A few days later, Han Il-woong, the CEO of Ilhan Electronics, came to visit Lee Hyun-woo.
With a broad smile on his face, he mentioned a gift to Lee Hyun-woo.
“I am planning to make fans specifically for the employees of Jungle. Please wait a little longer.”
“Fans?”
“Each office might have air conditioners, but using them with fans would make it much cooler. Hahaha.”
Why did he prepare such a gift?
It was obviously because of the tremendous success of the cordless vacuum cleaner, Code Free.
After its release in Japan, this vacuum cleaner has been extremely popular and currently cannot be sold because it’s out of stock.
Some media even called it the “noble vacuum cleaner.”
This implied that people using such an expensive product, costing 2 million won, could not be ordinary people.
Naturally, for Han Il-woong, Lee Hyun-woo was almost like a benefactor.
Moreover, since he promised to reinvest all the profits, Lee Hyun-woo would become a significant shareholder of Ilhan Electronics in the future.
However,
“Thank you, but could I decline?”
“What? No…”
Han Il-woong looked dejected as he watched Lee Hyun-woo refuse the gift.
“Won’t you please accept it? Could it be because it’s just a fan…”
“No, absolutely not. As you mentioned, using air conditioners with fans is indeed more efficient. Hmm… how about this?”
“……”
“How about making a special fan just for our company this time?”
“What kind of fan…”
“A personal mini fan. A fan small enough to carry around. But it should also be cordless. Please make it rechargeable.”
Is he now wanting a wireless fan after the hit of the wireless vacuum cleaner?
He couldn’t ignore the request of his benefactor.
So, with a serious expression, Han Il-woong asked Lee Hyun-woo.
“But if it’s portable, how small should it be?”
“Small enough to fit into a bag that women carry?”
“Ah, yes… I understand.”
“When a prototype comes out from the lab, please give it to me first.”
“Haha… yes, I will do that.”
Indeed, a month later, a small portable fan was made for testing in the lab, and as soon as it was delivered to Lee Hyun-woo, he used it with a satisfied expression.
“Oh? Chairman, what is that?”
“It’s a cute fan.”
“Is it cool?”
“Yes, it is. And since it’s wireless, I can use it while walking outside like this.”
“Wow… that’s nice…”
“How much is it?”
“How much? It was made by Ilhan Electronics. But it’s not a finished product yet…”
Upon hearing that the portable fan was made by Ilhan Electronics, the expressions of the executives changed dramatically.
Of course, during the process of making the wireless vacuum cleaner last time, didn’t Lee Hyun-woo also use a prototype?
Afterwards, the improved wireless vacuum cleaner, Code Free, became a huge hit in Japan following Lee Hyun-woo’s feedback.
It will be released in Korea starting this year-end, and many Korean consumers are already eyeing it.
Despite its high price, seeing people wanting to buy it, it seems there are a lot more wealthy individuals in Korea now.
Anyway, the executives who witnessed this process asked Lee Hyun-woo, anticipating that this portable fan might also be a hit.
“When will the product be released?”
“This time, it won’t be released only in Japan, right?”
“What? Ah, well, I’m not sure…”
He hadn’t thought about it, but recalling his past life, he remembered that this portable fan was also a product that first became a hit in Japan.
‘Although it came to mind by coincidence again, I should suggest to CEO Han Il-woong to commercialize it.’
Indeed, if you just think a bit about improving convenience, good products seem to be made easily.
After the meeting, Lee Hyun-woo called Han Il-woong.
“Hello?”
(Yes, Chairman.)
“I was wondering…”
Lee Hyun-woo asked him what he thought about commercializing the portable fan this time as well.
In other words, he suggested making it not only for Jungle employees but to target next summer for its release.
Naturally, Han Il-woong readily agreed.
No, his voice was filled with anticipation, thinking it might produce another hit like Code Free.
‘Although it might not be to that extent, it will indeed be quite a hit.’
Feeling the other party’s reaction, Lee Hyun-woo smiled inwardly.
He could already envision people carrying portable fans during the summer.
After the meeting, the four company presidents, including Woo Sang-won, continued their conversation at a coffee shop that was recently featured on many internet blogs.
“I’ve been constantly watching the chairman, and there isn’t a single day that I’m not surprised. Seeing a product requested out of inconvenience become such a big hit in Japan gave me chills.”
“Me too. And it made me reflect on myself. There were inconvenient things in my life too, but why did I overlook them?”
“I feel like we are still overlooking things even now. Although we don’t make wireless vacuums and fans, there are many inconvenient aspects in the information and communication sector as well.”
“Right. That’s why we tried using big data recently. We are working on improving the most frequently mentioned inconveniences by listening to the consumers who purchased our products.”
Hearing Woo Sang-won’s last words, the other three nodded in agreement.
They had already seen the process of improving the e-book reader.
With the recent release of the E-liber 2.1, which has better performance and a lower price, they also knew that customer complaints had significantly decreased.
“Besides the chairman’s company, we should also follow this example.”
“That’s right. There are many aspects in games that need improvement, so we should also look into big data.”
“The same goes for MP3. Our CEO Oh might have to put in some effort for this.”
“That’s no big deal…”
Oh Min-woo, the CEO of Jungle Data, straightened his shoulders.
Then he said,
“That will be done in a few days. What we need to discuss is improving common inconveniences.”
“What is it?”
“Jang Yoo-chul living in Jeju Island, honestly, isn’t it inconvenient? It’s frustrating because it’s so slow to improve.”
“Hey, but it has improved a lot. Recently, New World Mart also opened. Before that, we only used convenience stores or sometimes went to Seoul to buy a lot of stuff.”
“No, it’s still lacking. And maybe the chairman is also working hard on improving that.”
Finally, it was time to speculate on Lee Hyun-woo’s true intentions.
Recently, since Lee Hyun-woo had not intervened unless it was necessary for the independent management of each subsidiary, they often predicted his intentions like this.
The amazing thing was that Oh Min-woo was almost as accurate as a shaman.
“This might be going too far, but I think the chairman is planning to create a world where you can live with just a smartphone.”
“Living with just a smartphone?”
“Hmm… I can’t really imagine that.”
“Right.”
“You just have to think about adding each function to the smartphone. Starting with what currently exists. The current model of the smartphone combines an e-book reader, a mobile phone, and a PDA, right? So, you would make calls, do some searches, and read books with a smartphone, right?”
“I guess so?”
Mixing informal and formal speech due to Woo Sang-won, Oh Min-woo asked the others again.
“Besides that, think about adding your own domain to the smartphone.”
“For us… there’s nothing specific to add. We already added the function to listen to MP3s.”
“Besides that.”
“Besides that?”
“Yes, does Jungle Content only deal with MP3s? Haven’t they recently handled more content?”
“Yes, cable channels. Oh? Could it be…”
“Yes, why can’t we watch TV on a smartphone? I think it’s quite possible.”
“Well, I can’t really imagine it. Anyway, if we were to watch TV on a smartphone, we would need a new type of video file format.”
“Right. Correct. That’s something Jungle Content should handle. Now, it’s Jung-woo’s turn.”
“We have nothing but games. So I’ve been thinking, if it’s a game that can be played on a smartphone, it wouldn’t be too hard to design. It might need to be somewhat simple, though.”
“Well, does it really have to be simple? It seems like a prejudice stemming from the size and functionality limitations of the smartphone. Anyway, since you have nothing but games, you pass! Lastly, what about you, Sang-won?”
“Well… I already discussed it with the chairman.”
“What is it?”
“Ordering with a smartphone and having it delivered to your doorstep?”
“Oh, that would be convenient.”
“Indeed, it would be.”
“When did you discuss that?”
“While the e-book reader was evolving, he wanted it to contain more things. During our conversation, it inevitably touched on the portals and shopping managed by Jungle Communication.”
Everyone smiled broadly at Woo Sang-won’s words.
Because they roughly understood Lee Hyun-woo’s intentions.
Then Woo Sang-won made a suggestion.
“But as we talk about it like this, we realize there are many things we can do with a smartphone, right? How about we think about more and share our ideas next time?”
“That’s not a bad idea. Let’s meet next time and talk about that. Things we can do with a smartphone.”
“No, why don’t we have regular ‘study’ sessions? Planning meetings feel too heavy, so let’s share our imaginations without burden. It might even touch on sci-fi movie content, but that would make the study more fun.”
“I agree.”
“Me too.”
“Me too.”
“Then, since we have a regular executive meeting in Jeju Island once a week, let’s set that day as study time. The first topic is to think of one thing we can do with a smartphone.”
With this, today’s meeting ended.
And this time brought great joy to them.
For a whole week, they would think about what could be done with a smartphone, making them smile involuntarily.
A week later, after the meeting, the four gathered, and Woo Sang-won opened the conversation.
“I expanded my thoughts about watching TV and videos on a smartphone and thought, what about filming? But as I thought about it, there’s already a camera phone from GB Electronics. Although it only takes photos, increasing storage capacity might make it possible to add a camcorder function.”
“Wow, hearing your words reminded me of something the chairman said to me. He talked about lighters and matches.”
“I heard that too. That the lighter was invented first, then the match.”
“If you bring out a more advanced technology into the world, an affordable product will come out eventually… is that it? I heard that story too.”
“Right, right. So, thinking about what can be done with a smartphone naturally leads to the possibility of improving functions of e-book readers, mobile phones, and PDAs.”
Everyone nodded in agreement with Oh Min-woo’s words.
And now they finally understood why Lee Hyun-woo sometimes talked about technologies that seemed like they were from sci-fi.
