Chapter 348: The Drawbacks of Cellular Phones

For the lovely Michelle Reis, her experiences over the past few days had completely shattered her worldview. Honestly, she had no desire to return to that small apartment or the plain food.

All she needed to do was cling to a bad boy beside her. William had shown her a house; she had checked it out -- an almost two-thousand-square-foot mansion, indeed quite comfortable. But it had all come so suddenly; she wasn't ready.

"In a couple of days, come with me to America. That movie is about to start shooting, and you'll need to pass the language barrier," he said.

"Me, really?" she gasped.

"Don't worry, I've asked them to help find you an assistant. Oh, and a language teacher. You'll be fine; I'll take care of everything."

"Okay, thank you."

"Now, what will you do to repay me?" William grinned mischievously, clearly with ulterior motives.

"I--I can't."

"No problem, I'm a really excellent teacher."

"I'll bite you!"

"Ouch! Hey, you really bit!"

They say familiarity breeds comfort, and William found that quite intriguing; he didn't know who came up with that phrase, but it seemed to be true.

...

"Sir, William White has concluded his visit and is now in Hong Kong. The investment from his Silicon Valley buddies in Tesla has increased, and his White Plaza project is also receiving interest from these investors."

"Those two places don't even have a White Plaza; do these investors have too much cash on hand?"

"Sir, our financing at Morgan Stanley hasn't met expectations. It's not a matter of funds; there just seems to be something about this project that attracts them."

"Check it out immediately. Before he returns to America, I need to know the solid details."

The events of this year had caused Wall Street folks to lose all confidence. 

...

"Dominic, what's going on with this revenue? I don't care how much you lose, just get those user numbers up."

Dominic Fain was also a childhood friend of William White; although he was a few years older, he belonged to the same circle, being a talented graduate from MIT. He was currently helping manage the phone business, which felt like a waste of his talent.

"Boss, there's a major problem: the signal for these phones is incredibly frustrating."

"Yeah, I hear you. Digital signals are still in development, but listen, Dominic, don't hold your breath for at least three to five years."

"Boss, why not let me head over to the lab? I'm an engineering guy; I'd fit better in there."

Seeing the look on Dominic's face, William White couldn't help but chuckle.

"Dominic, you're overthinking it. Trust me, developing digital communications in the lab has no future."

"Why? This is obviously the trend of the future."

"Ha, because we're overrun with unreliable politicians. I've thrown a lot of money into this, but even with Bell Labs, we can't compete with all of Europe."

Dominic's eyes narrowed as he seemed to consider a possibility.

"You mean to say we should implement it commercially in Hong Kong first?"

"Ha ha, smart thinking! That's the reason! Why else would I keep you here? Once we nail this business, I'll bring you back to the States."

"Alright, if that's the case, I'll definitely stick around."

"Alright, any other issues in Hong Kong?"

"There is, we're having trouble with postpaid services. You wouldn't believe it, but gang members have the highest likelihood of using cell phones. Where there used to be pagers, now there are only big bricks everywhere."

"Ha ha, you could run an ad saying that phones do more than just make calls. In a pinch, they can also save your life -- like, you can use it to smash a bad guy's head."

"Boss, how do I even make that ad?"

"I'm telling you, just go find Raymond Chow. He's familiar with the film industry; just spend a little on advertising. You know about product placement, right? People in Hong Kong love to watch cop films. It's easy as pie."

From that point on, Hong Kong's cop films featured big bricks flying around, and William White might have started a trend.

The digital mobile phone was still just a legend; there was no real hope of success. Or maybe there was hope, but there was a long road ahead.

...

Meanwhile, there were significant disagreements within the European GSM alliance. Clearly, Americans were also developing similar projects, and from their patents, their progress was even slightly ahead of Europe.

What was particularly troubling was the overlap in R&D directions.

Alright, Europe was confident they could outpace America; the Americans were just going solo with Bell Labs, while Europe had the Eureka project. That wasn't even in the same league.

The bigger trouble was that the Americans had a leg up in mobile communication. Currently, their cellular phone networks were being laid out worldwide.

Could they really just bypass America?

Based on information obtained through special channels, they figured they had at most five years left.

Originally, they thought Motorola was their biggest headache, as that company planned to dive into satellite phones, naturally reducing investment elsewhere.

At that moment, just to make things worse, another Bell Labs popped up, focused on digital communications. That damn William White was really annoying; didn't he have better things to do than meddle in this?

...

While those guys were feeling the strain, William White felt even more pressure. The battle over communication standards was never civil, and this dog-eat-dog struggle left him feeling unsure.

"Sir, our people found that more and more folks are paying attention to Bell Labs. There are also some suspicious characters around. Should we take extreme measures?"

"Best not to. This isn't normal business; these folks have government ties. I'll handle it from here. As for the lab, just scare them a bit. Make a bigger fuss if needed."

"Ha ha, I got it, sir. I'll make sure to give them a fright."

William White shook his head and laughed bitterly. This guy, was he all muscle and no brains? He still had to make a name for himself in Europe.

...

"What? William, are you sure?"

"Of course, it doesn't matter to me. Worst case, I just surrender. I've got patents; I just want to know if those old geezers will accept it."

"Ha ha, you should call Morgan. Those old geezers will surely go nuts."

"Listen, do you really not know or are you pretending? The telecom company has already been split; the ones in mobile communications are few and far between. I feel like those guys are doing this on purpose."

"No way. You're sure they'd do that?"

"The landline phone and fax systems are all going digital. And then there's the electronic switching system. They knew about digital wireless communications a long time ago. You don't think I invented that, do you? And do you know about Europe's Eureka project? It's all about digital wireless communications. If those guys at Morgan don't know it, they might as well jump off a bridge."

"Ha, so you're telling me to beat the drum on the sidelines?"

"C'mon now, your old man is short on ammo, right? This is basically the last chance; we absolutely need to settle on someone. Truth is, Morgan's got it all figured out regarding the telecom split."

"Okay, I get it. Thanks! When will you be back?"

"Soon."

*****

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