On February 15, the Philadelphia Computer Products Exhibition was held as scheduled.

Representatives of major companies such as IBM, Wang An, Apple, Motorola, Xerox and so on have brought advanced products to participate in the exhibition, and the audience in the venue has reached thousands of people.

Huang Tingjun was full of hope and brought the exhibition scene.

However, soon his optimism cooled down!

Because the whole exhibition has almost become a stage for large companies, customers surrounded the booths of those star companies - IBM, Wang An, Motorola, Xerox, and Apple, and were full of enthusiasm to ask questions and observe.

The executives and salesmen of large companies have become fragrant buns and stars, while some unknown small companies have generally encountered a cold reception for their displays.

"Computer Manuscript Technology Co., Ltd." is a company that has been given a cold shoulder.

Huang Tingjun only has a simple counter, and only a wooden sign with the name of the booth "Hong Kong Computer Manuscript Paper Technology Co., Ltd." written on it.

Because of the remote location and the poor counter, he was ignored by most customers from the moment he entered.

Finally, a customer arrived.

Huang Tingjun cheered up, smiled, and prepared to introduce the company's products to customers.

"You're from Apple?" The customer was amazed for a moment.

"No, I'm from the 'Computer Manuscript Paper' company!" Huang Tingjun felt a little embarrassed, because there were two Apple computers on the display table, and as for the product he wanted to show was the "computer manuscript paper" software, it was ignored.

"Why is your booth with an Apple computer?"

"Because our company's software 'Computer Manuscript Paper' is a word processing software applied to Apple computers!" Huang Tingjun said.

"Like Wang An's computer?"

"Almost"

"I see!"

The customer left shortly after.

Huang Tingjun couldn't help but smile bitterly when he saw the man walking straight to the showroom of Wang An's company.

Because the exhibition, although the name is computer product exhibition.

But in addition to some large companies bringing all kinds of new products such as new large-scale server products, printers, personal computers, etc., they are also promoting game consoles.

For example, arcade games that are popular all over the world, as well as some home consoles, or even simple game programs that can be played on personal computers.

"Computer manuscript" software doesn't sound as fashionable as a game console, nor does it sound like a dreamy new tech product from a big company. So throughout the morning, not a single order was made and no company came up with a joint project.

When Huang Tingjun was thinking about it and strengthening publicity in the afternoon.

Someone is here again!

Huang Tingjun looked at it, it was a young man who looked less than 30 years old.

"Ahem, man, what seems to be our Apple 2 on your counter?" The young man said with a playful smile.

Huang Tingjun noticed that the young people were holding some leaflets in their hands, which were some of Apple's news reports and Apple's product introductions.

This person is clearly an employee of Apple.

Huang Tingjun said: "Yes, what I want to show is an office software installed on an Apple computer, this software can quickly turn an Apple computer into an office computer that is not inferior to Wang An's word processor."

"Really? Can you show me how? "Young people are curious.

Huang Tingjun patiently demonstrated to him the functions, typing, text editing, text preservation, article typesetting, document printing, and other functions that were originally only available on the "Wang An word processor", as long as you add a printer to the Apple computer, you can achieve it.

"Great!" The young man suddenly applauded and said, "It's a perfect match with Apple Computer!" ”

"Yes! Originally, we wanted to cooperate with Wang An Computer Company, but Wang An Computer Company had another similar software, so we were not interested in our products! ”

"Then why don't you contact Apple Computer, Apple Computer must be interested!" Young man.

Huang Tingjun nodded and said, "I will consider selling to Apple in the future!" ”

"No need to sell it, Apple has already been convinced by you!" The young man said, "I forgot to introduce it, my name is Steve. Steve Jobs, President of Apple! ”

Huang Tingjun was stunned: "What! You're Jobs? President of Apple? ”

"Of course, if you don't object, then we can talk about the details of the cooperation," Jobs smiled.

Huang Tingjun couldn't help but feel a little bright, and lost the order of Wang An Computer Company, but won the favor of Apple.

The rise of Apple, in 75 years, Motorola launched the 6502 chip for only 25 dollars, this chip, let Jobs see business opportunities.

Steve Jobs convinced computer assembly guru Steve. Wozniak, with whom he co-founded the business, used Woz's technical skills to order a large amount of computer hardware, fabricate and assemble the applei in the garage, and this computer did not have a display, but needed to use a television as a display. However, cassette tapes can be inserted for input and program storage.

The applei are only sold to stores at a factory price of $500, and each unit is only a few tens of dollars in the price difference. As a result, Apple only produced 200 applei. Cumulative profits add up to less than $10,000. In fact, the applei doesn't even have a keyboard, so it's not an ideal personal computer, and many users use it as a home gaming console.

Because Applei didn't have a keyboard, it lost out to the Z80 PC launched by Zilog.

In the 70s, Zilog was relatively strong and was able to produce its own Zilog microprocessors, and at that time Zilog processors were compatible with Intel's 8080 microprocessor code. What makes the Z80 computer the most popular personal computer is because of the CP/M system, which makes many computer users fascinated by the Z80.

Apple learned its lesson and moved on to develop more advanced computers.

By '77, Wodds had continued to build on Applei and developed a more advanced Appleii. Macoola borrowed more than $90,000 to produce appleii.

Compared with the simplicity of the applei, the appleii not only has a keyboard, but also has a color display frequency and memory, and more importantly, the appleii only sells for $1,298.

With the advantage of cheap and beautiful, Appleii quickly stole the limelight from the Z80. By '79, it had sold 50,000 units and became the most popular personal computer.

Of course, because of the popularity of appleii, it attracted the attention of a large number of programmers who bought the computer, especially MIT student Dan. Brickering, Bob. Franks and the others, learning computer skills on the Appleii computer, wrote a trial balance program called "VisicalC", which can perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations in tables, so it is widely popular with accountants in financial companies.

The "VisicalC" software, which costs $100 per copy, will be able to sell 500~1000 copies per month after it is released! Because it was so popular, the price of this software increased to $150 a copy soon after it was launched!

Moreover, because the "VisicalC" software can only run on Appleii, every user of the "VisicalC" software will buy an Appleii!

So, appleii is unprecedentedly popular!

Driven by the "VisicalC" software, Apple's Appleii sold 125,000 units in one year in 80 years, completely beating the Z80 computer and further consolidating its dominance in the field of personal computers.

Jobs tasted the sweetness of an application software that drove the sales of Apple computers, and at this time he couldn't help but look at the "computer manuscript" software differently.

Could "computer manuscript paper" be another "visicalc"?

Huang Tingjun signed a memorandum of cooperation with Steve Jobs - Hong Kong Computer Manuscript Technology Co., Ltd., authorizing Apple Co., Ltd. to sell "Computer Manuscript" software in North America.

Apple used its own resources to help make copies of the "computer manuscript" software. The cost of manufacturing the copy is borne by Apple.

The price of the "computer manuscript" software is 150 US dollars, which is divided into 4 percent of the model Hong Kong Computer Manuscript Technology Co., Ltd. and 6 percent of Apple.

After all, Apple bears the cost of manufacturing copies of the software, and this software will also use Apple's sales channels to enter the market

Of course, Apple paid a $60,000 deposit at this time, which is a share of 1,000 pieces of software. Later, it was divided according to the further sales results of the "computer manuscript paper" software.

"Happy working together!"

Jobs and Huang Tingjun clink glasses.

At this time, Huang Tingjun is no longer like when he came, shrouded in the shadow of failure. Because, at least Apple's Steve Jobs is optimistic about the "computer manuscript" software.

Compared with a giant like IBM, which has sales of tens of billions of dollars, Apple's annual sales of more than 100 million dollars are indeed a small amount.

However, for computer manuscript software companies, with annual sales of more than $100 million, they are giants that need to be looked up to.

Moreover, Huang Tingjun knows that a few years ago, Jobs only had tens of thousands of yuan, but now Jobs has become a multimillionaire at such a rapid speed. Therefore, Steve Jobs is definitely a contemporary masterpiece of the computer industry!

After the exhibition, a new journey will begin. At the invitation of Jobs, Huang Tingjun will go with Jobs to Apple's headquarters in the small town of Cupertino, California.

(To be continued)