Chapter 149: Missed Opportunity
Chapter 149: Missed Opportunity
Seon Jae-yong toured Earth Resource, lost in thought.
The way the employees looked at Kim Shin was filled with trust and respect.
The female employees' voices and gazes were practically dripping with honey.
'The CEO mingles so freely with his staff. Is this the kind of company where Silicon Valley's creative ideas come from?'
Seon Jae-yong let out a soft sigh.
Kim Shin exchanging light jokes with the employees felt so relaxed.
Of course, without the success they had now, it might have seemed undignified for a CEO.
In the end, results spoke louder than appearances.
The success so far might have been luck.
'But nothing is more important than luck.'
There were countless kinds of luck in the world.
From being born as the heir to a chaebol group like himself, to the timing to showcase talent, good colleagues, business partners, even competitors.
How many geniuses with outstanding skills and imagination had believed in themselves, started companies, and crumbled?
'Earth Resource may have been lucky, but it doesn't need luck anymore.'
Earth Channel now had five hundred million subscribers.
Starting as a content platform, it had earned public acclaim and expanded worldwide.
Now, it had built a foundation that wouldn't easily collapse, even with business challenges.
"The employees' pride is impressive."
That was the impression from Oh Jae-hwan, CEO of Isung Electronics' U.S. subsidiary, as he toured Earth Resource.
To executives from Isung Group, who had staked their lives on corporate life, much was visible.
They could see the employees’ trust in Kim Shin, their confidence in him, and their loyalty to him.
"Right? This atmosphere must be Earth Resource's DNA."
"Earth Resource is an amazing company. Seeing the CEO's capabilities and reputation, I can understand why Earth Channel has achieved such massive success."
"I didn't do much. We're building it together with the employees."
The conference room held Seon Jae-yong and the Isung Group executives.
It had been about half a year since he'd last met Seon Jae-yong.
He could feel that the expressions and gazes of the Isung Group people looking at him had changed.
'In the past half year, Isung remained the same, but I and Earth Resource have made dazzling progress.'
The world changes quickly.
And it felt like he was at the center of that rapid change.
Now that things had come this far, it was time to start with some compliments.
When he'd introduced the employees earlier, he'd unintentionally slighted Isung Group quite a bit.
"Thanks for perfectly handling the vaccine production. Thanks to Isung Biolife, countless lives were saved."
"We're just doing our best since production was our role. It's you, the CEO who developed it, and Biolife's researchers who set the record."
"The data center construction is progressing faster than scheduled too. Our programmers are amazed. They've never seen a data center built this quickly."
"We're used to fast and furious. At the group level, making it flawless is just basic."
As they talked, there was a subtle sense that the dominant and subordinate roles were already set.
After exchanging light compliments, Seon Jae-yong brought up the purpose of his trip to the U.S.
"We at Isung Electronics want to launch the Earth Phone."
"Earth Phone?"
"It's Isung Electronics' new smartphone plan. We'll pre-install apps related to Earth Channel, as the name suggests, and optimize accordingly for launch."
"Ah...!"
He let out an involuntary exclamation.
Not so much admiration for the Earth Phone plan, but he'd been mulling over a thought since introducing the company.
'Phone seller, phone seller...'
It hadn't been there when he was young, but as he aged, a personal humor code had started looping in his head.
Looking at Seon Jae-yong and the Isung Group executives, the "phone seller" pun kept popping up, and of all things, the topic they brought up was Earth Phone.
"Ahem. Sounds like a solid plan."
"It's targeted at the 20s and 30s obsessed with Earth Channel. Earth Phone won't be an ultra-premium high-end device—positioned as a mid-range at around $500. Solid hardware specs, and Isung Electronics will cover three months of Earth Channel subscription."
"Isung Electronics will pay the $15?"
"Yes. That's manageable as marketing expense."
Oh Myeong-woo, the vice president, sat to his right, but he wasn't much help in these talks.
Oh Myeong-woo always found meetings boring first...
Lee Jong-yeop, sitting to his left, searched something on his phone and showed it to him.
[2021 Q1 Isung Electronics smartphone shipments: 76.5 million units]
That was an enormous number of phones to sell in only three months.
Isung Electronics faced plenty of ridicule, but it was still the world's top smartphone seller.
After a moment's thought, he said,
"Considering Isung Electronics' smartphone sales, you're saying you could push over 10 million Earth Phones per quarter."
"Specific sales volumes will depend on customer response, but more than that is certainly possible."
Ten million units in three months was a realistic target.
That came to 40 million a year.
Unignorable, even with Earth Channel's over 500 million subscribers.
'There'll be duplicate subscribers, but it's a plus for Earth Channel promotion.'
Partnering with Isung Electronics seemed helpful for marketing.
Seon Jae-yong smiled smoothly.
"I was deeply impressed seeing Earth Channel surpass 500 million subscribers. Honestly, its popularity is staggering. Articles say new sign-ups are still in the millions daily?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Impressive. And imagine Earth Phone launching from Isung Electronics amid Earth Channel's explosive spread as it solidifies its base. Wouldn't that properly expand its influence into the mobile market too?"
Listening to Seon Jae-yong, a thought struck him.
'This feels just like the sales pitches I used to give.'
When he was selling for Arcor at local hospitals, he'd often told directors,
"Director, this is the latest laser procedure device from the German HQ. It minimizes corneal incisions, reduces patient pain, and speeds recovery. Promote it right, and every patient in this city will come to your clear-eye clinic, won't they?"
A sales style emphasizing the other party's gains.
It was time for me to respond with a similar sales pitch.
"Isung Electronics stands to gain promotional effects from launching Earth Phone. It could improve your brand image too."
"Exactly."
"$15 for Earth Channel registration isn't a huge marketing cost. Smartphones must yield massive profits compared to manufacturing costs."
"Product quality has risen, competition intensified—smartphone profits have shrunk a lot."
He glanced at Lee Jong-yeop's phone screen.
"Still, Q1 revenue over 8.9 trillion won. Isung Electronics lives up to the name. Even living in the U.S., nearly $8 billion quarterly revenue is shockingly high."
Business starts with consideration for the other side, but before signing, squeeze out one more thing.
Earth Phone was a good option for Earth Resource.
Not just to grow Earth Channel subscribers, but ultimately to softly enter the smartphone market for Pangea Live.
'Planning to launch Earth Channel's app store within the year.'
If Earth Phones sold well, entering the phone market became viable.
Plenty of manufacturers for design and production, like with Apple.
It was preparation for the future, so Seon Jae-yong's proposal warranted serious thought.
"If you're launching and promoting Earth Phone, we'll need to discuss royalties."
"Yes. We're open to negotiating specifics."
"I won't ask for much. But I do have a separate request for Isung Group."
"Yes?"
Seon Jae-yong left the Earth Resource building and got into the waiting car.
"Shall we head to the hotel?"
"Yes, to the hotel."
The 11-hour flight to the U.S. and jet lag had him exhausted. More than that, what cluttered his mind were Kim Shin's two requests at the end.
"Hand over the word processor Isung Group made. The whole office suite."
"Hunminjeongeum, you mean?"
"Yes. I want to buy the source code and developers as a package."
He'd seen news on the way to the U.S. about acquisition issues with Below Hangul.
'For Isung Group, scared of careful opponents, a company worth just 200 billion in market cap.'
To Seon Jae-yong, it was absurd.
Why do Korean companies fear Isung Group but underestimate Kim Shin?
Hunminjeongeum had low usage last year, so the group had officially scrapped it.
Developers had scattered across affiliates, but gathering them wouldn't be hard.
'Use this request to extract other benefits?'
Tempting for a moment, but negotiating might give Kim Shin better options.
"Fine. We accept. We'll transfer the software and entire division for free."
"Really?"
"Yes. Isung Group is a public company, not free from fiduciary duty issues, but Hunminjeongeum was officially discontinued, and maintaining ties with CEO Kim Shin is something shareholders would like. Legal team will check, but no issues expected."
And the other request.
"I know Isung Electronics has done a lot of research on operating systems."
"Operating systems?"
"Yes. I understand there was a mobile OS development team."
"Ah, that OS."
This was before Apple's iOS and Google's Android came to dominate smartphones.
Isung Electronics had researched and released its own mobile OS.
It was one of the darkest marks in the company’s history.
Despite superior hardware, phones with the Bada OS failed to perform.
Reboots, forced shutdowns, lag, poor optimization.
Buried in criticism, discontinued after two years.
It had failed alongside the infamous Omnia line.
"I want to buy all sources and rights to that mobile OS."
"Pardon? Planning to release it?"
"No. Our programmers might find useful references, so we'll review it."
Another scrapped project, no loss for Isung Electronics.
Whether paid or free, it meant little.
What complicated Seon Jae-yong's mind was something else.
'Prepared before even meeting. This request isn't meaningless.'
Earth Resource, founded early last year, shattered all records in one year.
He grew curious about Kim Shin's grand vision.
'Isung Group has missed too many opportunities.'
Once, there was a chance to acquire Google's search engine.
Android, the smartphone OS, was offered to Isung Electronics but passed.
The proposal had been rejected with the dismissive remark, "What can eight people make? We can do the same with two thousand."
Isung Electronics led IT manufacturing, but was weak in software.
In that moment, Seon Jae-yong recalled the missed opportunities.
'No idea what CEO Kim Shin plans.'
End of Missed Opportunity