Extraordinary Genius
Chapter 644 – DVD Forum (Part 2 of 2)
Why was Feng Yu so calm? It was not because he feels that these representatives will beg him to be a member of this organization after he told them about these conditions. It was because he had planted an actor among the representatives!
These actors were important at critical times. If they get the timing right, they would be able to affect the crowd.
“Mr. Feng, we, Microsoft, will join this organization!”
Huh?
All the representatives were shocked to see an American claiming to represent Microsoft wanting to join this organization.
Stop joking with me! Microsoft was a software company. What does software get to do with DVD? Why are you here in the first place?
Feng Yu purposely asked with a ‘shock’ expression: “Are you Vice President James? You want to represent Microsoft to join the DVD Forum?”
“Yes. I am authorized by the Microsoft board of directors to represent Microsoft to take part in the DVD Forum. We will work together with everyone else to develop and implement Wind and Rain Philips industry standards.” James replied loudly.
“Since when Microsoft is involved in DVD?” Panasonic’s Vice President asked in doubt. Although he knows that Feng Yu would not get someone to impersonate someone from Microsoft to get everyone join the forum. During the signing of the agreement, the company and representative will be stated, and it will be legally binding.
“We are not going to manufacture DVD players. But we are interested in DVD encoding technology.” James replied.
This James from Microsoft was there because Feng Yu had called and convinced Bill Gates. Feng Yu was the third shareholder of Microsoft. Although he had no say in Microsoft, Feng Yu had shown Bill Gates his financial power.
Furthermore, Feng Yu told Bill Gates that once the DVD optic drives were developed, he will tie up with Microsoft operating system. This way, every PC will have to use their operating system and optical drives. Everything will be bundled together, and they will get higher profits.
It should be the profits from this cooperation that had convinced Bill Gates rather than Feng Yu. There was no reason why Bill Gates would reject this opportunity to make more money.
So, James appeared in this meeting. James was aware that Feng Yu was Microsoft’s third-biggest shareholder, and naturally, he has no qualms to be the first to express his desire to join this DVD Forum organization.
After Microsoft voiced out, the other companies’ representatives were deep in thoughts. Microsoft was already the leader in the PC operating system. Their shares value had increased by several folds in the past two years. It was the fastest growing company in recent years. Many people had predicted Microsoft will become the world’s biggest company in the future. For a company of this scale to participate, the other companies had to think twice if they were to opt out.
At this time, a representative from a second company stood up: “I represent Thompson to join this organization as a member.”
Huh? Thompson also wants to be part of this organization? This was a French state-owned enterprise. This company owned the biggest market share in the US and was Europe’s second-biggest electronics company. It was highly regarded in the consumer electronics industry. Even they agree to join this forum?
But Thompson was one of the world’s top manufacturer of TV and Video players. It’s normal for them to be interested in these DVD players.
After that, Taiwan’s BenQ and many other companies expressed their willingness to join the Forum. Some other big European companies also agreed to participate.
The Japanese companies had wanted to cooperate to bargain for better benefits. But now, if they did not join this Forum, they would be left out.
“Panasonic will join.”
“JVC will also join this Forum.”
“We, NEC, agree to join.”
“I represent Mitsubishi to be a part of this Forum.”
“Samsung agrees to join this organization.”
“We, Hitachi, will join this Forum.”
……
More than 30 representatives from various companies agree to join this DVD Forum. All the companies that were present agreed. Even the top companies had decided to participate, there was no reason for the smaller companies to object.
Feng Yu smiles as he looked at the representatives. This was so simple. I invited Microsoft, and Philips asked Thompson to help them. Fu Guangzheng had also spoken to some Taiwanese companies. How could this DVD Forum fail?
Now, almost half of the world’s consumer electronics companies had joined DVD Forum. The rest were either not involved in the DVD businesses, or related to Toshiba, Sony, Pioneer, etc.
That means from this moment onwards, the DVD industry will only have two alliances. But Feng Yu’s DVD Forum was more powerful as they had a uniformed standard.
The formats and standards introduced by Toshiba and Pioneer were different. Even if they were to cooperate now, both of them would not give up on the format they developed halfway.
Things were proceeding smoothly, and all the representatives signed an agreement to state that they will abide by the format and standard set by the DVD Forum. If any company were to violate the terms of the agreement, that company would have to compensate all the members of the DVD Forum and the compensation for each company will not be lesser than 10 million USD.
Although 10 million USD might seem a lot, for those big companies, it was not a big deal. But if this amount was to multiply by more than 30 times, it will be more than 300 million USD. 300 million USD was a vast amount, and all the companies had to think of this consequence if they decided to betray the Forum.
Wind and Rain Electronics, Aiwa Electronics, Philips, AIWA, Microsoft, Thompson, Samsung, Panasonic, and Tata group, were the 9 committee members of the Forum.
After the committee members were selected, Aiwa Electronics immediately states that the DVD industry standards should be Wind and Rain Philips Standards. Those that agree had to raise their hand.
The representatives from Wind and Rain Electronics, Aiwa Electronics, Philips, AIWA, Microsoft, and Thompson immediately raise their hands. The other 3 companies’ representatives looked at each other. They knew that this would be approved even if they did not raise their hands. Rather than opposing, they might as well show their support. They also raise their hands, and that means all the companies under the DVD Forum will have to use Wind and Rain Philips DVD standards.
The members of the DVD Forum thought there was nothing essential to discuss after the DVD standards were set. Everyone was waiting for Feng Yu to give them some benefits. The agreement had stated that after joining the DVD Forum, the authorization fees for the VCD patents will be lowered.
But AIWA raised another topic to discuss. It was about the standards for optic drives. To be more precise, DVD optic drive.
There was already optic drives now, but most of it was CD optical drives. The only VCD optic drive in the market belongs to Wind and Rain Electronics, and Lenovo had the authorization to use this technology in their newest PC.
But the VCD optic drive was only a passing product. In the future, DVD optical drives will be the mainstream and will be used for a long time. Wind and Rain Electronics specialized in this technology and was way ahead of the other companies.
The standard was suggested, and no surprises. It was agreed by the committee. Feng Yu had finally gotten everything he wanted.
Translator’s notes:
I remember seeing Thompson TVs when I was young. But it seems that this brand had disappeared from the consumer electronics industry.
Thompson Consumer Electronics
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor_SA