Chapter 547: Too Many Choices
Translator: Min Editor: Caron_
The company most hostile toward Future Technology’s product launch was Penguin.
Some time ago, Penguin acquired Wanghai Lexiang Technology, but the Phantom helmet made their deepoon virtual reality equipment look like complete junk. The plan of bundling Penguin’s social media platform and deepoon in order to achieve “Virtual reality + Big Penguin Strategy” died in its infancy.
In other words, other than for nostalgia’s sake, no one would play the outdated NDS once they had a smartphone.
The awkward situation they faced was the same idea.
If their deepoon never had any emotional impact on its users in the first place…
“Useless.” Ma Huateng gazed at the document on his desk and swore after holding back for so long.
Whether it was positive or negative news, the media all referred to Future Technology’s dominance in the VR industry. Future Technology’s growing influence made Penguin Cooperation feel a deep fear. When they realized that they couldn’t learn from Future Technology’s product, Boss Ma experienced a deep helplessness.
The ability they were most well-versed in was useless against their opponent.
The assistant stood beside the boss, pretending not to hear the boss’s rant as he stared straight at a flower through the window to pass the time while praying the blame wouldn’t spread to him.
Ma Huaheng inhaled several times and picked up the teacup beside his hand. The bitter tea made him calmer, whether it was due to its price or identity. This tea was a custom product either: (1) reserved for representative meetings or (2) gifted by a powerful person after the meeting.
When he thought about this, a curvature appeared on his face and his eyebrows were no longer furrowed.
At least from a policy point of view, Penguin wouldn’t lose.
Seeing the boss calming down, the assistant felt relieved and finally reported important information to him.
“Boss, Xin’s delegate will arrive in Shangjin tomorrow morning at ten. Jiang Chen will accompany the delegation—”
“I know. What’s the message on that side?”
“The message from Shangjin is that they want us to keep in contact with Future Group.”
[Keep in contact?]
Ma Huateng furrowed his brows as this ambiguous message made him unclear of the directions. How should he keep in contact? What was the outcome the people at the top wanted to see? Regarding the era-defining technology, were they not tempted?
Seeing that the boss was silent, the assistant attempted to go on.
“Boss, do you need me to book a ticket?”
“Of course,” Ma Huateng said with an undertone. “… Our primary focus is still on software; it was a mistake to enter the hardware market. Regardless, QQ must gain an advantage over the Phantom helmet. It isn’t too late to partner up now.”
When the people at the top mentioned maintaining contact, he had to facilitate meetings for the partnership. Because of the uniqueness of Xin, Hua would do their best to win over their ally. Conversely, it would be the same for Xin as they would try to promote cooperation between Future Technology and Hua enterprises.
But his assistant didn’t think nearly as far.
“Will Future Technology give up the market share on social media? They revealed their ambitions when they fought over market share with Future 1.0. If they internally bundle social media software in the helmet and use the compatibility issue to prevent us from entering the market, it’ll be hard for us to win.”
In 2007, Microsoft’s VISTA operating system didn’t support QQ for a period of time and that truly scared Penguin. Fortunately, the problem was solved in subsequent updates but VISTA’s penetration rate was low compared to XP and Windows 7 later on. But everyone knew that if Microsoft really wanted to take out QQ through the computability issue and used the bundling method to push MSN, then only death awaited for Penguin.
Of course, they would never do that.
The reason was…
“That’s not the right way to say it.” Boss Ma’s eyes were narrowed and he laughed mischievously. “In this country, things don’t always work the way they want it to work unless they want to face investigations on their monopoly.”
This sentence didn’t sound convincing coming from his mouth. Speaking of a monopoly, who else to say that than BAT (3)?
While Penguin was discussing their strategy on negotiating with Future Group, at a house in Shangjin, two elders were playing GO.
“That Future Group, Jiang Chen, certainly has some capabilities.” The elder with white hair suddenly nodded with a smile while his fingers held a black piece.
The elder in a vest laughed.
“To be able to receive such a comment from Old Liu, this kid certainly must be amazing.”
“That’s not the right way to say it. Wasn’t your Zhou family the first to bet on him?”
“The word ‘bet’ ruins the mood – it was just my kid who happened to meet him by fate.” Although Zhou Antai said this in a humble way, his face still glowed with pride.
His kid who stayed in Wanghai brought an ally with such potential to his family when he came back home. Speaking of which, the reason why Jiang Chen chose to partner with the Zhou family was largely because the Wang family was the “matchmaker.”
“Dehai… was too overzealous.” Liu Xiangguo’s piece hovered but didn’t fall on the board. He sighed and kept shaking his head.
The Dehai he referred to was Wang Dehai in Wanghai.
When Zhou Antai heard his old friend’s comment, he felt joyous inside but he didn’t display it. He subtlety asked:
“Is this based on fact?”
Liu Xianguo looked at his old friend with a grin and refocused on the GO board.
“This is a difficult move.”
“How’s it difficult?”
“Difficult because there are too many choices.” Liu Xiangguo seemed to be studying the board as he muttered to himself.
“Antai, you tell me – should I take out your piece or should I wait?”
After Zhou Antai heard his friend’s straightforwardness, he slapped his thigh and laughed.
“If you ask me, I want you to take it easy on me.”
Liu Xiangguo glared at him but also laughed.
“Although we’ve been friends for a long time, you know that when we play, I never take it easy.”
Sigh “It’s okay. It’s not my first time losing.” Zhou Antai waved his hand nonchalantly.
Although his words were nonchalant, his eyes never left the board.
His hovering black piece was finally planted on the board.
Zhou Antai gazed at the board. His pupils contracted before he blissfully smiled.
From the start, his old friend had been playing tricks on him. It was only when the piece finally landed on the board did he start to understand.