Chapter 106: Smartphone

“Congratulations, sir.”

When I returned to the company,

the team leaders, who had heard the news of the acquisition, greeted me with excited voices.

However, the expressions of Hong Chung-ki and Oh Seong-hak showed slight concern.

“Is there something worrying you?”

Hong Chung-ki cautiously opened his mouth.

“The bid price was much higher than we thought, so I’m a bit worried about whether there will be any problems with fund management.”

“Do you think it was a reckless acquisition?”

As I smiled faintly,

Hong Chung-ki and Oh Seong-hak nodded simultaneously.

“After all, 720 billion won is not a small amount.”

“Moreover, we’re in a situation where it’s not easy to get a loan from the banking sector because of Ahsung…”

After Ahsung interfered with the loan process for the Qatar project,

the banking sector was still reluctant to lend to us.

“You don’t have to worry about the loan anymore.”

“We don’t have to worry?”

“What I mean is, as long as we’re not borrowing more than the standard amount, there won’t be any more discrimination.”

I helped Baek Mu-jin to get out of this difficult situation.

“And I plan to settle the bid payment with existing assets, not a bank loan, so there’s no need to worry at all.”

Of the $11.8 billion in profits I made from the last global financial crisis,

$2 billion went into the Qatar project,

and I had already exchanged some of the remaining $9.8 billion into won at the best exchange rate.

That amount alone was a whopping 5 trillion won.

Even after acquiring Cheongun Electric and Digital Optics, more than half of it remained.

“The funds needed to acquire Pintech & Curetech will be deposited into Dojin Tech’s corporate account tomorrow.”

I instructed Oh Seong-hak to finalize the acquisition process of Pintech with that money.

Ahsung Electronics Development Team.

Chairman Cheon Ho-tae stood in a corner of the research institute, checking the new phone to be released this time.

His expression was full of anticipation.

“Is this the product that will make up for the failure to acquire Pintech?”

Executive Director Cheon Jun-young confidently nodded.

“With the ‘Ace-Premium’ phone we’re developing, whatever model Pintech releases will hardly see the light of day.”

At Cheon’s signal, team leader Jo Gwang-seok, holding the completed phone in his hand, continued with additional explanations.

“While existing phones competed only in design, call quality, simple photo taking, and music and video playback, the ‘Ace-Premium’ we’re releasing this time not only overwhelmingly enhances all these functions but also incorporates new features never seen before in a phone.”

“What features have been added?”

Team leader Jo Gwang-seok immediately answered Chairman Cheon Ho-tae’s question.

“First, we’ve dramatically improved call quality. By incorporating the world’s first HD Voice feature, it provides vivid sound quality as if the other person is speaking right next to you. Additionally, the camera boasts a 20-megapixel sensor, far surpassing existing resolutions, ensuring photos taken with the phone rival the clarity of most digital cameras.”

Executive Director Cheon Jun-young continued.

“Furthermore, for the first time in the world, we’ve added real-time streaming TV viewing, including terrestrial DMB, and navigation integration directly into the phone. This means with just the ‘Ace-Premium’ phone, you can navigate and check traffic information.”

Chairman Cheon Ho-tae, looking interested, asked additional questions.

“Of course, you’ve paid attention to the exterior design as well, right?”

Cheon Jun-young smiled confidently.

“I personally commissioned the world-renowned industrial designer, Philippe Starck. With his minimalist design, we’ve achieved the thinnest and lightest metal body in phone history, coupled with reinforced glass for both luxury and durability.”

Chairman Cheon Ho-tae held the phone in his hand.

Indeed, in his view, it felt like a level of completion incomparable to any previously released phone.

“With this, no matter what phone Dojin makes, consumers will have no choice but to use our product.”

Chairman Cheon, in the middle of speaking,

suddenly had a concern.

“Surely, there won’t be any issues with the camera module supply this time, will there?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. We’ve already signed a supply contract with Dojin Tech for a year’s worth of modules.”

Although the price was a bit higher, it meant there would be no situation where they couldn’t make phones due to a lack of cameras.

Director Kim Seong-jae also shared his opinion.

“Experts are praising this model for its higher level of completion than any previously released product, so I don’t think we need to worry about sales.”

Only then did Chairman Cheon’s expression completely relax.

“Go ahead and start mass production immediately. Make sure Dojin can’t even get a foothold in the mobile market!”

“Yes.”

Dojin Industries.

Seong-hwan, watching Ahsung’s new product advertisement on TV, exclaimed in awe.

“Wow, hyung. Honestly, with something like this, won’t consumers just choose Ahsung phones without question?”

In the TV ad, Ahsung’s new product, the ‘Ace-Premium,’ was being lavishly introduced featuring a famous actor.

HD Voice, high-performance camera, DMB, and navigation features.

On top of that, every time the luxurious exterior designed by Philippe Starck was emphasized, it grabbed the viewer’s attention.

Even Seong-hwan, watching the ad, felt like he wanted one.

There was no need to mention others.

“Definitely well-made.”

Seeing my relaxed demeanor, Seong-hwan looked puzzled.

“Hyung, now’s not the time to be so relaxed, is it? Since Ahsung launched the Ace-Premium, the sales of the products Pintech was selling have plummeted.”

Even after acquiring Pintech, the older models we were making continued to be produced.

But since the Ace-Premium was released, sales had dropped by more than half.

“Don’t worry about sales.”

“Don’t worry? The mobile division’s deficit is no joke right now.”

Seong-hwan expressed deep concern, saying there was a monthly deficit of over 30 billion won.

“Once we develop and release our new product, we’ll be able to catch up to the Ace-Premium’s sales in no time.”

“Do you really think so?”

Seong-hwan still couldn’t shake off his worries.

After all, the phone I was developing wasn’t a feature phone but a smartphone, something most mobile companies hadn’t made yet.

“You’ve seen the A-Phone’s sales, right?”

The A-Phone 1, released by A-ple, had sold over 6 million units in just a year since its release.

“You seem to not know much, but 6 million units isn’t a huge number. Ahsung phones sell tens of millions of units a year.”

As Seong-hwan said, looking only at sales, it was hard to call it a massive success.

“You shouldn’t judge smartphones solely by sales.”

Looking only at sales, it was hard to call it a massive success,

and that’s why other mobile companies weren’t moving to release smartphones yet.

“Smartphones are significant just for their innovativeness alone.”

While most phones at the time were feature phones with physical keypads,

the A-Phone featured a touchscreen, app-based OS, internet browsing, multi-touch, and A-tunes integration.

“And the reason sales are lower than expected isn’t just because A-ple’s production capacity isn’t sufficient yet, but more importantly, because it only supports GSM networks, not CDMA.”

That’s why the A-Phone was initially released only in countries like the U.S. and U.K.

“Are you saying that if we release a smartphone, we can turn the market around?”

“Of course.”

I knew that once someone experienced the convenience of a smartphone, they would never go back to a feature phone.

I took the prototype smartphone from my desk drawer and showed it to Seong-hwan.

“What… is this?”

“It’s a smartphone, what else? But it’s not fully completed yet. Only the insides are smartphone-like; the design and OS still need some work.”

In the basement of Dojin Industries,

I had been working on it whenever I had time,

so it wasn’t a finished product,

but it was fully functional.

“Whoa… what is this? It has internet? Just like a computer?”

“Not just the internet. Anything you can do on a computer, you can do on this smartphone.”

“Anything?”

“For example, you can check or send emails, and handle document work or schedule management, all on the smartphone.”

Seong-hwan, looking amazed, kept touching the prototype smartphone’s screen.

“Wow, this is amazing. It’s so fast and smooth. It feels completely different from Cheongun’s PRODA phone that’s selling now.”

“Of course. Regular touchphones are still feature phone-based touchscreens with limited functionality, but smartphones have an OS designed around app operation.”

Seong-hwan couldn’t take his hands off the prototype smartphone.

“With this, it’ll definitely draw more attention than the Ace-Premium.”

At Seong-hwan’s words, I nodded.

“But there are still issues to resolve, like OS optimization.”

At Dojin Soft, Han Yu-ju was working hard to develop a mobile OS based on Linux,

but it needed a little more time.

“Lunar, right?”

“Right. Just like A-ple developed their own OS called jOS, we’re planning to create our own operating system called Lunar and apply it to the smartphone. It’s taking more time than expected, but once optimized, it’ll perform better than the A-Phone.”

Seong-hwan pondered for a moment before asking again.

“But hyung, do you think Korean consumers will readily accept smartphones? I’m worried that people accustomed to feature phones might find smartphones difficult to use.”

“We’ll make it so they can accept it quickly.”

I planned to include an essential app inside the smartphone.

Specifically, a messenger program called KTalk.

Current feature phones could only send texts to one person at a time, and even that was for a fee.

But KTalk could send messages to multiple people simultaneously for free, so I was confident it would explode in popularity, especially among young people.

“Is KTalk like that messenger program, BuddyBuddy?”

“Right.”

“Wow, if you can carry something like that on your phone, it would definitely be convenient.”

“Not just convenient. Once you experience a smartphone, you’ll never want to go back to your old phone.”

Seong-hwan nodded slightly, seeming to understand.

“But how long will it take to release this?”

While the smartphone’s performance was overwhelmingly good,

the situation with the acquired Pintech wasn’t great,

and the longer it took, the greater the burden could become.