The 3th Generation of the Chaebol Wants to Live Quietly - Chapter 1148



Only Noblemtl

1148.

“There is another alternative. It seems like the important thing now is not selling MP3 players but creating an app ecosystem. So I think it would be better to focus on apps.”

“Huh? What does that mean?”

Director Choi Byeong-yeon showed it directly through actions rather than words.

This is the next generation model of Sehan Information.

But that model OS was quite different from before.

It was an OS that applied KM Electronics’ development tools.

“uh?”

Director Choi Byeong-yeon smiled brightly.

“When we first developed this, we collaborated with Sehan Information. We provided them with information on product development and worked together on porting KOS.”

To be exact, we developed hardware to enable KOS porting.

Sehan Information created its own OS just in case.

But this was closer to firmware than an OS.

This is firmware that is designed to be used with MP3 players.

However, the firmware level was not low.

Because it can be used for many cute purposes.

I mean the memo and calculator functions.

But that was all.

It wasn’t at a level where we could discuss comparisons with KOS.

KOS was originally created with smartphones in mind.

“… Is it possible to mass-produce it?”

Director Choi Byeong-yeon smiled brightly.

“This mass production model was developed first. In fact, Sehan Information wanted to use this model if possible. However, it was under review due to various technology royalties.”

The most important thing was Director Choi Min-hyeok’s intention.

“I need to report this, but there are still some issues that I am reviewing. For example, the IPS-LCD defect issue.”

Director Choi Min-hyeok was dumbfounded and stared blankly at Director Choi Byeong-yeon.

It wasn’t that I was angry because I did it on my own.

Rather, I was impressed.

Even when he was busy with things like the sale of the Plims and Collins divisions, Director Choi Byeong-yeon performed his duties meticulously.

“… You are truly amazing.”

Director Choi Byeong-yeon shrugged.

“You shouldn’t say that. The person who suggested the overall direction and path was Director Choi Min-hyeok. He was even the one who created the source code using an outsourcing company. In fact, working based on that was really easy.”

That’s right.

It was an undeniable fact.

In fact, although Director Choi Min-hyeok failed, the direction itself was correct.

If we start now, it would take about a year or two.

Director Choi Byeong-yeon smiled faintly.

“What should we do?”

“Make an appointment with Chief Ahn Moon-won.”

“…All right.”

Chief Choi Byeong-yeon was not surprised at all. It was natural for things to go this way. In fact, he was glancing at Director Choi Min-hyeok and expressing admiration.

This was because everything Director Choi Min-hyeok had done up until now was connected to one another.

‘How can one make such a plan?’

To be honest, this was a question I had while doing this work.

If not, it would be difficult for things to progress like this.

***

There has been a lot of talk about the sale of the Collins division.

This is because the Oseong Group and the HY Group are linked together.

Furthermore, when word spread that Chairman Ahn Geon-min had approved this matter, various stories began to circulate.

In the end, the one who received attention was Director Choi Min-hyeok.

From Director Choi Min-hyeok’s perspective, the Collins division was the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Selling that division.

There was a lot of talk among KM Electronics shareholders.

Director Choi Min-hyeok has never really spoken about this issue.

However, everyone guessed that Director Choi Min-hyeok was trying to step away from manufacturing.

Everyone was curious about what would be the next food.

So far there has been a lot of talk.

To be honest, this was something that Director Choi Min-hyeok also worried about. It was the reason why he founded KMBOOK and Google. However, he could not reveal the inside story.

Most of them are related to smartphones.

From that perspective, the KOS platform was the next candidate for Collins’ business.

Director Choi Min-hyeok did not mention such a point. That is why he could not help but focus on Sehan Information’s MP3 player, which could become the basis for the growth engine of this work.

“It’s already come to this point.”

Chief Ahn Moon-won looked closely at Director Choi Byung-yeon’s expression and then at Director Choi Min-hyeok’s face. He thought Director Choi Min-hyeok knew what he was doing.

Director Choi Min-hyeok chuckled.

“It’s important, but the sales haven’t come in yet.”

“Oh, right.”

Only then did Chief Ahn Moon-won feel relieved. He was more concerned about the contract issue. More specifically, the royalty per unit. If you use KOS, you have to pay a fee.

“… Ten thousand won each, no, fifteen thousand won each… … Hmm, would ten thousand won be okay?”

Director Choi Min-hyeok smiled bitterly when he saw Chief Ahn Moon-won looking at him.

In a way, this position was a sales position.

Because you have to watch out for your customers, but it’s the other way around.

‘But I guess there’s nothing I can do. The firmware level itself is too low. If I use KOS, I can use various programs.’

It was a chicken-or-egg question.

It wouldn’t be a problem if KM Electronics’ MP3 players took over the market.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

There were so many MP3 players coming out like mushrooms.

In particular, small and medium-sized enterprises are different from large corporations in that they develop quickly and produce products in a hurry.

The MP3 player market was in chaos as cheap MP3 players were released in droves.

But from Director Choi Min-hyeok’s perspective, this wasn’t all that bad. KM Electronics was making a living just from MP3 royalty revenue.

Director Choi Min-hyeok chuckled and kept his mouth shut for the time being.

It’s about starting an app service.

I wonder if it’s worth risking money on something like this.

In any case, it was something that couldn’t be done for free.

“I will do my best to secure your interests in the negotiations. I ask for your continued support in the future.”

“yes yes!”

Chief Ahn Moon-won cheered. In fact, he needed time to review the technology. However, he couldn’t appeal to Choi Min-hyeok because he was concerned about his feelings.

Minhyuk Choi glanced at Chief Byeongyeon Choi. Since he took care of the work himself, everything went smoothly. Although he was somewhat arbitrary, the result was a success.

‘The problem is that I don’t know much about this field.’

The patent underwent rigorous training under Dr. Lee Ji-soo.

However, this was done from a management perspective.

From an engineer’s perspective, I didn’t know much about it.

The failure of the KMP-02A sales was related to this.

Well, if you think about it, the reason Director Choi Min-hyeok changed so much was because of what he did in his past life.

To be honest, this level of change was no different from a typhoon flying by rather than a butterfly.

However, Director Choi Min-hyeok had no intention of hiding his shortcomings.

He said this as he parted ways with Chief Ahn Moon-won.

“Director Choi Byeong-yeon will be in charge of detailed information, no, development and capital investment related to LCD type MP3 players. You can report on the work after preprocessing.”

“Huh? That’s a bit… … .”

“Just set a capital ceiling, so do that. This is beyond my capabilities.”

Director Choi Byeong-yeon blinked and wondered what on earth he was talking about.

But he remembered Chief Ahn Moon-won’s actions and understood Director Choi Min-hyeok.

“…All right.”

“Don’t worry too much. This is beyond my capabilities. It would be difficult for me to study something like this and make progress.”

“…yes.”

Director Choi Byeong-yeon made a dumbfounded expression. What Director Choi Min-hyeok has done so far is not something an ordinary person can do.

But I lack the ability.

To him, Director Choi Min-hyeok’s words sounded strange.

“… … .”

Director Choi Min-hyeok also smiled awkwardly and avoided eye contact.

***

The MP3 player market suddenly opened up.

It was like a bolt from the blue.

But now, most of the credit goes to Director Choi Min-hyeok.

The father of MP3.

Thanks to Director Choi Min-hyeok’s efforts, information about MP3s quickly spread.

Moreover, conspiracy theories about the original distributor of Napst also contributed to this.

Because the biggest beneficiary of the Napst lawsuit is Director Choi Min-hyeok.

Thanks to that, Napst got a lot of hate, but didn’t actually get much benefit.

Considering this, the theory that Director Choi Min-hyeok was the first to distribute the Napst source code was highly probable.

Chief Ahn Moon-won also thought that Director Choi Min-hyeok created the first source code for Napst.

That was also the reason why he highly regarded Director Choi Min-hyeok.

However, the decision to sell the Collins division has not been made easily recently.

Because it was a bit negative for him.

No matter how good the money was, the technology itself was more important.

That’s why Chief Ahn Moon-won hung on to Director Choi Min-hyeok like a leech.

He thought there was something more to Director Choi Min-hyeok.

Senior Vice President Lee Yang-gu lamented about the LCD type app service.

“It seems like this isn’t an easy task.”

Vice President Kang Min-cheol also nodded.

“Anyone who is a small or medium-sized company can make an MP3 player. It’s really easy to develop. MP3 player chips have already been released.”

Senior Vice President Lee Yang-gu was also impressed while running KOS’ app program.

“I actually thought that was it, but I didn’t know that they would sell app programs.”

Even online payment services had already been established.

That is, to the extent that it returns stably.

It was no longer at the level of a few card companies, including MasterCard.

Major card companies in Korea have also concluded contracts.

International cards were also being signed one by one.

Therefore, consumers could purchase products through the app service at any time.

Even though it’s only available for free right now.

Chief Ahn Moon-won pointed that out.

“But for an app service to be successful, you need a killer app, and that’s not easy. I think other companies have tried this too.”

Vice President Kang Min-cheol showed us the app development tool. He created a simple program and uploaded it directly to the LCD type app service.

“… Look at this. Anyone can easily develop this. It’s a bit odd to say that you haven’t created a killer app after creating this.”

Senior Vice President Lee Yang-gu thought deeply and then clapped his hands.

“Oh, Pollix, I heard that you outsourced the work to KM Electronics. The development failed, but they didn’t lose any money. They said that there were quite a few companies like that!”

“…When was that?”

“It was probably around the middle of last year. I don’t remember exactly.”

“… This is it.”

Only then did Chief Ahn Moon-won click his tongue. He thought that Director Choi Min-hyeok had been going around talking about strange things like Plims and Ani Platform recently.

Because those businesses aren’t making any money right now.

Besides, I didn’t know what would happen in the future.

Because the US and Europe can proceed with next-generation communications as they please.

At that time, Director Choi Min-hyeok may end up like a duck egg in the Nakdong River.

But the app service market was a little different.

Especially LCD type MP3 players. This is because you can enjoy visual services as well as simply listening to music.

“… I will report to the CEO, so think about how to proceed by adding as many manpower as possible. If the number of people related to the app service is not enough for internal staff, consider adding more.”

“…All right.”

There was no opposition.

They also realized that this app service business was just starting to take off.

Moreover, unlike PC programs, this service was difficult to copy illegally.

Even if it starts small, you never know what will happen in the future.

***

Senior Vice President Kim Hyun-woo couldn’t find the answer even after looking hard into KM Electronics’ training center. However, unlike Vice President Choi Moon-kyung or Salomon Brothers, he didn’t give up easily.

If not direct, then indirect methods were used.

I just saw the news that Director Choi Min-hyeok visited Sehan Information.

It was a bit of a random story.

‘I heard that you developed an LCD type MP3 player.’