Chapter 728: A3 Chip

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"Apple wants to lead the development of the consumer electronics industry in the future, of course, it must strive for excellence and put the most perfect products on the market!"

Jonathan Rubinstein shrugged. M. Both bigwigs said so, and of course he would not object.

"Boss, can you show me?"

"Of course!"

After learning the charm of this Apple mobile phone prototype through the simple demonstration of Guo Shouyun and Jonathan Rubinstein before, Stephen Bryan's eyes were full of anticipation and excitement, as if he had picked up something precious and incredible, and all his movements were full of caution.

"Incredible, this is amazing, what an epoch-making product!"

Under Jonathan's guidance, as he learned more about the phone's features, the more interjections came out of Stephen Bryan's mouth, the more shocked his face grew.

After Guo Shouyun and Steve Jobs glanced at each other, both of them showed a proud smile on their faces at the same time. But compared to Jobs, he felt that he had developed a product that changed the entire mobile phone industry. Guo Shouyun is proud that he has turned Apple into his own bag.

"Bruce, Mr. Jobs, Apple has developed a great product, and I believe that once this phone is launched on the market, it will profoundly change the current pattern of the global mobile phone industry. ”

After taking a deep breath and calming his excitement, Stephen Bryan still spoke in a calm tone.

"That's what we're looking forward to. ”

"And when will it be on the market?" asked Stephen next.

"I can't give Mr. Brian an an exact time because the R&D schedule is constrained by the hardware. However, I don't think it will be more than two years before it goes public. Jobs said after a moment's silence.

"Two years? Why? Isn't there a finished product now?"

Stephen raised his hand and gestured to the prototype iPhone in his hand.

"This is just a test machine that we have built to validate the multi-touch technology that has just been developed. It's too big and too thick for a full-fledged phone. ”

"Epoch-making products weren't all mature when they first came out on the market, and the Motorola 3200 was so much larger than this prototype that it was just as successful. Apple can launch it on the market first and then improve it step by step!"

Motorola 3200 is the big brother that Chinese people often say. It is a typical representative of stupidity, black and coarseness, but it has changed the pattern of the communication industry and profoundly affected the way of social interaction in modern society.

Jobs shook his head, "When the Motorola 3200 was launched on the market, there was nothing on the entire market that could compete with them. But now it's different, there are a lot of small and excellent mobile phone products. If we can't surpass them in industrial design and user experience, then it's not enough to disrupt the entire mobile phone industry. The impression of Apple's reformers will not be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. … Mr. Brian, the iPhone means more than just money to us, but to stand in the hearts of everyone in the world Apple is the world's top technology company, a geek in the technology industry, a disruptor in the industry, and a disruptor in the industry!

Looking at Jobs' proud and confident expression, Stephen Bryan took a deep breath and exclaimed, "Mr. Jobs's pattern is deeper and broader than I imagined. ”

"In fact, Bruce has helped me a lot in that regard. For Apple's strategic planning, he is the real designer!"

Stephen Bryan nodded and smiled: "The Age of Intelligence is regarded as a benchmark by the global technology community. ”

Guo Shouyun did not deny the praise of the two.

"Let's go out and talk and leave this place to Jonathan! he doesn't like to waste time listening to us talk. ”

Jonathan Rubinstein shrugged. As a typical science and engineering man, he prefers to roam in the world of hardware in addition to the women he is interested in.

Everyone nodded, walked out of the Apple R&D area, and came to the small park next to it. It's no secret that Steve Jobs always liked an open-plan work environment with plenty of space to relax. Therefore, there is always a part of the park around Apple's headquarters that is designed to be surrounded by greenery.

Of course, in addition to Jobs, it has also become a favorite place for Apple employees to come during their breaks. Occasionally, some company executives have placed their own meetings in charge of business here. So, when the group walked over, although it was quiet, it was not empty.

"Steve, how is the development of the iPhone chip?"

After acquiring the chip divisions of Arm and Ruby and obtaining some baseband patents from Qualcomm, Apple, which has greatly enhanced its own R&D strength, began to develop its first mobile chip.

"It's still in the experimental stage, and it's going to be a long time before it's launched to market. ”

"Can you catch up with the iPhone launch?"

"Ross assured me that there was no problem. ”

Ross Parker, head of Apple's chip division. Now Arm no longer exists as a separate subsidiary, but is integrated into Apple, and has become a chip division directly under the leadership of Steve Jobs, just like the hardware department and software department. The British company was changed to Apple's UK chip research and development department.

Guo Shouyun nodded knowingly.

Because of the foundation of Arm, coupled with the addition of Ruby's original chip department, Apple's current chip department is not starting from scratch.

Therefore, the design requirements for the iPhone mobile chip will naturally be much higher than in the previous life.

After more than four years of development, two versions of the chip have been developed for use in mobile devices such as mobile phones around the world licensed by Apple's chip division.

The A1 chip design standard is 90nm process, ARM926 CPU architecture, and 125Hz core frequency.

The A2 chip design standard is 90nm process, ARM11 CPU architecture, 220Hz core frequency, WCDMA, and GMS baseband.

The performance of the A3 chip is naturally higher than that of the A2, and the 65nm process, the single-core A8 CPU architecture that is still under development, with a core frequency of 600 Hz, and GPUs and memory that have not been added in the past, will also become a necessity. The baseband adopts WCDMA and GMS.

Because there have been too many steps between A2 and A3 at once, it has also led to the difficult birth of A3 chips. Especially GPUs, whether it is giants such as Intel, ATI and NVIDIA, or small and medium-sized GPU companies such as Power VR, most of their energy is now focused on the PC market, and the GPU architecture based on mobile chips is far from meeting the needs of Apple's iPhone.

Therefore, Apple is also conducting its own research and development of the GPU needed for the A3 chip, and of course acquisition is inevitable. It's just that it didn't touch those giants that are difficult to acquire, but just integrated some small GPU companies with outstanding R&D capabilities. And Apple is not ready to develop a GPU architecture for the PC side, but only for the mobile side. This can save energy and improve the speed of research and development.

As for memory, we can only wait for Toshiba, Micron, and Texas Instruments to make a breakthrough. After all, no one in the global chip company can dominate the world. Samsung claims to be a one-stop manufacturer of mobile phones, but it also uses Arm's CPU architecture.

According to the development strategy of Apple chips agreed between Guo Shouyun and Jobs, the CPU and GPU architecture were developed by themselves, and the memory and baseband were patented by others. This also means that the famous Qualcomm tax will definitely be inevitable in later generations. But fortunately, after Ruby acquired the CPU division of Juji, and Ruby transferred its chip division to Apple, CDMA patents are all complete, which can undoubtedly take some initiative in negotiations with Qualcomm.

"Steve, from Apple's third-quarter data, the profit gap between Apple's retail stores and distributors is nearly doubled. So I think we should go a step further and increase the size of our retail stores. Moreover, it is beneficial to maintain Apple's reputation, increase revenue, and reduce unnecessary contradictions, especially user experience. ”

In the third quarter of 2004, Apple's total sales revenue was $2.139 billion, of which $1.253 billion was in the United States and $856 million in the international segment. Among them, the sales revenue of iPad, iBook and iMac series hardware products accounted for 71.3%. Among them, the revenue of directly operated stores accounted for 33.5% of the total hardware sales revenue, and the average quarterly revenue of a single store exceeded 12 million US dollars.

This shows the importance of offline stores to Apple's sales. Moreover, many mobile phone manufacturers in Huaxia in later generations still have a deep memory of the fight for offline sales channels.

This is still the case in Huaxia, which ranks first in Internet sales in the world, and the importance of offline channels in the United States, Europe, Japan and other countries does not need to be said.

"Bruce, now we have 157 directly operated stores in the United States, Japan and Europe, which is a lot. And we also need time to find the right storefront and train qualified sales staff. After all, Apple is a technology company, not a supermarket, and Apple's employees must have good professionalism and level. In addition, the return of Apple's directly operated stores now exceeds that of distributors. In addition to our better service quality, more importantly, the relatively large market in large cities provides enough customers for Apple. ”

"If we expand our direct stores to small and medium-sized cities and the sales market is tightened, it will inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of sales, especially the cost of human resources. Therefore, the best way is to set up direct stores in big cities and hand over sales in small and medium-sized cities to distributors. ”

Guo Shouyun nodded, "I hope that Apple should cultivate franchisees by itself rather than agents." This allows us to manage all of the Apple Store's identity, services and design in an integrated manner. ”

"I'll think about it. Jobs pondered for a moment and nodded.

"Both, Apple is doing well and has a bright future, have you considered getting it back on the market?" asked Stephen Bryan.

He is the CEO of Phoenix, so he naturally has to consider the problem from the perspective of Phoenix. If Apple IPO, with its average annual sales revenue of $8.279 billion, return on total assets of 4%, cash flow of $5.456 billion, and total assets of $8.087 billion, it will undoubtedly become the new darling of Wall Street. Phoenix Bank, as the underwriter, will also make a big profit from Apple's listing.

"Going public?"

After Guo Shouyun and Jobs glanced at each other, they shook their heads.

For Guo Shouyun, when Apple's iPhone has not been successfully developed and the company's position in the smartphone industry has been completely established, he will not consider letting Apple go public again.

As for Steve Jobs, he was fed up with the board's control when he was kicked out of the company he founded in the '80s. Money, he is not short of now. He doesn't want a board of directors pointing fingers at him above his head.

Not everyone can fit his understanding of future technology like Guo Shouyun, can make accurate and valuable suggestions for the future development of Apple, and fully give him the management of the company.

"Why? Doesn't Apple's development, especially R&D, need to invest more capital?" said Stephen Bryan.

"Stephen, Apple is not short of money. Guo Shouyun shook his head.

"yes, we're not interested in going public!" Mr. Jobs agreed.

Looking at the firm expressions on the faces of the two **oss who hold the management and operation of Apple, Stephen Bryan sighed helplessly.

"Well, just as I didn't say!"

Stephen Bryan shrugged.

"Stephen, now you see Apple's new product. Now what do you think of what we discussed?"

"I will sell all the shares of BlackBerry and Intel as soon as possible. ”

Stephen Bryan replied in the affirmative. Although Apple's iPhone is still only a prototype, it already has the prototype of an epoch-making communication product. In contrast, even if BlackBerry's button mobile phone technology is advanced, it will inevitably be eliminated.

"Not only BlackBerry, but also all the mobile phone companies such as Motorola and Nokia that our asset management department and wealth management department hold. ”

Stephen Bryan nodded.

Guo Shouyun looked at the time, "It's almost evening, it's rare for us to get together, call the executives of the company who have nothing to do tonight, let's have a meal together." ”

"I have no opinion!" said Stephen Bryan.

Jobs nodded his head.

"Where are we going?"

Boulevard is the name of a restaurant, a two-Michelin-starred restaurant, and Apple's favorite place from top to bottom.

"I miss the steak and the foie gras. Guo Shouyun said with a smile.

Naturally, there is no need to say much about the dinner party in the evening, and Apple's executives, including him and Stephen, are family people, and it is impossible to play so many tricks like they did with the executives of Google and Ruby. So, everyone sat together and chatted briefly, and after communicating about work and feelings, it ended at about nine o'clock in the evening.

arranged Stephen Bryan in the Hanshan Courtyard, and Guo Shouyun returned to his home.

Elizabeth and George had already gone to bed, and only Wendy was still reading a book on the bed in the bedroom waiting for him.

It's late November, and Wendy's belly is already pregnant, and it's huge.

"Why haven't you slept yet?"

"Waiting for you. Besides, it's not too late!"

Guo Shouyun smiled and kissed her lightly on the forehead, then glanced at the books placed on the bedside table next to her.

"Haven't you read the book "40 Weeks of Prenatal Education for Spintic", haven't you read it once?"

"Since I got pregnant, I feel like my memory is much worse than before, so I need to read it several times so I don't miss any key details. ”

Looking at her serious appearance, Guo Shouyun suddenly laughed.

"What are you laughing at?"

When a woman is pregnant, the first child is always cautious and follows the book, for fear that she will do something wrong. When you wait until the second child, you have experience, and you don't care about anything. ”

"Really?"

"You'll know when we have our second child. ”