Customized keyboards have a very long history, which can be traced back to the time when computers were first born. However, at that time, customized keyboards were mainly targeted at enterprises.
Some small companies specialize in producing distinctive keyboards and then promote them to Silicon Valley companies.
Including the 1970s and 1980s, there was already a shaft body. Cherry developed the earliest shaft body. Later, Alps and Topre continued to improve the shaft body.
Moreover, HiFi pursues the sound of keyboard tapping, which is good-sounding. You can often see the mahjong sound produced by keyboard tapping on Douyin and Bilibili, which is a type of HiFi sound.
The pursuit of keyboard click sound HiFi can also be traced back to the 1980s, when these enthusiasts modified their mechanical keyboards to improve the sound quality and feel of the keyboard.
Later, in 2010, customized keyboards in the current sense began to become popular.
Because to put it bluntly, this thing has no technical content. The shell, PCB board, bottom cotton, under-shaft pad, positioning plate, etc., these things have no technical content.
After Zhou Xin made the customized keyboard in the current sense, other keyboard manufacturers would know what was going on as soon as they took it apart.
Even if a patent is registered, other keyboard companies can circumvent the patent by redesigning it.
Unless you say that the keyboard thing is your patent, this is unrealistic.
But the time advantage is also an advantage. Zhou Xin asked Aimo to find three different companies and help them make some kits according to the drawings.
Then he and Cao Yongluo did all the final assembly themselves.
To put it bluntly, this thing is very simple, almost like building blocks.
Tighten a few screws, install the shaft body, and then stack them in order and put them together.
When these components were scattered, Cao Yongluo didn't feel anything. Instead, he felt that a keyboard with an aluminum shell was so heavy that a fool would buy it.
The only thing that looks good is this set of white and gray keycaps, which give a harmonious and unified aesthetic.
As a result, after the entire keyboard was assembled, Cao Yongluo was stunned, because compared with it, the current mainstream plastic keyboards are no different from garbage.
The metallic texture is much better visually than the plastic texture.
Not to mention the unique design on the keycaps and the simple and elegant overall white, gray and black color scheme, the whole body gives Cao Yongluo a feeling that he wants.
Zhou Xin hit the space bar and made a clicking sound. Zhou Xin thought that he had achieved what he expected.
This product was a dimensionality reduction blow in 1999.
The shaft is also a classic work of the shaft body developed by China in later generations, the Haili shaft.
This is a linear axis, which roughly means there will be no lag from pressing down to bottoming out.
The customized axis is mainly divided into linear axis and paragraph axis. When the paragraph axis touches the bottom, there will be a sudden feeling, making you realize that you have completed this key press.
Zhou Xin stood up and motioned for Cao Yongluo to sit on Herman Miller's ergonomic chair: "Give it a try."
Cao Yongluo tapped the keys randomly on Zhou Xin's newly created TXT text.
Zhou Xin asked: "Isn't it great? You can use a little more force and you can feel that the entire middle area can be pressed down.
You open Quora, pick an answer on the homepage, and try typing. "
After playing for five minutes, Cao Yongluo's face began to turn red with excitement: "This thing is definitely going to be popular.
It's so cool. With Matrix, typing has become a pleasure! "
Cao Yongluo felt that he couldn't stop. It was the first time a keyboard could give him this feeling. Compared with this keyboard, no other keyboard could be called a keyboard.
This is simply an epoch-making work of art.
He thought to himself that he might not be able to go back. This is also the mentality of many later generations of players who are into customized keyboards.
Zhou Xin asked: "Do you know how much this thing costs?"
Cao Yongluo said uncertainly: "One hundred dollars?"
This is already his monthly living expenses. The monthly living expenses of a local American college student in San Francisco is between US$500-1,000.
Zhou Xin: “No, five thousand dollars.”
Cao Yongluo was shocked: "So expensive?" The price was far beyond his imagination.
Because Zhou Xin contacted Zhou Xin for the purchase, Cao Yongluo did not know that this thing was so expensive. After knowing it, he thought to himself, how could it be sold at such an expensive price.
Cao Yongluo has been here for almost a year. He also has classmates from American and knows the average income of American.
For most Americans, spending five thousand dollars just to buy a keyboard, no matter how good the keyboard is, is unacceptable.
After finishing his joke, Zhou Xin said: "This is the price of customization. The accessories we just assembled are all custom-made and need to be slotted separately. Of course they are expensive."
“After mass production, it doesn’t need to be so expensive. After mass production, the cost can be reduced to less than fifty US dollars.
The price in my mind is about $1,000, because our target group is geeks and programmers in Silicon Valley.
We need to establish the brand image of Matrix so that we can enter the high-end market in the future. "
Cao Yongluo asked: "Didn't you plan to put the production end in China? If it were China, the production cost of this whole set would be about 200 RMB, which is 20 US dollars, or even lower.
Even taking into account tariffs, the cost will be cheaper than producing it at Americen.
I have read in the internal reference that the average tariff on goods imported to American is currently 43%. If the keyboard is assembled and imported to American, the tariff will be lower.
It's roughly around this level. "
Zhou Xin nodded: "Of course I plan to put my product line in China, especially PCB boards. There must be Chinese companies doing this, right?
The PCB technology required for the keyboard is not high. "
Cao Yongluo thought for a while and said: "This is too detailed. I don't know much about it. I have to go back and investigate."
PCB, also known as printed circuit board, is a bridge that carries electronic components and connects circuits. Its main function is to connect various electronic components to form a predetermined circuit and play a transmission role.
As a key component of electronic products, PCB is used in almost all electronic products and is the mother of electronic products.
This technology can be divided into many subdivisions, which can be distinguished by function, such as memory chip packaging substrates, micro-electromechanical system packaging substrates, radio frequency module packaging substrates, processor chip packaging substrates and high-speed communication packaging substrates.
It can also be divided according to the softness of the substrate into rigid printed circuit boards, flexible printed circuit boards and rigid-flexible printed circuit boards.
There are also a series of classification methods. The PCB technology used in the keyboard is a relatively low-end technology, and to put it bluntly, it has no technical content.
But now China is also relatively low-end in the electronics industry, and Cao Yongluo can't even confirm this.
Zhou Xin was a little uninterested: "Okay, after you study it clearly, tell me, even if no Chinese company can do this, you can ask which Chinese company is willing to do it, and we can support them, as long as they can do it. , we purchase them at a certain premium.”
Cao Yongluo couldn't quite understand: "You don't need to think so much, just choose whichever one is cost-effective and has stable production."
Then Cao Yongluo paused and said what was in his heart:
"Actually, when I just heard that you were selling it for a thousand dollars, I felt a little sour inside.
This is not sour because you can sell it at such a high price and make a lot of money.
I feel sad here. I have been to Pengcheng, including the manufacturing industry in Shenhai.
In China's manufacturing industry, their cost is 200 RMB. According to the official exchange rate, 1 US dollar can be exchanged for 8.28 RMB, which means that they have to sell for about 20 US dollars to avoid losing money.
But China's manufacturing industry can be sold for only $20, or even lower.
If you resell it to Amerikan, you can earn US$980. In the entire industry chain, your profit is US$980, while the profit of Chinese companies may be less than US$1.
This phenomenon pervades the entire cooperation chain between Chinese and foreign companies. I feel sad for Chinese companies and the vast number of workers in China.
I don’t mean to blame you at all. You also contributed to the design and what is called intellectual property in today’s terms.
It is natural that you can enjoy high profits by relying on design. I am just wondering when Chinese companies will also be able to enjoy high profits by relying on these. "Cao Yongluo choked up a little after he said it.
This was a common confusion among young people in China at that time, especially after going abroad.
Because the gap is really huge, as you can tell by casual contact, the living expenses of foreign college students range from US$500 to US$1,000. In 1999, the average annual disposable income per person of urban households in China was only 5,800 RMB.
The annual disposable income of rural residents is even pitiful, less than 2,500 RMB.
This is a common social phenomenon. Cao Yongluo has more opportunities to be exposed to information from the outside world, and he feels unprecedentedly confused about the future of the country.
Zhou Xin got up and walked around in the study: "I am willing to give Chinese enterprises such an opportunity. I hope that with my help, Chinese enterprises can participate in higher value-added manufacturing industries as much as possible.
As you said, I can't earn as much as US$980 by selling products. I need to recruit people, open a large number of offline stores, and may need to borrow money from Amerikan Bank. There are also capital costs.
The profit margin is not that high. What you are calculating now is a profit that is divorced from reality. I estimate that the final profit margin will be between 30% and 50%. It depends on the speed of copying by other keyboard companies and the recognition of my brand after it is established.
I can't stand this phenomenon either. I'm also Chinese. I can become an American and stay in San Francisco.
But I still chose to go back and only got a green card, including the fact that I asked Wu Shiqiang to go back and invest in Chinese Internet companies.
To put it bluntly, I don't have much benefit from this.
Of course, I am not that noble. I have now achieved financial freedom and have new goals in life. I want to see how far I can help the development of China through my own efforts.
Maybe one day I will become disheartened and run back to San Francisco to retire.
This is not impossible, the gap between us and Amerikan is indeed too big. "
What I draw here is the back to the future design of Numiao 65less. In recent years, domestic customized keyboards have been too rolly. I like many designs, but I still choose my favorite one here as the first flagship product launched by Matrix. . This is also my personal bad taste haha.
Today I updated another 3 chapters for 9k. As usual, please vote for me!
(End of chapter)
