Manufacture a mobile phone with camera functions?!
Everyone is shocked. This is absurd!
China’s digital camera technologies are way behind other countries, and their mobile phone technologies had just reached world standards. The technologies are not even the most advanced in the world. Is Manager Feng trying to find another way to stand out among their competitors?
Last year, the ‘Palm Treasure’ series of mobile phones they introduced were popular in China and overseas. Shouldn’t we be focusing on introducing the 256 colors LCD mobile phone?
In Feng Yu’s previous life, almost all mobile phones are using 24-bit color depth. The screens are crystal clear and have bright colors. But the phones now are still stuck in the limited colors era.
The phone screens are either grey, blue, green or orange. These are the four primary colors, and an overseas company had developed a purple screen. But the purple screen is not as bright as grey screens. Feng Yu wonders if the engineer, who spent money to develop this screen, had been sack from his company.
Now, Wind and Rain Electronics and Philips had successfully developed the 256 color LCD in their labs and are confident of mass-producing it.
Everyone felt that introducing a color display mobile phone is enough for this year. But Feng Yu wants them to develop a phone with camera functions. That means the phone must be equipped with a camera lens.
They do not have digital camera technologies unless they are using Changhong’s technology. But can the pictures were taken with their technology be clear?
“Manager Feng, you are saying that our color display phones should come with camera functions?” Xu Lihua asked in shock.
“If it wasn’t for digital cameras, these colored display technologies will not develop so fast. Since we will be introducing colored display phones, the phones should have camera functions. If not, what’s the point of having a color display? Do you need colors to make phone calls or read texts? Or are you telling me that Snake and Tetris is more fun with more colors?” Feng Yu asked.
The mobile phone’s LCD was developed for camera phones followed by MMS, pictures, short videos, etc. If not, a monocolored display is good enough for making calls and reading text. The classic Nokia 1110 phone only has a torchlight function and 20 polyphonic Ring Tone. Yet, it becomes the best-selling phone at that time!
This is also the model that popularized mobile phone. The selling price for Nokia 1110 is around 30 to 40 USD, and most people can afford it.
“But if we are adding camera functions to the mobile phone, our phone’s operating software needs to be reprogrammed, and picture gallery, storage, data transfer must be added. We must increase the phone’s core, and the cost will increase. The colored screen, camera lens, etc. will also increase our production cost. These costs will be passed to the consumers by increasing the retail price, right?”
“But if we increase the retail price, it will affect our product’s sales. We are still unable to compete with Motorola and Nokia. Still, we are on par with Sony, Ericsson, Panasonic, Samsung, etc. We must also look into the durability of this phone because of its price, and the casing must be changed to a studier material.
“The battery requirements will also be increased because of the camera function. Taking pictures requires lots of power, let alone looking at the pictures in the phone’s album.”
“Manager Feng, the production cost of this phone will increase by several folds! Is the mobile phone going to return to the era where it cost more than 10,000 RMB?” Xu Lihua is getting agitated, as he felt Feng Yu is taking a considerable risk.
The idea of combining a digital camera and mobile phone together is terrific, and Xu Lihua agrees with it. Still, they should not try to do everything at once.
“You don’t need to worry about the battery. Tai Hua Battery can produce mobile phone batteries with higher capacity. They have 800 mAH and 1000 mAH batteries, and their mobile phone batteries will be in the form of a small rectangle. It will not be attached to the back cover of the phone. As for the phone casing’s material, we can still use plastic covers and just increase the protection for the screen and camera lens.”
“Our mobile phone’s operating system had been moving towards this direction from the start, and the load on the core processor will increase, but the increase should be minimal. I estimate the cost will increase by 200 USD at most. Don’t forget what I told you all. Mobile phone technologies will be obsolete every six months. If we don’t start preparing now, we will be lagging behind Nokia and Motorola forever. When can we exceed them?”
How did Nokia overtake Motorola? By introducing new phones constantly and increasing the durability of their phones. However, Nokia failed in the future because they overly focus on their phones’ durability. It was only after they failed, they realized technological advances is the most critical factor.
Now, mobile phone prices had started to drop. Although the drop is gradual, most phones cost around 4,000 RMB. This is due to an increase in mobile phone factories and lower production costs.
“I will be setting a target for you all to develop this phone. The production cost must be within 500 USD, and the retail price will be ranging from 600 to 700 USD. We will start the mobile phone revolution and become an industry leader. Don’t worry about durability. How many people will be careless with a 600 to 700 USD phone? Those people who do not mind dropping a 600 to 700 USD phone will not mind spending another 600 to 700 USD to get a new one!”
Eh? Xu Lihua, Jiang Wanmeng, and the rest look at each other, as they felt what Feng Yu said was true.
It is the same for the cameras they bought. Expensive and fragile. Sometimes, even when the camera is dropped on the bed, it might also be damaged. That’s why the people who bought expensive cameras will take special care to prevent damages.
“Mobile phone prices are dropping, and the phone we are introducing will be a high-end product. We will be targeting the high-end market segment, and being expensive will be our selling point! You all must understand what those rich people are thinking. When mobile phones are newly introduced and look like a brick, those rich businessmen will still buy one to flaunt their wealth. If your phone can take pictures, you can also take it out to show off.”
Showing off. Not only in China, many people in other countries like to flaunt their wealth. In fact, many people in Feng Yu’s previous life had bought Apple phones not because of the phone’s functions. It is because they see it as a symbol of their status!
“Then, are we still going to develop cheaper phones?” Xu Lihua thought for a while and ask.
“Yes. We will target both markets. One will be the high-end market, and we will be introducing expensive phones with more functions. The other will be a cheap, simple, and durable phone! You all must find ways to lower the production costs and improve our phone’s functions. If we are better than other companies in these two aspects, we will become the world’s number one mobile phone manufacturer in the future!”
Translator’s notes:
Color depth
