[Chapter 647: The Cake of Financial Information Services]
William White was quite pleased, holding the latest model of a PDA in his hand. The previous version, even the budget one, hadn't sold well in America at all.
"Tom, is this a product from United Microelectronics?"
"Yes, sir, their quality has now come really close to ours."
William White shook his head, firmly refusing to believe that his product was inferior. That was pointless -- only someone with a fragile ego would think that way.
The right approach was to say, "I may not be better than you now, but I will surpass you in the future." Although he disliked them, they were better than the American companies in this respect.
"Have we tested it yet?"
"Weather forecasts and some push notifications are fine, but for stock information, we can only use previous tests since we can't get real-time data."
"That's not the same; I need to know how much delay there is. Those Wall Street bastards may not care about the price or the service fees, but they definitely care about the lag time."
"Well, sir, we tried it on Taiwan, and it doesn't exceed five seconds. If the exchange provides real-time information, it's almost seamless."
"Seamless -- great! You're flying to New York tomorrow to hold a launch event. Oh, and invite a bunch of those Wall Street guys."
Tom was somewhat disheartened; he had hoped to stay and enjoy things here a bit longer. New York was such a dreadful place; it could freeze a guy's balls off.
"Alright, you're the boss, it's your call."
"Come on, what kind of vacation are you taking alone? Hurry up and get out of here. Once this is done, bring your family back; I'll cover it."
"Thanks, sir, I'll take care of it right away."
What William White was working on was just a stock information machine. In America, this gadget was highly valued.
Anything related to services was never cheap in America. Most importantly, this information belonged to the exchanges; you neither could obtain it for free nor exploit it for profit.
So, there was no sneaky way to get rich. This endeavor had to be grand and public. If William White hadn't been so lazy, he would have taken the lead himself; with his endorsement, the popularity would have been on another level.
Of course, a new product launch from White Systems would get the attention of the tech community and Wall Street without a doubt. They had learned many lessons over the years.
Sometimes, a seemingly casual press conference could suddenly stir up trouble after a while.
...
"Inviting me? Are you sure you've got the right person?" Michael Bloomberg asked, astonished. He had nothing to do with the tech industry. In fact, after leaving the securities business, he had only dealt with information services. This White Systems had little to do with him.
"Sir, there's no mistake; Tom's assistant personally delivered the invitation. If you don't attend, I'll have to call them," Linda replied, unimpressed. "You really think White Systems would just invite anyone?"
Ah, if only I were William White's assistant. Hmph, that old guy always had a way of being so indecisive; who knows what he's up to.
"Do you know who else was invited?"
"Yes, the three major rating agencies and heads of several exchanges. The rest are just the media. With this setup, it doesn't seem like an IT product launch."
"Interesting; it doesn't sound like it's about financing."
Linda rolled her eyes. "They said it's a product launch -- what does financing have to do with it? If it were financing, you wouldn't have any right to participate."
"Hey, what's got your attention? Come here."
As they exchanged banter, let's skip over that part. He decided it was worth checking out the event; he was just getting started and could use some networking.
...
Holding a press conference right before Christmas was usually a pretty silly move. Unless, of course, your product made for a good Christmas gift. Even then, you should have acted sooner -- just because a product might be popular, retailers wouldn't have enough time to stock up.
While others might not have caught on to what the hefty guy was saying, Michael Bloomberg quickly understood. His first reaction was disbelief, followed by anger, and finally, anxiety.
Clearly, this device, while not a replacement for his terminal, significantly reduced the cost of obtaining information.
"Ladies and gentlemen, this PDA not only provides stock and securities information but also functions like a regular pager. Remember, this service runs 24/7."
While Michael was tangled in his thoughts, the hefty guy continued to drone on about how buying this PDA would guarantee profits in stock trading.
"Ladies and gentlemen, there's something to note: White Systems does not provide information services. If any of you are interested in this business, I think it's time to get ready. Next year, by this time, digital communication will gradually replace analog phones. Because digital phones offer point-to-point messaging, the pager market will inevitably change. With these information services, it seems there will still be a need for pagers."
At this point in the conference, the audience began to understand. No wonder they invited the trading center people -- without them, this product wouldn't fly.
Having the ability to access stock and financial information anytime and anywhere was undeniably more appealing than just a digital notebook. According to the fat guy, this device would only set you back a few hundred bucks -- not too shabby at all.
"Tom, does this device seem to indicate trading options? Does that mean I can buy stocks from anywhere?"
Tom looked up and saw the head of the New York Stock Exchange. He smiled and replied, "Not just yet. We've developed software that will allow direct purchases of stocks over the internet; it operates on a similar principle and interface. This PDA is just a receiver; the next step is to give it more functionalities."
Whoa, after hearing that, the big shots in the audience became a bit unsettled. If that were the case, you could just lie at home; there'd be no need for trading desks.
For White Systems, they were just selling devices and software, but for the trading centers, having this technology would naturally increase the efficiency of transactions and the volume of trading.
The exchanges were all for it, but the brokers in the audience were feeling some pain. "Are you kidding? Now our users are all out there for you to see. And if our competitors beat us to it, they'll be in even worse shape."
Sure, some still liked to settle trades over the phone. But transactions you could see and understand were undeniably more favorable. What if the other party denied a deal over the phone?
That wasn't a joke; there were stock brokers who actually did that. If you lost big and didn't close a deal, they might just deny the trade altogether. That wasn't just once or twice -- it happened more often than you'd think.
*****
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