the future, so he invested in it.
Other Korean conglomerates, such as Posco, LG, Hyundai Heavy Industries, etc., all have large assets. Even if you can invest in them, you will need to invest a large amount of money, which is not cost-effective, and the current Korean government control will not allow it.

After the 80s, when the Korean conglomerates go public and we have multiplied our funds several times through the opportunities in the late 70s, we can then consider investing.

"Okay, I understand." Fang Xianming said, "Then my core business will still be the cooperation with Wang Yongqing and Temasek."

Yang Wendong asked: "How is this matter going?"

Fang Xianming said: "We are still discussing it. The investment ratio is about 4:3:3. Temasek wants 4% of the shares and they want to lead the company. Wang Yongqing and I don't agree with it. We also want the right to make the decision."

“The power must not be given only to Temasek. Even if Temasek is really in charge, we must have the right to restrict it.” Yang Wendong nodded and said.

Having something but not using it is different from using it but not having it. Temasek may be good at heavy industry and has government capital behind it, but if it invests on its own, it must have certain rights.

"Yes, we are still arguing about the rights. We must negotiate it first, otherwise there will be trouble in the future." Fang Xianming continued: "The total investment is 5000 million US dollars in the first installment. According to the proportion, we have to invest 1500 million US dollars."

"Funding is not a problem. Have they decided on the project goals?" Yang Wendong asked.

Fang Xianming said: "Temasek decided to acquire three oil fields in Malaysia and Indonesia, and then purchase new equipment from Japan for oil production. According to the plan, it is quite good.

However, the specific plan has not yet been released. Only after the detailed figures come out can we calculate how long it will take to recover the investment.”

"The plan and reality may not be the same, right?" Yang Wendong asked;

Fang Xianming said: "Yes, for things like oil extraction, we can only say that there is an estimate. This estimate cannot be very accurate. This is also a recognized risk in the industry. But if it succeeds, or the oil field has more oil than we thought, then it will be a big profit."

"Haha, this kind of business is indeed interesting." Yang Wendong said with a smile.

After traveling through time for many years, relying on the advantage of the prophet's golden finger, the business he did was basically very profitable and the risk was very low. This is why the Changxing Group was able to develop into one of the top financial groups in Hong Kong and even Asia in a short period of time;

But as time goes by and the size of my group expands, many future businesses will need to start to "normalize" and consider risks and profits just like doing business with other people. There is no longer absolutely no risk.

Of course, I do have my own "prophetic" advantages. For example, I know that there will be a second oil crisis at the end of 78, so no matter how I deal with the oil industry now, I will make money in the future. Or my investments in electronics, real estate and finance are guaranteed to make money. This provides me with a very stable foundation for doing other businesses.

Fang Xianming said: "Yes, the oil and mining industries are like this, those who make a lot of money make a lot of money, and those who lose a lot of money lose a lot of money."

"I have no problem investing in oil fields. We need to figure out the rights distribution among the three companies as soon as possible, and then we can focus on the oil business." Yang Wendong nodded and said;
As long as he has supervisory power and appropriate personnel power, that would be enough. Yang Wendong doesn't ask for much. On the one hand, he can profit from it, and on the other hand, he wants his own people to participate in the learning.

Fang Xianming agreed: "Okay."

Yang Wendong looked at Wang Zhiqun again and asked, "The Walkman samples are out?"

As early as two years ago, Yang Wendong arranged for Wang Zhiqun to miniaturize the music player, with the goal of being able to put it in a pocket so that people can listen to music while walking;

But this is somewhat difficult, so the progress is slow. Yesterday, Yang Wendong also learned that the sample was out, so he agreed to send it over today for us to have a look.

Wang Zhiqun took out an electronic product from his briefcase and said, "Mr. Yang, this is the pocket music player we developed. Take a look. Mr. Fang, you can take a look too."

If they can all be put in your pocket, then putting two or three in your briefcase is no problem at all.

Yang Wendong and Fang Xianming both took the player and fiddled with it for a few times. There was a tape inside the player, and soon a Cantonese song came out;

Fang Xianming was very surprised by this and was about to put it in his pocket, but found that it couldn't fit in.

Wang Zhiqun quickly explained: "Mr. Fang, our player cannot fit into an ordinary pocket. It cannot be made that small."

"Then why is it called a pocket player?" Fang Xianming asked puzzled.

Wang Zhiqun replied: "We need to customize the pockets for the clothes."

"." Fang Xianming was speechless for a while.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "This is normal. Pockets are usually for hands. A cassette is about the same size as a hand. Current technology cannot make it that small."

Each era has its own technological limitations. The size of cassettes is basically unified around the world and cannot be changed. Even small players customized based on cassettes have a certain size. The original Walkman also operated in this way at the beginning. It took several iterations before it could fit into an average pocket.

Fang Xianming nodded and said, "That's true. Even if it can't fit into an ordinary pocket, a player of this size is incredible. If I come across it, I will definitely want to buy it."

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Yes, it is much smaller than the current players, but the sound quality is not as good. There is nothing we can do about it, but we are opening up another market. Portable is the future."

"Portable?" Fang Xianming looked at the player again.

Yang Wendong pressed the phone on the table and said to his assistant, "Aying, ask Yiyi to come to my place."

"Okay." A crisp voice came back from the phone;

After a while, Su Yiyi also came. As the wife of the Yang family, she did not stay at home every day. Especially after her children went to school, Su Yiyi also came to Kangle Building to manage her own "Yi Ran Zhi Jia" chain store.

"Mrs. Yang." Fang Xianming and Wang Zhiqun greeted her hurriedly;

"Hello." Su Yiyi nodded, then looked at Yang Wendong and said, "Brother Dong, what's the matter?"

"It's like this." Yang Wendong explained the situation;

Su Yiyi smiled and said, "Do you want us to order clothes with big pockets? To match this little player?"

"Yes, when the time comes, I will let Honor give away clothes when selling them. In addition, Yiranzhijia can also sell this kind of clothes with big pockets." Yang Wendong said: "As long as our player sales are considerable and consumers like it, they will also change to this kind of clothes with big pockets. Other clothing brands should also launch similar clothes. In this way, the problem will be solved."

When the Walkman was at its peak of popularity, clothing with large pockets sold millions more each year.
This would have seemed incredible to people in previous lives, but people in this era generally lack entertainment, and being able to hear music while walking outside is a huge temptation, so changing clothes is acceptable.

After listening to it, Su Yiyi nodded and said, "Okay, you are the customer, since you said so, I naturally agree."

Yang Wendong then looked at Wang Zhiqun and said, "Old Wang, how many prototypes have you made?"

"We have only made about 20 of them so far. The next batch will be 1,000 units, and then we will conduct various tests." Wang Zhiqun replied: "After the tests are completed and it is confirmed that there are no problems, we can start mass production. The early market is Hong Kong. If there are no problems, we will export them overseas."

Su Yiyi followed up, "Then I will also launch suitable clothing. The samples will be ready in a few days. I want to take this Walkman player with me."

"No problem, Mrs. Yang, please feel free to do as you like." Wang Zhiqun said with a smile.

Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Okay, then we will do our own things right away. First, make sure the quality of the samples is not a problem. Yiyi will make several types of clothing with large pockets, and then consumers can choose freely.

After everything comes out, we can arrange for our own people in the company to test it on a daily basis and provide feedback if there are any problems. This way, we can also obtain sufficient data in advance. "

The advantage of a large company with many employees is that many products can be tried out by employees first. This was the case with the televisions and refrigerators that were made in the early days, but large items were only given to outstanding employees.
This kind of small item can naturally be given to more people for daily testing. Compared with the quality risks after it is released, this investment is nothing, and it is also what quality control should do.

"Okay, I'll take care of this." Wang Zhiqun agreed.

Three days later, Su Yiyi came with several different sets of clothes and pants. Yang Wendong was surprised and asked, "So fast?"

"Of course, our Yiranzhijia is now the largest clothing company in Hong Kong." Su Yiyi said with a smile;

Yiran Home has thousands of stores in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, some self-operated and some franchised. Its annual sales easily exceed 100 million yuan. Such a large number of clothes require many people to design. Yiran Home naturally has its own design department and factory, so the boss's direct orders can naturally be completed quickly.

Yang Wendong called his assistant and also called Wang Zhiqun over;
The three randomly tried to put the player in various clothes, occasionally wearing them themselves;
Su Yiyi said: "Brother Dong, there is a problem. The weather in Hong Kong is very hot. The summer is long, and people basically wear short sleeves. In this case, the pockets need to be placed on the pants, which is a bit inconvenient.

On the contrary, autumn and winter coats in other places are very convenient to have big pockets, and even coats with such big pockets have existed in the past.”

"Yeah, that makes sense. It's really inconvenient to wear pants," Yang Wendong also felt it;
The Walkman is specially paired with a pair of German headphones, but it is more convenient to put it in your shirt pocket.

Wang Zhiqun said: "We can't control the seasons in Hong Kong, so this is the only way for now. It's impossible to have big pockets on short sleeves, but it's almost the end of the year, and most people have to wear coats, so our timing is not bad;
When the weather gets hot next year, our Walkman will also need to enter overseas markets. The summers in North America and Japan are not long, so this shouldn’t be a big problem.”

"That's the only way." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "In fact, most of the time, you can hold it in your hand and listen to it. It's so light and you won't feel tired."

In this era, we cannot optimize consumer electronics with the thinking of later generations.

Even if it can be done, there is no need to pursue perfection all at once. After all, if you wait a few years to launch it, the market may be gone.

Miniaturization is the development goal of the electronics industry. Honor Electronics is not the only company that can think of this. Many companies in Europe, the United States and Japan will probably conduct research in this direction.

Su Yiyi said: "Then I will produce clothes according to these styles. How many should I produce first?"

Wang Zhiqun was also a little uncertain, but Yang Wendong said, "Let's produce 10,000 pieces each first. It won't be too much. Even if there are too many, the clothes can be sold at a lower price when sent to the store."

This is the advantage of having your own factory and sales channels. It is convenient to do it yourself. If it doesn’t sell well, it is easy to deal with. No matter what, you just don’t make any money, but you generally won’t lose money.

Su Yiyi agreed: "Okay, I'll call them and have them produce immediately."

Wang Zhiqun smiled and said, "Mrs. Yang, there's no need to be so anxious. The Walkman test will take another half a month. Just give it to me before December."

PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)