For Bill Gates's self-confidence, Zhou Xin only has two words to describe it, that is, envy.

Twenty years later, Zhou Xin didn't know that much about the Microsoft indictment that took place. But this is a case that has been in the media for several years.

In such an environment, if you don't know something, you can become aware of it, and you can have a deeper understanding of this matter just from news reports.

Zhou Xin assessed in his heart that if he had done these things, just one perjury would have made him crucified and unable to turn over as a result of losing the lawsuit.

If he didn't bring any butterfly effect, Microsoft successfully overturned the case and escaped the fate of being split after the Columbia District Court had already handed down the verdict.

"I also believe Microsoft will get what it wants in this lengthy lawsuit." Zhou Xin said.

Bill Gates changed the subject: "Since you believe so much that Microsoft will win in the end, instead of investing in Apple, which has no future, it is better to buy Microsoft shares."

Microsoft's valuation is now at an absolute low level, and it will return to the top when the court verdict comes. ”

Zhou Xin thought to himself, I didn't say that you can win, I just said that Microsoft can get what it wants, it seems that Bill misunderstood what I meant.

He heard from the other party's words that Bill Gates has always been a little obsessed with Apple, maybe not Apple, but Jobs.

"I also bought shares in Microsoft, but Microsoft's market capitalization is too high compared to Apple, and I'm unlikely to buy a 5% mark.

Apple is different, I only need to spend $300 million to buy the line, which is less than a fraction of Microsoft's market capitalization. Zhou Xin said.

Bill Gates: "Well, it's been a long time since I've been paying attention to Apple's market capitalization.

You're right. ”

"Apple will decline from its peak precisely because of a series of incorrect strategic planning in the nineties.

And I'm coming back to Apple to get Apple back on track, and judging by the results of the past two years, there's no doubt that I've chosen the right route. Jobs said.

Because Zhou Xin's stake in Apple has exceeded 10%. For an established company that has been in decline for a long time, this shareholding ratio is already a major shareholder.

It is not the largest shareholder, but it is also an influential shareholder, and Apple's shares do not have a structure with weighted voting rights.

This also means that when the board of directors is re-elected in the future, Zhou Xin will be able to get a seat on the board of directors and up to 10% of the voting rights.

This is still estimated according to the current shareholding ratio, if Zhou Xin continues to buy Apple shares in the future, then his voting rights will continue to increase.

For Apple's actual managers, Zhou's opinions are an important indicator that has to be referenced.

Jobs met Zhou Xin for this purpose, and he wondered if Zhou Xin would hinder his strategic planning.

Because of the front and back feet meeting Bill Gates and Jobs respectively, Zhou Xin can clearly feel the difference between the two.

Bill Gates obviously looks like he has reached the pinnacle of his life, and after leaving the position of CEO of Microsoft, he has lost his future goals, and he looks very peaceful.

Jobs, who was born in the same year as Bill Gates, has a bright eye, and even in the face of Apple's major shareholder, he still looks a bit tough as a careeraic.

The difference between the two is the purpose of life, and Bill Gates knows that it is almost impossible for him to create a business that surpasses Microsoft if he starts a business after leaving Microsoft.

Jobs, on the other hand, is a company that has left for half his life and returned to the company where he was founder, and the company is still half-dead, and he wants to lead Apple back to its original position.

After listening to this, Zhou Xin nodded and said: "I understand that any enterprise needs to have a clear and correct strategy if it wants to achieve long-term development.

I'm also aware of Apple's past failures, as to why Apple hasn't had the success it once had in the personal PC market over the past decade.

To put it mildly, it can be described as a failure.

There are all kinds of opinions in the media about what users don't like closed systems, and the open-source operating system of Windows is suitable for ordinary users.

What is the personal PC market is shrinking, and the general environment is not good.

In my opinion, these are not reasons, compared to Apple's products in the 80s, Apple's products in the 90s do not have the point of attracting users.

Is the closed ecology good, why can't it be done now? Could it be that user preferences have changed so much in just a decade?

Users used to be able to accept software and hardware bundling, but now they can't?

The key point is that in the past, there were few personal PCs on the market, and Apple's software was able to perfectly meet the needs of some users, which could not be met by other personal PCs with Windows operating systems.

And after the 90s, what Apple could do, Windows computers could also do, Apple lost its competitiveness.

The innovation you made in the past two years is to attract users through the appearance design, which is only a temporary solution, and it is difficult to last without innovation from the software level. ”

After Zhou Xin finished speaking, Jobs had a new understanding of Zhou Xin, at least the other party really understands the product, even if he has not made a personal PC, he can also point out the essence of Apple's past failures.

After leaving Apple to start a new business, Jobs had a clearer understanding of Apple's previous decline, and sometimes he was a bystander.

He also believes that Apple's failure lies in the increasingly fierce competition in the entire market, and in the process of fierce market competition, the competitiveness of Apple's products does not advance but retreats.

Later generations will think that Apple's board of directors kicked Jobs out, so the relationship between Jobs and Apple's board of directors is very poor.

It's been a bad time, and it's been twelve years since Jobs returned to Apple and the year he was swept away.

In the past 12 years, Apple has changed more than one time, from the shareholders behind it to the board members.

Since the board of directors in the past two years will invite Jobs back, it shows that they trust Jobs, and Jobs' willingness to come back also shows that the relationship between the two sides is good.

Not to mention, Apple's current strategic plan was developed by Jobs and the board of directors.

Therefore, Zhou Xin is a variable for Apple, a variable that they did not expect.

Jobs knew that Apple couldn't stand the toss, and if Zhou Xin's ideas for Apple's future development were inconsistent with their plans, Apple's development would be seriously hindered.

You must know that Zhou Xin is not just rich, he has a great say in the product field.

Not to mention the board of directors, even Jobs himself had to listen carefully.

"Newman, you're right, Apple needs further innovation, more innovation.

But with personal PCs, it's hard for us to go beyond that.

Apple's operating system can be optimized in terms of user experience, and we can polish the details to perfection and let users pay for the Mac OS.

For example, I came back to Apple in '97 and launched Mac OS 8, and the results were not bad.

If I'm not mistaken, I think a million units were sold in two weeks.

That's good, but it's not enough.

This kind of experience optimization can only help Apple survive and become one of the surviving tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Apple is no different from computer makers like Dell and HP that rely on the Windows operating system to survive.

I want to do much more than that. We need to innovate elsewhere and break through.

We need to find areas that Microsoft doesn't cover at the moment and make breakthroughs that can help Apple become a great company again. ”

Zhou Xin asked, "So do you have an idea?" ”

Steve Jobs said: "Mobile phones, only mobile phones can carry Apple's dream of returning to its original position."

I've been observing the mobile phone industry for a long time, and it's a fast-growing industry.

It took less than five years for Ameriken to go from a few people's communication tools to today's almost every mobile phone in his hands.

Mobile phones are also carriers of information, and they are not fundamentally different from computers.

Computers are also carriers of information, but compared with the chips on mobile phones, computer chips are much more powerful.

But I believe that with the advancement of technology, the chip performance of mobile phones will also become more and more powerful.

And at that point, the phone's operating system will be the next flashpoint.

And what Apple needs to do is to be successful enough in the field of mobile operating systems.

We haven't seen a technological inflection point yet, but I believe that time is getting closer. ”

Apple does not yet have the idea of making a music player, that is, an iPod.

They didn't come up with the idea until April 2001, and then quickly developed the iPod and released it in the fall.

Zhou Xin was surprised by the sharpness of the other party's eyes, and only in 2000 he saw the prospect of mobile phones.

He said: "Yes, I'm also bullish on the mobile phone industry, Matrix you know? ”

"You know, Matrix is my favorite place to spend my time waiting for my wife to go shopping," Jobs said.

The Matrix store is very designed, and staying in it inspires me a lot.

It would be nice if Matrix sold coffee, I know that's your company, a great company. If the shareholder behind it wasn't you, we'd all had the idea of buying Matrix.

The Matrix keyboard is full of design beauty, from the appearance design to the use experience is perfect, the only drawback is the price, and the technical threshold is too low, the plagiarized Matrix products on the market are only $100.

This makes it difficult for Matrix to be competitive. ”

Yes, less than half a year after the release of the matrix keyboard, Ameriken began to appear as imitation keyboards.

The original version costs $500 and the copy costs only $100, the difference is not very big, and few people will spend that extra $400 except for faith.

Of course, there are also users who buy for Zhou Xin's fame and matrix itself, and matrix barely maintains a balance of payments by relying on these user matrix.

"We expect to launch the Matrix phone this year, which will be a very different product.

I also think that mobile phones will be the next important vehicle for information interaction, and I believe that when the matrix phone comes out, it will bring you some inspiration. ”

When someone thinks a lot like you, and what you want to do, the other person does it first, even if you know that the other person is your competitor, you will still appreciate the other person.

That's how Jobs went. He has a strong perfectionist and has a lot of respect for Quora. In his opinion, Quora strikes the ultimate balance between commerce and quality.

Before, he thought that Zhou Xin's insight into products only stayed at the Internet level, but after chatting today, he realized that Zhou Xin also had a deep understanding of the lower level of computer services.

There are very few people who can realize that mobile phones will become important information carriers.

Because even Nokia, a well-deserved giant in the field of mobile phones, only wants to make mobile phones with longer battery life, better call quality, and more text messages.

Their understanding of mobile phones is still stuck in communication tools.

From a communication tool to an information carrier, this is a simple shift in definition, but it can reflect the depth of your knowledge.

Jobs was particularly interested: "Have you made a prototype?"

Can you show me how your prototype is doing? ”

From Jobs's demeanor, Zhou Xin vaguely remembered the entangled past between Lei Jun and Meizu founder Huang Zhang.

"The prototype is still being designed, because we have a completely different product in mind.

So it will take a long time, and mobile phone research and development is a bottomless pit.

The entire matrix has more than 1,000 employees, and it is estimated that about $300 million will be invested in R&D alone.

Ameriken's labor is too expensive, and the people who make the operating system are high-end talents, and the right developers need to pay a premium to hire them.

Sometimes I envy Apple for its large number of experienced engineers who focus on operating systems.

And the mobile phone operating system is difficult to define, we want to do a big difference from the previous mobile phone operating system, it will be more biased towards the handheld computer.

So it's very difficult to find the right person. ”

Android won't be established until three years later, and feature phone brands such as Nokia, Motorola, Siemens, and Ericsson have embedded operating systems.

There are simply no experienced system developers who can live up to Zhou Xin's expectations.

Many things need to be communicated repeatedly in order to achieve the effect that Zhou Xin wants.

Zhou Xin has a new understanding of the excess profits brought by land reclamation.

Clearing the land is a particularly difficult thing, you don't have a reference object, you don't have an object to benchmark and learn, and you completely start from scratch.

Zhou Xin still has memories of the future, and he clearly knows what form the mobile phone will develop into in the future.

This will be the next 20 years, the main track of the competition of top consumer electronics brands in various countries, countless old mobile phone brands have died out, Nokia, Motorola, etc., these millennium mobile phone brands, communication brands are in the era of smart phones bleak.

Huaguo's consumer electronics brands began to rise rapidly with the help of smartphones.

Some people will say that the chips are all foreign, and the domestic ones are just assembly plants. The problem is that smart machines are precision machines that involve thousands of suppliers, and everyone uses supplier technology.

The same supplier technology, why can domestic mobile phones beat Nokia and Motorola? To put it bluntly, optimization at the software level is also strength.

A small number of companies like Apple and Samsung that have accumulated technology will have some technical advantages, such as Apple's chips and Samsung's screens.

There are memories of the future, and it is still painful to do this now, what Zhou Xin is going to do now is not a smart phone, at best, it is a transitional product between a functional machine and a smart phone.

Smart Phone 0.5.

The biggest difficulty is cognitively, he knows what to do and what users will like, but engineers don't know, they will have their own understanding, their own ideas, their own experience.

Zhou Xin needs to constantly correct their design and tell them to follow my ideas.

It's a very painful process.

Fortunately, in the process of running-in, developers and engineers found that Zhou Xin's ideas were always better than their ideas in terms of user experience after continuous modifications.

The small differences add up to a huge improvement in the user experience.

Some people may think that Zhou Xin doesn't need to be so detailed, he just needs to grasp the strategic direction.

Some of the less critical1 tasks can be left to someone else, just need to grasp the strategic direction. For matrix, which is related to the success or failure of all the industrial chains under Zhouxin, it will be a trillion-dollar market.

Without monopolizing the entire market, it is enough to support Apple, which has a valuation of more than $3 trillion.

Most successful product managers are extreme detail freaks and perfectionists.

When Zhang Xiaolong was doing the QQ mailbox revision, this was a very marginal business within Tencent, and Pony Ma had more than 1,300 email exchanges with Zhang Xiaolong's team in a year and a half.

Gu Sibin, who used to be in charge of QQ membership business, received an email from Pony Ma, just to point out that there was a problem with the word spacing on the web page.

Therefore, when making Matrix's first mobile phone, the pioneering work, Zhou Xin was extremely attentive to the pursuit of details, even during the Internet conference in China, he was reading emails and replying to emails whenever he was free.

He wants every detail to come true according to his intentions.

Jobs nodded: "I want to make a product that is different."

I don't quite know what you want to do with matrix's operating system, but with Newman's insight and dedication to the product, I'm sure it's going to be a great result.

The more perfect the product, the more painful it is in the development phase, which is the fate of perfectionists.

I think we have a lot in common. ”

Jobs was very envious of Zhou Xin in his heart, the other party could invest $300 million in research and development alone, and now Apple only has $200 million in cash on its books.

The first quarter is over, and Apple expects the company to lose between $225 million and $250 million by the end of the first quarter, excluding previous investment profits. (This data is from Apple's announcement on December 5, 2000)

Compared with the wealthy Zhou Xin, Apple, which is in charge of Jobs, needs to be carefully calculated for every money.

This is also why, Jobs saw the prospect of mobile phones, but had to make the iPod first.

There is no money to support the development of smartphones.

"The Matrix keyboard is already perfect in terms of details, but the keyboard is only about the hardware.

Hardware, it's easy for you to grasp every detail.

Mobile phones need to consider both hardware and software, as well as the interaction between people and hardware, and it is very, very difficult to pursue perfection in the field of mobile phones. ”

There's been a lot of things lately.,I'll resume the update when I'm busy the day after tomorrow.,And make up for what you owe before.。

(End of chapter)