"You don't have two rooms, a twin room is always fine, right?" Evan looked hopefully, "Please, we've been driving a full six hours from Los Angeles to come here, help us figure it out, beautiful miss." ”

The black aunt at the front desk of the Holiday Inn Express Hotel rolled her eyes: "No, I told you, there is no room left." There are hotel chains around here, so you can go to other hotels. ”

Evan pleaded, "I've searched all the neighborhood, there are no hotels and empty rooms, we can't sleep in the park, can you?

The aunt at the front desk looked at Lincoln's head on the banknote, and her face softened slightly, "There is only one staff room left, I work the night shift, you can stay until tomorrow morning, but there is only one bed." ”

"A bed?" Evan looked at Mike in embarrassment, two big men crammed into one bed, too...

Mike said lazily: "Forget it, let's look for it again, it's really not good, just live far away." ”

Evan glanced at the fat man who had just come out of the elevator, felt a little familiar, and shook his head: "The invitation letter says that the five hundred people who will enter the field tomorrow have mysterious gifts, and if they live too far, they may not be able to queue up." ”

Mike shrugged, he hadn't come out of the shadow of his broken love, and he wasn't too interested in anything, "Jane said I snored in my sleep. Referring to his ex-girlfriend who had just broken up, Mike couldn't help but have a sour nose again, "That's it, I'll go back to Los Angeles overnight, and you can stream it down to attend the press conference." ”

Evan glared: "How can it be done, I've been driving for more than five hours." You should accompany me to the head office, I promise you, as soon as the press conference is over tomorrow, we will return. ”

The fat man who came out of the elevator passed by them and happened to hear this sentence, and looked at the two: "You are also here to attend the Matrix press conference?"

Evan looked at the bearded fat man with a Giants baseball cap and sunglasses, and always felt that he had seen it somewhere, so he said casually: "Yes, the invitation drawn on the official website, the nearby hotels are full, and there are no rooms here, it seems that there will be a lot of people participating tomorrow." You're here for the Matrix launch event, too, and where did you come from?"

The fat man smiled: "Yes, I'll participate tomorrow, but my home is in San Francisco." By the way, do you want to come to my house? I still have a vacant room at home, and I won't charge you money. ”

Evan was first overjoyed, then squirmed, "Isn't it okay?"

Hearing that his companion didn't move, Evan turned his head to look at Mike, only to see that the other party was looking at the fat man with a big mouth.

"Mike, what do you think?" Evan nudged his roommate.

"Wozniak!, you're Steve Wozniak!" Mike exclaimed excitedly.

The fat man hurriedly stretched out his fingers and made a shushing motion.

Evan slapped his head, and I said that it looked so familiar, and I couldn't help but get excited, "Is this you? Mr. Wozniak?"

Although Evan is barely a computer enthusiast, compared to a tech nerd like Mike, his understanding of the computer industry is not half a star, and he didn't recognize Wozniak at first sight.

Wozniak pulled the two aside, took off his sunglasses, and the two looked at each other, both seeing the incredulity in each other's eyes, "I'm Wozniak, if you don't have a place to live, you can come to my house, and we'll go to Parkview Green together tomorrow." ”

Mike blushed with excitement: "Mr. Wozniak, you, you're my idol, can you sign me?" he seemed to have completely forgotten about his ex-girlfriend who had dumped him.

Wozniak smiled and signed Mike's T-shirt, and Mike stammered, "Y-Why are you here?"

Wozniak wrote lightly: "I came to meet them at the hotel with a few friends from Europe who came to the launch of Matrix. Can't you find a hotel, come with me. ”

Evan and Mike looked at each other excitedly and said in unison, "Okay!"

Wozniak drove a Prius that had just been on the market for a month, "The car was great. Wozniak gushed, "This is the world's first hybrid car." What is a hybrid? Oh, it's not just an engine, it's an electric motor. Balabalabara 。。。。。 ”

Evan and Mike sat in the back seat and looked at each other awkwardly, and Wozniak was a tech freak who frothed at the mention of any technical problem.

"Mr. Wads, can I ask you a question?" asked Mike, cautiously leaning on the back of the driver's seat.

Wozniak laughed: "Of course, do you also want to ask me if my relationship with Jobs is really broken?"

Mike rubbed his nose, "Well, I'm curious about this question as well, but what I want to ask is, why did you attend the Matrix launch?"

Wozniak rightly said: "Oh, I sold them a couple of patents a few months ago and am now a supernumerary technical advisor to Matrix. And, I really like their upcoming new products. ”

"Patents?" Mike and Evan excited, "You've invented a new personal computer?"

Wozniak laughed: "How is it possible, now it is the world of the Intel Alliance, no one can subvert the X86 architecture anymore, and neither can Apple." I also stopped researching this stuff for a long time. The research I do has nothing to do with computers. ”

"Nothing to do with the computer? what is it?" Mike asked curiously.

Wozniak did not have the slightest precaution and said casually: "GPS, several patents in the global satellite positioning system. ”

Evan wondered: "Matrix is a computer, why buy a patent for a satellite positioning system." ”

Wozniak saw the stop sign and stepped on the brakes, "I don't know, maybe it's a technical reserve." This is very common in the technology industry, and buying a patent does not mean that the product will be released. ”

The two nodded as if they didn't understand, and Mike suddenly thought of the new product Wozniak said just now, and hurriedly said, "Then what new product is Matrix going to launch this time?"

Wozniak smiled: "I signed a non-disclosure agreement, I can't say, you can see you at the press conference tomorrow." Well, this is my home. ”

Evan and Mike looked up and saw that Wozniak's house was just an ordinary one-story house.

"Wow, is this the first Apple I?" asked Mike, looking feverishly at the wooden-shelled, typewriter-like machine on the display table in the corner of the large study.

Wozniak had a smug look on his face: "No, this is what I copied a few years ago, and it took a lot of effort to find all the materials. ”

Apple I, Apple II, Apple III, LISA, Macintosh。。。。。。 Wozniak's study is filled with some of Apple's finest products of all time.

While visiting, Mike sighed with regret: "I really miss the apple back then, the current apple is so disappointing, but fortunately there is Matrix now... "Technophiles are like that, they become obsessed with what they like when they come across something, and they don't care if their words hurt people.

Evan pulled Mike, "I'm sorry, Steve, he didn't mean to. ”

Wozniak waved his hand: "Nothing, what he said is the truth." However, Apple may not be without hope of a revival, Matrix... Speaking of this, Wozniak knew that he was speechless and smiled, "Do you want to drink beer?"

Evan suddenly felt a little strange, why only Wozniak lived in this huge house, and asked casually, "Steve, what about your wife and children?"

Wozniak gave a gloomy look: "Separated, divorce settlement is being made." ”

Evan sighed, "I'm sorry, Steve, I don't know. As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a sigh from beside him.

Mike said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I'm tired, go to sleep first, you can continue to talk." ”

Evan almost slapped himself in the mouth, telling you to talk more!

——————————————————————————————

Cupertino, Apple's headquarters.

"I want the fastest multimedia CPU on the planet!, not a microcontroller that can only perform logical operations!" Jobs roared again in the development center.

"Why is Steve in such a bad mood today?" whispered to several distant employees.

An employee in a striped shirt pouted: "Today Matrix released a new product. ”

"What does this have to do with Steve?"

"Come, come, I speak to you。。。。。 "Don't be afraid if you don't know the inside story, there are always good people who will come to do popular science.

Jobs returned to his office distraught, where Apple's new chief of operations, Jeff Williams, was waiting for him.

Jeff Williams previously spent thirteen years at IBM, working his way up from an engineer to director of IBM's global procurement center.

Apple has a very close cooperation with IBM because it wants IBM to help it develop chips. In the process of communication, Jobs found that Jeff Williams was a rare talent, and it happened that he was ready to kill the previous director of operations, so he poached Jeff Williams to Apple for an executive position with a high salary.

After all, Jobs is no longer the blind and impulsive young genius of ten years ago, even if he is upset, he still said to Jeff Williams kindly: "Jeff, how is it, have you adapted? Working with the most talented people in the world, it's a lot of pressure, right? ”

Jeff Williams looked very bookish on the outside, and whispered, "It's not bad, but there are still a lot of problems." Here's my report after the last two weeks, Steve, take a look. ”

Jobs took Jeff Williams' report with a smile, "Wow, such a thick book, you know, I don't like to read that much, is there any major discovery?"

Jeff Williams said, "Steve, you'd better take a look." Our current supply chain system must be revamped in the short term, or it will bring down the entire company. ”

Jobs nodded slightly: "This is also the purpose of I asked you to join Apple, what is the specific situation?"

Jeff Williams put it succinctly: "To put it simply, the entire supply chain system is currently too costly and wasteful, and according to the data I have obtained, at least $300 million in costs are wasted on inventory and useless processes each quarter, which is higher than our loss in the last quarter." The forecast just given by the financial department for this quarter is a loss of $78 million, and as long as the supply chain system can save $200 million, we will be able to achieve a quarterly profit. But if we continue to keep the current supply chain system unchanged, we will not survive the first quarter of next year. ”

Jobs flipped through Jeff Williams' report and said in a deep voice, "Tell me about your plans." ”

Jeff Williams picked up the copy of the report in his hand and flipped to the last few pages, "I made a plan, first of all, it was a layoff, involving 1,862 people in 17 departments, of which three departments were laid off as a whole. After that, it was a reorganization, abolishing the division of supply chains according to product lines, integrating all supply chains, and gradually reducing the number of suppliers from 567 to less than 300. The entire layoff and restructuring plan is expected to take three months, and after three months, the new supply chain system will gradually work to reduce costs. My initial goal is to reduce the inventory turnaround time to less than 30 days and reduce the lead time of suppliers by 35%. If we can meet our target within a year, we will be profitable in the second quarter of next year. ”

Jobs carefully read Jeff Williams' plan and raised his head: "I support your reform, and you can solve any resistance to me at any time." ”

Jeff Williams shook his head and said, "The problem now is funding, we don't have a budget at the moment. I've talked to both the HR and finance departments and said that if this plan is to be implemented, it will require at least $400 million in funding. And we now have less than $300 million on our books. ”

Jobs walked around the office barefoot a few times, silent in thought.

After a long time, Jobs stopped, looked up and said, "Follow your plan, and I will persuade the board of directors to accept this plan and make additional investment." ”

After speaking, Jobs said to himself: "Although layoffs will increase the expenditure of severance pay in one quarter, it will save at least $100 million in labor costs during the fiscal year." Jeff, you made the labor cost data bigger in the report, and Ed, the old guy, has been staring at this part of the cost for a long time. By the way, it will be executed now, and it cannot be delayed for a day. Jobs pressed the speakerphone button on his desk, "Selena, you and George come to me." ”

Jeff Williams was stunned for a moment: "Steve, you mean the layoffs are going to be carried out now?"

Jobs said firmly: "Of course, one more day of delay will pay one more day of wages." And... Time can't afford to delay. ”

Jeff Williams took a deep breath: "Steve, I think we still have to continue to refine the whole plan... ”

Jobs interrupted Jeff Williams: "Your plan is very complete, just carry it out!"

Jobs is well aware of Jeff Williams' concerns, but he is more anxious about how to reduce operating costs and turn Apple into a profit as soon as possible.

Jobs sighed: "Jeff, you may not understand, our situation is very serious now, more severe than ever. ”

Jeff Williams frowned: "Apple also faced huge losses in '83, and it was only three months away from going out of business. I don't think it's any harder now than it was then, because if we improve our supply chain, we can be profitable. As long as investors see a turnaround, we have more time to turn things around. ”

Jobs had a sharp look in his eyes: "No, you don't understand, the situation is much more dangerous now than then! In '83, we faced only IBM as the enemy, and now 。。。。。。 ”

Jobs whispered in a voice that only he could hear: "There is an enemy that is more difficult to deal with than IBM." ”

Jeff Williams didn't hear clearly, "What?"

Jobs looked out the window and waved his hand, "It's nothing, Selena and George should be over right away, let's go to the conference room." ”

The Matrix press conference should be about to start by now。。。。。。

(End of chapter)