[Chapter 568: The Age of Digital Communication]
"Sir, Mr. Jacob is here."
"Ha, send him to my study. I'll change clothes and be right up."
Dealing with the stubborn professor, William White felt quite annoyed. Of course, he understood that CDMA was better, but time just wasn't on his side!
Those who entered William White's study usually weren't just colleagues. Owen Jacob had been there before and easily picked up a cigar to enjoy.
Every time he visited, he would take some cigars with him. In America, only William White had the finest Cuban cigars.
"Owen, you're here to steal my cigars again? Please, just smoke them yourself and don't give them away. I don't want to attract customs attention."
"This damn ban is just ridiculous; the only thing that could compare is Prohibition."
"Haha, you wouldn't believe it, but I'm a major shareholder in Coca-Cola. Without Prohibition, I would have never made so much money."
While they chatted casually, William White's hands weren't idle. He quickly began to set up the phone Owen Jacob had brought.
Upon seeing the familiar SIM card, William White was momentarily lost in thought. With this, selling phones would become much easier.
"William, GSM really can't compare to CDMA; the bandwidth is far inferior and the call quality is just not as good."
"This is why you are a good professor. Owen, we're talking business now. Think of the current GSM as a 1G phone. Once your CDMA matures, we can roll out 2G. If it's not a considerable leap, we can call it 1.5G."
"Come on, the waste would be colossal."
"Ha, you know, Owen, many countries in Asia are still setting up analog transmission platforms. I'm not hiding their intentions."
Owen Jacob was slightly stunned. The digital communication era had already begun, and here he was discussing analog transmission!
"Owen, every equipment upgrade brings huge profits. You think our approach is wrong?"
"Upgrade? Sorry, I need to correct your notion. This isn't an upgrade; it's two completely different systems. All the existing equipment will become junk. Well, aside from the metal frames, I can't think of anything else that's compatible."
"The shareholders will believe it and they will invest. Consumers will believe their phone numbers aren't changing. Nokia, Ericsson, Siemens, they will all buy in. Owen, I know this is tough, but business is business."
Owen Jacob left, his mood considerably gloomy, and William White's cigars took a hit. Sometimes William wondered if that old guy was just pretending to be upset in order to facilitate a heist.
Having tested the call quality, even though it was just a testing platform, the results were impressive.
"Filson, digital mobile communication is entering the testing phase. Get a plan going for two thousand users, provide them phones for free."
"Sir, which city are we testing in?"
"How about Hong Kong? Dominic is there, you can reach out to him."
Filson was stunned; he hadn't expected the boss would want to go that far for the test.
"Sir, won't that be too far?"
William White smiled wryly, "Ha, Filson, I only got one telecom company. You know the situation here in the U.S. -- it's all red tape. Rather than get mired in that, we might as well operate directly in Hong Kong."
"What do you think the user numbers will be like?"
"Haha, don't worry, don't worry. In terms of per capita phone ownership, Hong Kong has very high numbers."
"Alright, I'll arrange it. Haha, those old fellows are going to be up in arms again."
"Doesn't matter. If they find a suitable place, they can manage it themselves. Honestly, this kind of thing needs a company of telecom level to operate."
"Yes, indeed a pretty hefty expense. If the operators don't cooperate much, it could be entertaining to watch."
William White looked at Filson with a strange expression and then said slowly, "Old buddy, you really think they won't sell the mobile licenses again?"
After he said that, Filson's expression was priceless. William was pretty sure that inside Filson's head, a herd of alpacas had just stampeded through.
"That's pretty shameless, right?"
"Didn't you notice? The digital communication phones can send texts. That's a new business, what's the harm in re-auctioning the licenses?"
Since the telecom company was under his control, things in Hong Kong would proceed easily. There was no need for lengthy discussions; they could just announce a system upgrade, similar to upgrading traditional phone lines.
...
"What? Are you sure?"
"Yes, sir, their response time is incredible; factories in Taiwan have already started production. By next summer, Hong Kong will be able to conduct trial operations."
"Why not the U.S.? What about Europe? Has the French done anything?"
"No, there are still some disputes about the positioning of digital mobile communication. It seems there could be some complications due to overlapping functions with pagers."
"What complications? Are the operators' assistants going to lose their jobs? Are these idiots crazy? How many pagers are there in Europe anyway?"
"Cough, cough, sir, actually, we have similar problems as well."
"Forget it; I'm getting old. Let them figure it out."
After that exchange, the old Morgan fellow seemed a little dejected. He realized that the world was changing too rapidly. His past knowledge could not adapt to today's society.
Owning a portion of the patents was one thing; bringing them to market first was another. Hong Kong was ahead of Europe, and Europe was ahead of the U.S. He was quite sure that without William White, Motorola would have faced a disastrous defeat.
Yes, it was just a testing area. There was no need to get tangled up with the unions. Since the phones had text functions, the end of pagers was inevitable.
Damn it, Motorola's pagers were still quite profitable. Fortunately, the continued strong sales of phones offset some of that loss.
That crafty guy really did have foresight.
But it wasn't really foresight; William White just capitalized on timing. The pager systems in Hong Kong were way more plentiful than in the U.S.
It was almost laughable that a toy invented by Americans was not particularly cherished in the U.S. Aside from some special professions, like doctors or police, and of course, those delivering takeout.
As for everyone else, nobody liked being tethered to a remote. Pagers simply couldn't be promoted.
Americans longed for freedom; they didn't have to wear one at work, nor were they obligated to after hours. As for staying in touch with friends? Well, they could do that, but don't expect a large quantity.
In America, anything involving connections usually came with a hefty price tag. If it involved service, the costs could be outrageous. If you calculated the usage costs, you might as well buy a phone.
Some might find it hard to believe, but if you saved a little, a phone might even be cheaper than a pager. For instance, if a phone rang but you missed it, you could call back on a landline.
Haha, this method later became widely used in many countries in Asia.
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.