My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 539 You can make money even while standing
Foreigners, including Demimore, were amazed when they saw the brightly lit glass pyramid.

Even foreign countries don't have this right now.

Wei Dong's inspiration for the glass pyramid was very simple.

The transparent glass exterior of Shangzhou Food Factory was made of the cheapest and most modern material he could find in a prefecture-level city.

After it was finished, I was surprised to find that it looked beautiful.

Therefore, glass became a common means for him to highlight modernity and transcend the times.

Then, in order to attract attention on the Bund, I really thought of various glass curtain wall designs for mobile phone stores, plus the famous glass pyramid of the Louvre.

That's how the triangular pyramid shape came about.

However, Shangzhou, a prefecture-level city, does not actually have an Apple store.

It's at least the kind of super-grand glass store that Steve once led; it's impossible for that to be commonplace in Shangzhou.

Even sellers in Shangzhou could not replicate the taste of genuine apples.

Anyway, Wei Dong didn't feel any connection with Apple at all.

But Steve couldn't get enough of it, and he jumped over to touch it everywhere, exclaiming, "Ah, it's so rough, why is it like this!"

Wei Dong was still confused: "What does this have to do with anything? This is all the materials and costs I could find."

Steve lamented, "Such a great idea deserves to be realized with the most exquisite craftsmanship. If possible, we should use a single sheet of glass to complete it!"

To reduce costs, Wei Dong not only broke it down into smaller pieces, but also added black rubber padding in the middle for waterproofing and shock absorption, making it look even more rugged.

"Heh, you come here. Have you considered the thermal expansion and contraction rate of the entire glass sheet? If you build it in winter, it will burst in summer due to compression, and if you build it in summer, it will burst in winter due to stretching. Smaller pieces should share the structural changes. You may not have knowledge, but you should have common sense!"

He never held Wei Dong in high regard.

When Qin Yuye was translating, she struggled with whether or not she should translate Wei Dong's original tone, because Steve just happened to like that.

Steve, a man who is sought after by capital everywhere in the IT and venture capital worlds, has a very unique personality.

The thirty-year-old genius was all smiles at other geniuses: "Oh, oh, oh, that's not something we should be worrying about. We just need to make our requests, and those damn problems can be solved by those damn guys!"

Wei Dong then said, "I don't have as many damned people as you. I have to cultivate everyone around me myself... well, except for Barbara."

Just as Qin Yuye was about to playfully retort that she had been raised by him, she heard Wei Dong make a request: "So, you see my entourage over there? They are responsible for realizing these buildings. Could you help me find a reliable and good architecture university so they can study there? I will cover the expenses."

Liu Xiaoyong and his group were standing by the railing of the observation deck, craning their necks to look at the river view, the buildings, and the glass pyramid. They were even exchanging glances from dozens of meters away. Were they trying to get us to do something?

Steve empathized deeply: "Sigh, yes, yes, to achieve our desired goals, we have to expend precious energy to cultivate a bunch of good-for-nothings. No problem, Mike, contact Kayson at the Washington State University School of Architecture. I have a few people I want to send there to study."

Wei Dong hesitated for half a second, but decided to be on the safe side: "Tell Mike that I need to train them for a few more days before sending them off."

Qin Yuye conveyed the message with satisfaction.

She must think that this favor should be attributed to us, not to the foreigners.

The assistant was very easygoing: "I will follow your instructions."

Demimore stood to the side, focused solely on playing with Little Butterfly.

A passerby saw this and thought, "Holy crap, who is this? It's one thing for a foreigner to talk to him, but there's also a foreign beauty specifically teasing the child."

What Steve wanted to express was: "I want to build these Apple computer specialty stores all over Citibank!"

He immediately emphasized, "This idea is yours. Even though I have indeed seen this feeling in my dreams, it always feels very ethereal and floating, but you have brought it to life. However, we should make it bigger and more perfect!"

Wei Dong, lacking the meticulous copyright awareness, simply mocked and teased, "Come on, the cost is already high enough. You still want it to be bigger and more perfect. How many stores are there in the US? How many stores are there worldwide?"

That explains why Qin Yuye isn't infatuated with Rang Weidong; she's a classic example of someone who admires strength.

The whole of Hong Kong is completely subservient to Europe and America, lying flat and letting them do whatever they want. Qin Zhiming is a rather outlier, daring to deceive and do business.

As a result, Wei Dong completely disregarded even such a powerful figure from the Citibank.

worship!

Steve exclaimed in surprise: "You also think we should sell all over the world?"

He's only just getting started. North America is the main battleground, Europe is starting to see imports, and Asia, Africa, and Latin America are still relatively untapped areas.

Wei Dong confidently persuaded him: "Let's go, closing this place is just for show, let's go to the headquarters building in front and take a look."

Walk along this group of twenty or thirty buildings from different countries for several hundred meters.

This gave Wei Dong a perfect opportunity to clearly articulate the three major upgrades he had prepared: "First, the entire series will be upgraded from nine inches to fourteen inches, and they will be flat-screen right-angle displays. This alone will make us the best in the world!"

Steve, seeing only photos and faxed documents, was somewhat skeptical: "Flat-screen displays have changed so much?" Wei Dong wanted to tell him that he should just look at the LCD screen to see how appealing tablets are.

Compared to modern spherical screens, they are outdated and products of the past.

He didn't argue: "You'll see when you see it. Secondly, the entire series uses a vertical chassis, made of titanium alloy steel plates and glass, including the keyboard and mouse, to create a high-tech and beautiful unique appearance."

Steve immediately nodded: "I saw your photos. You have a very rich imagination. I have already applied for a patent for you, but I have doubts about the workmanship and the cost of these materials. They are too expensive."

It was something that made Steve, who was known for his extravagant spending and whose expenses were so high that even listed companies couldn't afford them, say that it was expensive, and Wei Dong didn't reveal the secret.

He nodded with a smile: "You'll see it for the price once you see it in person. The most important third point is to completely abandon disk drives and use pluggable storage devices to save files."

Steve frowned at this: "Floppy disks are already the standard throughout North America, and we're pushing them towards Europe and Japan. If we rashly overturn this storage device, it will make all our previous users feel betrayed!"

Wei Dong was used to it: "Can't we just patch and upgrade it? Can't we release an external pluggable memory connector? Wouldn't it be better to make money from external devices?"

Steve paused for a moment, then burst into laughter: "Yes, yes, now that you mention it, I understand a little better!"

Instead, he put his arm around Wei Dong's shoulder and said happily, "If this really works, it means we will control this standard, completely counter IBM's product system, and win this battle. That means all computers in the world will have to follow our standard, and we will definitely face fierce resistance from IBM!"

Wei Dong glanced sideways at her, a gesture he'd clearly learned from his daughter: "Excuse me, but I'm the general distributor for IBM in Greater China. If I announced in Hong Kong that I'd be giving away pluggable memory connectors to all IBM users at a low price, making it easy for them to replace their memory, do you think anyone would want them?"

Steve was far from the sage-like, lean figure he would become after becoming the cult leader; he was just a chubby, hippie-like man with long hair. He burst into laughter, clutching his stomach and almost rolling on the ground, uttering, "You! You you you..."

It's entirely conceivable that someone who only trusts geniuses would end up with a genius of such outrageous caliber by his side.

Their thinking was perfectly aligned with his, and even things he hadn't considered subtly indicated a more correct direction.

How could I not be happy?
Anyone who has ever used a floppy disk knows that it is extremely fragile. It can be damaged by a strong magnetic field, dropped and broken, or even if you just put it in a box, it will eventually grow mold or become unusable.

The agony of listening to the disk drive's laborious screeching and groaning, yet being unable to read anything.

Who is who knows.

USB flash drives and similar pluggable devices are like gold fingers; keeping them clean allows them to read chips.

These read-only or erasable chips matured and were put into application in the early 1980s. Even now, they are mostly small-capacity chips like 64K, and 512K chips are rarely seen.

But once the right direction is determined, all that's left is to put in the effort to expand capacity and reduce costs.

It just so happens that we are in the period of storage media handover.

This process would normally have taken more than ten years, but Wei Dong intercepted it with quick reflexes.

At this time, a group of people had arrived at Building No. 5, and only Building No. 5 was brightly lit from top to bottom.

In a particularly good mood, Steve even tilted his head back and whistled in a cheeky tone: "Your building? It's nice, a really beautiful building, I love it!"

Wei Dong pointed and said, "You like it? There are still empty spaces in this row. I can help you apply to rent one of them as Apple's China headquarters."

Steve clapped his hands and said, "Okay, it's a deal then."

As someone who has already invested $50 million in Rang Weidong's assembly plant and vacuum electronics plant, he is the inevitable domestic general agent. If you ask Rang Weidong to take the initiative to apply for a building with an international style as a prominent feature, he definitely won't do it. But if he applies under the name of Apple, then there's nothing wrong with it.

With the precedent of Building No. 5, others were still hesitant and covetous of the international architecture, but dared not make a move. Those who had the ability to acquire the building did not know what to do with it, but Wei Dong had a clear understanding.

It's used as a signboard for multinational corporations.

Surrounded by assistants and technicians, the two walked across a road with few cars. Stone had already run over and asked the main entrance to be opened to welcome them.

Indeed, even the best things need appropriate packaging.

The dozen or so identical mainframes, displayed in different ways such as televisions, fluorescent monitors, ordinary spherical monitors, and flat-screen monitors, create a sophisticated exhibition hall-like atmosphere within this antique neoclassical, Baroque, eclectic, and Renaissance-style building.

When Steve first saw the actual product, he exclaimed "Wow!" and moved closer to observe the flat, rectangular monitor that Wei Dong was describing.

The inside is actually a regular spherical picture tube, but the glass extrusion mold is made to be as flat as possible, and then a glass panel is added to the outside. Without careful observation of the edges and corners, it is difficult to find those dead corners.

More importantly, this flat, right-angled design makes the 14-inch monitor look significantly larger, much like how a bra cup is mostly squeezed out – it's truly astonishing.

Steve frowned, praising the idea while simultaneously complaining: "Wow, brilliant idea! I see that there's no adjustment to the electronics, just some changes to the vacuum tube mold. The edges are slightly distorted. Great Edil, but could you have handled the details more meticulously? Look at these burrs, these seams. Is your plastics processing equipment inadequate?"

Wei Dong calmly replied, "After investing in and upgrading the picture tube, I can now provide you with the highest quality 14-inch color CRT monitor at the lowest price in the world, with a resolution of 640×480 pixels. However, I do not currently have any better injection molding machines, blow molding machines, or compression molding machines."

Without hesitation, Steve ordered, "Okay, I'll get someone to set up the equipment for you right away!"

This was the peak of Citibank's global influence, when the best things in the world were offered to Citibank.

Then use this as a big stick to reward the most obedient dog.

But this kind of capital export equipment cannot be stopped by embargoes.

(End of this chapter)