Because it was not time for Google to ring the bell, Li Mu stayed in Boston for two more days.
For the past two days, he had been staying in the hotel's presidential suite. Su Yingxue was picked up by the driver after class every day and sent back to school before class the next day.
When the Harvard leaders heard that he was in Boston, they insisted on inviting him to dinner. Li Mu did not want to agree at first, but considering that Su Yingxue was still studying here, he accepted the invitation.
However, Li Mu did not let the Harvard leaders treat him. Instead, he found a Michelin restaurant in downtown Boston and invited the Harvard leaders over. At the same time, he also brought Su Yingxue along.
It was said that Hua Xia people were particular about human relationships, but in fact, the Westerners were the same.
Harvard hoped to maintain a good relationship with Li Mu, and Li Mu hoped that they would try their best to provide convenience for Su Yingxue in the future. Everyone took what they needed, and it was a win-win situation.
The past few days in Boston were a rare moment of relaxation for Li Mu. Since he met Mark Zuckerberg, he no longer cared about his work. He ate, drank, and had fun every day. He enjoyed the world of the two of them in a foreign country with Su Yingxue, which greatly relaxed his body and mind.
However, Chen Ze was not so comfortable.
He lived alone in the hotel's luxury suite, and he was bored to the point of going crazy.
It was snowing non-stop in Boston, and it was too cold to do anything outside. Therefore, he could only stay in his room and watch TV for three days.
In his words, his English was not that good, and he did not understand much of the TV. It was as boring as it could get.
When it was time to leave Boston, Li Mu first sent Su Yingxue back to Harvard. After saying goodbye to her, he went to the Boston airport.
Boston was very close to New York. The straight-line distance was about three hundred kilometers, and the flight time for a jet was less than an hour.
They took off from Boston at two o 'clock in the afternoon, and the plane landed in New York at three o' clock.
After they arrived in New York, Larry Page and a few other Google executives personally went to the airport to welcome them.
To Larry Page, it was important for Google and for him to have Li Mu to ring the bell with him.
At this stage, Google's business was still relatively simple. If they wanted the market to have more confidence in Google, they would need a big shot's support. Currently, for an internet company, Li Mu's support was the best.
Larry Page even felt that it would be even better if he could be invited to the bell ringing ceremony when Makino Technology rang the bell in the future.
…
In order to show his respect, Larry Page rented a fleet of state guests from New York and treated Li Mu with the highest courtesy.
In a Lincoln limousine, Larry Page said to Li Mu, "Li Zong, the bell will be rung at 9: 30 am the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow night, there will be a private cocktail party at the hotel you are staying at. The guests are all big shots in the Internet industry and the capital circle. Are you interested in attending?"
Li Mu nodded and said, "Sure."
After that, Li Mu suddenly thought of something and asked Larry Page, "Larry, I want to buy a navigation and satellite mapping company. Do you have any good recommendations?"
At this stage, Google had not launched a mapping business yet. Li Mu had been thinking about what his internet resources could do for the future Muye Automobile Group. In addition to developing interactive entertainment systems for cars with Android and iOS, Li Mu also wanted to solve the problem of car navigation.
Although there were only a few cars equipped with LCD screens, and even fewer equipped with navigation, navigation services would be the most frequently used by car owners in the future, and there was almost no other option.
However, almost all car owners in the world felt that car navigation was difficult to use. There were a few main reasons for this.
First, the map of the car navigation was outdated, and it could not keep up with the upgrade.
Most car navigation data was based on the navigation card, and the map was built into the SD card. This was completely offline navigation, and updating the map was a very tricky problem. It was far from being like mobile phone navigation, which could be updated at any time.
Second, the mapping services of car manufacturers were not detailed enough. They were basically just fooling around. They were far from the mapping services provided by internet companies such as Google, Gaode, and even Baidu.
Third, the information input of car navigation was a huge drawback.
Most car navigation input relied on the wheel. Whether it was English or Chinese Pinyin, it took a long time to input the wheel back and forth. It took a few seconds on the mobile phone, but a few minutes to change to the car navigation. This step alone blocked many users.
Fourth, the sound of the car navigation would conflict with the car stereo, and many car manufacturers did not optimize the problem well.
If the car stereo was listening to music or listening to radio stations, and the car navigation was on, the feeling of the two conflicting sounds would be very troublesome. Often, the experience on both sides was very poor. This was not comparable to mobile phone navigation. The mobile phone navigation and the car stereo were separated. When listening to music, there would occasionally be navigation prompts, but they would not conflict with each other.
Li Mu felt that the three pain points of car navigation could not be solved mainly because car manufacturers did not have the internet gene, and there were no revolutionaries in the industry. Everyone did not want to improve.
In fact, it did not cost much to install an LCD screen in a car. The LCD screen was a very user-friendly configuration, and most users were willing to pay for it. If the original factory did not have an LCD central control, many users would even spend money to upgrade it.
The cost of installing a GSM module in a car was not high, and it was not that difficult to connect the car to the internet.
If he could acquire a navigation company, build a refined global navigation system based on GPS, and directly embed this navigation system into the car's central control assembly, and then carefully do a good job of human-computer interaction, he would already be a lot ahead of the global car manufacturers.
If he could add a GSM module and communicate with the local operator for a data service with more preferential benefits, not only would he be able to connect the car to the internet, but he would also be able to update the map data in real time. That way, the car would be much more intelligent than the global car manufacturers.
At the current stage, the mobile data service was still 2G. The data cost seemed relatively high, but in fact, it was easy for the operator to solve the problem. In the past, Nokia had a game phone model called NokiaQD. To make it easier for QD users to download games, Nokia and Hua Xia Mobile introduced an unlimited data SIM card. In 2G mode, it only cost ten yuan a month to rent. At that time, there was no 3G, 4G, or 5G. The unlimited data card's network speed was the same as others, and there were no restrictions, but the data cost was greatly reduced.
This proved that he could negotiate with the operator.
If it was just the map data update, it would not take up a lot of data. In addition, he was a big customer. If he was in China, he should be able to negotiate with the operator for less than ten yuan per month.
At the current stage, most car manufacturers gave a three-year warranty. When the time came, he would only need to pay two to three hundred yuan for three years of data. However, with this function, even if he added all the costs to the car price and increased the profit margin, the consumers would still be able to accept it.
As for the conflict between the navigation sound and the car's stereo, Li Mu felt that it was enough to directly build a very ordinary high-frequency speaker into the car's navigation system and make this speaker face the driver's seat and serve the navigation separately.
The main purpose of the car's navigation system was to make it clear, but experienced users knew that if the bass was too heavy, the voice would be muffled, and a loudspeaker without the bass was the most friendly to the human voice. Thinking about it carefully, the microphone in a KTV was fine for singing, but the voice would be muffled, and there would be a strong roar. But the loudspeaker in a school without the bass made the human voice extremely clear when it was broadcasted.
This was also the key reason why the cheap radio speakers that the old man listened to had no bass, and the music was terrible, but the radio and storytelling experience was very good.
The car's stereo was mainly for listening to music. If the navigation sound was mixed in, not only would it affect listening to music, but it would also affect the navigation. More importantly, it would affect the passenger experience.
If a cheap high-frequency speaker was installed and the direction of the sound field was diagonally facing the driver, the cost was very low, but there were many benefits.
First, it would not affect the car's stereo and music. Second, it would ensure that the driver could hear it clearly. Third, it would not affect the other passengers.
If the navigation was not used, the high-frequency speaker would be turned off, and there would be no impact at all.
This way, the car's navigation would be much more practical.
It would definitely improve the consumer experience compared to traditional cars.
Larry Page did not know the specific reason why Li Mu wanted to buy a navigation company, but when he heard that he wanted to buy such a company, he immediately said, "What a coincidence, Li Zong, I have the same idea! We can do this together! "
This time, Li Mu was surprised, and he asked, "You want to buy a navigation company too?"
"Yes!" Larry Page said, "We have discussed before. We want to add a mapping function to Google, but it is too troublesome to build our own global map. Not only do we have to rent satellites and buy map rights, but we also have to invest in a lot of mapping vehicles and mapping personnel. The time cost is too high, so we have the idea of buying a satellite mapping company."
Li Mu did not expect Google to start doing Google Maps at this time. He could not help but ask, "Do you have a target in mind?"
"Yes." Larry Page did not hide anything from Li Mu. He immediately said, "There is a mapping company in the US called Keyhole. We are preparing to talk to them about buying it."
Li Mu asked in surprise, "Isn't Keyhole a military reconnaissance satellite system in the US? I think I saw it in a military magazine … The US government allowed you to buy it? "
"No, no." Larry Page smiled and said, "Although this company is called Keyhole, it is not the same as the US military's Keyhole system."
Li Mu nodded and asked, "How strong is this company?"
"Very good," Larry Page said. Larry Page said, "Not only do they have a strong data base, but they also have strong mapping and development capabilities.
Language is a set of protocols that allows multiple users to participate in cooperation. This is very important for building a satellite mapping product that can be used by users all over the world in the future. "
Li Mu suddenly thought of a famous product of Google: Google Earth.
Google Earth.
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