บท 813: Chapter 814: The Smartphone Era
[Chapter 814: The Smartphone Era]
No company was willing to settle for being just a technology licensing vendor. Eric spent the entire afternoon talking with Sophie Wilson and had basically solidified the intention to acquire ARM. Next, Firefly only needed to persuade ARM's major shareholders to transfer their stakes.
ARM's market capitalization was around $80 million, and it didn't show any astounding growth potential. As long as Eric offered a reasonable price, acquiring the company wouldn't be difficult.
The autumn skies of London were short, and the helicopter landed at a helipad in Playa Vista studio as dusk settled in. Eric stepped off the helicopter first and smiled, reaching out as he watched Caroline carefully step onto the platform. "Come on, let me carry you down."
Caroline didn't mind being carried down at all. However, the smile on Eric's face and the tone of his voice made her feel like a child, which was exactly what she disliked. After all, she was only a year younger than Eric; she was twenty-five this year.
"I can do it myself, thank you," Caroline said, already jumping down, her body wobbling somewhat. Eric caught her just in time.
Once Caroline steadied herself, Eric said, "Let's go grab some dinner; the restaurant here is pretty good. I'll take you back afterward."
Caroline had driven herself here during the day. However, it was now dark, and even though Wilson Manor wasn't too far away, Eric didn't feel comfortable with Caroline driving back alone. This was the outskirts of London, and the roads were mostly rural farmland. Driving alone at night was definitely a bit unsettling.
As Caroline walked beside Eric, she said, "Eric, I can drive back by myself. Plus, I promised my mom I'd be home for dinner."
"Well, if that's the case, let's scrap the dinner plan. I'll drop you off instead," Eric replied, noticing Caroline was about to say something more, and added, "No arguments. I really can't let you drive home alone right now. I'll have someone bring your car to Wilson Manor tomorrow."
Caroline lowered her head slightly and said softly, "Okay, fine then."
...
After they exited the helipad, the driver had already prepared the car. Eric politely opened the car door for Caroline and got in himself.
Eric didn't think much of it, believing that personally driving Caroline home would be the polite thing to do; besides, it wasn't far. But sitting next to Eric, Caroline felt a little flustered; her mind began to race.
Eric was going back to her place.
That thought felt off somehow.
How should she entertain him?
What would her parents think about this?
Eric casually chatted a few times with Caroline and noticed she seemed somewhat distant; so, he went quiet.
They were on the road, and the driver was clearly faster than Caroline had been during the day.
Fifteen minutes later, as they passed over a stone bridge, Eric took a glance outside in the glow of the bridge lights. The view showed a deep river about ten meters wide. This must be the Thames that Caroline mentioned.
Wilson Manor was right across the Thames, and as they crossed the stone bridge, the car soon stopped in front of a grand estate.
...
Eric and Caroline got out of the car and curiously looked around. Beyond the iron fence walls, they could see the spacious lawn and the distant castle illuminated.
With its long nobility history, England had countless castles. However, due to the high maintenance costs, most were in disrepair. Even Windsor Castle, home to the British royal family, required state funding to maintain. Nobles who could still maintain their ancestral estates in this era were truly steeped in heritage.
Standing beside Eric, Caroline felt a little out of place. She wanted to invite Eric inside for a bit but was unsure if he would be up for it, nor did she know how her parents would feel about it. After all, she had never mentioned to her mom and dad that Eric would be visiting.
At that moment, the manor's doorman spotted the young lady and a man getting out of the car and approached them. It wasn't until he got closer that he recognized Eric.
Realizing someone was walking over, Caroline snapped back to attention and introduced, "Eric, this is Mark."
Eric politely extended his hand and shook hands with Mark. "Hello, I'm Eric Williams."
"Hello, Mr. Williams," Mark said, shaking Eric's hand somewhat formally before turning towards Caroline. "Miss, do you want me to notify your parents?"
"Uh, about that..." Caroline looked towards Eric.
"No need to trouble them; I was just dropping Caroline off since it's getting late," Eric said, shaking his head at Mark. He then turned back to Caroline. "I'll head back now. Please give my regards to your parents."
"Okay," Caroline nodded, feeling uncertain whether it was disappointment or regret.
The driver presented two bags to Eric. He remembered that they were Caroline's coat and shoes from earlier. He handed them to Mark, standing beside Caroline, and said, "Well, I'm off. See you."
"Goodbye," Caroline waved at Eric as she watched the car's lights fade away. She turned her gaze back to Mark and took the bags from him. "Mark, I'll manage."
Mark was utterly unclear about the situation until he found himself watching the young lady walk alone into the manor, at which point he realized he needed to call the count and countess.
...
When Countess Edith Wilson heard from the doorman, she hurried out to meet her daughter, observing her dressed in a pink hoodie and flat boots, a stark contrast to her outfit from earlier in the day. Her gaze flickered for a moment before she regained her composure. She took the bag of clothes from Caroline and handed it to a waiting maid. Then, holding her daughter's hand, she gently asked without mentioning Eric, "Sweetheart, how was your day?"
"Good, Mom," Caroline nodded and replied, "Eric drove me back personally, but it's a shame he didn't want to stay."
The countess looked at Caroline's puzzled and disappointed expression and smiled. "Mr. Williams seems like a gentleman; he might just not want to impose."
Despite this, the countess couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Over the years, she and her husband had always adored their youngest daughter more than anything, and even Caroline's three older brothers treated her with great care. They initially hoped Caroline would find a suitable partner, like many young noblewomen, leading a calm and happy life.
Unfortunately, several years ago, after graduating from Cambridge, when her father began organizing matchmaking opportunities for her, Caroline surprised them by showing strong resistance, even going as far as to run away from home.
Later, Caroline incidentally met Eric Williams, and her parents thought that if the two got together, it would be a good match.
Yet, things didn't go as hoped.
Afterward, Caroline boldly expressed to her parents that she didn't want to continue living the way she had, and she left to attend Harvard Business School, eventually finding herself working for Eric Williams almost by accident.
Over the years, as Eric's fame rose, the count and countess learned more about his accomplishments. They came to realize that it was becoming harder for Eric and Caroline to reconcile, which is why they had not issued any invitations while Eric was filming Casino Royale nearby at Playa Vista studio this time.
But...
Looking at her daughter with a mix of pity and concern, the countess suddenly recalled many years ago.
Though everyone around said Caroline was weak, as a mother who knew her daughter best, she recognized certain stubborn traits hidden beneath Caroline's delicate exterior, which mirrored that of a woman from years ago. Fearing that Caroline might repeat the mistakes of the past, the couple allowed her to live life according to her own desires in recent years.
After all, this was their cherished daughter, and while the traditions of nobility were certainly important, they paled in comparison to her happiness. Having three well-regarded sons, the couple didn't expect Caroline to inherit the family estate.
As long as their daughter found happiness, that was enough.
Noticing her mother looking lost in thought, Caroline asked, "Mom, what are you thinking about?"
The countess shook her head. "Oh, it's nothing. Your father is waiting for us to have dinner together, so let's go inside."
...
Returning to Playa Vista studio after a simple dinner, Eric went to the study in his residence.
These days, in between filming, he had been contemplating the future landscape of mobile internet and the smartphone era. Today's confirmation of interest in acquiring ARM meant he was about to take control of another crucial piece of the puzzle.
However, there was still a long road ahead.
Over the years, companies like Nokia and Qualcomm -- investments from Firefly Group -- had thrived and developed according to the established trajectories set by their management teams.
Given his absolute controlling interest in Nokia, Eric had the power to shape the direction of this mobile industry giant as he wished, and the same went for Qualcomm, which he had a significant stake in, as well as the emerging Yahoo.
However, this meant Eric would need to invest lots of energy into managing these companies, which was clearly not possible since Firefly Group already occupied most of his time and effort. Dividing his focus to manage the industries under Firefly Investments would likely just exhaust him, leaving him at a dead end. Therefore, he decided to maintain a broad strategic direction while leaving the finer details to the professional managers of these companies.
Currently, Nokia would only continue on its trajectory in a world that was set to transition. The development approach that they had in place was very viable before the rise of smartphones, but once that shift happened, it was inevitable that Nokia would face decline.
After days of deliberation, Eric had begun to outline another viable path.
...
In the study, he connected to the internet and opened the YCR chat software on his desktop. Chris in New York and Yahoo CEO Ian Gurney and CTO Steve Mitnick in Boston were already online.
Creating a separate temporary chat room, Eric invited everyone in and summarized the outcome of his meeting with Sophie Wilson today.
The four of them then began discussing topics they had been addressing for days, focusing on Eric's alternative development plan divided into three stages.
This plan mainly involved Yahoo and Firefly Electronics over a decade.
With Yahoo's assistance, Firefly Electronics would concentrate on the research and development of three products over the next ten years.
From 1996 to 2000, Firefly would primarily focus on promoting MP3 players, while privately developing the tablet computer Eric discussed with Sophie Wilson earlier in the afternoon.
They had already named the tablet computer YahooPad.
Under this plan, ARM, Yahoo, and Firefly Electronics itself would be crucial components in developing the YahooPad.
Over the next four years, ARM would focus on developing application chips for the YahooPad, while Yahoo would be responsible for developing its operating system, with Firefly Electronics managing the overall architecture of the product.
Steve Mitnick had come up with the idea of developing a brand new PC operating system a few years ago, but with Windows having taken off, breaking Microsoft's monopoly in the PC domain was nearly impossible, so Eric had turned down Steve's proposal.
However, now Steve's original concept could be applied to developing a mobile operating system. Over the past few days, Eric had shared many impressions based on his previous life regarding Android and Apple's operating systems with Steve.
The future mobile operating system would embody Eric's ambitions in the mobile internet space; this time, he would not allow the scenario of Android and Apple splitting the market as they had in his previous life.
With four full years of research and development time, the YahooPad would officially launch in 2000 when the mobile communications market would also shift toward democratization.
From 2000 to 2005, while promoting and selling MP3 players and the YahooPad, Firefly Electronics would leverage the technological know-how accumulated in the previous years, focusing rapidly on smartphone development with the cooperation of Qualcomm and Nokia. Additionally, thanks to the investment in Sprint, promoting this phone in the mobile communications market would not be an issue.
In ten years, Firefly Electronics would officially enter the smartphone era in 2005.
The advantage of this plan was that Eric wouldn't have to disrupt the existing trajectories of Nokia, Qualcomm, and Yahoo. These companies could continue climbing based on their established paths.
At the same time, Firefly Electronics -- a significant piece outside of conventional strategy -- could gradually complete Eric's major layout for the imminent mobile internet era.
Once the timing was right and Firefly Electronics showcased the corresponding potential, Eric could easily license the relevant technologies to Nokia and others, enabling a smooth transition from feature phones to smartphones.
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง