The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

One day in mid-November.

On the New York subway.

A young man was wearing jeans, with a 'Mei Walkman' on his belt, and shrunken headphones on his head, immersed in the music.

So fashionable, so cool!

A similar young man finally couldn't help but patted the young man wearing headphones on the shoulder and asked curiously.

"Hey man! What are you doing?"

Seeing someone saying hello, the young man wearing headphones moved the headphones.

"Wati?"

"You're cool, but I want to know what you're doing?"

"Haha, I'm listening to music."

"Can you hear wonderful music with this little radio?"

"Of course, but this is not called a 'small radio', it is called a 'Walkman'. You can hear beautiful sounds anytime and anywhere. If you don't believe it, you can try it!"

Generous sharing, soon greeted with shocked voices!

"Awesome! This is really cool!"

This scene was filmed by reporters and prepared to be published in the next day's newspapers.

On the streets of Los Angeles.

Several skateboarding boys and girls were dressed very fashionably, with "beautiful Walkmans" hanging around their waists and headphones on their heads.

They skate in the streets like the wind.

When they pause, they gather together and squirm to the music.

"Hey, is there music in your headphones? Are you so immersed in it?" a passerby asked curiously.

"Of course, this is a Walkman, which means I can listen to music anytime, anywhere!" the skateboard boy said proudly.

"Which company's product is this? Is the sound quality really acceptable?" Passers-by seemed to understand.

It’s hard to believe that there is good sound quality in such a small machine.

"Try?"

"Thanks!"

Soon, passers-by exclaimed: "This is incredible. They have reduced the size of the radio and can still maintain such good sound quality. This is really a thing worth buying. His name is 'Walkman', and it is really good." It’s a fitting name!”

This scene was also photographed by reporters and published in the local newspaper the next day.

For a time, in many places in the United States, there were young people with Walkmans hanging around their waists and headphones on their heads. They appeared in public places and enjoyed the beauty of music.

In fact, this is a marketing plan!

But this marketing plan soon caused a great sensation, and the Walkman began to be known to many people.

At the same time that the Walkman became popular in the United States, there was also the "Hong Kong Cube" that had been transplanted to the Atari 2600 game console. At this time, it was also spreading in the United States at a whirlwind speed.

In fact, the picture quality of the ‘Hong Kong Cube’ of this era is still very poor at this time. However, this game itself is a grid game, so the picture quality requirements are not high and it is completely sufficient for current entertainment purposes. In the later stage, the image quality will naturally be gradually upgraded.

Hong Kong Cube became popular much faster than the Walkman, and many Americans soon became addicted to it. When I heard "Hong Kong Cube", I knew it was a game software invented by Hong Kong people, and Hong Kong immediately became famous.

Silicon Valley.

Lin Ruidong came to an office building and said happily: "Second brother"

Lin Ruijiang patted Lin Ruidong's shoulder and said affectionately: "Lao Wu"

The two brothers felt very close when they met, which is the best proof of the unity of Lin Zhichao's children. The unity of the second generation of the Lin family is definitely better than that of the Rockefeller family. This is due to Lin Zhichao's unique charm.

Even the third and fourth generations in the future will definitely continue to unite under the influence of Lin Zhichao and the second generations. After the fifth generation, 'family honor', 'family culture' and 'family heritage' are actually very strong, and family members will be proud of them and unite closely.

You know, later generations will say that there are 78 adult men in the Rockefeller family, and more than 70 of them united to deal with Exxon Oil Company (wanting to regain control).

"Let's go, I'll take you to visit our game development studio!" Lin Ruijiang said intimately.

He had just visited Atari Electronics. Under the leadership of Lin Ruidong, he also knew some secrets-for example, Atari was developing a 'handheld console' and had an important game software project-Donkey Kong.

There are no secrets between the brothers, so Lin Ruijiang also led Lin Ruidong to visit The Ninth City, a game software development studio set up by Midea Company in the United States. The Hong Kong game software company is also called The9 City.

He introduced to more than a dozen employees: "Everyone, this is Ryan Hepburn, the senior executive of Atari Video Game Company. He is here to inspect our studio today."

Then there was applause!

Just hearing the name - Ryan Hepburn, makes people think of it. After all, Atari is part of the Audrey Company.

Later, Lin Ruidong introduced the research and development project of The9 American Studio-"Little Bee" (also called Space War, shooting game).

Lin Ruidong said happily: "The plan for this game is very good, I believe it will be sold like crazy!"

The9 has joined Atari's "royalty system" and is an important software partner. Because of the excellence of "Hong Kong Cube", it can even be listed as the "No. 1 seed."

Lin Ruidong understands that his father's legend is boundless. As sons, it is best to do everything well and achieve great success.

Lin Ruijiang said with a smile: "When the time comes, we will pay a royalty of 1 million units. Anyway, you said it is very popular!"

The so-called royalty is that the game software company first predicts how many units of its game can be sold, and then gives 30% of the sales to Atari. And Atari first collects the money from the partners. In addition to being a 'store bully' Outside of the game, it is natural to use this money to produce game cards. After all, they do not allow game software developers to produce them privately.

Lin Ruidong said: "No problem, I am confident!"

Lin Ruijiang understood what his younger brother had guessed. Of course, there was no need to hide it. His father was the biggest supporter behind all their brothers.

Later, Lin Ruijiang also introduced "Pac-Man" being developed by Hong Kong's The9 City, which immediately aroused Lin Ruidong's admiration.

After arriving at the office, Lin Ruidong asked: "Second brother, when will these two games be ready? I can't wait!"

He is now in charge of Atari's software department, and he "single-handedly planned" the 'royalty system'. With this achievement, Lin Ruijiang has a great influence in Atari. It is expected that within two years, he will become the second in command.

Lin Ruijiang said: "It is estimated that it will take another year. There is no problem with the planning, but it is mainly technical. Our ninth city has some difficulties. If Atari provides some help, I believe it can be developed steadily in one year."

Lin Ruidong said seriously: "Second brother, why are you being polite to me? It's no problem. We will arrange for our subordinates to communicate with each other later."

Lin Ruijiang said with a smile: "You're not so anxious! By the way, I'm going to stay in the United States for more than a week this time. I'll call my two sisters and let's get together."

Lin Ruidong suddenly said happily: "Yes!"

His two younger sisters are also his biological sisters. His mother has always wanted a daughter, so you can imagine how much she likes her two younger sisters who came to study in the United States.

As "Hong Kong Cube (Software)" and "Walkman" became popular in the United States, "Midea Company" soon became famous in the industry and even caused a huge sensation in Japan.

Japanese media have reported:

“The ‘Walkman’, once looked down upon by Sony, is now flourishing.”

"Sony's Waterloo, the Walkman was actually developed by a Hong Kong company."

As early as 1971, Midea proposed the concept of the 'Walkman', which was ridiculed by Sony and Philips at the time - such a product that sacrificed sound quality was unlikely to be accepted by music lovers.

How much I laughed back then, how much I regret it now!

After all, if the R\u0026D capabilities of Sony and Philips were followed, the radio could be made smaller and simpler (removing the recording function) in 2 to 3 years; while Midea took five or six years to launch the product.

The two founders of Sony, Ibuka Dai and Morita Akio, held urgent consultations.

"I'm very impressed by this beautiful company. They are one of the important factories that produce radios in Hong Kong, but they have always been an assembly factory. I didn't expect that now they have exploded in the fields of walkman, arcade, and game software, and they have stepped into the global market in one fell swoop. A company with certain scientific research capabilities." Akio Morita said.

In the early years, Sony went to Hong Kong to manufacture radios, but at that time they did not value Midea because Midea was already assembling its own radios for sale. Subsequently, Midea has been assembling radios (its own brand) and producing electric fans.

Unexpectedly, two classic products were now quietly released - the Walkman and the Hong Kong Cube.

Jing Shenda said: "What should we do?"

He is good at technology and Akio Morita is good at management.

"Concentrate all our efforts on developing the Sony Walkman. With our technical level and quality, we will definitely surpass Midea Electronics. The only trouble is that Midea Electronics has a product patent for the 'Walkman', so there is no way around it."

Ibuka said: "The impact of product patents is very small, and it seems to be a concept patent. If Midea Electronics is not open, their products cannot be sold in other countries. What's more, many of the parts in Midea's Walkman are produced in Japan Yes, can we?"

Akio Morita immediately said: "We can't move for the time being. After all, the patent for the 'Walkman' product is still very troublesome. Let's try to come up with a better product within one or two years!"

There are already samples that can be copied within a year; but Akio Morita wants a more advanced product, which will naturally take a little time, so he said within two years.

After the two finished their discussion, they immediately arranged a Walkman R\u0026D working group.

They have lost their reputation as ‘innovators’ and now they can only use technology to defeat Midea and dominate the Walkman market.

Compared with the media in Japan, the Hong Kong media are all praising it.

"Midea, a Hong Kong technology company"

"The Walkman was invented by Hong Kong people"

"Hong Kong cubes, popular in the United States"

All of a sudden, praises came pouring in.

Lin Zhichao came to the Midea Industrial Building in Kwun Tong and inspected the company again, accompanied by Li Zhenlong.

Midea owns two buildings in Kwun Tong and also leases an industrial building from Cheung Kong Group, totaling three buildings with an area of ​​more than 300,000 square feet.

Radios, electric fans, electronic watches, arcade machines, walkmans, plus the game software department, this is all the business.

"How is the electronic watch business doing now?" Lin Zhichao asked casually.

It's not that he doesn't understand the market, but he is inspecting his subordinates.

Li Zhenlong is a science student and technician. He is the second general manager of Midea Company. His overall performance is recognized by Lin Zhichao, otherwise he would not have been able to work for so many years.

"In the past few years, Japanese companies - Citizen, Casio, Seiko, etc., have been crazy about expanding production, and have reduced the price of electronic watches worth 400 US dollars to tens of US dollars. Intel can only withdraw from the 'electronic complete machine' market in disgrace and focus on CPUs. . Our Hong Kong electronic watch market is the export market second only to Japan. After all, we also have an advantage - cheap labor, so selling electronic watches also has advantages. In fact, Hong Kong electronic watches have been reduced to 'OEM and assembly', and profits The profits are not as high as those of Japanese manufacturers.”

Electronic watches are actually the predecessor of smart watches, with built-in quartz integrated circuits and LCD displays.

"The main reason is that Hong Kong manufacturers rely more on Japanese integrated circuits, right?"

The money was made by Japanese parts manufacturers!

Li Zhenlong nodded and said: "Yes! However, the Taiwan Industrial Research Institute is about to complete the first three-inch integrated circuit demonstration factory, and its employees have received training at RCA, the largest radio and television manufacturer in the United States. The first batch of products It's the IC for electronic watches. This is the first integrated circuit made in Taiwan. In the future, we in Hong Kong can get rid of the exploitation of Japanese components."

Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction: "Yes, I believe our compatriots, their chip production yield will soon surpass that of the United States."

For these three products, electronic watches, radios, and electric fans, Midea does have low profit margins, which may be less than 10% of sales. Of course, even for Sony and Panasonic, the profit margin is actually like this, but they are products with technical content.

Electric fans are a low-level product. In the early 1980s, after the second oil crisis, antique electric fans could have been developed and sold to Europe and the United States. Because of the oil crisis in Europe and the United States at that time, the government called on people to save resources. Electric fans save much more energy than air conditioners.

Other products - arcade machines, game software, and Walkmans will undoubtedly become important sources of profit. Especially game software and Walkman, this wave will make a lot of money.

At the same time, Lin Zhichao took advantage of this "technological trend" and planned to prepare the Hong Kong Polytechnic to upgrade to the Polytechnic University, which will probably be a matter of one or two years. In fact, there are already many talents with college degrees in science and engineering in Hong Kong, and almost all of them have been recruited by Midea companies.

A week later.

The news that Lin Zhichao donated HK$50 million to the Hong Kong Polytechnic to help upgrade the Polytechnic University spread throughout Hong Kong. For a time, Lin Zhichao began to have a reputation as a ‘tech tycoon’.

Of course, Lin Zhichao doesn't care about this. What he cares about is that there will be enough talents to utilize in the future. He has donated 100 million to the Polytechnic and has become a well-deserved expert in donating education.