William White had a pleasant evening and went to White Films feeling refreshed. He couldn't stay there for long; his big office in Los Angeles was already built, and once the interior was finished, his workplace would be changing.
It was funny, really. The richest man in America spent so much time in Hollywood, but outsiders wouldn't know how to spin that into a story.
A few old-timers meeting him at this place didn't think it was strange. It's not easy for just anyone to come in and see him.
"Folks, you can look at the reports on the table, but you can't take them with you. I won't acknowledge anything once you walk out that door." Facing the straightforward crowd, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs didn't seem bothered. The others, however, had nothing to say. Motorola had some thoughts but didn't want to jump in too openly; after all, they were practically on the same team as William White.
The report was straightforward, simply a basic comparison. It helped the data-focused folks to better understand the current situation.
"William, the situation looks dire. With all the patents combined in the U.S., we barely have seventy percent?" After glancing at the documents, the CEO of Goldman Sachs couldn't hold back.
"Ah, Mr. Hager, that's just the best-case scenario. Let's just say our numbers aren't great, but in key areas, Motorola and Bell have the upper hand. However, if they had enough patience and funding, they could circumvent those patents. Of course, we can too."
"Is it a funding issue? Dear William, if that's the case, it shouldn't be a problem." An old-timer from Morgan Stanley chimed in. Rockefeller played dead, as Morgan Stanley was undoubtedly in charge. William White could only roll his eyes inwardly.
"The time cost is too high; we have at most three years left. Just having a technology isn't enough; it has to be turned into a product. What we're doing now is just reinforcing our technology, setting up stronger defenses, and in fact, they're doing the same."
William White's message was clear: it wouldn't be easy, if not impossible, for anyone to sidestep anyone else. What was ahead was just a matter of negotiation tactics.
What worried the old-timers was the Eureka project developed by the Europeans, closely linked with many high-tech firms. The difficulties William White faced weren't isolated cases.
"William, is there a possibility, say, we use information security as an excuse to create some trouble?"
"Good idea, but Mr. Hager, while that could be a negotiation point, it wouldn't work in practice. The so-called GSM standards were set by dozens of countries together, and even countries not in the GSM alliance seem more inclined to use their equipment."
William White made it clear: the U.S. mobile operators would sell anything for a price. It wasn't hard for Europeans to enter the U.S. market.
It seemed the Americans had lost the two most crucial Asian markets.
"Damn, this is a conspiracy. These Japanese guys have betrayed us again."
The old-timers really sensed something was off. On the surface, Motorola and Bell Labs were the hardest hit, but the reality was different; these consortiums had all benefited to some extent. If they got kicked out this time, there would be nothing to salvage.
"Well then, it seems we have no choice but to negotiate," the Morgan Stanley old-timer said again.
"Yeah, just so. As for cutting our interests, that's simpler; the key issue is how large a market we can carve out. Our population base is just too small; even if one-tenth use cell phones, that's only a few million. Asia combined with Europe far exceeds that base."
"One-tenth? William, are you sure there will be that many target users?"
"Not likely at the moment. Our next phone won't be priced over two thousand bucks; the one after might hover around a thousand. If we land thirty million users, I think the price will be even lower. Folks, the price of electronic products is directly related to its quantity. Ten years down the line, we'll have phones priced around five hundred bucks. If we hit that price range, what's the big deal about a hundred million users?"
As William White's words settled, the atmosphere in the room grew electric. They always relied on static numbers for assessment, so they sneered at the idea of a hundred million users.
Now, William White told them it wasn't a mountain of four thousand bucks or more; his price range was five hundred.
Five hundred? If it were five hundred, how could there only be a hundred million users? The number should be much larger.
As the user base grew, it wouldn't just be about phones but also about numerous towers and switches. And let's not forget the massive phone bills -- damn it, they couldn't let Europeans reap the benefits.
Next, William White broke down the costs of mobile phones. He made it clear that while it might be tough in the U.S., producing them in places like Japan or Taiwan would be no problem.
Core components can't be exported?
William White was baffled; a lot of those things were made elsewhere, for crying out loud! Did they really think it was all high-tech?
Certainly, the most frustrated among them was Motorola. Clearly, they had miscalculated again, just like with that CPU department.
As a seasoned manufacturing company, they understood William White's cost analysis clearly; this wasn't just hot air. They believed that he had already started doing something similar.
The only silver lining was that they still held the largest shares.
However, after all this, they believed the investors present wouldn't trust them anymore.
The phrase "aiming too high" was the best way to describe it.
A group of big shots hurriedly left; they needed to act fast. At this point, they realized William White couldn't handle this big meal.
While that was the case, they were grateful. If William White hadn't uncovered the Europeans' intentions, they would have been caught off guard.
As for whether William White might be leading them on, that naturally required verification.
The GSM system, huh?
"Get me the details."
If it was something cooked up by just the French, it would be tough to investigate. One slip and it could turn into an international incident. If it involved dozens of companies, that was much simpler. Moreover, they had left their fingerprints in the U.S. -- if they tried investigating directly, would they dare not cooperate?
Finding trouble was certainly a thankless task. For their own health, they would let those politicians handle it. William White believed Europe would compromise.
Right now, everyone was riding the wave of globalization, and as the largest consumer market, the U.S. still had its leverage. If worse came to worst, there were always sanctions.
Alcatel?
Ha! No matter how tough they were, they'd just get arrested, plain and simple.
In fact, the Americans had done that throughout history -- not just once. There were plenty of pretexts, all in the name of America's information security.
Alright then, if the Americans hadn't played that card, their manufacturing industry would have been completely shot by now.
*****
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