196. Determination
The smartphone started with Apple’s iPhone in the late 2000s and is considered a great invention that marks a milestone in human history.
But strictly speaking, the first smartphone was not the iPhone.
The first smartphone was a model called ‘IBM Simon’ developed by IBM in 1993.
Although this device had a tremendous weight of 510g, it was a device that could use not only a basic telephone, but also e-mail, fax, and call functions.
Although it was ridiculously small at 900KB, it had its own internal storage and, crucially, was the first mobile phone to use a touchscreen rather than physical buttons.
However, the high price of 1,000 dollars and the extreme communication speed that required downloading data from TDMA method were a big problem.
In addition, Bell South Telecommunications Company of the United States, which exclusively distributed IBM Simon, set a huge data communication cost for this mobile phone, making it impossible for users to afford the communication fee.
And crucially, an app store that can continuously provide a variety of applications is needed, but such a thing was not prepared.
‘In order for a smartphone to succeed, of course, the technology to create the product is important, but the environment in which the product can be used properly is the most important.’
Hoyoung thought of three major environmental factors that enable smartphones to be widely used.
Fast networks first, web browsers second, and app stores and application developers second.
Hoyoung was sure that it would not take too long to satisfy all three.
Network speed will be solved once 3G communication is developed, and secondly, if Hoyoung makes up his mind, he was confident that he could complete a mobile web browser even if it is sloppy within a week.
The same goes for functional issues with the App Store.
And he was convinced that if essential apps were developed in advance in the early stage, distributed to the market, and the app sales revenue settlement rate was appropriately adjusted, capable developers would come in droves with good software.
‘I can build enough environments, but physical skills are a problem.’
However, I thought there was no need to worry too much about it.
If you have the technology that perfectly completed the PlayStation, you should be able to create it.
Hoyoung spoke to John Carmack and Shigeru, who still had doubts about the portable PlayStation.
“Building a portable PlayStation would be a daunting task. But there is another reason why you must build a portable device.”
“What is it?”
“It’s an exercise in making the stuff I’m thinking of.”
“practice?”
Shigeru and John Carmack looked bewildered.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make the handheld game machine that Hoyeong talked about, but that’s just practice.
Hoyoung smiled and said.
“The thing I really want to make is a smartphone.”
Ho-young spoke sternly to Shigeru and John Carmack, who were focusing their attention on him.
“Smartphone? What is it?”
“Is this a term I’ve never heard of?”
Hoyoung thought their reaction was cute and explained the concept of a smartphone.
It was natural for the four eyes of the two people to widen as they listened to all the explanations.
“Right now, there are things that are possible and there are things that are impossible. I have all my thoughts about the environment construction I mentioned earlier, but it’s a technical problem… That said, CPUs, GPUs, memory, touchscreens, etc. have a long way to go.”
Everyone nodded.
This is because two or three more advanced technologies were needed to cram the functions Hoyoung explained into one device.
Then John Carmack raised his hand and said.
“The touch screen I just mentioned. Are you talking about Mutual Capacitive Sensing technology?”
Hoyoung was taken aback by John Carmack’s question.
“How do you know that?”
“Also. I know one expert in that field.”
“expert?”
“haha. I’m not that expert, and one of our employees has a developer who graduated from the University of Toronto. But the developer is from the University of Toronto. He is a person who has completed a master’s degree at the Toronto Graduate School, and unusually, he has a master’s degree in electrical engineering, not computer science. But when that person applied for our company, I looked around the papers he had written and found that he had written a paper related to a multi-touch system in capacitive sensing.”
“Five! okay? I’m so glad that Then could I ask if you know of a professor at the University of Toronto named Brody Donovan?”
“That’s easy. I’ll ask you as soon as I get through the phone.”
Hoyoung thought things might work out better than he thought.
Professor Donovan was an authority in the field of capacitive touch screens.
In particular, he began researching multi-touch functions in capacitive touch screens in 1982 while he was at the University of Toronto.
By the way, the year 1987 when all the technology was completed.
He suddenly disappeared.
There is no way to know what happened, but one thing is certain.
If Donovan is found, the development of smartphones will also be faster.
And from Shigeru’s point of view, he thought that the hardware technology of the smartphone that Hoyoung wanted to make could eventually greatly develop the game industry.
Larger memory, faster CPU, and better graphics were essential for him as a game machine maker.
“good. So how about doing this? Instead of targeting handheld game consoles, start developing by targeting smartphones as Hoyoung said. And as a product of that transitional period, a handheld game console was created.”
Shigeru glanced at Hoyoung as he spoke.
Hoyoung nodded with a happy face as if it was a very good idea.
“good. There is only one downside to that method.”
“Yes. It’s a method that takes more than twice the development cost of making other products. After all, it will take a lot of effort to commercialize handheld game consoles.”
“However, there are no downsides to it, but it is the same. I will cover all development costs. And there will be no limit on development costs.”
At Hoyoung’s words, John Carmack and Shigeru briefly exclaimed.
“I don’t usually get a sense of how rich you are, but when I see you like this, you seem like someone who lives in a completely different world.”
“What about the rest of the world, John, you think you’re going to be one of the richest people in the world now that PlayStation is coming out and Doom is coming out?”
“haha. It should sell a lot, but I don’t even want that much. It is enough for me to create an environment that allows me to concentrate on development comfortably.”
Hoyoung replied with a humorous expression.
“okay? I was going to give you a small share of the smartphone if you develop a game or application that will run on the early smartphone, but you don’t need it?”
“What? That’s not…”
“why? You say you don’t need money?”
“That and that are different!”
Hoyoung and Shigeru burst into laughter at the sight of John Carmack getting angry.
Ho-young laughed loudly and felt that the future Ho-young thought was not too far away with the two geniuses sitting together.
.
.
.
A few days have passed since Hoyoung came back to Korea with the basic plans for a smartphone.
He unexpectedly received a call from someone.
It was Steve Jobs, the CEO of NeXT.
“Jobs?”
– Mr. Yoon! Are you doing well? Did you know that everywhere you go these days, you only talk about Mr. Yoon?
“I’m lucky, so a lot of things are going smoothly. Thanks to that, I think I’m riding a little fame.”
The PlayStation achieved a staggering 500,000 sales within a few days of its launch in Japan.
That’s not a staggering number given that in its original history PlayStations totaled over 100 million units sold.
However, considering that it only sold 200,000 units in the first week, it was a tremendous growth.
In addition, along with Cronus’ winning streak, Yun Ho-young was already the hottest figure in the North American market.
– If that’s a little fame, then I’m a completely obscure businessman.
“haha. Jobs is unknown. It’s not worth it.”
At first, the two shared trivial regards and greetings.
“By the way, what are you calling about?”
– that is···.
For some reason, Steve Jobs was uncharacteristically speechless.
“Please speak comfortably. Is something big going on?”
– No big deal. In fact, I’d say it’s close to a good thing.
“Is it a good thing?”
– yes. Someone came from Apple yesterday.
“Apple···?”
Hoyoung had a thought running through her head.
Steve Jobs, as everyone knows, came from Apple.
Not only did he leave the company, but he was fired and kicked out of the company he founded.
There was only one reason why Apple contacted Steve Jobs again.
“Did you ask me to come back to Apple?”
– …! It is also Hoyoung. How did you know?”
Hoyoung involuntarily nodded.
Currently, Apple is experiencing its worst slump ever.
The products being released are being eaten up, and people didn’t even want to hear about it unless they were Apple enthusiasts.
“Somehow it seemed so. It seems that he wanted to overcome Apple’s downturn with Jobs.”
– That’s right. Originally, it felt like sharing the share with Windows, but recently, as Chronos began to dominate the market share, Apple’s Macintosh’s share dropped to less than 1%.
“haha. Is it because of me after all? However, I don’t think it was a simple recruitment offer.”
– Whoops. That’s right too. Apple suggests that we proceed with the form of acquiring NeXT.
“As expected.”
It was something that should have happened in the future.
But originally, NeXT was acquired by Apple, and Steve Jobs returned to Apple at the end of 1996.
Now, a year and a half has passed since then.
‘Did I make a quick decision because the speed of market share accelerated so suddenly because of Chronos?’
Hoyoung once again realized that the future can be changed.
“What are the conditions?”
– About 1.3 million shares of Apple Computer, $300 million in cash.
A truly staggering amount.
Since Hoyoung owns a 20% stake in NeXT, it was an opportunity to get 260,000 shares of Apple stock and $60 million in cash.
However, it was a little different from the numbers Hoyoung knew.
Perhaps because of the early timing, I have offered a slightly lower amount than the acquisition amount in my previous life.
After thinking about it for a while, Hoyeong finally opened her mouth.
“What do you think, Steve?”
– I···.
Steve Jobs has been speechless ever since.
‘Are you thinking that it hurts your pride to go because the company that abandoned you is calling?’
Considering his ego and personality, I thought it was highly likely.
“If this works out, Steve will be greatly honored.”
– yes?
“Aren’t you getting revenge on the company in the most spectacular way? Buying the company for a huge amount of money, and even bringing it back. Apple must have felt Steve’s absence keenly.
Steve Jobs did not respond to Hoyoung’s words for a long time.
– okay. Does it look like that?
“Sure.”
As if Steve Jobs was thinking about it once more, silence continued beyond the receiver.
Then he said
– I want to clean up NeXT and go back to Apple.
“OK. I like it too. I will.”
– All right. Thank you for your comments. If anything else is decided, we will contact you right away.
“yes. Thanks for calling.”
After hanging up the phone with Steve Jobs, Hoyoung thought.
‘Apple announces the iPhone in 2007 and becomes one of the most expensive companies in the world. Now, one share of Apple stock is worth $10,000 after going through several stock splits later. Then the 260,000 shares that fall to me are worth a whopping $2.6 billion.’
What Hoyoung was struggling with was the question of how long he should hold Apple stock.
Hoyeong soon made up her mind.
‘not. Don’t be fooled by the $2.6 billion figure. Will Apple’s stock rise to that level? Absolutely not. I need to make a profit by selling it when it’s appropriate.’
Hoyoung was confident that Apple’s stock would not rise to that extent.
It was the innovation brought about by the iPhone that got Apple to where it was.
However, in this life, Hoyoung planned to make that innovation her own.
