Motorola's mobile phone research and development department hadn't been established for long. Their current focus was on pagers and walkie-talkies, as for mobile phones, it was hard not to be skeptical about them. However, don't they also have satellite phones?
"Cooperation? Sure! Filson, didn't they not value this before? What's going on now?"
"Ha, they probably realized that satellite phones are not very reliable, or at least they can't get them sorted out in a short time."
"Well, don't even think about it in less than ten years. I'm just a businessman, not one of those idealistic scientists."
"Setting up transmitters for mobile phones is indeed troublesome, maybe that's why they thought of satellites."
"Alright, let's not talk about that. How do they plan to cooperate, and what are the terms?"
"They want to take the lead, mimicking the chip department's approach."
"Ha, they can have the majority of the shares, 60%, but only half of the voting rights. Just tell them directly, they might be good at developing products, but making more money is my forte."
"Okay, sir, I'll go talk to them."
Even the audacious Galvin family would admit that when it came to making money, William White really outclassed them. They couldn't even sneer at how he turned a heavily losing chip department into an asset.
Of course, William White's boldness was no bluff. When he decided against the 70000 series chip development, there was no room for discussion at all.
Sometimes they even wondered if he was an undercover agent for Intel.
Only William White himself knew his frustrations. Developing a new architecture wasn't impossible, and if IBM participated, there would be no problems, even if it meant selling the family silver.
When it came to climbing the technology tree, William White truly had no say. Motorola's thousands of patents were no joke. But, why couldn't they ever grasp the main point?
William White had already made it clear that IBM's participation was just a false proposition. What he was trying to express was that even if you develop something, what good is it?
Well, in history, Motorola did come up with some impressive CPUs. But, it was just a flash in the pan.
Microsoft didn't bother to do any optimization, and Intel was hot on their heels. In the end, didn't Apple switch to Intel's camp?
...
After heated discussions, most of Motorola's board expressed support for this partnership. After all, the impressive results with CPUs made it difficult for them to turn down this cooperation.
However, cooperating is one thing, but being the first to try something new isn't that straightforward. The number of stakeholders involved in mobile phones was too many; you can't just solve it by creating a platform.
Of course, there's no rush on this matter; standardizing those transmission towers first was important. This would be something that could be sold later.
As for those eight big companies, William White didn't expect them to cooperate. Connecting to the wired telephone network was far from simple.
But, wasn't selling licenses an option?
This might be the crucial tool to break the stalemate.
Once this clicked for William White, he began organizing a team to develop the "big brick." As for the wireless telephone licenses, he planned to throw them to Bush Sr. at the time.
Ha, by then, even if they gritted their teeth, they would have to agree.
American mobile communications had a period of wild growth. Those who initially invested in these securities all suffered significant losses without exception. But thanks to these fools' contributions, America's wireless phone industry developed rapidly.
Maybe they were really driven mad by profits, allowing Europe's GSM to overtake them on a curve. America's loss in this project was almost in the hundreds of billions.
After suffering a huge setback, the United States began its rogue journey.
However, in the end, America emerged victorious. These folks could spend money like water; no matter how advanced Europe's system was, it didn't matter. They simply wouldn't accept it.
Regarding high-tech electronic products, Europeans were not very interested. Most of the buyers of new mobile phones were Americans. Even if your communication system was advanced, you'd still have to modify it to enter the U.S. market. Otherwise, you couldn't sell.
Now that the mobile phone department was in William White's hands, it would naturally not let Europeans overtake them again. The most they'd do was cooperate, with no adoption of any European standards.
It was just digital communications after all, and American telephone companies were just engaged in this. What you call GSM was nothing more than applying digital communications to mobile phones. Who couldn't do that?
Facing a big boss who often mingled in film sets, it left people speechless. If you really liked such scenes, couldn't you just do it at your company and enjoy it slowly? Was there a need to make yourself this exhausted?
William White didn't care about the onlookers' comments. His company naturally had its own rules. If everything required him, the boss, to solve, then he wouldn't even be alive.
...
"This window system seems interesting."
"Sir, I think most of it is copied."
"Ha, aren't software companies all like that? You copy me, I copy you. The only exception might be that William guy. By the way, didn't he go to Japan lately?"
"No, he spends most of his time on set, completely uninterested in Japan."
"Ha, sneaky kid. I bet he keeps an eye on Japan every day, never letting his guard down."
"Is this guy playing the fool again?"
"Yeah, this guy really has no integrity. But, our old friends always fall for it."
"Sir, we'd better stay away from them. That guy's brain is nuts. Besides, William White has been in frequent contact with Goldman Sachs lately."
"Alas, Goldman Sachs is more like a partner company. The power of their managers is indeed very large."
Whether the power is large or not doesn't matter. The only ones with the qualification to interact with him are their two CEOs. William White wouldn't care about any partnership model; what he was concerned about was the relationship between Goldman Sachs and the U.S. Federal Reserve.
You know, those guys should be considered U.S. government merchants. Regardless of who replaces your president, the position of the Treasury Secretary always stays with Goldman Sachs.
If someone tells you this is just a coincidence...
Ha, would you believe it?
These games of the rich, when laid bare, the final referee is the U.S. Federal Reserve. Goldman Sachs is indeed the favored son, and if William White ignored them, wouldn't that be foolish?
"Sigh, I get it, let Citi have their way; we at Morgan Stanley won't participate."
"Okay, sir. In this way, even if something does happen, can't we play the mediator?"
"Ha, we shouldn't bother being mediators. Both sides are nothing but bastards; it would be best if they took each other out."
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.