Consumers weren't the only ones who were crazy.
Silicon Valley, which was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, was watching this "party" on the other side of the ocean. They were on the verge of tears.
Countless American consumers flew to China to attend the conference. Over the past two days, three out of every ten posts on Facebook and Twitter were discussing the HV-1.
There was no doubt that if this thing was introduced to the United States, it would inevitably set off a new round of Internet revolution. More than 90% of Internet users would be willing to pay for this inexpensive technology!
Inside the Facebook headquarters in Menlo Park, California, Mark Zuckerberg was reading a report from his secretary. His heart was racing.
Part of it was because of the excitement, and part of it was because of jealousy.
At the end of last year, they had just completed the division of the virtual reality equipment development business of their VR company, Oculus. Any later, the entire virtual reality business would be in their hands.
Needless to say, the sensation caused by the immersive virtual reality technology in the China market, as well as the envious eyes of North American consumers. It was impossible not to be jealous.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the office door.
Zuckerberg closed the report in his hand and nodded at his secretary. He signaled her to go outside and pour him a cup of coffee. He then cleared his throat and spoke.
"Come in."
The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man with gold-rimmed glasses and thinning hair walked in.
"I don't quite understand what you mean." The man walked in front of Zuckerberg and placed his hands on the table. He then said, "The HV-1 helmet has been successful on the other side of the ocean, proving that immersive virtual reality equipment has a broad market, but you laid off our research and development department! I don't understand what you're thinking! "
The person standing in front of Zuckerberg was none other than Dr. Sanjadi, the CTO of Oculus. Nearly a decade ago, he led the Oculus research and development team to plan for the future of Facebook.
However, the things that happened these days almost caused him to have a heart attack.
The entire R&D department was laid off, and Oculus was left with nothing but an empty shell. Other than the company's structure remaining intact, a few pitiful patents, and the occasional sale of a few "old-time" VR glasses to satisfy the users' cravings, there was nothing left.
"Don't get too excited."
Zuckerberg smiled at Sanjadi's question. He handed the doctor a glass of water and watched him take a sip. His breathing calmed down a little before he spoke.
"If I give you a year, how confident are you that you can beat Star Sky Technology, bypass their patent barriers, and use your original neural interface VR device to occupy the North America market?"
Hearing Zuckerberg's sharp question, Sanjadi's aura stagnated.
Although he wanted to bluff, he didn't have the courage to do so when he saw the look in his boss's eyes. After a long silence, he squeezed a word out of his mouth.
"… Very difficult."
Even if he didn't want to admit it, this was the truth.
If the gap wasn't too big, there was still a possibility of catching up. However, the current situation was that no company in Silicon Valley had mastered the core technology of the Phantom system launched by Star Sky Technology. They didn't even know how to use it.
In fact, there was no way to control it.
Other than the hardware, the software didn't even need to be patented. All of the calculations were done in the cloud. If anyone wanted to copy the system, they would have to hack into their servers.
Now, there were only two options for companies that wanted to make virtual reality hardware. They could either completely give up on the idea, or they could join the standards set by Phantom and produce VR headsets that were fully compatible with the Phantom system. They could also pay a "space tax" on every VR headset.
"But … Are we just going to watch the Chinese take the entire market from under our noses?"
Zuckerberg's assistant came back from making coffee.
Zuckerberg just smiled, took the coffee from his secretary, and spoke after taking a sip.
"It's impossible to take the entire market, they won't be able to enter the US market. They will have to enter the US market sooner or later, and we can seize this opportunity to take a slice of the pie. Even though I understand your anxiety, we are too far behind in VR technology. It's not wise to fight them head-on … After all, Facebook is our core business, right? Mr. Sanjadi. "
Sanjadi wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
The reason why he and his other partners sold their shares in Oculus to Zuckerberg was because they believed that Zuckerberg would lead them into the future.
Unexpectedly, the moment their opponent revealed his fangs, the CEO he respected turned around and slashed at his own people, giving up on the technical route they had been researching for many years.
Although he knew that there was nothing wrong with this and that he had not been able to produce convincing results, such an ending still made him feel as if his heart was dripping blood.
Zuckerberg didn't care about Sanjadi's heartache. He picked up the report on the table and suddenly spoke.
"I heard that the Phantom system relies heavily on internet speed?"
"… I think so. After all, the Phantom system is mainly based on cloud computing technology." Sanjadi hesitated for a second and said, "For Huawei's HV-1 helmet, they mainly use their own HiSilicon communication base to connect to the virtual reality network. In terms of compatibility, they mainly optimize their own routers, communication base stations, and other hardware. "
Zuckerberg touched his chin, and his eyes suddenly flashed with a different light.
"If we can help their equipment enter North America …"
"That's impossible!" Sanjadi looked at Zuckerberg strangely and said, "Communication hardware has always been the most sensitive part. The Department of Commerce won't agree. Even if they agree, the White House and Congress will do everything they can to exclude them."
"I know it's difficult, but … it's not impossible, right? This is a chance to keep up with the pace of the world. Do you want to watch our network fall behind? " Zuckerberg tapped his index finger on the table and said to himself, "We can't do it on our own, so we need allies."
He suddenly remembered a phone call.
It was from a young billionaire.
Of course, he was different from other tycoons. In addition to being rich, he was also the new owner of the B City Consortium.
Even though he was low-key, Zuckerberg knew exactly how powerful this person was. Whether it was in the financial or political world, this guy was considered a big shot. He had a huge network of resources that ordinary rich people couldn't compare to …
Even though Zuckerberg and that person only exchanged business cards at a cocktail party, judging from that person's interest in new technology, it seemed like there was a chance for them to work together.
This was a good opportunity.
Zuckerberg's heart was filled with excitement.
"In short, just leave this matter to me. You just have to do your own thing."
"In the future, Oculus' business will focus on the production of virtual reality access equipment. We will use Star Sky Technology's technical standards …
"As for the specifics, I'll talk to them myself."
…
One million helmets were sold out in one day, and the sales of 12 billion yuan in a single day shocked Wall Street in North America.
However, if someone thought that 12 billion yuan in sales was amazing, then that person knew nothing about Huawei's business.
In fact, the HV-1 helmet was only a part of Huawei's virtual reality technology. Even though it was profitable, it wasn't even the biggest source of profit.
What they really made money from was the carbon-based communication baseband used in the HV-1, as well as the neural modem compatible with the Phantom system.
The only place in the world that could produce such hardware was the Jiangcheng Semiconductor Industrial Park. Even the helmets that Da Mi had yet to be sold were purchased from their factories. Many of the components that could not be produced were purchased from Da Mi's factory.
These industries would bring them hundreds of billions of dollars in market share in the future. Even if they had to pay a large patent fee to Star Sky Technology, the profits would be more than enough for them to make a fortune …
While the world was going crazy over the Phantom system, the "father of virtual reality technology", Lu Zhou, was quite calm and low-key.
Even though Lu Zhou received a lot of private messages and reminders on Weibo every day, Professor Lu, who was always happy to share his joy with his fans, didn't respond to any of the messages.
In fact, it wasn't that he was deliberately avoiding these messages, it was just that he didn't see them.
He had been staying in his laboratory for the past few days, tinkering with a small gadget …
Even though this gadget wasn't as amazing as virtual reality technology …
But in terms of its technical content and impact on the global information industry, it was probably not inferior to virtual reality technology at all. In fact, it might even surpass it …
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