Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 345 The IBM-PC Who Wants to Turn the Table
"The key now is not to argue which of the two technologies, thermal foam and piezoelectric, is better, but the market timing of inkjet printers."

Tang Huan shook his head, "Dot matrix printers have inherent limitations, so they must give way to inkjet printers. Canon has already achieved first-mover advantages in Japan and HP in the United States. When we develop piezoelectric inkjet printers There are signs, this market has already been divided up by others, just like now we dominate the dot matrix printer market and other peers are in a passive competitive position.”

"Then we accept Canon's conditions?" Hideaki Yaskawa was a little unwilling.

"Being ripped off by Canon, we can make up for it in the stock market. We have completed the layout of inkjet printers. Investors will not fail to understand the meaning. Canon must have seen this, so it is so determined. us."

Tang Huan waved his hand, "For this deal, let's follow his mind. In addition, since everyone is interested in the technology research and development of piezoelectric inkjet printers, we can't live up to this enthusiasm. Maybe Canon will reflect on this aspect in the future." Come and beg us."

Seeing that the big boss made a final decision, Yaskawa Hideaki and others obeyed the arrangement and unified internal understanding for operation.

Next, Tang Huan began to inspect Epson's product line, especially the 24-pin LQ-2400 series printer with font library, which is currently the main product.

Driven by Tang Huan waving a whip, Epson’s dot matrix printer technology upgrades can be described as non-stop. Its development route is somewhat similar to that of the CPU in the original time and space. At first, it simply emphasized the main frequency, and then turned to the multi-core and parallel road. , the number of print head pins has rapidly increased from 7 pins to 9 pins, 12 pins, 16 pins, and even the current 24 pins.

After climbing to the top vertically, the technology of Epson dot matrix printers began to develop horizontally, such as built-in font system, faster printing speed, higher printing resolution and so on.

LQ-2400 is designed and produced with the goal of LQ-1600K, the most successful dot matrix printer model of Epson in the original time and space, with sales exceeding one million units.

This year, Epson's dot matrix printers have a market share of more than 80.00% in Japan, becoming the jaw-dropping absolute leader.

You must know that Japanese companies now attach great importance to the market share of their products, which has almost reached the level of paranoia. The achievements of Epson dot matrix printers can be said to attract countless heroes.

Ever since, Epson paid homage to the development blueprint planned by Tang Huan from top to bottom, and had long forgotten the previous owner, the Hattori family.

Under such high spirits, Epson naturally resented being ripped off by Canon in its inkjet printers, and had the ambition to start anew and develop piezoelectric inkjet printers.

Of course, Tang Huan would not waste the subjective initiative of the Japanese, but he still remained sober in his heart.

In the original time and space, Epson achieved unprecedented success in the field of dot matrix printers. As a result, it went all the way in this direction and missed the best time to enter the field of inkjet printers. When it came to its senses, it was already quite passive. up.

If it weren't for catching up and succeeding in the development of piezoelectric inkjet printers, Epson might have to be removed from the printer field.

Therefore, Tang Huan insisted that Epson make compromises in front of Canon. Who made them work hard in the field of printers and made breakthroughs in inkjet printers? Even cheap laser printers are the same, and HP has to learn from teachers. Pay tuition.

In addition, Epson’s unfavorable performance in the market cannot continue like this. The peers have begun to flood into the market while being surprised and envious, and the LQ-2400 series printers are the biggest barrier for Epson to maintain its position in the industry. .

In addition to printers, Epson also includes scanners and fax machines in its product line.

Most importantly, Tang Huan also handed over the R&D and manufacturing of CD players and CD drives to Epson, which is in full control.

"When we go public next year, we will expand our business scope." Tang Huan revealed his plan to Yaskawa Hideaki with a smile.

……

Tang Huan couldn't help frowning after seeing Sun Zhengyi, who was brilliant in the financing field, "Are you overworked? Why do you look a little haggard? Doesn't your body matter?"

In front of Tang Huan, Sun Zhengyi stretched his body as much as possible and lay down on the sofa without putting on airs. "As soon as my nerves relax, I really feel a little tired."

Sun Zhengyi's working style is a bit similar to the passionate type of MLM. His current lazy style shows that he is really tired. However, it is precisely because Sun Zhengyi's lobbying is so contagious that he can achieve such success. Breathtaking results.

However, Tang Huan also learned more or less the mentality of the current Japanese funders from his own financing channels, that is, they are obsessed with American assets, not to mention the good meat of AT&T.

To some extent, Sun Zhengyi is taking advantage of the situation.

"Then you should take a good rest. I'll meet with the representatives of Fangyuan computer compatible manufacturers first, and then we'll go to America together." Some worried about Sun Zhengyi's health, so Tang Huan made a special arrangement.

For the partners of Fangyuan Computer such as Sharp and Sony, Tang Huan can be said to be benevolent. After the authorization license was issued, he even helped him on the horse and sent a technical specialist to give advice.

These Japanese did not disappoint Tang Huan either. The prototypes will be unveiled collectively at this month's COMDEX, and it is estimated that there will be a whirlwind of Fangyuan computer standards.

……

In the conference room of the IBM headquarters in Armonk, New York, in the eastern part of the United States, Don Estridge, who was frowning with thick brows, was anxiously waiting for the meeting to start.

"Don, you're here so early." Bill Lowell, the early head of the chess project and now a promoted man, came over and patted Don Estridge's shoulder affectionately, "It seems that your mood Worse."

It was under the strong recommendation of Bill Lovo that Don Estridge was able to defeat other senior team members of the chess project, succeed Bill Lovo, become the person in charge, and then was promoted to the current head of the personal computer department.

Therefore, the relationship between the two is quite good. Naturally, Don Estridge didn't need to hide his thoughts, so he replied frankly, "There are many troublesome things, and I don't know where to start at the moment."

"Then just say it casually." Bill Lovo, who was proud of his workplace, laughed.

"In order to obtain Zheru's Chinese information technology authorization, the headquarters actually withdrew the IBM-PC patent lawsuit against the second-generation Fangyuan computer. Didn't the previous efforts come to naught."

Don Estridge couldn't help complaining depressedly, "Now the bus of IBM-PC and the bus of the second-generation Fangyuan computer are both called ISA, but they are in the first-mover advantage, making us seem to be plagiarizing, what is this? Something happened."

Bill Lovo, who has already jumped out of the circle of personal computers, is unlikely to worry about the country and the people of IBM-PC like Don Estridge. He enlightened some routinely: "The headquarters will naturally have higher-level considerations. After all, IBM has a lot of products."

"Yes, for IBM, the personal computer department is just a very ordinary department. Product sales seem to be booming, but the profit is inevitably limited."

Don Estridge sighed self-pityingly, "Perhaps it is the connection between the personal computer business and the company's life and death that makes Apple Computer and Fangyuan Computer perform so well."

"Don't underestimate yourself. The management committee is still very satisfied with the performance of the personal computer department. Isn't the monthly sales volume already exceeding 8000 units?"

Bill Lovo patted Don Estridge's shoulder again, "According to this trend, the personal computer department should end this year with a monthly sales of 10000 units, which is absolutely outstanding. In my In my impression, it has only been more than half a year since the product was introduced to the market, and it has achieved such a high sales volume, which IBM has never achieved before.”

"But the monthly sales of Apple computers have exceeded 30000 units, and the monthly sales of the second-generation Fangyuan computers..." Don Estridge shook his head unwillingly, "It's okay not to say."

IBM is a giant, and it can be called a self-contained kingdom internally. In addition to personal computers, Bill Lovo and Don Estridge still have a lot of workplace information that can be exchanged, but it didn't take long before the meeting began.

The fiscal year from 1980 to 1981 has ended. As a listed company, IBM naturally has to prepare its annual report. Many topics of this meeting are to discuss various financial figures.

The current CEO of IBM, who made Microsoft embrace the thigh of Big Blue and became the nobleman of Gates John Opel——John Opel frowned, pointed to a column on the report and asked, "How did the performance of the Far East region decline so obviously?" ?”

"The main reason is that in addition to Wang An Computer Company, there is another more difficult competitor, Fangyuan Computer Company. Their products have done a good job in language localization in the Far East, which greatly squeezed the living space of our products. .” The corresponding person in charge talked eloquently.

"Fangyuan Computer Company? Is it the personal computer company in Silicon Valley?" After receiving an affirmative answer, John Opel moved his eyes, and finally found Don Estridge, who had an inconspicuous position in the crowd, "Personal Computer The department has performed well this year, do you have any new plans?"

"We have two new plans for the subsequent product development of IBM-PC." Don Esterlich, who got the chance to speak, cheered up and spoke about his ideas.

"The first plan is to optimize and improve the current IBM-PC and launch a new product IBM-PC XT, whose main feature is to be equipped with a hard disk. The second plan is to use Intel's next-generation microprocessor 80286 to develop a new Model IBM-PC AT."

"Next year, will the monthly shipments of IBM-PCs reach the current 30000 Apple computers?" A member of the management committee asked a question.

"Gentlemen, I would like to reiterate that the real opponent of IBM-PC is not the rotten Apple that is showing off its power in the market, but Fangyuan Computer, which is hiding behind it and attacking the mid-to-high-end personal computer market. Armed by Zheru Software Apple Computer has now become a rival to Fangyuan Computer, stalking IBM-PC in the low-end and mid-range personal computer market, which affects our energy." Don Esterlich did not give a direct answer, but introduced himself. The overall situation of the computer market has improved to the point where I failed to pass the proposal twice before.

"According to the latest intelligence analysis I have received, the current monthly shipments of the second-generation Fangyuan computers should have exceeded 12000 units. This figure seems to be overshadowed by Apple's 30000 units, but don't forget that the current The price of the basic model of the second-generation Fangyuan computer is also close to 3000 US dollars, which is twice that of the Apple II. Therefore, Fangyuan computer is the de facto leader in the current personal computer market.”

Don Estridge had not been able to list such detailed data at the meeting before, but this time he was more fully prepared.Sure enough, as soon as the words fell, everyone in the meeting gasped.

"How did Fangyuan Computer's performance reach such a level?" Someone immediately asked instinctively.

"It depends on the software." Don Estridge replied with a heavy tone, "When customers buy Fangyuan computers, they often get corresponding industry application solutions. Zheru Software has an ERP department with at least a thousand employees. All of them are practitioners with rich industry experience, who are responsible for the consulting, implementation, training and service of the project."

"How did you get this information?" Seeing Don Estridge speak so eloquently, it naturally aroused some people's curiosity.

Don Estridge pondered for a while, "Gates from Microsoft told me that he often haunts Apple and Zheru in Cupertino. According to his observation, Zheru's project management level is no worse than that of IBM. , otherwise it would not be so efficient in product innovation.”
Speaking of this, Don Estridge raised his tone, "Now Fangyuan Computer has produced compatible machines and authorized them to many companies including HP. This move is undoubtedly to make Fangyuan Computer's product standards the industry's standard in the personal computer industry. As a matter of fact, IBM-PC must not sit still, and it should take a step forward to disclose the specifications of IBM-PC and break the attempt of Fangyuan Computer."

As soon as Don Estridge finished speaking, the conference room immediately started to discuss again, and the voice of opposition was endless.

……

"After all, why did you come back to this again? I remember you suggested this twice before. Why did IBM publish its research results for free? What's more, the sales of IBM-PC are so promising now."

"That is, if IBM-PC really wants to do this, how will others evaluate it? Is it scared, or can't afford to flip the table?"

……

Don Estridge took over the conversation with a serious face, "That's right, IBM-PC is going to overturn the table."

(End of this chapter)