Neil Brantley introduced the basic technical details of the iPlayer, and Simon asked Girl C while playing with the prototype in his hand the size of the Sony Walkman Walkman, "How much does it cost?"

Claire Gaine said: "The micro hard disk used in the prototype has not yet been mass-produced, and other components need to be customized according to the finished model confirmed in the future, and the approximate cost should be able to control around 200 US dollars." ”

Simon shook his head slightly: "It's a little tall." ”

Once the digital music player is released, the direct competitor is your Walkman Walkman, the price of the Walkman in North America is about $300, since it is to compete, the starting price of the iPlayer should also be set at $299. To achieve this, the hardware cost of the player should be kept under $150 to allow enough marketing and profit margins for Tinkobar and other distribution retailers.

Now, the hardware costs $200, and the retail price needs to be set at $400 to ensure the promotion and profitability of the machine.

Claire understands why Simon said this, saying: "In recent years, hard disk technology and thin film LCD technology have developed rapidly, and the cost has continued to fall, and if we launch a full-fledged product next year, the cost should be able to be reduced even more." Simon, I think the biggest obstacle that this machine faces if it wants to promote it is the issue of music copyright. ”

Simon nodded, he was still very impressed by the battle of wits between Apple and the major record giants in his memory.

The record giants are no less conservative than Hollywood.

Daenerys Entertainment already owns Universal Records.

However, if only this record company provides content support, it is obviously far from enough, and the world's major record giants must join the digital music player camp.

When Sony launched the video recorder, it was directly sued by the big Hollywood studios, and although it won the lawsuit, it lost the market.

Once the digital music player is launched, the record giants will definitely not produce much less backlash than the Hollywood studios after the advent of the VCR in order to protect the interests of physical records and related hardware fields.

In the original timeline, the rise of the Internet industry in the late 90s caused a serious impact on the record industry due to the wanton spread of pirated music on the Internet. The major record giants, out of their instinctive hostility to the Internet, are reluctant to promote genuine music on Internet platforms, which further contributes to the proliferation of piracy.

In Simon's view, if the major record giants can join forces to promote genuine music through Internet channels, even if piracy is still inevitable, the impact of the Internet on the record industry will not be so serious. On the contrary, even in Western societies with strong awareness of consumption and copyright, once they get used to pirated music on Internet platforms, it will definitely be more difficult to charge for it.

AOL is in the process of upgrading its own network services with ADSL technology, and other Internet service providers will only follow suit in the next few years.

When the technology upgrade is completed, the Internet speed of ordinary users reaches the minimum level of 256k, and the maximum time to download an MP3 music is only two or three minutes, and at that time, pirated music on the Internet will quickly become popular.

The best way to avoid the impact of Internet music piracy on the record industry is to provide a platform for selling genuine music.

It's like the videotape industry.

If Hollywood had resolutely resisted the popularity of video recorders, there would not have been a huge amount of output in the videotape industry that is equivalent to twice the box office of movies.

It's just that it's easy to figure out that it's not so easy to get conservative record giants to follow the trend.

At the end of the day, it's still interests.

In the past, Sony was the staunchest opponent of digital music on the Internet, and the key is that Sony not only owned Columbia Records, but also had a considerable hardware interest in the fields of cassette players and CD players.

Thinking of the obstacles he might face in promoting digital music players in the future, Simon frowned slightly, and then quickly relaxed.

It is nothing more than soldiers coming to block the water and cover the earth.

Since it is determined that digital music is the inevitable development trend of the entire record industry, it is necessary to go ahead with it.

Regardless of how others are.

What's more, it's not like there's no lack of chips in your hands.

Thinking of this, Simon made up his mind to focus more on Daenerys Entertainment's record business, in the past two years, most of his attention has been on movies and other business areas, although he took over Universal Music, this subsidiary has not developed much.

Tinkobar's current flagship product is still digital cameras.

The development of digital music players is just to complete the patent layout in advance, and if you want to launch a formal product, it will not be until next year at the earliest.

The crowd continued to discuss some issues, and before they knew it, it was time to get off work.

Girl C proposes to have dinner together, and Simon agrees.

Everyone left the office building together and agreed on the location of the restaurant, Simon just got into his car parked on the side of the road, Jennifer Bry's petite figure came over, stopped the bodyguard who wanted to close the car door, and looked at the man in the car expectantly: "Simon, can I take your car?"

Simon originally wanted to explain some things to Girl A, but when he saw the little girl coming over, he didn't refuse, and said with a smile: "Okay." ”

The man's voice fell, and the little girl immediately got into the car, as if she was worried that someone would rob her place.

Actually, Girl A was right behind her, and she was going to be in a car with Simon, seeing this, Alison smiled at Simon in the car, pointed to Girl C, and turned away.

The bodyguard closed the door outside.

In the car, little Jenny fumbled awkwardly, and finally opened the baffle between the rear compartment and the front driver's seat.

Simon looked at the movements of the goblin beside him and smiled, "Actually, I can still hear it." ”

Jennifer blinked, with a little cunning in her eyes, "As long as you can't see it." ”

With that, he leaned over to the man and asked, "Simon, will you stay in San Francisco tonight?"

Simon casually turned off the intercom connected to the driver's seat, shook his head and said, "No, you have to go home on time at night." ”

Little Jenny put a post on Simon's body again, holding the man's arm and shaking it slightly: "But, you used to stay overnight in San Francisco?"

"This time it's different," Simon didn't have any aversion to the girl's almost unjerky familiarity, looked at the girl wrapped around him, and smiled again: "It's awkward, flat plate, I don't feel it at all." ”

Little Jenny was not inferior at all, her chin was on Simon's shoulder, she whispered with a little seduction: "Actually, small also has small benefits, you touch it, I'm only 12 years old this year, it's very exciting." ”

When the two thin lips were on his ears, Simon was really stimulated by this pseudo-luoli who claimed to be 12 years old but was actually 20 years old.

It took less than five minutes to reach a nearby restaurant.

When everyone got out of the car, they all noticed, and Jennifer Bray, who was flushed and fluttered, as if she had just experienced something.

However, even though everyone was aware of what had just happened, the little girl sensibly did not stick to Simon as she did when she was in the car, but walked to Girl C with low eyebrows and grabbed Claire's arm, as if she was following the shy and shy little sister next to the big sister.

The disguise was effective, and with the exception of Girls A and C and Neil Brantley, no one in the restaurant showed any special expression of the strange flush on the girl's face.

After dinner, Simon still didn't stay overnight in San Francisco.

Watching Simon's car leave, and separating from Neil Brantley, Girl C got into a white BMW with little Jenny.

Lady C rented a house in the affluent area of Atherton, north of Palo Alto, which is not comparable to the mountain mansion in Woodside, but it is also very spacious and spacious, with a courtyard of more than 600 square meters, a two-story European-style villa with four bedrooms and six bathrooms, a gym, a screening room and a private wine cellar.

After following Simon for a few years, although he could not buy it for the time being, it was more than enough to rent such an apartment.

In fact, when she chose to rent this apartment, Girl C still had the idea that Simon might come over to stay overnight.

It's just that the man has never come.

I didn't expect a certain goblin to succeed.

Started the car and drove to Atherton in the twilight, looked at the little Jenny who was no longer unusual, and the C girl paused, but still couldn't help but ask with some teasing: "It only took 5 minutes?"

5 minutes?

Jennifer Bray suddenly gave a white look at the C girl, and said dissatisfied: "How can Simon be so useless?"

Feeling the instinctive protection of a certain man in little Jenny's tone, Girl C shrugged her shoulders and asked, "Then what have you all done?"

Little Jenny was suddenly a little lost, and said, "Just kiss and touch." ”

As he spoke, he reached out and scratched his jeans twice, regretting that he shouldn't have worn skinny jeans today. The man tried to reach in in the car, but because his clothes were too tight, he didn't succeed, and I don't know if he would be disappointed.

Girl C glanced at little Jenny's expression, said no more, and continued to look ahead.

Actually, it's a little envious.

I spent a lot of time with Simon at the beginning, and occasionally took the initiative, but I didn't succeed once.

Now, completely out of Simon's side, there will definitely be no chance in the future.

For their own boss, Girl C knows very well that whether it is their ABCD or the butler Alice's side, they are actually very greedy.

Such a dazzling man is so powerful that as long as it is a woman, it is probably inevitable that he will be moved.

I still vividly remember a time in New York, inadvertently breaking a girl while watching her boss's boxing video of knocking out ten people in a row in the Australian boxing arena while satisfying herself. Later, I also copied a copy of that video, and occasionally fantasized about being pressed under my boss and ravaged by myself.

Driving through the streets of San Francisco, Girl C thought of this, and felt that her body couldn't help but feel a little hot.

Leaving the Westeros family, starting her own business, and having a net worth of hundreds of millions, C-girl now has a large group of suitors around her. It's just that Claire can't help but compare the men who pursue her with her own boss, and then she is a little interested.

If you want to get along with those mediocre men, it's better to be single.

So until now, he is still single.

Both women in the carriage were caught up in their own thoughts, and for a moment they stopped talking.

Simon, on the other hand, boarded the plane and didn't waste half an hour of travel from San Francisco to Los Angeles.

When Girl A walked into the office in the front cabin of the Boeing 767 with her coffee, Simon was holding a pencil and writing something in her notebook.

Pouring Simon a cup of coffee and putting it in the man's hand, Girl A paused, and was about to turn to leave, but was stopped by Simon.

The man commanded, did not look up for a moment, continued to concentrate on his work, and Alison quietly sat down on the sofa next to the porthole, waiting for Simon's abundance.

Simon continued to list in his notebook for a moment, and finally tore off a page and said, "Help me collect these technology-related information, including major manufacturers, patent distribution, industry scale, etc., as detailed as possible." ”

Alison agreed, and got up to take the page and glance at it.

Above is a list of technical terms.

HDD, flash memory, thin-film LCD, battery, ARM, touch screen......

Having been with Simon all day today, Girl A knows that a lot of this is the technology involved in digital music players. The other item, although she didn't quite understand, Alison didn't ask much, and seeing that Simon had already picked up a script and looked at it, Girl A quietly turned around and left the office.

Behind his desk, looking through a script in his hand, Simon's mind was still sorting out today's work.

Once Igret's $1.5 billion financing plan is completed, how the money will be planned has not yet been finalized in the afternoon meeting.

First, however, a dedicated Igreit office campus was needed.

Simon didn't have much of a preference for building a luxurious corporate headquarters building, which he did mainly because of the need for secrecy.

Igrete has expanded so quickly that the company has never stopped hiring, and now has more than 5,300 employees. Due to the lack of a unified office space, more than 5,000 employees can only be dispersed in different office spaces.

The office locations are scattered, resulting in poor communication between teams, and the most important thing is that it greatly increases the difficulty of corporate confidentiality.

Egrete launched cloud computing last year, and in the actual application process, only Igret's own business and the closely related Blockbuster Online can enjoy instant flexible space leasing treatment, because its own technology is still improving, and at the same time, it avoids the traditional server and data center manufacturers to quickly follow up and obtain more revenue considerations, and ordinary customers can generally only enjoy similar services to traditional server rental vendors.

The difference is that compared with traditional server rental, the rental service provided by Igrete is cheaper and more convenient in terms of capacity expansion.

Even with such a low profile, many details of Igret's cloud computing technology have been discovered by other vendors and have begun to follow up accordingly.

To a large extent, this is due to the fact that Egret's confidentiality system is not yet perfect, and the scattered office space is also a major obstacle to Igret's strict confidentiality measures.