Chapter 140: Calculating Step by Step
A little bit of compensation?
Ohga Norio suppressed the anxiety that had just risen in his heart, and asked calmly, "What compensation? Why don't you tell me, Mr. Shirakawa?"
Baichuan Feng leaned forward and said, "I heard that your company is developing CD digital storage technology?"
This time, Ohga Norio looked at Shirakawa Kaede with a much more serious look. This kid's sense of smell is extremely sensitive.
CD technology is the research and development that Norio Ohga currently attaches the most importance to, even more important than the walkman.
According to Norio Ohga's plan, another business support point for Sony in the future will be CD digital technology.
Why does Norio Ohga attach so much importance to CD technology? This has to start from the history of Sony since its establishment.
It is widely believed that the two founders of Sony, Akio Morita and Masaru Ibuka, "one literary and one martial", worked together seamlessly.
Ibuka Masaru was in charge of technology, while Morita Akio was in charge of management. It was precisely because of the excellent cooperation between the two that Sony became what it is today.
Masaru Ibuka was the first president of Sony, and Akio Morita was the second president.
Since then, Sony has continued its style of training successors to the company, with one person in charge of technology and the other in charge of management.
The third president, who is also the current president of Sony, is Kazuo Iwama, who has a technical background and is Akio Morita's brother-in-law.
He is also a technical expert, and is no less capable than Ibuka Masaru.
Masaru Ibuka brought transistor technology to Sony, which led to the huge sales of the stereo radios that made Sony famous.
Kazuo Iwama brought Trinitron technology to Sony.
Sony currently has the largest market share and is the most profitable color TV. The reason why it can occupy such a large market share is because of the application of this technology.
If the "Ibuka-Morita" system continues, Kazuo Iwama should now be in charge of technology, and Norio Ohga should be in charge of marketing.
In theory, the two of them should have a close relationship and cooperate with each other.
However, the reality is far from this, and it can even be said to be just the opposite.
After Kazuo Iwama led his team to develop Trinitron technology, he was still not satisfied and now began to invest a lot of manpower and resources to develop CCD technology.
CCD technology is also known as image controller. This technology was widely used in Sony's famous digital cameras, camcorders, and even mobile phones.
But now, this technology has not seen the day when it can be used commercially.
Kazuo Iwama had invested hundreds of millions of dollars in this technology, and because of this, Norio Ohga had a big fight with him.
Moreover, Norio Ohga has publicly stated more than once within the company that he is not optimistic about Kazuo Iwama's CCD technology.
Therefore, the relationship between Ohga Norio and Iwama Kazuo was far from as close as Morita and others expected.
Besides, if nothing unexpected happens, Sony's next president will be Norio Ohga.
Masaru Ibuka had transistor technology, Akio Morita was the god of management, and Kazuo Iwama had Trinitron technology, so what could Norio Ohga bring to Sony?
The answer is CD technology.
As the next president of Sony, how can the ambitious Norio Ohga not make his own representative contributions?
He was the one who led the development of CD technology, striving to make it an important bargaining chip for Sony's next representative product.
Moreover, as a musician himself, Norio Ohga is also deeply fascinated by the high sound quality and high resolution of CD audio.
To use his words, "It took off the old cotton coat that was wrapped around the sound."
Ohga Norio, who attached so much importance to CD technology, naturally became serious and even alert when he heard that Shirakawa Kaede suddenly had the idea of using it.
"Mr. Shirakawa is right, Sony is indeed developing CD technology." Ohga Norio downplayed it on the surface, but he was already focused in his heart.
"It is fascinating to see Sony and Philips put aside their differences, work together sincerely, and make every effort to overcome technical difficulties in joint research and development.
Although Shirakawa Electric is small, it has its own R&D team and is eager to contribute to CD technology.”
As he said this, Baichuan Feng looked at Ohga Norio with shining eyes. This was his ultimate goal.
Mutual patent granting? That's incidental.
Taking advantage of the exchange of markets between the two parties, Shirakawa Electric, in its weak position of willingly suffering losses, proposed to join CD's R&D alliance.
This series of calculations are all for this step.
As for why Shirakawa Kaede is trying his best to join the CD R&D Alliance, it is because this is a format dispute.
If it is really successful, Shirakawa Electric will be one of the developers of the CD format.
In other words, what are the benefits of becoming one of the standard setters?
The benefits are huge. From now on, any manufacturer will have to pay patent fees to the CD Technology Alliance for every CD they produce.
Every disc!
Although a single disc is not much, think about the billions of CDs that will be used in later generations.
This is undoubtedly an astronomical figure, and it is an old hen that will never stop laying golden eggs.
More importantly, the fees collected from patents are almost zero cost!
It can truly be said that one can earn money without doing anything, and one can live a comfortable life just relying on patent fees.
But will things really turn out as he wishes?
"Shirakawa-san," Ohga Norio looked at him with a half-smile, "You really are impressive.
Philips can provide hardware support for CDs, namely the research and development of optical disc technology and laser reading and burning technology.
Sony specializes in digital coding technology to achieve signal conversion and storage. "
"So," Ohga Norio looked at him seriously, "what can Shirakawa Electric provide for CD technology?"
Baichuan Feng was stunned. It turned out that they had already divided the work into such a detailed manner.
Originally, Baichuan Feng wanted to think of a solution on hardware. After all, he was good at this, and with Meiji's joining, he might be able to make some efforts.
But now this part of the work has been done by Philips. With the strength of Shirakawa Electric, there is basically no need to have such wishful thinking anymore.
And looking at the confident expression on Ohga Norio's face, Shirakawa Kaede guessed that the development of CD technology might have come to an end.
Alas, it’s still a step late.
“Since Ohga-san has already arranged everything, Shirakawa has nothing to say.
However, if the mutual granting of patents is just the case, it would be unfair to Shirakawa Electric.
Fairness is one of the most basic prerequisites for transactions to proceed.”
Well, since the plan of winning by doing nothing didn't work out. But when it came time to get the benefits, Baichuan Feng was not vague at all.
Ohga Norio fell into deep thought. If they wanted to reach an agreement, it would at least be possible on the basis that both parties were relatively satisfied.
There is no need to think about the CD Technology Alliance. Since Norio Ohga is optimistic about its prospects, he must be aware of the income from patents.
In that case...
"How about this. Sony can authorize Shirakawa Electric to use the relevant patents of CD technology for free. Design and produce a series of supporting playback equipment."
Norio Ohga is optimistic about the future of CDs, but no one can predict the future market. After all, he cannot predict the future.
Besides, CD technology was not without competitors at this time. The competition for the next-generation audio format involved more competitors than one might imagine.
What Norio Ohga did was equivalent to open source, inviting Shirakawa Electric to join the CD camp and use its related patents for free.
It seems that Shirakawa Electric got a bargain, but Sony also did not lose out.
With more manufacturers joining in, CD's chances of success will be greater, and the promotion progress will be faster in the future.
If CD technology beats its competitors, it will be certified by the International Audio Association as the standard format for the next generation of audio.
So what will be its biggest enemy in the future? Vinyl.
If CDs are to be promoted on a large scale, only when more manufacturers join in will it pose a threat to vinyl records.
This is similar to the Android Alliance in later generations. It requires a large number of mobile phone manufacturers to join in the promotion before Android can become truly popular.
The same is true for CD, which is why Norio Ohga agreed easily.
But when Baichuan Feng heard this condition, his heart was moved. Use CD technology for free? !
This..., there is such a good thing!
Thinking about the popularity of CDs in later generations, to be honest, he never expected Sony to be so generous.
But, you have to act when it's time to act.
"Not enough," Shirakawa Feng shook his head. "Ohga-san must also know that Shirakawa Electric's participation is beneficial to the promotion of the CD format, but it is far from offsetting the concessions made by Shirakawa Electric on patent licensing."
Baichuan Feng is not a fool, he knows everything there is to know.
However, since Sony is unsure about the future market for CDs, it would be a shame to its reputation as a freeloader if it doesn't make some money at this time.
Although he had obtained the CD patent license for free, this still did not satisfy him.
"Sony will pay another "special payment" to compensate Shirakawa Electric for its licensing concessions."
"How much?" Baichuan Feng's eyes lit up.
