Reborn Tokyo Golden Age

Bai Chuanfeng, who stayed in the United States for almost two months at the end of July, finally returned to the land of neon.

"Shirakawa-kun, here~"

Just after leaving the airport hall, Bai Chuanfeng saw Kobayashi Asuka in a light-colored dress waving at him.

"Tsk, it's an honor for Mr. Xiaolin to pick up the plane in person."

Bai Chuanfeng greeted her from a distance, and then he was not polite, and directly got into her co-pilot.

As for the attendants Kojima and Sama, after putting away their luggage, they silently got into another car behind them.

"Go to Baichuan Electric, or go home?" Xiao Lin Asuka smiled at Bai Chuanfeng's teasing and didn't bother to talk to him.

This guy is always snarky sometimes, and he can't get rid of him if he is easily provoked.

But ignore him, it seems that there is always something missing.

"Go to Baichuan Electric."

Bai Chuanfeng's mind is not as complicated as Kobayashi Asuka's. After two months away from Neon, things piled up again.

He had already slept through the plane, so he didn't have to be jet-lagged.

As for Matsuda Seiko, who lived with him in North America before, he returned by flight yesterday.

As a master of time management, this schedule is not a problem for him at all.

"How is it? Is everything going well in America?"

Asuka Kobayashi chatted with him about the harvest while starting the car.

"Overall, it went well." Bai Chuanfeng stretched his waist, feeling relaxed.

First of all, Shirakawa Electric's new generation of Walkman was successfully launched, and the feedback in the North American market was quite good.

If nothing else, before Sony launched a higher-end model.

In the high-end market, Shirakawa Electric's Walkman will occupy the mainstream share again.

As long as we continue to launch innovative products and use technology as the driving force, Baichuan Electric will not stop moving forward.

At the same time, in the low-end field, FM-02 swept the market with an ultra-low price of $63.

Aihua, which was still promoting at a low price before, fell into complete silence after encountering this opponent.

If nothing else, Aihua should soon disappear in North America.

In addition to the performance in the market, Baichuan Electric is also formally signing an agreement with the local government of Auckland.

In the next two years, Shirakawa Electric expects to invest 30 million US dollars to build a local Walkman factory with a capacity of 1,000 people.

It is planned to start construction this year and officially put into production next year. In the future, this Oakland factory will supply most of the Walkman demand in the North American market.

Although the manufacturing cost has increased, at least a tariff has been saved. In addition, building a factory locally will save a lot of unnecessary trouble in the future.

And Europe has already sent people to take the lead, trying to gain a firm foothold this year.

Most of the overseas work has been completed, and he doesn't need to fly there in a short time.

Back in Ota District, Bai Chuanfeng couldn't wait to check the performance of the local Walkman business.

Although the overall financial statement for July has not yet been released, it can already be seen from the statistics of the previous few weeks.

With the coming of summer vacation, the launch of Baichuan Electric's new generation Walkman also ushered in a wave of sales boom.

Especially for the low-end model, the ultra-low price of just over 10,000 yen has attracted countless students to buy it.

This price is quite low among all products in the entire consumer electronics field.

Most students can basically buy an FM-02 with their pocket money. The Walkman that they used to envy is now within reach, so there is no reason to hesitate.

FM-02 has almost become the standard equipment for students now, and everyone has one.

Students wearing earphones and holding FM-02 can be seen everywhere on campus.

With rich colors and cute mini designs, they are the new favorites of students.

There is no doubt that with the introduction of FM-02, Baichuan Electric once again occupies the absolute mainstream in the low-end market.

And with the price sinking by leaps and bounds, the consumer group has further expanded.

This is equivalent to making the cake bigger, and then the extra part is eaten by Baichuan Electric in one bite.

Panasonic Electric, which had put pressure on Shirakawa Electric before, was no longer considered a threat by Shirakawa Feng at this time.

He knows that the lowest price of the Walkman is almost here, and it will not change for the next few years.

The price of just over 10,000 yen this time almost reduced the cost of the Walkman to the limit.

The price has bottomed out, and there is no room for further price reduction, so everyone's bottom line will be clearly laid out.

Even if Panasonic continues to follow up, as long as there is not much price advantage.

Baichuan Electric, which takes the lead, will definitely remain the mainstream of the market.

I have to say that Shirakawa Electric's ultra-low pricing this time is a bit disrespectful to martial arts.

In the past, we competed in the market, even if it was a price war.

It is also constantly adjusted, and the price range is slowly lowered.

After all, capital seeks profit, and everyone wants to make money.

Guaranteeing as much profit margin as possible is the tacit approach of each other.

But Baichuan Electric directly set a one-time jump price, and other players who have just entered or are on the way to enter the arena, how can they play.

Of course, Bai Chuanfeng did this on purpose, not because he wanted to do charity and didn't want profit margins.

But in the past few months, as more and more audio equipment manufacturers have entered the market, the market share of Shirakawa Electric is also getting lower and lower.

Instead of waiting for everyone to slowly erode their market share, it's better to break the ruthless hand.

I would rather have a little less profit, but also clean up the smoky Walkman market.

The models just released by other manufacturers, or the projects under development to compete with the previous generation of low-end models of Shirakawa Electric, all suffered a devastating blow.

The best example of this is Aihua. The new model collapsed within two months of being sold, and the loss is not small.

In Bai Chuanfeng's view, the only one who can compete with himself in the low-end market is Panasonic.

The other party also has a complete industrial chain and has a unique advantage in cost.

But now it is the second half of the year, and the time to wait for Panasonic to launch a Walkman at the same price is likely to be next year.

Bai Chuanfeng put the data sheet in his hand, and finally relaxed.

Smaller manufacturers such as Aihua and Pioneer are no longer a concern. The future Walkman market is likely to be dominated by major manufacturers.

Sony, Panasonic, Hitachi, NEC, and including its own Shirakawa Electric, these are probably the few.

To be honest, the first two are the ones that Shirakawa really puts his eyes on. Sony has the strongest technical strength in the audio field, so it goes without saying.

Baichuan Electric could barely keep up with it because of its one-step-ahead design, otherwise the result would be really hard to say.

This is because the technology is not enough, and the creativity comes together.

As for Panasonic, as just said. Its complete industrial chain has unique advantages in manufacturing costs.

Perhaps in the future Walkman market, Panasonic is the least likely to be eliminated.

Although the market share may be limited, as long as the price is low enough, it can survive.

If Sony and Shirakawa Electric are technology-driven companies, then Panasonic is a marketing-driven company.

This is because the technical creativity is not enough, and the price is low.

As for the remaining two Hitachi and NEC, they are too complicated, and audio is not their strong point.

In fact, what Panasonic does is also miscellaneous, but Panasonic has a complete electronics industry chain.

The industrial chains of Hitachi and NEC are not in the consumer electronics field. The main profit pillars of the former are in the industrial field (electric power industry, machinery industry, semiconductor industry), while the pillar industries of the latter are communications and semiconductors.

At the same time, the interior of these giant groups is complicated, and the Walkman business has not even received attention at all.

So in general, in the field of audio consumer products, Shirakawa Electric does not advise Hitachi and NEC.

This is the general pattern of the current Walkman market, with three main players and two roaming players who beat the side drums.

Tsk, I just don't know when Baichuan Electric will grow to this day, spanning multiple fields and occupying a dominant position.

The future is promising, but there are obstacles and a long way to go.

After going through the information of Baichuan Electric, Baichuan Feng asked Yasuda for market feedback on the new model.

"Yasuda-san, how is the market feedback of our new generation Walkman?"

After all, a new function has been added, and Bai Chuanfeng also needs to pay attention to the market's evaluation of it.

"The overall evaluation is quite good, especially the automatic flip function, which greatly increases the convenience of use."

As the head of the R\u0026D department, Yasuda also pays close attention to the market feedback of new models.

"However, if there are shortcomings or dissatisfaction, it is not without."

"Oh~" Bai Chuanfeng cheered up, "Tell me in detail."

"Continuation" Yasuda uttered a word that surprised Bai Chuanfeng.

"Continuation?" Bai Chuanfeng frowned slightly.

"That's right." Yasuda nodded, "Because automatic rewinding requires the motor to reverse, the working mode has changed.

Then the demand for power consumption of the motor will also increase, so the battery life will be relatively reduced. "

"How long can the AA battery we use now last normally?"

Shirakawa Electric's Walkman generally needs two to three batteries, and high-end models consume a little more power.

"Normal use is about an hour, but with the automatic flip function, it may only be about forty minutes."

Regarding Yasuda's answer, Bai Chuanfeng frowned even tighter.

The density of AA batteries in today's era is not high enough, and the battery life is generally impressive.

Not only Shirakawa Electric has this problem, Sony and other consumer electronics products have this common problem.

Now a few new batteries can't even last an hour on the new model, and it's almost enough to listen to one tape.

I have to say that this is indeed a big obstacle to the user experience.

"Can the design be improved?" In order to increase battery life, the first thing Bai Chuanfeng thought of was to repair himself.

However, Yasuda shook his head in embarrassment, "It is difficult, because we have adopted the most advanced brushless motor.

This kind of motor has only been commercially available for two years, and there will be no technological breakthroughs in a short time. "

One of the keys to the Walkman's battery life is the motor, and there are very few places where other mechanical components can continue to be optimized.

"That is to say, apart from external conditions, it is already difficult for us to make improvements?"

Bai Chuanfeng opened the battery cover of his Walkman, and looked thoughtfully at the batteries lying inside.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Yasuda still nodded honestly.

Sure enough, the application of new technologies will also bring new problems. Either internally or externally.

"We will find ways to continue to optimize the design. As for the external conditions, I will go to the professors of Tokyo Institute of Technology to find a way."

Although this is a common problem in the industry, Bai Chuanfeng knows that the demand for power consumption of products will intensify in the future.

Problems have to be solved, not ignored all the time.