"Beauty pageant computer, new technology life."

A short sentence of less than 10 seconds (in English) has been repeated on major television stations in the United States for the past two months.

Since the Los Angeles Electronics Show has passed two months, the Midea Group branch in the United States has begun to open the mode of money in the advertising industry, and the three major American TV stations NBC, ABC, and CBS naturally do not dislike the dollar, they do not care which country's customer it is, nor does it care that the customer is to grab their own country's computer market, and they have begun to broadcast this advertisement in their own various prime times.

A large amount of advertising investment, as well as the good quality itself, naturally made many people in the market gradually begin to understand this personal computer called "Midea".

Los Angeles Silicon Valley, Apple Headquarters:

Jobs looked at Woz, who was fiddling with the Midea-1 computer he had just bought, and didn't speak, not knowing what he was thinking, until Woz put down the gadget in his hand.

"The hardware on this computer,In fact, it's not complicated,It's all more common electronic components in the world,In many ways, it's not as good as our Apple-3,But it's more powerful,A bunch of software here,These games,It's all Eric's Midea games that once controlled the arcade market,There are a few new ones,Only suitable for mouse operation,But the playability is also very strong,I have to say,Eric in the field of games,It's really powerful." Wads commented.

"What do you think of those two business office software?" Jobs asked.

"It's also very good, especially this word software, the ability to edit text is very strong, and it can also identify typos, but it is not a comparison of fonts, but according to the rules of English letter collocation, which can save a lot of memory, but the accuracy will be a little problematic, not so perfect, no matter what I want to follow-up can continue to update and optimize, and this EXCEL is even more powerful, you can set different tables, mathematical calculations, and convert them into commonly used charts, which must be very useful in many companies in business." Woz nodded.

"Not only is it useful, many of our previous customers have called us, saying that they have purchased Midea computers, these two software are very practical, I hope that our computers, can also have similar software, although it is not explicit, but I feel that if we can't do it, then they will stop buying our Apple computers, but turn to buy Midea." Jobs said worriedly.

Part of Apple's computer sales model relies on terminal retail stores in various places, including franchises and pre-existing large supermarkets, while the other part is directly trading with many large companies, large institutions or schools, and these institutions buy large quantities, and Apple will also sell them at a discounted price.

But in the past half a month, he received 4 such stable customer calls or letters, which made him feel very uneasy in his heart, although IBM, HP, Texas Instruments and other companies are also grabbing the market, but everyone agrees that the well water does not make the river water, after all, the blank market is too big, this kind of customer took the initiative to come to him to suggest learning from another situation is the first time.

"So serious? Originally, I thought that Midea was just going to rely on a few fun computer games to grab a part of the customer market that likes games, but now it seems that his two office software are the most powerful. Woz nodded.

For more than two months ago, Midea launched its first computer, Apple executives including Jobs and Wolds and others did not pay much attention, although Chen Zhiwen is also a shareholder of Apple, but the launch of Midea's personal computer, this does not affect the relationship between the two sides, because, today's technology companies, the launch of their own computers, not a hundred, but also a dozen, those ready to launch, even more.

Among these companies, there are many giant companies in the electronics industry that are much larger than the United States, but except for a few that can gain a foothold in this market, the others are just small players in this feast, and the low market share is terrible, and it is unknown how many years they can survive.

Even when Midea advertised on American TV on a large scale, Apple didn't care, Jobs was still seriously preparing to develop the next generation of Apple computers, but when the feedback from the market gradually became obvious, in addition to people who like to play games, many companies found that the two office software that came with Midea computers were very suitable for office, which attracted his attention.

Jobs asked, "Can we develop these two software?" ”

"It's not difficult to develop, especially if we have a prototype, we can develop it in a few months, but I also asked about these things, which have long been registered by Midea as a global patent, unless it is authorized, otherwise it makes little sense to develop it." Woz shook his head.

Like one of the simplest screws, when I didn't think of it, it was a great difficulty, when others thought of it, it turned out to be so simple, this is the characteristic of many products, patents in the law, it protects this innovation.

"It seems that Eric entered the computer market, in addition to games, just to rely on these two software, I have to say, this is really a good way." Jobs frowned and said that over the years, Apple has been doing its best to compete with IBM and other giants for the right to speak in the hardware field, and it is true that it has not paid much attention to this part.

"Why don't you find a chance to meet with Eric and see if he can develop such office software or games for our Apple computers, so we don't have to worry." Woz said that he is very good in terms of technology, but the creativity is a little worse, not to mention, now that the patent has been registered by others, if you want to bypass it and make a similar one, it will be much more difficult, not technically, but creatively, no is no.

"Well, it makes sense, but I don't know if he wants to, if he lets go of this software, then his computer won't have any advantage." Jobs said.

"I'm going to have to try." Wolds said.

"That's okay, it's night in Hong Kong now, and when it's night, I'll make a phone call." Jobs nodded and said.

Three days later, a non-official Boeing 747 landed at Los Angeles International Airport, officially coming to the United States from Hong Kong to Chen Zhiwen. Los Angeles International Airport is large enough, as long as you have money, the plane can be parked here, and today Jobs personally came to pick up the plane,

Chen Zhiwen still asked Jobs to come up and have a look.

"Eric, long time no see, this plane of yours is really luxurious." After Jobs boarded the plane, he said with some surprise.

"I made some money in the United States, and I have to pay taxes anyway, so I might as well buy something, so that I can more or less avoid some taxes." Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

There are so many industries in the United States, and the profits are very large, although you can invite the most professional tax team to avoid taxes for yourself, but there are always some that cannot be avoided, otherwise, the US government is estimated to be poor to death, in the United States, the super-rich can pay less taxes, but they can't do not pay.

However, there are many rules in the United States that serve the super-rich, such as buying goods produced in the United States or fixed assets can avoid taxes, so in addition to airplanes and yachts, buying a large number of farms in the United States is also for this purpose, of course, investing in farms, he himself is also very interested.

"When Apple becomes one of the top 10 in the United States, I will definitely buy one too." Jobs sat down in an airline seat and said with a smile.

"Hopefully this day will come to fruition soon." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said, according to historical development, this day is estimated to be decades later.

In the 80s, the top ten listed companies in the United States, the goalkeeper was the most famous Kodak, with a market value of about 12 billion US dollars, and today's Apple, with a market value of less than 4 billion, a big gap.

In a well-known saying, that is: half a step earlier is a fairy, one step earlier is nothing, it cost Apple hundreds of millions of dollars, and the new computer developed is indeed good, but the cost is too high, the price is close to 10,000 US dollars, so the ghost buys it? Eventually, Apple fell, and Jobs was driven out.

"To achieve this goal, Apple needs to further develop the PC market." Jobs paused and said: "Eric, I know that you have also launched your own personal computer, but after all, it is still a new brand, and it is difficult to grow in this market, but I have found new business opportunities, the word and Excel software in your Midea computer are very convenient for office use, why don't you think about it, how about launching a software floppy disk for my Apple computer?" ”

"This is actually in my plan, but we need to wait, and soon Midea will launch corresponding software floppy disks according to various brands in the existing market for the convenience of all consumers." Chen Zhiwen nodded and said.

"For all computer brands?" Jobs was stunned for a moment and said, "There's no need for this, right?" Apple has occupied 30% of the current personal computer market, and as long as Apple launches it, those who want to buy it will naturally be able to buy it. ”

"This is a plan that has been predetermined for a long time, there will be no changes, our software is for everyone, not for a certain brand of computer users, Jobs, I remember you also said back then, your purpose is just to let everyone use personal computers, now there is good software, more convenient for users to use computers, isn't it better?" Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

It is indeed a business model to bind one's own personal computer with high-quality software, but the premise is that this software cannot be surpassed by others.

But in reality, this is impossible, word, Excel is currently only the most basic version, if others really want to make a similar, it can be done at a higher cost, there may be some problems, but there will always be, besides, if the other party is dead face infringement, there is a patent to protect themselves, and they also need to go to court, and in the United States and American technology companies to litigate, it will always be very troublesome, even if you take advantage of it, but you can't stand the hooligans, you can avoid trouble or avoid trouble.

Therefore, many of Midea's software, from the birth of the beginning, is independent operation, not auxiliary, in the initial market when no one knows, to their own computer, that is, you can use the advantages of these software to develop the market for your own computer, and you can take advantage of the increase in computer sales to promote their own software, killing two birds with one stone, but when it is almost the same, you have to put a variety of floppy disks on a large scale.

Only the game is special, once the patent is registered, others can't copy it, besides, the current computer company, really not proficient in game development, therefore, for a period of time, their own computer games will become a selling point of their own computers.

"It seems, Eric, you're eyeing the software market." Jobs somewhat understood.

"Yes, in terms of hardware, it's actually just a bit of participation, and it's still far inferior to Apple." Chen Zhiwen said modestly.

"That's fine, then we won't be considered competitors, you do software, I do hardware." Jobs had some joy in his heart, Chen Zhiwen was a very capable person in his eyes, plus the other party was Apple's major shareholder, and the financial resources behind it were sufficient, it would definitely be very difficult to compete with such a person. Now that the two tracks of hardware and software are separated, it is also a good thing for Apple.

"But how to say, I am also a computer brand, and then as a major shareholder of Apple, it will not be good, in the next year or two, I will gradually empty my own Apple shares, and now I will tell you." Chen Zhiwen said again.

Apple's peak moment, it is estimated that it will not be a year or two, and when Jobs's new project is not finished for various reasons, plus IBM, HP and other brands are desperately grabbing the market, Apple's stock price will gradually decline, and the market is no longer optimistic about this former myth, which is one of the main reasons why Jobs was later kicked out of Apple.

When I first invested in Apple, it was purely for "profit", because after Jobs left, the entire Apple stock has been sluggish for more than ten years, and even almost collapsed around 97 years, although it is certainly different from the history it once was, but the trend should be about the same, and even if you also make achievements in the field of personal computers, it will only have a greater impact on Apple in the future.

"You want to withdraw your shares? There's no need for that, is it? Wouldn't it be okay not to be part of Apple's board of directors? Jobs was shocked that the withdrawal of an original major shareholder was a big blow to any company.

"It's better to be cautious, otherwise, when the U.S. Department of Commerce finds trouble with me, I'm afraid I won't be able to tell ten mouths." Chen Zhiwen smiled and said.

This probability is actually not very high, after all, Chen Zhiwen will not touch some projects involving national security or major interests, but it is better not to leave any excuses, the Reagan era, the Bush era and even the Clinton era may not be a big problem, but it will be difficult to say in the future, after all, someone has been slandered against the 50-year-old aunt, this is a great insult to his vision, but he really went to court.

"Well, I'll inform the other shareholders that if they want to take over, it's better not to pass the stock market or not." Jobs thought for a moment and said.

"It's best that way, and I don't want to bother." Chen Zhiwen nodded, in fact, he will also release the news to find a buyer, otherwise, close to 20% of the stocks, even if they are slowly sold in a year, plus he is also one of the founders, after the news comes out, the stock price will definitely fall sharply, so that his loss will be very large, and it will also affect his other investments in the United States in the future.

(End of chapter)