HLnovel Chapter 408 Open Source Solution
Chapter 408 Open Source Solution
January 28, 2002, 9:00 AM.
Spark Technology's official website updated with an announcement titled "Spark M1 Hardware and Software Solution Fully Open Source." The announcement itself is short, less than 500 words, but the attachments are extensive—hardware design diagrams, PCB layouts, BOM list, casing mold drawings, software source code, drivers, and application software, all packaged into a single compressed file and placed in the download section.
Li Mo sat in his office, staring at the download count on the screen. He hadn't expected many people to pay attention at first, since the news hadn't been hyped up or promoted; it had just been quietly posted. But the download count started jumping from the first hour onward, and the jumps became faster and faster.
At 10 AM, downloads surpassed 1,000. At 11 AM, they surpassed 2,000. At 2 PM, they surpassed 3,000.
Soon the phone started ringing. The first call came from an electronics factory in Shenzhen. The caller identified himself as the technical director, saying they had downloaded the solution and wanted to confirm if it was truly free and commercially usable. Li Mo said, "It's free. Commercial use is free; no license is required." There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, then a "thank you" was said, and the call ended.
The second call was from Dongguan, the third from Huizhou, and the fourth from Zhongshan. That afternoon, Li Mo received over twenty calls, all from electronics factories in the Pearl River Delta. The questions were all very similar: Is it really free? Is it really commercially usable? Are there any hidden charges? Li Mo answered repeatedly: It's free, commercial use is unlimited, there are no hidden charges. The other party always had the same reaction—a few seconds of silence, then a thank you.
The next morning, the number of downloads exceeded 10,000.
In the afternoon, at the Huaqiangbei electronics market in Shenzhen, some stalls had already put up signs for "Spark Public Version MP3 Solution." One stall owner, surnamed Chen, was in his forties and had been making MP3s for seven or eight years. He had previously used the solution from Zhuhai Jieli. He downloaded Spark's solution, spent a day studying it, and the next day took the blueprints to a contract manufacturer.
"This solution is incredibly detailed," he later told his colleagues. "It includes circuit diagrams, component lists, and casing mold diagrams. It even has a production line layout. You can use it right away without having to figure it out yourself. When I used Actions Semiconductor's solution before, it took a month just to debug. This one can be put into operation in three days."
The news spread rapidly among electronics factories in the Pearl River Delta. Within a week, dozens of factories had received Xinghuo's reference design. Some larger factories, with their own R&D teams, made some modifications to the reference design, such as changing the casing color, modifying the button layout, and adjusting the sound curve. Other smaller factories, with only a few production lines, simply used the reference design directly, even using identical casing molds, only changing the logo to their own.
The first batch of "Spark Public Version" MP3 players went on sale in early February. Prices ranged from 800 to 1200 yuan, significantly cheaper than the Spark M1. Although the casing quality was slightly inferior and the battery life was shorter, the core functions were the same, and the price was low, so there were still buyers.
The data from Ma Baoguo's side has also come back. Since the release of the reference design, Xinghuo Electronics' chip orders have started to increase. ARM controller chips, which previously shipped around 500,000 units per month, jumped to 1.2 million units in February. Flash memory chips jumped from 300,000 to 800,000 units. OLED screens jumped from 100,000 to 300,000 units.
Ma Baoguo called Ling Yun, his voice trembling with excitement. "Mr. Ling, orders are overflowing. The production lines are running at full capacity, two shifts a day, and it's still not enough. Several factories in Shenzhen are queuing up for goods, saying they'll pay in full upfront and ship whenever the goods arrive."
Ling Yun said, "If production capacity is insufficient, expand production. Buy equipment, hire people, and build factories. Don't be afraid to invest; once you invest, you will see output."
Ma Baoguo said, "Okay, I'll make the arrangements right away."
In mid-March, Xinghuo Group held a supply chain collaboration meeting. The meeting room was filled with heads of various sectors, including chips, flash memory, screens, batteries, and casings. Ling Yun stood in front of the whiteboard and drew a diagram. On the left was Xinghuo's reference design, and on the right were rows of arrows pointing to chips, flash memory, screens, batteries, and casings.
"They sell MP3 players, we sell chips. They make tens of dollars per player. We make a dozen dollars per chip. But the more they sell, the more chips we sell. The more chips we sell, the lower our costs. The lower our costs, the lower our prices. The lower our prices, the more they sell. It's a positive cycle."
Ni Guangnan sat below, remaining silent for a long time after listening. After the meeting, he walked over to Ling Yun and said, "President Ling, I used to think only about how to make good products and capture the market. Today I realize that what you want isn't the market, but an ecosystem. Every time they sell an MP3 player, we make money upstream. The faster their technology iterates, the deeper our moat becomes. That's the true 'ecosystem.'"
Ling Yun said, "This is just the beginning. MP3 players are the first step, and there are mobile phones, tablets, laptops, and desktop computers to come. Every screen, every chip, and every battery is an opportunity for us. We don't make low-end products; we only make high-end brands. But through open source, we can get the entire industry chain running."
Ni Guangnan nodded and said nothing more. He stood by the window, looking at the factory area outside, for a long time.
But one question lingered in his mind: What if someone wanted to prevent this ecosystem from functioning? What if someone viewed open source as a threat, or Spark's success as a provocation? He thought of the Shenzhen-based counterfeit factories decimated by Spark M1, and the second-tier brands that were steadily losing ground in the market. Would these people simply sit idly by and wait for their demise?
He didn't know. But he had a gut feeling—the storm hadn't come yet, but it was already on its way.