Christina reminded him of this, and Eric remembered that he had indeed thought of it, but he didn't have the energy to pay attention to these things now. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

The two were chatting in whispers when a staff member came over to remind Eric that he had only five minutes left before the start of the press conference and that he could enter early.

Eric said yes and stood up to enter the press conference hall, but Christina also stood up and followed him step by step, asking, "Eric, are you going back to Los Angeles today?"

"No, I'll fly directly to Lone Pine in eastern California tomorrow, and I'll spend one night in San Francisco tonight," Eric shook his head and said to the girl, "Come back to your accommodation with me later." ”

Christina showed a faint shyness, although she had planned to return to Los Angeles after the press conference, but Eric said this, the girl did not refute at all, and nodded very obediently.

Walking into the press conference hall, the two separated and walked to their respective positions.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Victor McNelli, CEO of Firefly Electronics, walked on the stage with a smile on his face, and after a brief speech, he announced the official start of the press conference.

Later, Bill Olson, president of Firefly Electronics, took the stage and began to review a series of sales results of the Fireflyer player since its release last year.

When the total shipment data of the first generation of Fireflyer appeared on the big screen, there was a buzz of discussion among the guests and media reporters.

The first generation of Fireflyer players was gradually discontinued in early March, and Firefly Electronics' major production lines began to stock up for Fireflyer2. By the end of the discontinuation, the total shipment of Fireflyer's first-generation MP3 player reached 8 million units.

The reason why this data will cause everyone in the audience to discuss is because, according to the information released by Firefly Electronics at the beginning of the year, the shipment of the first generation of Fireflyer was only 3.95 million in the whole of last year.

And this year is only the first quarter, even, less than a quarter, Fireflyer player shipments of 4.05 million units exceeded the whole of last year, which is of course due to the fact that the production capacity of Fireflyer player has been limited in all aspects last year, but this terrible sales data growth rate still amazes everyone.

According to this set of shipment data, Firefly Electronics' shipments this year will definitely easily exceed 20 million units.

At present, the portable music player market in North America is about 30 million units, and the global portable player market capacity is only 80 million units. Obviously, just two years after its release, the Fireflyer player will have a 25% share of the global portable music player market.

What's more, if this trend continues, the Fireflyer player is destined to cause a fundamental change in the portable music player market.

Listening to the stage, Bill Olson continued to show the role of the emergence of the Fireflyer player in the promotion of software and hardware industries such as USB interfaces, CD drives, and online payments, and a series of questions had popped up in the minds of everyone in the audience, especially media reporters.

Will Firefly Electronics always hold the full set of patents for MP3 players?

How will Firefly Electronics deal with the monopoly problems it may face?

Does Firefly Electronics take into account the impact of Fireflyer players on the traditional record industry?

And so on and so forth.

However, according to the information previously obtained, there was no media question session scheduled for this press conference.

With this in mind, some reporters in the venue began to contact their bosses through mobile phones when Bill Olsen finished speaking and the guest backstreet boys came on stage to sing a new song, trying to get a chance to interview Firefly Electronics executives directly.

In the next few links, Victor McNelli, as well as several executives from Yahoo and Nokia, took the stage one after another to show the second-generation Fireflyer player, the latest version of Yahoo music box software, Nokia M-100 music mobile phone and other products, during which there were still several performers.

The event ended two hours later, when Victor McNelli and a vice president from Nokia took the stage again to unveil pricing information for the most talked-about products.

After the press conference, after entertaining some heavyweight guests who needed to be photographed in person, Eric wanted to go back to his residence in Atherton, Palo Alto, but was dragged to the Firefly Electronics headquarters by Victor McNelli and others.

In a small conference room at the headquarters of Firefly Electronics, while the secretary served coffee to several people, Victor McNelly said, "Eric, have you been paying attention to Microsoft's antitrust case recently?"

In the past few years, there has been almost no information in the media about Microsoft's anti-monopoly investigation, and for a long time, as long as it does not involve vital interests, no one will pay special attention to this matter again.

Eric shook his head truthfully, he definitely didn't have the heart to pay attention to these things during this time.

Victor McNelly did not beat the bush and directly explained the current situation: "The federal Department of Justice last week filed charges against Microsoft for bundling the Windows operating system with video players, Office and other software, and the investigation may also involve Yahoo's cooperation with Microsoft's Yahoo browser, because Yahoo browser always takes precedence over other operating systems in versions and features on Windows systems, and the Justice Department says this behavior has constituted unfair competition." ”

In fact, Microsoft's monopolistic behavior goes far beyond bundling software, but also includes signing exclusive agreements with PC manufacturers to exclude other operating systems, using kickbacks to forcibly promote Microsoft's operating systems and software, forming interest alliances with Intel and other hardware manufacturers to jointly squeeze out competitors, and so on.

These actions are actually more serious than bundling software, but Microsoft has avoided it again and again, and at most it has only paid some fines. As an operating system that has formed a natural monopoly, no one can completely solve these problems.

As a result, Eric was not at all concerned about what Victor McNelly said about the possible investigation into Yahoo Browser, and Chris and Yahoo management didn't even inform him about it, and apparently, they weren't worried at all.

When the agreement was reached, the two sides had already thought of the excuse in advance: it was a matter of product development schedule, and Yahoo was not obligated to provide the latest products for all operating system platforms at the same time, but only preferred those with higher market share.

Shaking his head with a smile, Eric looked at Victor McNelly and said, "Everyone must know that this matter has no effect on us. So, let's just talk about what you think?"

Victor McNelly was pointed out by Eric that they had 'ulterior motives', and in the end there was still a little embarrassment, Bill Olson had to continue: "That's the case, Eric, have you thought about it, if the YOS mobile operating system is released by Yahoo in the future, and at the same time they will release various mobile application software, then, at that time, Yahoo will definitely face a more serious software bundling monopoly problem than Microsoft." ”

Eric immediately understood: "It seems that you still want to get back the development rights of this operating system?"

Bill Olsen nodded: "Eric, we all think that this is more conducive to the development of tablet products. ”

"This project has always been in charge of Steve himself, and the kernel of the system is written by him himself, so have you ever considered transferring this project to Firefly Electronics, and who will take over the next system development work?"

Bill Olsen realized that Eric didn't seem to be too opposed to this matter, and glanced at Victor McNelli, and said: "Eric, we think so, this project is transferred to Firefly Electronics, Steve can still serve as the technical consultant of this operating system, as for the actual operation of the project, you must know that the most important thing in Silicon Valley is the technical talent in software, and we have found a few suitable people in charge through the headhunting company." ”

Eric tapped his finger on the table top of the conference table and thought about it for a moment, then said, "Well, if you can convince Yahoo to turn this project around, it's not impossible." ”

Seeing Eric nodding, Victor McNelli and Bill Olsen both smiled, and Bill Olsen said, "Eric, actually, Yahoo doesn't really want this project. ”

Eric wondered, "Why?"

"The project had a development budget of more than $30 million last year, and it will only be higher in the next few years, but we don't know when we want to generate profits. Once Yahoo goes public, this kind of project, which only consumes capital but does not generate profits, will definitely be a serious drag on Yahoo's stock price. ”

Yahoo is nowhere near as big and deep-rooted as Google was more than a decade later, and even Google's various forward-looking innovation projects were once attacked by investors, and Google's top management had to cut budgets in this area. Now Yahoo, with tens of millions of dollars in additional spending every year, is indeed more likely to be blamed in this regard.

The main reason why Steve Jobs was excluded from Apple's board of directors was that Steve Jobs was stubborn in developing products that the board was very unfavorable. Many corporate giants decline because their products cannot keep up with the times, and in many cases, it is not because of the lack of visionary talent within the enterprise, but because these talents are usually unable to compete with capital that is more focused on immediate interests.

Even if Yahoo goes public, absolute control will still be in Eric's hands. However, now that he has entered the capital market, Eric cannot be so obsessed with his own actions that he will provoke the anger of the heavens and people, and many times he still has to adapt to the rules of the game.

Thinking of this, Eric also stopped insisting.

It also seems better to put the mobile operating system in a completely private Firefly Electronics company.

In Palo Alto, San Francisco, Eric is housed in a mansion in the affluent neighborhood of Atherton.

It was already evening.

Forcibly dragged Caroline into the bedroom and dressed up, looking at the doll-like girl wrapped in a pale pink tracksuit in front of her, Melanie nodded with great satisfaction, and said, "Now, I don't believe that a loli can't take the bait." ”

Caroline's face turned crimson, and she said weakly, "Eric's is not Loricon." ”

"Uh-huh, whatever you say, let's go, let's go prepare dinner, he said he'll come back tonight to eat. ”

Caroline followed Melanie with small steps, thought for a while, and said, "May, can you go out to live tonight?"

"Of course, I've already called an old classmate of mine in San Francisco," Melanie nodded briskly, watching Caroline's expression begin to relax, and immediately turned to say, "However, if you think about it, I still give up this idea," reaching out and pinching Caroline's delicate face, Melanie smiled: "I think that if I hide, there is a 200% chance that you will take the initiative to back down and give up the opportunity tonight." ”

Caroline retorted without the slightest confidence: "I, I won't." ”

"I'm going to watch you tonight, anyway, and if you escape, I'll strip you naked and throw you in his room. ”

Caroline blinked, thinking of the scene Melanie's depiction, and her face suddenly turned red again.

The two girls had just been busy in the kitchen for a while when the sound of a car sounded in the yard.

Seeing that Caroline almost threw a carrot out of her hand, Melanie was helpless, put down the kitchen knife, and said, "Let's go, let's go to meet the boss and go home together." ”

As soon as they walked out of the kitchen, the two girls saw Eric and Christina laughing and entering the door together, Christina was very birdly holding Eric's arm, and the girl saw Melanie and Caroline, and greeted politely: "May, Carly, hello." ”

Melanie looked helpless, there must be no drama tonight.

Caroline's eyes flashed with disappointment, then she quickly replied politely, "Hello, Christie. ”

Eric also nodded to the two women, watched them come out of the kitchen, and said, "You guys keep busy, I'll go take a shower first." ”

Saying this, seeing that Christina was about to let go of herself, Eric leaned into the girl's ear and said something, Christina shrunk her neck shyly, looked at Melanie and the two, and still followed Eric upstairs.

As soon as he walked up the stairs, Eric remembered something again, turned to Melanie and said, "May, can you prepare a set of clothes for me, I want to change my clothes after taking a shower, and be more casual." ”

"Okay, boss," Melanie nodded with a smile, and when Eric's figure disappeared, Melanie complained again, "Okay, okay, I'm the maid's life." ”

Caroline immediately said, "May, or I'll go." ”

"Forget it, I don't want to be put in small shoes by the boss," Melanie sighed, looked at Caroline beside her, and said, "Now, there is no drama tonight, but hasn't he thought about Christina's age?"

Caroline glanced at the staircase, paused, and said, "Eric, well, she volunteered anyway." ”

Melanie pursed her lips and said, "I think even if the boss kills someone, you will definitely be able to find a reason for him." ”

Caroline retorted solemnly, "Eric doesn't kill." ”

"I mean, what if, what if?"

Caroline wrinkled her little nose and said, "Well, there must be a reason for that." ”

Melanie suddenly made a helpless look that I knew was like this, patted her forehead, and said, "Forget it, I'll go and prepare clothes for the boss, but we may have to stay in Lone Pine Town for more than half a month, hmph, I don't believe that there will be no chance to stuff your little girl into his bed at that time." ”