The 1970s was the era when various technologies began to emerge from the laboratory. Many products that would be best-selling 30 years later originated from this era. For example, the most famous LCD monitor had just begun to be commercialized in the 1970s. Japan Several major electronics companies have relied on this business to monopolize the screens of electronic watches around the world. In a few years, they will slowly spread to small game consoles.
But liquid crystal was not invented in Japan. The inventor of liquid crystal was the famous American TV manufacturer RCA. This company discovered liquid crystal technology in the laboratory in the late 1960s, but it was deemed a failed project by RCA because RCA The original intention of the research and development was to invent a new technology that could replace the picture tube, but the liquid crystal that had just been produced in the laboratory at that time was naturally not good enough.
Unfortunately, the entire RCA did not know how to use this kind of luminous transparent "glass" commercially, so it could only put it aside. On the other side, it has developed an idea watch and hopes to use this to replace the global mechanical watch industry monopolized by several small European countries. The Japanese company encountered the problem of not knowing what materials to use to solve the display problem. Finally, it happened to hear about RCA's liquid crystal technology, so it bought it.
A few years later, LCD electronic watches swept the world in a devastating way. Although Hong Kong was an assembly mecca, most of the profits were obtained by Japanese LCD companies. RCA regretted it, but it was already too late.
Before the rise of Korean Samsung, Japan had the final say in global LCD production.
In addition to LCD, another great achievement is the birth of digital camera. Like LCD technology, digital camera was born from the world's largest film company, Kodak.
However, unlike RCA, Kodak's executives quickly discovered that this thing would threaten their core business-the film and film camera market, so they asked the scientist who invented it, Steve Sasson, to hide the digital camera he invented. do not tell anyone.
Of course, everyone knows the outcome. Kodak completely lost the digital camera market and eventually went bankrupt.
Steve Sasson could only obey the company's arrangements and hide the digital camera he developed until two months ago, when a headhunting company contacted him and invited him to become a Hong Kong company with a permanent team in the United States. , specifically responsible for the company’s digital camera business development.
At first, he thought it was a joke, but after the headhunter showed enough evidence many times, Steve Sasson had to believe the fact before him, that is, a large company with a market value of hundreds of millions of dollars invited him to become the head of a business people, and the salary given is three times that of Kodak.
After two months of communication, Steve Sasson came to Hong Kong as scheduled. Facing a pioneer in an industry worth hundreds of billions of dollars, Chen Zhiwen naturally gave him enough face and personally invited him to stay in the presidential suite of the Hilton Hotel.
"Mr. Chen, why do you want to invest in digital cameras? Are you optimistic about this new thing?" Steve Sasson asked.
"Yes, I'm very optimistic about it, because I think the ultimate purpose of any product is to provide people with enough convenience." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, "Talking about cars, they can easily save people a lot of travel time, and yours Digital cameras can save many people the trouble of changing film and developing film, which is both professional and tiring. Digital cameras can take pictures directly. The camera you just invented can also take pictures directly, right?"
"Yes, but with today's digital cameras, it takes 24 seconds to prepare a photo, and the photos are also very blurry. I don't know the future market for digital cameras, but there is absolutely no room for survival now." Steve Sassen smiled bitterly. He shook his head and said.
"The preparation time for taking pictures can be gradually shortened with the development of technology. The blurred photos can also be made clearer with the development of technology." Chen Zhiwen continued: "But the upper limit of film cameras has been fixed. In addition to shortcomings, There is no merit and room for improvement.”
This thing is actually somewhat similar to the replacement of fuel vehicles by electric vehicles in later generations. Even though many of the advantages of fuel vehicles in the early days were overshadowed by electric vehicles, electric vehicles have been developing, and various new technologies are emerging one after another. Issues such as energy replenishment, safety, and battery life are all changing. It is slowly improving over time. On the other hand, when looking at fuel vehicles, many century-old car companies have also failed to adjust the gearbox. The combustion efficiency of the engine has reached its limit, and there is no room for improvement.
Although digital cameras are rubbish now, they can continue to develop. There is almost no upper limit in definition in theory. It is no problem if it exceeds the limit of the human eye. However, film cameras are already at the limit. At the same time, the requirements for people when shooting are very careful when changing the film. The extent, the trouble and cost of developing film have all led to the inevitable replacement of film by digital cameras.
Steven Sassoon stared at Chen Zhiwen and asked: "Even if the time is in units of 10 years, Mr. Chen doesn't care?"
"Of course I don't care. I will continue to invest money in research and development, so I need Mr. Sasson's team to complete this task. I believe that digital cameras will definitely replace film in the future. Kodak discovered this technology, but because of the profits from film, it did not want to develop new technology. Technology will be eliminated by history sooner or later." Chen Zhiwen nodded.
Digital cameras, the first products of each brand, began to appear about five years later. Brands such as Sony, Canon, and Hitachi successively launched their own digital cameras. However, these were all testing waters and were luxury toys for the rich. , far inferior to mature film cameras in terms of clarity.
The digital camera market began to explode in Europe, the United States, and Japan after 1985, and reached its peak in the 1990s. In particular, computers can obtain photos from digital cameras, which further facilitates the versatility of digital cameras. The investment in this area does take ten years, but it is worth it.
Digital cameras are actually just the most direct product of digital photography technology. In the era of feature phones, digital technology has also become a necessary configuration of mobile phones, especially smartphones. In another huge automobile industry, various types of car cameras have also It also comes from digital technology, and the market size is also measured in hundreds of billions of dollars, which is no smaller than smartphones.
"Then how much R&D funding can our team get?" Steven Sasson asked again.
"In the first three years, it will be 5 million US dollars per year, and in the next three years, it will be at least 10 million US dollars per year. If you have any results, it will be no problem to increase the funds." Chen Zhiwen agreed boldly.
At the current rate at which Midea arcades are making money, millions of dollars are nothing. The most important thing is to be able to accumulate patents on digital camera technology in the early stages.
"So my team needs to come to Hong Kong?" Steve Sasson asked.
"No need." Chen Zhiwen shook his head and said: "You just stay in the United States. You choose the place yourself. I will be responsible for buying the property. It has nothing to do with your R&D funds. From now on, you will make your own decisions in terms of research and recruitment in the United States. I will only arrange for one person to supervise the finances. But I will send some college students from Hong Kong to study with you, or help you do some basic work."
For this kind of future high-tech, there is no talent reserve in Hong Kong or even in Southeast Asia. The only one in Asia may be Japan.
The rate of return in the high-tech field is actually not very sensitive to labor costs, but efficiency is more important. Especially at this time, Japan is also accumulating original patents. For Chen Zhiwen, the most important thing is to obtain patented technologies in all aspects as soon as possible. , although it is basically impossible to defeat existing Japanese counterparts in technology or market, but as long as you have your own patents, you can keep a part of the market.
For non-creative products, Chen Zhiwen has no intention of monopolizing them. Being one of the players is enough.
Steven Sasson felt very good, but said: "There is another problem. The patents for the technology I invented before and the DC-16 camera belong to Kodak."
"Can I buy these patents?" Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and asked.
"It probably won't work. Kodak is not short of money. As far as I know, Kodak has 1 billion US dollars in its account. Moreover, some of Kodak's senior executives also realize the value of digital cameras. They have warned me many times not to disclose this to the outside world." The existence of this kind of technology, even when Japan started developing digital cameras at the beginning of the year, the executives were very angry, thinking that it was revealed by our R&D department." Steven Sasson shook his head and said helplessly.
"Forget it, just study it again. It's just the beginning anyway." Chen Zhiwen said that in the field of digital cameras, everyone around the world is on the same starting line. What they compete for is spending money, confidence in this industry, and related expertise. talent pool and industrial chain.
Among them, Chen Zhiwen is absolutely weak. In addition to being very confident about the future of this industry, however, as long as the research base is located in the United States, these weaknesses can be made up for. As for the ZZ reason, Chen Zhiwen is not worried for the time being. The digital camera industry The United States has never risen up, so it naturally does not need to protect "local enterprises."
"Okay, then I agree to Chen Sheng's invitation." Steven Sasson said with satisfaction. He really couldn't find a boss who could better meet his requirements.
"Then on behalf of Midea, I very much welcome Mr. Sassen. As for your team's salary, it will be increased by 60% based on the previous Kodak salary. The year-end bonus will be calculated separately, and it will depend on the results you achieve each year." Chen Zhiwen smiled. He said with a smile: "As long as you can develop corresponding technologies and products, I can guarantee that in ten years, your team will all be millionaires."
Millions of dollars are still very attractive in the United States today. In this era, the average waiter only earns 1,000 US dollars a month, and the average Silicon Valley technician earns only 3,000 to 5,000 US dollars.
The annual investment of several million US dollars is just a drop in the bucket for Midea, which has made a lot of money in the arcade market. However, it is more important to be able to lay out digital technology at the earliest stage and thus have the opportunity to obtain a large number of early patents. After all, Midea cannot always rely on the fortune of the prophet's golden finger. Research and development in the field of technology is the foundation of the company.
You must know that although digital cameras have a short history and were quickly eliminated after the emergence of smartphones, digital technology does not exist. Smartphones require digital photography technology. The technical foundation of various digital cameras also comes from digital technology. This is a The infinite market in the future is worth investing in research from now on.
"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Steven Sassoon said with a smile.
(End of chapter)
