Chinese entertainment: What's wrong with actresses wanting to improve?

Chapter 203 Smart Machines

After leaving Xingmeng Digital Entertainment, Fu Yibai went to Xingyun Video.

Li Mingde was already waiting at the company entrance, holding a tablet with real-time data displayed on it.

"Mr. Fu, you need to take a look at this month's data."

He followed behind towards the office area, his voice trembling with excitement.

"Since its premiere, the total viewership of the twelve episodes of 'Running Man' has exceeded 400 million."

The highest single-episode viewership reached 53 million, and the comment section also saw the highest engagement across the entire site.

Fu Yibai sat down in Li Mingde's office and glanced at the tablet.

What about user growth?

"Monthly active users have more than doubled, from eight million at the beginning of the year to twenty million."

The new user retention rate is 68%, which is 20 percentage points higher than the industry average.

Li Mingde paused.

"The data for 'Boonie Bears' is also very good. Although it is targeted at young users, many parents watch it with them, and the proportion of family users has increased significantly."

"GG ​​retailers have already started queuing up; 80% of the GG slots for next quarter have already been pre-sold."

Fu Yibai placed the tablet on the table and leaned back in his chair.

"What about the TV station?"

"Both Hunan TV and Zhejiang TV have inquired about the television rights to 'Running Man,' and their asking prices are not low."

Li Mingde opened his notebook.

"Hunan TV gives one million yuan per episode, while Zhejiang TV gives one million two hundred thousand yuan."

"You decide what to do."

Fu Yibai stood up.

"Keep this momentum going and give the team a bigger bonus at the end of the year."

"clear."

It was already dark when I came out of the Nebula video.

Fu Yibai sat in the car, while Guo Zhenni gripped the steering wheel and glanced at him in the rearview mirror.

"Mr. Fu, are you going home or to the company?"

"go home."

As the car entered the traffic, the neon lights outside the window cast long trails of light on the glass.

Fu Yibai leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, several things running through his mind.

The next morning, Fu Yibai arrived at Lieyang Investment.

Qi Yuan was already waiting in the conference room. Next to him sat a man in his fifties with graying hair, wearing black-rimmed glasses, and a slightly faded but neatly ironed shirt.

"Mr. Fu, this is Engineer Yang, the technical director of Xiamen Xiaxin Electronics."

Qi Yuan stood up and introduced himself.

Engineer Yang stood up, extended his hand, and moved somewhat awkwardly.

Dry, rough palms and wide knuckles are the hands of someone who works in a technical field year-round.

"Mr. Fu, I've heard so much about you."

"Mr. Yang, please have a seat."

Fu Yibai sat down in the main seat, and Qi Yuan sat down next to him.

Mr. Yang sat back in his chair, his back straight, but his eyes looked tired.

"Mr. Yang, what are your thoughts on the future of smartphones?"

Engineer Yang was silent for a few seconds before speaking.

"Smartphones are the major trend."

Nokia and Motorola are still clinging to feature phones, but Apple released the iPhone at the beginning of this year. Although sales are so-so so far, the direction is right.

Touchscreens, application ecosystem, mobile internet...

These things will change the entire industry.

"Why didn't Xia Xin go in this direction before?"

Engineer Yang gave a wry smile and adjusted his glasses.

"I'm short of money."

Shareholders are focused on financial statements, so we can only make machines that can quickly recoup our investment.

The development cycle for smartphones is long and requires significant investment; the board of directors was unwilling to take the risk.

Fu Yibai leaned back in his chair and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

"If I invest 500 million yuan now and let you focus all your efforts on developing smartphones, what level of achievement can you reach?"

Yang's eyes lit up for a moment, then quickly returned to their usual brightness. He carefully considered his words.

"Mr. Fu, I'm not trying to be discouraging."

Five hundred million is not enough.

The research and development of smartphones requires a huge investment; just the adaptation of a complete system and hardware tuning can burn through a lot of money. And...

Our team hasn't been paid in six months.

Fu Yibai did not respond immediately.

He looked at Engineer Yang and remained silent for a few seconds.

"The issue of wages will be addressed beforehand."

He turned to Qi Yuan.

"Allocate some money from Lieyang's account to pay off all the employees' back wages."

They even made up for the payments from other departments in the company.

Qi Yuan nodded.

"Yes."

Engineer Yang sat frozen in his chair, his lips moved but he didn't say a word.

"Mr. Yang, I have an idea. Could you take a look and see if it's feasible?"

"Please go ahead, Mr. Fu."

"In terms of system, Xiaxin is currently using Windows Mobile 6, which is too demanding on hardware and has few applications."

Google is developing a system called Android, which is based on Linux and is open source.

It is expected to be released in early November this year and is very suitable for smartphone applications.

I can get it for you right away.

Mr. Yang stopped writing and looked up.

"Mr. Fu, what's wrong...?"

"I own shares in Google."

Engineer Yang was shocked.

"Go straight to Android for the new device, don't waste time on Windows Mobile."

You only need to consider how to develop and how to make the Android system run more stably.

The chip uses Qualcomm's MSM series; this combination offers the best balance between performance and cost.

Yang took notes quickly, his pen scratching across the paper.

Regarding the screen, we first upgraded the resolution from VGA to WVGA (800×480).

The design should be simple, removing the physical keyboard and using a touch screen for everything.

Ensuring sufficient battery life is the biggest pain point for users.

Engineer Yang put down his pen, looked down at the few pages of notes he had taken, and remained silent for a long while.

"Mr. Fu."

When he looked up, his eyes were different from before.

"These directions..."

If we do as you say, we are confident that we can make the machine within a year.

Moreover, since there's no need to develop the system in-house, 5 million yuan is more than enough.

"I know you can do it."

Xiaxin has a solid technical foundation; its previous losses weren't due to a lack of ability, but rather a problem with its strategic direction.

"Thanks!"

Engineer Yang stood up, gripped Fu Yibai's hand tightly, and pursed his lips.

The two then talked for a long time about the functions of smartphones.

Fu Yibai was the one doing the talking, explaining the functions of future smartphones to Engineer Yang.

Based on Xiaxin's current technology, Yang Gonggong determined which aspects could be implemented and which required further research and development.

In the evening, Fu Yibai, Engineer Yang, and Qi Yuan went out for dinner.

After dinner, Engineer Yang left.

"Qi Yuan, the name Xiamen Xiaxin Electronics should be changed."

"Does Mr. Fu have any ideas?"

"Well, since it's already my company, let's rename it Star Technology."