Chapter 493: Switch?
Three days later, in the Haidian District of Beijing, at the headquarters of Lehui Company.
For Chen Mo, this distance was very close, so he arrived right on time as agreed.
A designated person led Chen Mo to the CEO’s office.
Zhou Jiangping was busy at work. When he saw Chen Mo arrive, he quickly set aside what he was doing and stood up: “Hello, CEO Chen.”
Chen Mo shook hands with him: “Hello, CEO Zhou. I’ve long admired your reputation.”
The two exchanged pleasantries for a while. Zhou Jiangping’s secretary poured tea for Chen Mo and then left.
Chen Mo took a sip of tea and said, “CEO Zhou, we’re both pragmatic people and quite busy, so let’s get straight to the point. The main reason I’m here is to discuss a collaboration with your company to develop a handheld gaming console.”
Zhou Jiangping was taken aback: “A handheld gaming console?”
Chen Mo nodded: “Yes.”
Zhou Jiangping was somewhat surprised.
Obviously, as a mobile phone R&D company, he had a very thorough understanding of the current state of the mobile phone industry and was well aware of the technological level of phones.
As a competing device to mobile phones, handheld gaming consoles had long since cooled off. Why would Chen Mo suddenly think of making a handheld?
Clearly, Zhou Jiangping wasn’t from the gaming industry, was usually busy, and wasn’t aware of the controversy sparked by Chen Mo’s views presented in his lecture at World Number One University.
Zhou Jiangping instinctively wanted to tell Chen Mo about the current state of handheld consoles, but then he thought again—this was all common knowledge. As an S-class designer, wouldn’t Chen Mo be aware of these things?
Obviously, if Chen Mo wanted to make a handheld, he must have his own ideas.
Zhou Jiangping pondered for a moment and said, “CEO Chen, how about you first tell me some of your requirements for this handheld?”
Chen Mo came prepared. He took a USB drive out of his pocket: “This contains some design concepts for this handheld. You can take a look.”
Zhou Jiangping inserted the USB drive into his computer and opened the design document inside.
He was stunned: “This handheld… is called the Switch? Its biggest feature is that it possesses both portable and home console characteristics, allowing for free switching between these two forms.”
Zhou Jiangping carefully examined the design document Chen Mo had provided.
At this point, Chen Mo hadn’t yet included a finished product image of the Switch, but the positions of the various buttons and related accessories were clearly laid out.
Zhou Jiangping frowned slightly.
Chen Mo’s design document hadn’t fully convinced Zhou Jiangping.
The document clearly stated that the biggest highlight of this machine was its ability to play games on both a handheld screen and a TV.
But what was the use of being able to freely switch between handheld and TV modes? For portable devices, there were phones; at home, there were PCs and VR gaming pods. These all seemed to conflict with the positioning of this handheld.
However, some specific button designs did strike Zhou Jiangping as quite novel, including the design of the two analog sticks and the more than ten physical buttons, which were very reasonably distributed and ergonomic.
Clearly, the handheld Chen Mo had designed was well thought out.
One thing Zhou Jiangping was certain of was that this handheld would significantly improve gaming operability compared to phones, possibly even to a completely different level.
Chen Mo asked, “With the current domestic technological level, there shouldn’t be any problem manufacturing this handheld, right?”
Zhou Jiangping nodded: “Yes, from a technical standpoint, there should be no difficulty at all. Let me first introduce the basic process of domestic mobile phone manufacturing.”
“First is the basic design concept of the phone, which is usually provided by our side, with some professionals handling the design. Of course, for certain niche products, we might also hire specialized solution providers for the design.”
“These so-called solution providers are actually phone design companies. They are very familiar with various phone components and designs and can quickly find solutions to problems.”
“After we design and develop this phone, we hand over the relevant plans to contract manufacturers for mass production. This is currently a mainstream model. For example, some European and American manufacturers often outsource production to regions with lower labor costs, such as China, Southeast Asia, and South America.”
“In this regard, the mobile phone field has already formed a relatively complete set of rules and processes. It can be said that many people in the domestic phone industry are just doing concepts and marketing.”
“As long as you can attract buyers and find marketing channels, even someone with no technical knowledge can make a phone.”
“The handheld you’re making now should follow this same process. In my view, the biggest challenges lie in two aspects.”
“First, how many units of this handheld can actually be sold, and how much are you willing to invest in it? If you’re seeking investment, it might be very difficult because this concept may not be accepted by investors.”
“Second, some of the components for this handheld simply don’t exist on the market. Unlike phones, which can be pieced together from various parts, these unique components need to be custom-made, and quality control will be another challenge.”
“Of course, when it comes down to it, it all boils down to one thing: money. As long as the money is sufficient, everything else is easy to handle.”
Chen Mo smiled: “Money? There’s no cap on money. You can think big. I don’t plan to seek investment; I’ll cover all the costs myself.”
Zhou Jiangping looked at Chen Mo’s relaxed expression and was secretly astonished.
He had long heard that Chen Mo never hesitated when it came to spending money, and it seemed to be true.
Other listed companies, even their CEOs, couldn’t spend money however they pleased. They often faced financial report pressures and had to consider the board’s opinions.
But Chen Mo was different. All his money was his own, so he could spend it however he wanted without anyone objecting.
Zhou Jiangping asked, “CEO Chen, could you roughly reveal the price range for this handheld?”
Chen Mo said, “Within 2500. I’m thinking of pricing it at 2499. The exact price will depend on how well we can control costs, but I definitely want it as low as possible.”
“This pricing isn’t high. The main point is that unlike phones, a handheld doesn’t need to consider calling or other functions. It’s purely for gaming, so hardware utilization will be very high. I think you can easily understand that, CEO Zhou.”
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