My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 352 is simply captivating.

That's right.

Wei Dong was just a little more enthusiastic; he wasn't even as obsequious as he had been when he coaxed Qin Yuye into exchanging his jeans for a chip.

In particular, he noticed that the other person had started to be very accommodating to his every request.

Then we must hold onto this style even more.

Because he knew he was speaking golden advice: "It's very simple. Authorize me to use your system for free. You need to understand one thing: the more people use your product, the more it can become the standard for the entire industry. Once it becomes the standard, that's when you can do whatever you want. Before that, it's best to provide it for free and be a subservient partner."

I wonder if Wei Dong would still be so shameless if he were an Apple fan.

Discuss standards in front of a super-powerful figure who would later establish industry standards for smartphones.

They even dare to say they want to use the system for free!

But his ignorant and fearless attitude was clearly very real in front of Steve.

Steve in 1985 must not have yet figured out this connection between the past and the future.

His biggest conflict with professional managers and investors was that everyone felt the Macintosh computer was overpriced.

He, however, was extremely irritable and refused to lower the price.

The work of a genius is worth this price. The reason it doesn't sell is because ordinary people can't see the genius's foresight, and fools are unworthy of these amazing artifacts.

Wei Dong was completely unaware of this struggle, and his explanation was straightforward: "Think carefully, is it about making money by selling software or hardware? I believe it's hardware. When everyone is forced to use your software system, there are countless ways to make money with hardware. You can even modify the software and upgrade it to make other companies' hardware less usable, forcing them to use your product. But it's easy for others to pirate and imitate your software, so you must use the strongest methods in the shortest time to make the entire market develop along with your software. I can give you an example of sanitary napkins..."

Heavenly Bodhisattva!
It's unbelievable that someone could use such a condescending tone to lecture Steve!
He listened with great relish, leaning back on the sofa, his two feet involuntarily tucked in and curled up, like a young virgin in the throes of first love.

A successful person like Steve would almost never have any interaction with a young man from a poor university in Tokyo, unless it were a spectacle like the World Expo.

Even the most gifted young talents at Citibank would rarely have the opportunity to speak fluently and confidently in front of Steve.

It is precisely this that gives Wei Dong's identity as an Easterner a somewhat magical and mysterious feel.

The only annoying thing was the female translator, who had an obvious cunning.

Not only did they turn on that red camera from the beginning to record the entire process, but they also arbitrarily altered and changed the language content in the middle!

It's quite obvious that the lengths of their Chinese conversations don't match, and it's definitely not a faithful reproduction by a translator.

It became a platform for her to say whatever she wanted, subtly promoting her own agenda!

This particularly infuriated Steve; if she weren't the only way he could communicate with her, he would have yelled for him to get lost long ago.

Besides ordering his subordinates to find another Chinese translator.

It's about trying to communicate and express yourself using words.

Because he was certain that Wei Dong understood English, but wasn't very good at speaking it, and was even less likely to use an unfamiliar language to express his brilliant ideas.

So it quickly turned into: "Hey?" "Good!" "Pretty? Longlong, pretty?"

This was essentially forcing Weidong to communicate in English as much as possible.

This novel way of communicating also excites Wei Dong: "Eek, yeah, Luke Luke, such an expensive computer is no problem, just sell it if you want to, but what you should really dump is the cheap TV computer, get the whole market to use this cheap TV computer as quickly as possible, and when everyone is used to your graphics system, who will compete with you then?"

Steve's brain cells are frozen just thinking about it!
It was as if a gate to heaven, radiating intense light, was opening.

These days, computer hardware and software are indeed sold separately.

None are cheap.

Apple is a brand that combines both aspects.

It includes everything between hardware manufacturers and software companies.

Everyone thinks that Gemini should be able to do both things well and be strong in both areas.

This allowed Apple computers to stand out in the Citibank market, making them a rising star.

Unexpectedly, Wei Dong's advice was for one to assist the other.

"When an excellent software system is made free, it actually leads to a significant increase in competitiveness. No competitor can compete with you. Only then do you truly gain the power to control the entire market. You can save money however you want. When every computer has your system installed, you can do whatever you want. Isn't that much more impressive than being petty?"

Forty years from now, this kind of thing will be perfectly natural. Not to mention software, even door-to-door food delivery, grocery delivery, and package delivery services will be vying for market share, even at the cost of losing money to seize dominance.

Only the winners can take everything.

In 1985, this internet mindset was absolutely novel.

Moreover, this kind of thinking can only exist between these two superpowers at opposite ends of the ocean, because only a vast national market has the value of such competition.

Even if small European countries are wealthy, they are not worth fighting over.

Therefore, only the citizens of these two major countries have ever seen such a scene.

What Wei Dong took for granted was something Europeans could never have imagined, and telling them wouldn't have made a difference.

Only a Citibank executive, and a major player who could potentially challenge this market dominance, would have such a sudden realization, like "Wow!"

It definitely gives you the feeling of Liu Laoguan hearing Confucius bragging in his thatched hut.

At this moment, Qin Yuye also became obedient and began to carefully read through the text word by word, afraid of burying Wei Dong's "insights".

She hadn't considered that she'd just let Wei Dong and her find a computer in Akihabara the day before yesterday. So, having fully grasped this groundbreaking explanation, Steve's expression grew increasingly thoughtful.

Actually, there's a crucial point here that Wei Dong definitely doesn't know.

Steve Jobs and Apple were so successful that their IPO in 80 was such a sensation.

The biggest reason, of course, is that he launched what is known as the world's most successful personal computer, the Apple II.

From 77 to last year, it has captured nearly half of the European and American computer market!

That thing was basically an expanded version of the learning machine that Wei Dong had described.

Make the main unit behind the keyboard larger, design it as a chassis stand, and put a monitor or small TV on it, and add two floppy drives on the left and right, or even a game controller.

The iPhone 2 already comes bundled with various TV games.

It is precisely because of this that it has been accepted by families in Europe and America, and more than half of the computers in Citibank's primary and secondary schools are of this model.

Steve's current status is all thanks to this "enhanced" learning computer!

It costs $1200 with a monitor, and $800 without.

It was obvious that Wei Dong was unaware of these things, but this was exactly the trick they were talking about.

He painted a picture of a situation where Steve had succeeded before, making it obvious that he would succeed as well!

Who can resist a $99 educational computer?

Moreover, it is repeatedly emphasized that the core key is to achieve 100% market share!

It has an absolute market advantage of at least 70% to 80%.

Especially for revolutionary new systems like graphics systems, there needs to be a free incubation period—a concept that the European and American software industries have never even considered.

That's totally feasible.

The man in the turtleneck sweater had eyes that were filled with longing!

Wei Dong saw through this and chose to end the conversation abruptly: "Let's stop here for today. We still have work to do. Think about it first, whether you're interested in integrating your computer system with my TV computer for free. If you decide, we can talk about what to do next when we have time."

Qin Yuye quickly and happily helped to keep the button intact.

It's as if Confucius pointed out the need to divide the world into three parts. Liu Laoguan, you definitely have the potential to become a super lord. I'll give you a full boost of strategic knowledge, and I'll also tell you the specifics of how to do it tactically.

Then Steve had no choice but to believe it.

Moreover, although it was agreed that 50,000 chips would be sold, no agreement was signed, no contract was written, it was just a verbal agreement.

He left with such grandeur (or perhaps he forgot), displaying an detached indifference to these details.

Steve was stunned for several seconds: "Did God send you to talk to me about this?"

Wei Dong thought it was about the same: "You can think that way too..."

He went over to check his camera and found that he had indeed recorded the "Longzhong Dialogue" from earlier, and then he was satisfied and called it a day.

He would win as long as he could get the chip; if he could also get his hands on the seemingly rudimentary operating system, he would be completely won.

Steve must have felt a tremendous sense of loss, as if he had been manipulated by the courtesan and had her slip away at the perfect moment.

He then stood up and said, "What other work do you have? Can I come and take a look? I'm very interested in expanding our cooperation. I think the free integration of this computer system is a minor matter and shouldn't be a problem."

Wei Dong thought he could easily defeat his opponent in another field where he excelled: "Okay, let's go take a look. We still need to shoot an advertisement to sell jeans."

Steve was shocked. Such a genius had to bow down for a pittance and sell his jeans to buy chips?
It's truly a story of "a sick mother, a gambling father, a younger brother in school, and a broken man..." How could love not arise with the clock, and remain unfulfilled even when the clock stops?

We did spend the whole afternoon sightseeing, and it was almost time for the advertisement shoot that I had arranged with Uncle Tanaka.

The billionaires come with their own assistants, security personnel, and work teams from their companies and exhibitors.

Just when the founders were at loggerheads with the investors and the board of directors, they were quite disdainful of the idea that they had found an Asian and thought they had found a lifeline.

So only two cars followed, but Qin Yuye's van also had a driver to take over.

To enable translators to fully participate in communication.

Before leaving, Wei Dong also indicated that he should take a spare Macintosh computer from the office: "In business, the most important thing is how to sell things and sell them to more people, so you have to grasp the hot topics and traffic to be effective."

The man who later pioneered Apple's advertising, which became a global trendsetter in advertising, felt a chill run down his spine.

Apple, a company that has been in business for eight years and has launched two or three products, started advertising during the Super Bowl last year, similar to advertising during the Spring Festival Gala in China. It is a major player in advertising.

Steve's understanding and power of advertising far surpasses that of Wei Dong, who only knows how to watch short videos but doesn't understand why.

But I just casually mentioned the concepts of trending topics and traffic.

Qin Yuye had to describe it as a hot news story with a flood of traffic.

It instantly illuminated the still somewhat vague and incomplete internet strategy in Steve's mind.

At that moment, Steve felt that this Eastern boy seemed to be on the same page as him, yet not entirely the same.

I'm absolutely mesmerized!
(End of this chapter)