Who was Myron Case?
That was the first question that popped into Matsuhiro's mind.
But she quickly remembered—he was once the CEO of a company that had competed with Gamestar Electronic Entertainment.
That company had already gone bankrupt, hadn't it?
Matsuhiro could barely recall the name of the company anymore.
Come to think of it, that company did have a bit of a legendary beginning. Myron Case and a few partners started it in a garage, and it grew into a sizable electronics company—only to eventually fade into obscurity.
There were too many companies like that, so it was no surprise Matsuhiro didn't remember. Only long-standing, consistently powerful corporations stuck in people's minds.
Matsuhiro asked with some surprise, "President, you still remember that guy? I almost forgot he existed. Why are you asking about him now?"
...
Takayuki replied, "I remember his new company released a portable music player recently. It was small, left an impression on me."
"You think that little player is a threat to us?" she asked.
It wasn't the device itself that was a threat—but the vision behind it that could be.
However, Takayuki couldn't say that outright. If he did, it would sound too much like he was making mystical predictions.
"It's just a hunch. No need to dig into the guy himself. I can probably find enough about him online. What I need from you is to see if his company has any secret projects underway."
After all, business was a game of calculated deception.
While regular people might find it hard to uncover secret info, top-level corporations had countless ways of prying into their competitors' plans.
Otherwise, how else could Microsoft and Sony in the past world always launch consoles with similar performance at the same time? Or how NVIDIA and AMD could keep matching each other's moves year after year?
For top-tier companies, many so-called "secrets" weren't truly secret—except for critical R&D or core tech, which was much harder to uncover. But broader business plans? Totally doable.
After all, public companies were required to disclose certain information anyway.
Although Matsuhiro didn't quite understand what Takayuki was getting at, she still nodded and agreed. It wasn't a difficult task for someone in her position—she could handle it easily.
Meanwhile, Takayuki opened his computer and started searching for any news related to Myron Case.
This guy was a key figure.
If he truly paralleled Steve Jobs from Takayuki's original world, then Myron Case was likely already planning the next tech revolution.
Takayuki vividly remembered that moment in his previous life when Jobs unveiled the first iPhone on stage.
The revolutionary touch interface, minimalist design, and extreme attention to industrial aesthetics made the iPhone a product that would influence the world for decades.
That one smartphone turned Apple into the most profitable company on Earth.
At one point, they were earning over $2,000 per second—even illegal businesses couldn't compete with Apple's profit machine.
Takayuki typed Myron Case's name into the search bar.
And soon, results appeared.
Myron Case — Former CEO of Redfruit, founder of the company. After being forced out due to a conflict of vision with shareholders, he went on to found a new company called Micfor, focusing on fashionable consumer electronics.
Currently, Micfor's flagship products were a series of portable music players and a line of home computers.
These music players were extremely compact—the smallest one no bigger than a thumb—easily clipped onto clothing or carried anywhere. Thanks to advances in storage technology, even the tiniest models could hold thousands of songs, letting users listen to music anytime, anywhere.
According to the latest market data, each of these audio players had already sold over a million units. They were undeniably a breakout hit.
Micfor's home computer division was a newer venture. Rumor had it that Myron had recruited many of Redfruit's former engineers to form a new team. This group, rich in experience, reportedly developed a fully proprietary home computer in just one month—and managed to scale it into mass production within a year.
Not only that, but core hardware components like the processor were also independently developed. Their R&D capabilities were exceptional.
The more Takayuki read, the more he felt like Myron Case was Steve Jobs reincarnated.
This guy was no joke.
Sure, this was a parallel world. Names and faces might differ, but the trajectory of history often echoed eerily similar paths.
Takayuki was merely a small butterfly flapping its wings, slightly nudging history's course. But the broader stream of time was hard to alter.
And now, Myron Case had founded a new company—and was clearly on the rise once again.
Takayuki realized immediately: the age of mobile internet was on the horizon.
And for Gamestar, the biggest impact would likely be on handheld gaming devices.
With the rise of mobile internet, smartphones would eventually absorb the functions of handheld consoles. The handheld market would shrink dramatically—and wouldn't show signs of revival for at least another decade.
Worse, there wasn't much deep info available online about Micfor.
For that, he'd have to rely on Matsuhiro or others with more insider access.
Staring at the search results, Takayuki knew it was time to make a move.
He needed to temporarily shelve handheld gaming—and wait for the right moment to bring it back in the future.
And just as Takayuki had expected, the very next morning, Matsuhiro sent him more information on Micfor.
Sourced through retail partners, component suppliers, and OEM manufacturers, the intel confirmed one thing:
Micfor was indeed making major investments toward some kind of new product.
The exact product line wasn't clear, but it was confirmed that they were working with communication technologies closely tied to mobile phones.
In other words—Micfor was developing a smartphone.
And knowing Myron Case's personality, there was no way it would be a simple feature phone.
Reading this report, Takayuki felt a shiver of clarity—
The smartphone era was truly about to begin!