In a previous life, 【Pineapple】 was a place where technology and business were so well combined that it was hard to find a match across all industries and sectors.
If you narrow it down to IT, it becomes even more astonishing.
It had a powerful market dominance in all fields of hardware, software, and content, which was the decisive reason it rose to become the world’s top company.
Therefore, one should never simply look at the meaning of 【Pineapple】 making an e-book reader.
‘Are they competing with me for future market dominance?’
In a few years, mobile devices, not computers, will start connecting the world.
At that time, people will choose familiar brands among the countless content and brands being poured out.
【Jungle】 was already expanding its territory, and now 【Pineapple】 follows suit, not wanting to lag behind.
‘Is 【Macro Soft】 the only one left?’
The reason why they are inevitably the slowest is that Billy Kates is no longer the CEO.
Even in the previous life, after Steven Balmer succeeded Billy Kates as CEO, there were almost no successful ventures.
It was naturally due to late decisions.
If it’s a similar trend this time, their products or content would always come out third.
‘The third in the market is always doomed to be eliminated.’
Even if they come in late and climb up to the third position, they won’t be able to break the strongholds of 【Jungle】 and 【Pineapple】.
Anyway, the news that 【Samjin Computer】 was also taking on the contract manufacturing for 【Pineapple】 spread widely after this day.
Of course, interest was amplified not only in Korea and the United States but also in Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.
Shortly after, 【Macro Soft】 also announced its entry into the e-book reader market.
Although it’s still in the design stage, they said they would soon start production.
As a result, 【Jungle】’s e-book reader also attracted a lot of attention.
“Last week, due to a surge in orders in the North American region, all inventory was sold out.”
“It’s the same in Japan, and we’ve received additional orders from Hong Kong as well.”
“Distributors from Taiwan and Europe have also inquired by phone, but 【Samjin Computer】 said they can’t meet the demand even with three shifts.”
“We’ll have to increase the number of contract manufacturers.”
If the e-book reader is not the end, it would be wise to increase contract manufacturing.
“That’s a good idea. Especially since 【Samjin Computer】 is also receiving orders from 【Pineapple】, it seems difficult for them to focus only on us in the future.”
“Then who should we entrust it to?”
“I’ll contact 【One Computer】 directly.”
“Oh, right… there’s that place.”
“Not bad. If they recently acquired and merged with two companies and restructured their computer production facilities, they could quickly produce our volume.”
The prerequisite here was the cooperation of 【Samjin Computer】.
Even if they were monopolistically contract manufacturing, increasing the number to a place like 【One Computer】 might not be taken well, no matter how close they were with 【Jungle】.
However, Park Jin-yong readily agreed.
(Well, it can’t be helped. We can’t increase 【Jungle】’s volume because we are producing 【Pineapple】’s products.)
Receiving this result, Lee Hyun-woo contacted Kim Yoon-soo.
Of course, he was very pleased.
(I was worried about whether acquiring and merging two places was overdoing it. Okay, I’ll reconfigure some factories to match the supply of 【Jungle】’s e-book readers as much as possible.)
The person happiest about the explosive sales of the e-book reader was, of course, Woo Sang-won.
While he didn’t care much about other things, the fact that the mobile operating system installed on the e-book reader was being used by many people allowed him to collect a lot of big data.
The feedback received by rank was as follows,
My eyes hurt. The readability of the newly released 【E-liber 2】 is really poor.
It’s expensive. How many books do I need to buy to offset the device cost?
It’s too heavy. If it’s supposed to be lighter than a book, I can’t really tell the difference when lying down and holding it.
For reference, 【E-liber 2】 is the second version of the e-book reader released by 【Jungle】.
There was a lot of other feedback, but if these three were quickly resolved, the inconvenience of the next version of 【E-liber】 could be improved and sold more.
‘This is why the chairman always emphasizes the importance of big data.’
This naturally led to a meeting, and after sharing the solutions, they boarded a plane to Jeju Island to present them to Lee Hyun-woo.
“First of all, we received feedback from tens of thousands of buyers who complained about eye strain, so we contacted the display manufacturer directly. They said they would soon improve and send prototypes to 【Samjin Computer】 and 【One Computer】.”
With the emergence of mobile phones, PDAs, and e-book readers, the display industry was also booming.
Naturally, technological advancements were rapid, and it was already two years ahead compared to Lee Hyun-woo’s previous life, with PDPs becoming mainstream in the TV market.
However, even this was slowly being overtaken by the rapid development of LCDs, highlighting the power of over-technology.
“Also, unlike customers who purchased during the 10% discount event, those who paid full price are complaining a lot about the high cost.”
“Understandably so.”
“Therefore, there’s a consensus to reduce the price of the third version by 10%. Although it’s still a loss, we concluded that if we produce in larger quantities than now, we could make up for it with content sales.”
“Go ahead.”
“Lastly, to reduce the weight, we need to change the material. We have already discussed this with the display manufacturer and informed the plastic manufacturer, so we should get a response soon.”
Lee Hyun-woo smiled. He was satisfied that Woo Sang-won was making proper use of the big data he had emphasized.
But he wanted to go further.
“Which of the three can be achieved the fastest?”
“Pardon?”
“Among the screen, price, and weight, which can be applied the quickest?”
“That would naturally be… the price, right? It can be done right now.”
“Then let’s do it.”
“Huh? But that…”
“If it’s a bit awkward to lower the price of the existing product, we can improve the performance of the fourth and fifth versions before releasing them. What’s the fourth one?”
“The storage capacity.”
“How long would the immediate improvement take?”
“At least six months.”
“Then how about expansion?”
“Expansion?”
“Yes, via USB or SD cards.”
The SD card, a memory card, had just been released.
This was also accelerated by the emergence of various devices, and since Lee Hyun-woo was practically from the future, he brought up the idea of expansion.
“Computers also use external storage devices like floppy disks, CDs, and recently USBs to compensate for insufficient storage capacity. Why can’t an e-book reader do the same?”
“Oh… it can, definitely. As long as a port is provided.”
“If the other improvements are done in the meantime, we can release them one by one. Even 【Alpha Cast】 releases multiple models of MP3 players with different designs and performances, so why can’t an e-book reader do the same?”
“We can. It also gives consumers more choices.”
“Yes, we are now in an era where we can do both small-batch production and large-batch production of various types. Since we have increased the number of contract manufacturers, it won’t be difficult.”
“Haha… right. Right. Wow, whenever I tell the chairman something, he always comes up with multiple solutions, which is very satisfying.”
“Then let me add one more thing.”
“Yes, please go ahead.”
“I believe the day will come when our product will become a portable computer. Naturally, it should connect wirelessly to the internet and download content.”
Currently, this is not possible. Therefore, a LAN cable was required to download content, and naturally, the 【E-liber 2】 had that port.
As the era was advanced, a product that didn’t exist in the previous life had emerged.
“So, please research to improve in that direction.”
“Oh… yes…”
Was it too distant a topic? It might have been. However, looking at the accelerated pace, a tablet PC mentioned by Lee Hyun-woo didn’t seem like a dream.
Maybe even a smartphone…
‘At this rate, we might end up making smartphones or tablet PCs.’
Though there was still a long way to go, the path ahead was clearly visible compared to before.
Following Lee Hyun-woo’s suggestion, a product with a reduced price and an SD card slot was designed, with a report stating it could be released within a month.
It seemed to progress easily, but the process was quite challenging.
To use an SD card, the existing computer must have a port.
Currently, many computers didn’t have USB ports.
As a result, only those who owned computers with SD card slots could expand their e-book readers, making the new 【E-liber 2】 more accurately described as 【E-liber 2.1】 rather than 【E-liber 3】.
Instead, Woo Sang-won communicated with existing computer manufacturers, requesting that future computers include SD ports, which they readily agreed to.
‘Improving the e-book reader has led to increased demand for SD cards.’
And that wasn’t the end.
Those who purchased 【E-liber 2】 complained that the reason for the price burden was the considerable cost of e-books, so they increased the number of free e-books and strengthened various bundle events to enhance customer satisfaction.
Of course, these events were not random but tied to specific dates like Christmas, New Year, or Lunar New Year, combining products and content to engage customers.
As a result, the year 2000 approached quickly, and finally, the long-planned product of 【Pineapple】 was unveiled.
As always, Steven Job, who took utmost care in maintaining security, presented the e-book reader in San Francisco.
‘Wow… it’s really beautifully designed.’
The e-book reader was so appealing that even Lee Hyun-woo was impressed.
Under the name 【a-reader】, it made its debut, adopting a high-price strategy with a price exceeding $200.
‘Steven Job is not one to take a loss.’
Steven Job had a tendency to avoid loss-making structures.
Therefore, he seemed to have put more effort into the design, also reinforcing the e-book content by recruiting popular authors.
Although its functions and content couldn’t be considered superior to 【E-liber 2】, loyal 【Pineapple】 customers didn’t hesitate to buy it at that price.
Especially those satisfied with the computers released by Steven Job after his return, the 【a-Mach】, were even more enthusiastic about purchasing the 【a-reader】.
‘Steven Job has now gained wings.’
Now, like 【Jungle】, 【Pineapple】 was on the path towards tablet PCs or smartphones, making it interesting to see who would reach that goal first.
Currently, Lee Hyun-woo had a significant advantage.
Why?
Because Korea already had a better internet infrastructure than the United States.
‘At least in Jeju Island, I need to accelerate the wireless internet era.’
With Lee Hyun-woo around, shortcuts would always be faster.
