Chapter 781: Outside First, Inside Later
When the paging information was sent to Song Yuanchao's device through the internal test paging station, the content of the information was displayed, which meant that this Chinese pager had been completely completed, at least there were no problems in terms of technology and practical application.
“Good job!”
Song Yuanchao once again praised Shen Xiangsheng. In just less than half a year, Shenghua Electronics was able to thoroughly understand and absorb the technology from the American branch, and then make a prototype according to the requirements put forward by Song Yuanchao. The progress was already very good.
Although the prototype has been produced and today's test results have made Song Yuanchao quite satisfied, it will take time to actually put the product into production.
Song Yuanchao asked about the formal production of Chinese pagers, and Shen Xiangsheng immediately gave Song Yuanchao a detailed report.
The product's design has been finalized. In fact, this prototype already has the outline of the finalized design, but it is still very rough.
According to the actual product design, the official product shell will be made of ABS material. ABS is one of the five general-purpose plastics and has excellent comprehensive properties such as good heat resistance, high surface hardness, good dimensional stability, chemical resistance and electrical properties, easy molding and machining.
This material is very good as a pager shell. Although it is more expensive than ordinary plastic, the effect is obvious. Moreover, according to Song Yuanchao's requirements, Shenghua's pagers must have other colors besides the most common black, such as red, yellow, orange and other colors suitable for young people and women.
Due to the color requirements and the advantage of ABS material, the mold for the shell shape has been prepared, and once the prototype is approved, we can start immediately.
In addition to the outer shell of the pager itself, it will also be equipped with a matching shell with a clip as an external accessory. At that time, the main body can be directly inserted into the outer shell. When it is no longer needed, you no longer need to take the machine directly off the belt and then install it again. This will be much more convenient.
Of course, the anti-drop chain of the main body is still retained, and certain optimization treatments will be made to achieve a sturdy, reliable and beautiful effect.
As for the pager itself, the most important thing is the internal parts. This is a bit more troublesome. The communication chip and some parts of the machine cannot be produced domestically, and Shenghua does not have the ability to do so. They can only rely on foreign imports and customization.
Shen Xiangsheng told Song Yuanchao that currently these products can only be supplied through Europe, the United States, Japan and the Taiwan Strait, and the cost is relatively high.
According to Shenghua Electronics' comparison of spare parts provided by these suppliers, Motorola has the best communication chip technology, but Japan has the greatest advantage in terms of price and practicality.
After testing, Shenghua Electronics proposed two solutions. One is to use Motorola's communication chip, and the second is to use Japan's communication chip. However, no matter which one is used, customized production is required, and the cost can only be reduced when the output reaches a certain level.
Song Yuanchao did not make an immediate decision. He planned to let Shenghua Telecom and the American company contact the other party separately and see the results of the negotiations before making a choice. After all, this was key to the development of the entire pager business and he had to be cautious.
In addition, even if the problem of spare parts and key communication chips is solved, the cost of Chinese pagers will be very high. According to Shen Xiangsheng's calculations, if it is just a digital pager, the cost will be much lower because the communication chips are already very mature and there are many manufacturers.
With mass production, Shenghua Electronics can reduce the cost of digital pagers to around 80 yuan per unit. However, the same is true for Chinese pagers. According to preliminary estimates, the cost will be at least 300 yuan, which is really too high.
Song Yuanchao smiled without comment. 300 yuan? Is it high? Not high!
Although the current per capita income in China is much higher than a few years ago, in big cities like Shanghai and Yanjing, the average monthly income of ordinary workers has exceeded 120 yuan, and some even earn as much as 200 yuan, which was simply impossible in the past.
As for Pengcheng, it goes without saying that as long as ordinary workers are willing to work hard, it is easy to earn this amount in a month. If they are management staff, it will be no problem to earn several times more.
Song Yuanchao used to use pagers, both the ordinary digital display and the later Chinese pagers were issued by his work unit, and he didn't spend a penny on them. But as a staff member of the telecommunications department, Song Yuanchao still had a good understanding of the prices of pagers.
The price of a digital Motorola classic pager in China is about 750 yuan, which is almost four months' salary for some people with higher salaries. As for the Chinese pager, Shenghua has just developed it and has not yet been officially launched on the market, but Song Yuanchao remembers that when it was first launched, the price of a Chinese pager was about 4,000 yuan, which was ridiculously expensive.
But even so, the sales of pagers in China were still extremely hot. In the early 1990s, especially in the three years from 1992 to 1994, the annual sales growth rate of the pager market was extremely amazing. The annual sales of digital display pagers of Motorola alone reached a huge amount of one million.
Even in Hong Kong now, the price of pagers is not low. From this point of view, the slightly higher cost is not a problem for Shenghua at all.
What Shenghua wants is the market and the initiative, especially now that Shenghua has already taken the lead in developing the Chinese pager. Compared with the history where Motorola only discovered this problem in the early 1990s based on the needs of the Chinese market and launched Chinese pagers in a targeted manner, Shenghua has already taken the lead in this step.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Song Yuanchao's mind, and he suddenly had an idea.
At present, even digital pagers have not taken off in the domestic market. The key reason, of course, is that domestic consumption capacity has not yet reached a certain level. In addition, the emergence of this new thing, pagers, has not yet been accepted by most people. In addition, the establishment and installation of paging stations also requires time to cover and improve.
However, the situation is different overseas. For example, in regions and countries such as Hong Kong, the Taiwan Strait, Japan, and South Korea, their pager markets have gradually matured and have a larger user base, but the pagers they use are still old-fashioned ones.
Take Hong Kong for example. Even digital pagers have only recently come out. A few years ago, Hong Kong's paging stations could not send messages directly. Paging information could only be received by the owner replying to the paging station with the paging number after receiving the paging signal.
If Chinese pagers are promoted in these regions and countries first, it would be a very good sales direction. After one or two years, when the domestic pager market is gradually improved, it would be a good time to make a comeback and enter the market in a big way.
Shenghua's advantage in this regard is its Chinese paging technology and patents. Although this thing is not uncommon from a technical point of view, in one sentence it is just a matter of breaking through a layer of window paper, but who can blame Shenghua for being so ahead?
Moreover, this technology is currently in the hands of an American company, and Shenghua Telecom obtained it through a nominal "technology transfer". Because of the existence of American companies, there is no problem in entering these markets. Hong Kong is the home of Shenghua Telecom, and Shenghua already has its own paging station, so it is most convenient to operate.
Even if it is Japan and South Korea, there is no problem at all. If the American father's products want to enter the market, how dare the son object? This is completely impossible.
What's more, Song Yuanchao also thought of another point. He could use this opportunity to cooperate with Japanese suppliers, share this market through technology licensing, and at the same time obtain purchasing discounts on communication chips and other spare parts from them.
Song Yuanchao even thought that maybe he could directly exchange technology to obtain the production technology of communication chips, including production lines and so on. It would be even better if that were the case. Although the possibility is not high, it doesn't hurt to try. What if?
As for the conversion between Chinese, Japanese and Korean, there was no problem in terms of technology. Song Yuanchao immediately instructed Shen Xiangsheng to let Shenghua Electronics solve this problem as soon as possible.
Shen Xiangsheng was also a smart man. He immediately understood what Song Yuanchao wanted to do. He agreed with a look of admiration on his face, which made Song Yuanchao feel a little proud.
Ding-a-ling.
The phone on the table suddenly rang. Shen Xiangsheng picked up the phone and answered it. After a moment, he handed the phone to Song Yuanchao.
"Mr. Song, your phone number."
"My call? Who's calling?" Song Yuanchao was stunned. This was not his office. He came to Shenghua Electronics today to see the products, so he was sitting in Shen Xiangsheng's office now. How could there be a call for him?
"Deputy Chief Engineer Li..." Shen Xiangsheng said with a smile, handed the phone to Song Yuanchao, then tactfully pointed towards the door and went out first.
Song Yuanchao took the phone and put it to his ear. He knew who the Deputy Chief Engineer Li mentioned by Shen Xiangsheng was. He immediately said to the person on the other end of the phone with a smile: "Uncle Li, how did you know I was here? Didn't you go to Hong Kong with Aunt Dong?"
"It's so hard to find you!" Uncle Li's voice came from the phone, and his tone was filled with uncontrollable laughter: "I called your Yan Zi earlier, and she told me that you went to Pengcheng. I knew you must have gone to Shenghua Electronics, so I called Lao Shen to ask, but I didn't expect you to be in his office."
"Hahaha, Uncle Li, you guessed it right. By the way, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"Good news!" Uncle Li laughed on the phone, "Daqi's wife just gave birth to a son! 7.2 jin , hahaha!"
"Really? That's great!" Song Yuanchao said happily, "Congratulations, congratulations on becoming a grandfather, you have finally fulfilled your wish. By the way, how is Daqi? How is Xiaoli? Is she okay?"
"It's all good. I'm busy here now. This old man is calling relatives and friends to inform them one by one. You said before that you want to be the child's godfather, so I'm telling you this specially. Okay, now that I've told you about it, you can go about your business first. Xiaoli still needs to stay in the hospital for two days, and we can talk about other things after she is discharged..."
After saying that, Uncle Li hung up the phone. After Song Yuanchao put down the phone, his face was full of joy. Among his brothers, he had the best relationship with Li Daqi and Qin Zhengguo. Now that Li Daqi has become a father, Song Yuanchao is really happy for him.
