Countercurrent 1982

Chapter 1115 CES
For most Chinese in the 80s, the CES Consumer Electronics Show held on the other side of the ocean was far away and unfamiliar, but because of the lack of news, most Chinese people did not know that there was such an important exhibition .

But in fact, the CES in the 80s was the era of the explosion of prototypes of electronic products today. Many products exhibited at that time influenced an era, and until today, these high-tech products are still affecting our lives.

Duan Yun's plane landed slowly at the airport in Las Vegas.

The weather in Las Vegas in April is cool and pleasant. This is definitely a city that never sleeps. In the 4s, the United States can be described as luxurious and luxurious. Compared with other cities in the United States, the entire city of Las Vegas, the casino city, is more dazzling. , the neon lights of various colors make the place gorgeous and brilliant, making it dizzying.

This time, Duan Yun still got the CES ticket through Wang Shi's foreign trade company in Hong Kong, and the foreign trade company provided Duan Yun with translation and booked the hotel tickets.

As the so-called Poor Family Rich Road, the first time he came to the United States, the hotel Duan Yun booked was the Sahara Hotel, which was established in 1. On the day Duan Yun left him, he was surprised to find that the interior of the hotel was very green. , There is even a palm tree more than 1952 meters high in the hall, each tree is bought from other places, costing tens to millions of dollars, this is definitely a luxurious palace piled up with dollars .

Duan Yun and his accompanying interpreters lived in a room of 800 US dollars a night, which is absolutely unimaginable price in China, but here, they can only live in a standard room with a good environment.

Duan Yun himself does not need an interpreter. His English level can completely communicate with Americans without barriers. However, because he does not know much about the local situation in the United States and the exhibition, it will be much more convenient to have an interpreter by his side to guide the way.

The most attractive thing in the hotel is undoubtedly the casino inside, but Duan Yun didn't come here to gamble for entertainment, he has a mission.

When Duan Yun entered the hotel, many people, including the waiters at the front desk of the hotel, regarded him as Japanese. When they learned that he was a businessman from China, they were all surprised and curious.

In fact, this is also a very normal thing. China was weak and poor in the 80s. Except for some government visiting groups and foreign students sent by the government, there were only Chinese people who smuggled into the United States through special underground channels, and Duan Yun came to the gambling industry as a businessman Chinese people in Las Vegas are very rare, and most of the yellow-skinned faces are mainly Japanese and Korean.

The exhibition will open at 3:28 am on March 9, and Duan Yun, who has been flying for more than 20 hours, must take advantage of this time to adjust the time difference and maintain sufficient energy for tomorrow's exhibition.

But Duan Yun, who was so excited at this time, had no mood to sleep at all, tossing and turning on the big bed, thinking about tomorrow's exhibition.

In the early morning of the second day, Duan Yun followed the translator to the venue of this year's CES exhibition.

The CES exhibition venue is not far from the hotel. It took only half an hour to drive to a large exhibition hall outside Las Vegas, and the place is already full of cars of all colors, from all over the United States and all over the world. The exhibitors entered the scene, and at a glance, they were all densely packed.

In fact, since the 80s, the influence of the CES exhibition has quickly attracted worldwide attention. By 1984, the number of people participating in the exhibition exceeded 10 for the first time, including hundreds of people from major global media. Quite grand.

At last year's CES, Nintendo from Japan can be said to shine. Nintendo showed a revolutionary product: the Nintendo Entertainment System, which is later known to Chinese people as a home red and white game console. Although Atara in the United States started earlier, but American games are simple and crude. By the end of the 90s, the domestic game companies in the United States had been wiped out. It was Japan's Nintendo that really made game consoles popular all over the world.

This year's Nintendo is still a high-profile exhibitor. After Duan Yun and translation entered the venue, the first thing they saw was Nintendo's booth. There were more than 200 square meters of booths with their latest home game consoles. , the handle is a standard 10-character key, the middle is the start and close key, and there are two red AB buttons on both sides, which is almost the same as the "Xiaobawang" game console that Duan Yun played when he was a child.

Just such a game console that makes Duan Yun look very primitive, but the price is as high as 2300 US dollars. Even in the United States and Europe, the price is not affordable for ordinary families. Such an expensive machine is obviously a cannot be spread quickly.

Duan Yun also intends to let his own electronics factory produce game consoles in the future, including the red and white home game consoles that were popular all over the country in the 90s. The core component is the 8088 chip used by IBM home computers, but the 8088 chip is very expensive now. A piece costs four to five hundred U.S. dollars, and if it is imported into China, the price will be even higher. The total cost of making a whole red and white game console needs at least five to six thousand yuan. There are basically not many people in China at such a price. Affordable, especially game consoles are not household appliances that are necessary for daily life like TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. Therefore, the production and sales of game consoles in China at this time far exceeds the consumption capacity of Chinese people, and there is not much commercial feasibility.

In addition to Nintendo, there are many Japanese manufacturers participating in this exhibition, at least about 1/3 of the entire exhibition. It can be seen that the Japanese electronics industry is quite powerful in the world.

In fact, CES at that time played a vital role in the rise of Japanese electronic products in the world. Many innovative Japanese electronic products were known to the world through this exhibition.

The exhibitions of this era are not like the technology exhibitions of the later generations, which adopt multimedia forms. Most of the booths are decorated with light box posters, product samples are placed under the posters, and there are several staff standing in front of them. Many manufacturers also employ some The tall and swaying beauties took the initiative to introduce products, and their smiles were extraordinarily sweet.

The biggest focus of this year's CES exhibition is on portable digital video recorders. At this exhibition, VCR equipment appeared for the first time. This is definitely an epoch-making product. A revolution in home entertainment.

However, what shocked Duan Yun the most was that he accidentally discovered a VR system produced by NASA at the exhibition!

(End of this chapter)