Rolls-Royce, in the economic downturn of the '60s and '70s, proposed that "our competitors are not Ford and General Motors, but Chanel, LV and Tiffany." Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info"

On the basis of product quality, to create a top product spirit, and then incarnate into a symbol of identity, a symbol of the times, this is the absolute difference between making products and making brands.

Precise positioning has allowed Rolls-Royce to make great progress in the high-end car market, and its annual sales and profit margins have risen instead of falling in the overall economic downturn. It became a rare and eye-catching company at that time.

"That's good!" Jobs finally spoke, "The translucent color iMac launched this year is actually just a transitional product, whether it's a desktop or a notebook. We need new products that can be profitable before the corresponding technology matures, and before we can develop completely new products. ”

After Steve Jobs highly simplified Apple's production line the year before last, only consumer-grade, professional-grade, desktop, portable, and four crossover product types were left, but this is only the direction of product design after all. In the more important strategic direction of the enterprise, high-end or low-end, product or brand, this is what determines the fate of an enterprise.

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"That's why I've used our Apple color notebook in this year's new movie, which is also a free ad insert. Sid changed the topic and talked about the free product placement ads he made on his computer during the filming of "Youth Musical".

"Oh, I see, I thought you were going to try out the feel of your new notebook. Jobs smiled with a look of understanding.

"Well, after the movie was finished, I gave it to my girls to try. Sid said with a shrug.

"Oh, girls, guys?" said Larry Ellison, who had been quiet for a long time, with a sly smile.

"Larry. "Are you jealous?" Jobs and Sid gave him a blank look.

"Oh. Larry Ellison's tone froze, and the three of them were stunned for a moment, and then laughed together.

After a hearty conversation, Sid spread his hands: "Whether as a shareholder or as a friend, of course I will fully support you." ”

Although Jobs didn't say it, he was secretly relieved after getting Sid's promise. After he sold all of Apple's shares, he lost a controlling stake in Apple.

"Historically", even the Qianfeng (Investment) Group, which owns the most shares in Apple, only holds 6% of the shares, and even the top three investment institutions have a combined share of only 12%.

And now Sid alone owns nearly 15% of Apple's shares, and the excessive concentration of equity can't help but make Jobs worry about his own foothold.

Of course, for Jobs, Sid's promise was secondary.

What's more, Sid's vision for Apple's development coincides with his.

Then, as long as it continues to develop according to Jobs's plan, Apple's continuous profitability will make Sid no longer question his status.

"But......" Sid said suddenly, this was the first time he had behaved in a slumped and unnatural manner today. Jobs and Larry Ellison looked at him strangely.

"In addition to the existing computer business, I think we need something new. Sid said, curling the corners of his mouth.

"New product?" Jobs raised his eyebrows, in fact, his recent acquisitions have vaguely revealed the direction of the next move, but I don't know if Sid sees it.

"Well, I can't say that I didn't have a plan for the next step. But, I don't know what you think?" Jobs asked with a smile.

"I do have some new ideas. Sid smiled like a little fox.

"Oh. Jobs looked interested, "What's that?"

Sid smiled confidently, "Of course it's MP3!"

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The unprecedented success of the iPod in "history" is due to both its own efforts to improve and the right amount of death from its opponents.

In fact, throughout the eighties and nineties, the absolute king of the personal walkman market has always been Sony's Walkman (including two generations of tapes and CDs). This can be seen from the later "Guardians of the Galaxy", the protagonist's nostalgic symbol is an old-fashioned cassette Walkman.

But by the end of the 90s, the CD market, like the videotape market, was facing the problem of upgrading. At this time, the MD Walkman launched by Sony's electronics division did not achieve the expected success. Not only did it not become a product of the era that inherited the tape and CD-Walkman, but because of the excessive investment, Sony was unwilling to give up its existing interests to develop new products, but continued to stick to the "failed" old products.

At the same time, the dawn of MP3 is quietly happening in a corner of South Korea, a neighbor of Sony. In March 1997, Mr. Moon, a department manager at Samsung in South Korea, was on a flight back to Seoul from the United States to check a document sent to him by a colleague. This is a presentation that combines images, text and MP3 music, and when Mr. Moon finished reading and took off his headphones, he found that the passengers around him were listening to music on MD.

At this time, he realized that if the MP3 music files on the computer could be directly extracted and played with an independent player, wouldn't that be the best music Walkman?

After returning to South Korea, Mr. Moon immediately put forward his idea to the then president of Samsung, but the Asian financial turmoil half a year later caused a huge impact on the Samsung consortium. Mr. Moon was forced to retire early, and after leaving Samsung's head office, Mr. Moon moved to Sehan, a subsidiary of Samsung, as president.

In this small company, he turned his ideas into reality, and in 1998 he launched the world's first MP3 player, MPMan. MPMan refers to the combination of MP3 and Walkman.

"Actually, I like Newton. Sid's words made Larry Ellison look ridiculous.

Jobs was known to have a deep hatred for Newton's product. Just half a year after returning to Apple, Jobs ordered the product to be removed from the shelves on the grounds of poor sales.

And now Sid says he likes Newton? Is this a joke, and deliberately finding fault?

But Larry Ellison noticed that instead of being angry, Jobs smiled meaningfully: "You know I turned this product off last year, right? And you know I hate this kind of stylus-like garbage the most." ”

"Hehe, Steve (Jobs), you should leave the stylus excuse to someone else. Sid smiled nondeterchly: "Newton is a failure, but it's an interesting idea. ”

"Oh. Jobs smiled noncommittally, but he didn't say anything.

Sid disagreed, raised his finger and continued: "Music, video, games. The failure of the Lisa computer was due to its high cost, while the failure of Newton was that the premature invention was not only not beneficial, but rather a drag. ”

"So, how do you turn a premature and expensive invention into a successful product? It's simple, roll cutting!" Sid's voice was not loud, but it made Jobs's face show a crack of surprise for the first time.

"Rolling cut?" Larry Ellison wondered, "How does it sound like a shop assembly process?"

Sid smiled, "Newton has a lot of features, which is expensive, and because the software environment is immature, it is useless. Since the required hardware, software and content are not mature, and since the cost of producing the entire product at one time is too high, why not break it down and implement it step by step. ”

"Step by step?" Larry Ellison looked thoughtfully at Sid.

"Since the wireless network is still far away, it is better to start with a single machine. Since it's still too early to integrate features, why not choose one over the other? ”

Sid's words finally made Jobs can't help but take the initiative to speak: "So your choice is MP3?"

"Hehe, you don't know about Diamond last year, right?" Sid looked at Steve Jobs with blazing eyes, and easily threw out a heavyweight topic.

Diamond is an American electronics company, and the product it produces is the world's first truly influential MP3 Walkman - Rio 300.

As a hardware, the Rio 300 was priced at just $170, making it quite popular as soon as it was launched at the end of '98, and by '99 this year, it shipped as many as 40,000 units per month. The biggest advantage of Rio300 is that you can download MP3 for free on the Internet without spending a penny.

This immediately led to a lawsuit filed by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) against Diamond, claiming that the existence of MP3 players was an infringement of the intellectual property rights of the recording industry.

But in 98 last year, the seemingly arrogant RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) "unexpectedly lost", which not only led to the huge publicity offensive launched by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) in the early stage, but also made a wedding dress for the Diamond company. It has also made a name for the MP3 player market and has become a stepping stone to this new market.

This year, not only have new companies sprung up in the MP3 player market, but also websites that specialize in providing free music downloads on the Internet, and later the famous Napster, BT, and eMule all appeared during this period.

The lawsuit between the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and Diamond has not only kicked off the confrontation between the global record industry giants and the MP3 market, but also started their long war with the free download sites on the Internet.

"Go on, Sid, let me see how far you can surprise me?" Jobs smiled deeply, his eyes flashing with an astonishing light.

"Hardware, software, and copyright. Sid stretched out three fingers and said confidently, "Hardware refers to the storage, battery, and experience of the MP3 player itself." ”

"With today's technology, flash memory is small and convenient, but it's expensive and too small. Although the storage capacity of hard disks is large, they are bulky, consume a lot of power, and the price is too high. In comparison, only micro-hard drives are the trend of the future. ”

"I think the technology you bought from IBM this year for microhard drives illustrates that. Sid said with a confident smile at Jobs.