In the original history of Nintendo, when its game watch was released in 1980, the price was between 5,000-7,000 yen, which was about 20-28 US dollars according to the exchange rate. However, the playability of Nintendo games at that time was very average. How can I compare it with the Magic Cube? In addition, it is two years early and the cost of chips and LCD screens are much higher. It is normal for the price to be higher. If the sales are good, it may increase a little more. Of course , the blame falls naturally on the dealer.
"Okay, then I'm going to advertise on TVB in a few days, and the game consoles will also be sent to PARKnSHOP supermarkets." Lei Shengli nodded and said. Of course, they had already planned how to sell them. Hong Kong naturally relies on its own Supermarket groups in Japan rely on Sony Group, which has a good cooperative relationship with Midea. Other places, including Bayan, adopt a dealer agency system. Bayan has already selected the corresponding dealers. Now this Unless the boss asks about small things, they will do it themselves, and at most they will report it during the meeting.
"I predict that the sales volume in this area will not be low. The Industrial City must be prepared to produce at full capacity. In addition, the corresponding supply OEMs must also be prepared." Chen Zhiwen added.
Historically, the sales volume of the game watch, a general game watch, reached 500,000 in the first two months, and exceeded 32 million in three years. This made Nintendo at that time search for companies in Japan that could OEM, but the production capacity could not keep up. Later, it still I went to Wanwan to solve the problem. The magical cube plus the cross-key game boy in this life is definitely a killer, and the sales volume will definitely exceed the original history.
This is also the reason why there is only one game currently. If several games are released together, the first year will definitely be caused by production capacity problems. The explosion of the electronics industry is about to begin, just like Apple in 2010, and games Release in segments also maximizes benefits.
"There is no problem in this area. Not only in Hong Kong, but also in Wanwan, I have also found several OEMs." Lei Shengli said. They also predicted internally that this arcade machine will definitely explode, because when people like them are not doing anything, they can play it. I think it’s very good, not to mention young people and children. Besides, in the arcades two years ago, people were willing to spend a few dollars to play the game for an hour. Now they only need to spend dozens of dollars to play every day. Not attractive?
"What about LCD screens? When can Hong Kong start its own production?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
As for chips, Chen Zhiwen really doesn't have much hope. Hong Kong's chip factories are mainly for home appliances. Therefore, chips are purchased from outside. However, the yield rate of self-produced liquid crystals in Hong Kong is too low. If you use your own, the cost will be high.
Today's LCD market is not big, especially since a large number of companies in Japan have put into production, resulting in an oversupply in the market. However, once the scale of handheld consoles takes off, it is likely to cause a U-turn in supply and demand in the LCD market, and supply will exceed demand. At that time, it will be detrimental to end customers. The best way is to produce it yourself.
"We have entrusted Henry Morgan to purchase some new equipment, which is also the latest model. It may take a few months to arrive in Hong Kong, and then trial production can be carried out." Lei Shengli said.
"Okay, let's do this for now. The sale of Game Boy is still going on as planned. In addition, there is also a LCD factory in Wanwan. You can consider cultivating them with orders, and it is best to get some shares." Chen Zhiwen thought for a while and said .
If you can make it yourself, if you can't, find a few more suppliers to check and balance each other. Moreover, the potential of LCD has not yet begun to extend to too many fields. At this time, suppliers should not dare to offend major customers.
As for the Wanwan side, even if they don't train themselves, they can still rise, and their potential is much better than that of Hong Kong. It's better to take the opportunity to buy some shares to ensure the stability of their future supply and share in the future of the LCD industry. .
"Over Wanwan? Then I'll send someone to try." Lei Shengli nodded and said.
"How is the home game console?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"It is still being tested. There are some problems in many places. I have asked Woz to analyze it. It will probably take some time before the results are available." Lei Shengli said awkwardly.
The development of a handheld console is not difficult, but the space is relatively small and there are requirements for heat dissipation and circuit board size. However, home game consoles are much more complicated. This can be said to be the most difficult electronic product developed by Midea since its establishment. Millions of dollars were invested. But it's much better than Atari. They spent 100 million US dollars and sold their own company's research and development.
"Okay, let me know if there is any further news." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. He knew that the development of home game consoles was difficult, so it was normal for him to get stuck when encountering problems. He didn't care, as long as he controlled a few games. As for the copyright of classic software games, he will definitely be able to get a share of this market.
Moreover, this kind of difficult research and development has also allowed the teams in Hong Kong and the United States to make a lot of progress, and also recruited many people with strong technical skills according to demand, which will be of great help to Midea in taking a technical route in the future. After all, it was almost 80 years after the successful development of home game consoles. Personal computers have reached the era of blooming, and Midea also needs to participate.
July is coming soon. In a large factory in the north of Yuen Long, Hong Kong:
"Sheng Chen, these are the first batch of color TV sets we have built. We are going to call the model T1. The size is 25 inches. This is the ultimate production line equipment Sony has given us. If it is larger, the production line will need to be greatly modified, and it will also require It requires a lot of authorization from Sony." He Guoyuan introduced while watching Chen Zhiwen and his team walking in the workshop.
"Is there anything we are currently producing that is subject to Sony?" Chen Zhiwen asked.
"We have obtained the technology patent. It has taken us more than a year to produce this part, and there should be no big problems. It is the equipment that will take us a long time to fully understand. If there is a problem now, we may need Japan Engineers will come to repair it," He Guoyuan said.
"Well, this is already very good, just keep working hard." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said. It is naturally difficult to take technology from 0-1. Fortunately, he is ready to bind Sony with the Japanese market of arcades and future handheld consoles. , otherwise, if you want to obtain these large number of technology patents from it, you can't do it even if you have money. Various color TV production lines introduced in the mainland in later generations have been cheated many times, but there is still no way, they can only forcefully On the scalp.
It takes time to master relevant technologies, even if you have enough funds. Fortunately, this is a set of outdated technologies, but it is not unusable because it is not far behind the latest generation.
Color tube technology has been developed for decades. Just like the smartphones of later generations after 2016, the generation difference between each generation is not big, and they can basically meet the basic needs of daily people. It is a new generation of technology that has a visual sense. It will be stronger, but not to the extent that it will absolutely eliminate the previous one.
"We have placed thousands of T1 color TVs in our employee dormitories internally. In addition, our internal employees have also purchased thousands of them, which are basically playing every day. The pass rate can be calculated in a month. He Guoyuan said.
"Our employees have become our guinea pigs." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"With so many people, we have a lot of time on weekdays, and there are also benefits. It just kills two birds with one stone." He Guoyuan said with a smile. There are nearly 20,000 employees, and they are not used in vain.
"The chip in this remote control is produced by us ourselves, right?" Chen Zhiwen picked up a remote control on the side and said.
"Yes, this kind of chip does not have high requirements on the manufacturing process. We can make it easily, and because we make it ourselves, we at least reduce the cost by a few dollars and save a lot of time." He Guoyuan said.
"There are still a lot of cost savings." Chen Zhiwen smiled. In fact, he knew that his own chip factory would not be able to compete with Samsung and TSMC, which are supported by the United States in the future, but he still wanted to build this factory in Hong Kong. To improve current efficiency.
Not to mention that many chip factories of American or Japanese companies only supply their own products. Even those that produce public chips cannot provide many models. If some of Midea's products, especially home appliances, want to customize a chip that suits them , you can’t find a supplier at all, not to mention that in the early stages of a new product, there is no production, who cares about you?
At this time, it is much more convenient to have a chip factory of your own. The home appliance industry does not need the latest technology chips, as long as they can meet the requirements. Not to mention how much money is saved, the time saved is much more significant.
"Chen Sheng is still foresighted." He Guoyuan said with a smile. His own air conditioners and refrigerators are now controlled by the simplest chips. Not only are the costs a lot lower, they are also lighter. Although major home appliance brands also use the same method, But if you don't, you'll be in a worse competitive position.
"By the way, the fan factory's production capacity is still very high, right? How is the quality in Shekou?" Chen Zhiwen asked again.
"There is no problem in testing. Mainly the parts from our side are sent to us for assembly. As long as the control is good, there should be no problem. But be cautious. Shekou's current fans are mainly supplied to some small European countries and Southeast Asian countries. This will not cause problems. It’s easier to solve.” He Guoyuan said.
"Okay, keep an eye on it. The game department will soon launch a new product. The sales volume will be very large. The assembly difficulty and labor requirements will be much greater than that of fans. We at Midea cannot produce them all by ourselves. In the future, We will still look for suppliers to make OEM products, but in the early stage, it is best for us to produce them ourselves. The industrial park needs to transfer the fan talents as much as possible," Chen Zhiwen said.
"The production capacity in Shekou is still climbing, and it is unlikely to increase in the short term. If it is really necessary, I can arrange to transfer all the fan assembly to Wanwan. Anyway, Hong Kong's current labor force, this The business basically has no profit," He Guoyuan said.
"Okay, some simple products, including air conditioners, refrigerators and other parts, should be slowly transferred out." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
In the past, it was to desperately reduce costs to compete for overseas markets, and to create a large number of jobs to stabilize the Hong Kong government. Otherwise, if he acquired Hutchison or Wharf, there might be some trouble.
Now, the terminal channels in overseas markets have basically been opened up, and with the two high-profit products of handheld consoles and home game consoles about to be put into production, low-end products will naturally have to be transferred. After all, Hong Kong is a city with a limited number of workers. , and no matter how high Midea’s profits are, the benefits it provides to its employees cannot compare with the development of Hong Kong’s real estate, so Hong Kong’s factories cannot expand indefinitely.
Either move to Wanwan or Shekou in the mainland, and ask Director Yuan Geng to expand the area of Shekou Industrial Zone 15 times. He also has this idea. In today's electronic age, every year is important, and he cannot wait forever. After the mid-1980s and even in the 1990s, large-scale investment began in China.
Besides, at the rate of development of the global electronics market in the next decade or so, I'm afraid even Taiwan won't be able to produce enough OEM products.
"Sheng Chen, if we invest in Wanwan, I think we should invest in Taipei. The land or labor costs there are high, but the real estate market is also hotter. In the long run, the investment value is the highest." He Guoyuan added.
"You are quite discerning and have considered future real estate." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.
"I went to university in Taipei, and there are many people I know there. I also know some of the recent housing price trends in Taipei and Bay Area, which are very similar to Hong Kong now. As far as I know, many of our suppliers are Because the factory land was bought, we directly earned the money to open the factory for several lifetimes. We are not forcing it, but there is no need to give up this profit." He Guoyuan said.
"Okay, then you can go to Taipei to talk, preferably somewhere close to the city." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.
Who is doing business in Hong Kong and is not affected by real estate? Even Li Jiacheng discovered the huge changes in land prices in a short period of time when he was looking for land to build a plastics factory in the 1950s, and then he devoted himself to the real estate industry. Even if you are not in the real estate business, if you want to buy land that has huge value-added potential to open a factory, no fool would know it and not do it, right?
Soon another half month passed.
During this period, TVB TV Station continued to broadcast advertisements about Game Boy during prime time every day, and also pointed out that only PARKnSHOP supermarkets in Hong Kong sell it.
This has also led to many game enthusiasts going to Parknshop supermarkets to inquire. You must know that the price of arcade machines is too expensive, and they need to maintain a uniform global price. With the income of ordinary people in Hong Kong, most of them cannot afford to play.
However, Chen Zhiwen also gave Hong Kong some benefits. He sent the arcade machines produced by the factory with appearance defects or non-serious defects directly to some shopping malls, so that many people can play with coins, but the price is not expensive, 1 cents a time. , much cheaper than those in the United States, and Midea is not prepared to rely on these to recover costs.
But even if it is only 1 cent, it is unbearable for many people, but the game is so fun. When I learned that there is a "magic cube" in a handheld console that can be held in my hand, I immediately became interested. No matter how expensive the price is, it is a one-time consumption, so you can definitely get it by biting your teeth.
On July 26, the handheld Game Boy was officially launched in PARKnSHOP, priced at HK$180. On the first day, 2,500 handheld units were sold out.
PS: I recommend a book called "Special Troubles of Rebirth". There will be another chapter later.
(End of chapter)
