My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 580 It's Going to Rain
Fortunately, the third round of audits was not an audit, and it took about half a month, which was about twenty days after Apple's North American computer launch event.

The person from the Economic Commission personally led the team to Jiangzhou.

Wei Dong now only takes Dong Xueqing to the company in the morning, where she stays to familiarize herself with the sales situation of various products in different regions and the cash flow data from the previous day.

Around 10 o'clock, I would return to the factory area to handle various production and construction matters. After lunch, I would go to the electronics building, which was two or three kilometers away, to sit until I finished get off work and picked up my second child's mother.

But I had to answer Qin Yuye's international call before 10 o'clock.

This data was only handwritten; I dared not record it into the computer.

Steve went back and made arrangements, finding two chip manufacturers that were second only to Intel, and brought their latest chips to be installed on their own motherboards along with the 386, after software adaptation and with 20MB hard drives for comparison.

In addition to the existing 86 computers, IBM's flagship 286 will be tested together with five computers.

It was precisely at the end of 1985, when Steve was just beginning to explore the field of digital visual rendering, that some computer enthusiasts in North America had already started experimenting with creating their own software to perform 3D modeling and rendering on computers.

As we all know, this is the most computationally intensive project.

This was the first time since the advent of personal computers that ordinary users knew how much computing power was consumed, and how much time was required for different devices to process the data.

Qin Yuye witnessed firsthand how the 386 chip, with the addition of a coprocessor, completely outperformed all other chips.

It has clearly demonstrated the "barrel effect" that Wei Dong mentioned: once the hard drive fills the gap of the shortest plank, the CPU will quickly become the next plank to be raised.

Of course, increasing the memory, hard drive, display chip, and even power supply can further increase the height of each wooden board.

However, all other things being equal, replacing the CPU will bring about a qualitative leap, a difference that is visible to the naked eye and can be clearly distinguished even by a layman.

Calculate a spherical light and shadow effect. Other chips take half an hour, but this only takes five minutes. Even the 10-year-old 6800 chip that 86 Apple models are equipped with will crash!
It's said that Steve's face turned ashen at the time...

This is a bit awkward.

Given Steve's consistent pursuit of high-end product positioning, if he had conducted this product test before the launch event, he would have undoubtedly used the 386 chip to match the 14-inch color monitor in all 86 new products, even if it meant raising the price of the computers.

People in North America have money now.

The problem is that it was just released, so releasing a new version now would be a betrayal of long-time users.

Moreover, 1.8 million units of these 6800 were sold.

In the days that followed, another 300,000 units were sold in various places. What should we do?
There are over a million computers backlogged and waiting to be delivered, and we still have to keep producing these outdated computers, the worst performing one out of five!
In Qin Yuye's words, Steve wished he could smash all 86 models of computers!

They lacked a tiny bit of technological foresight and didn't realize that the CPU main chip they were using was almost at the point of being replaced. They mistakenly used an older chip, which happened to be a new chip with many new selling points and became a bestseller.

Now, the perfectionist Steve feels like he's eaten shit.

How to do?
Then, the subsequent attempt to acquire Intel also failed.

Because IBM clearly has a deep strategic alliance with Intel, buying chips is fine, but acquiring or investing in them is out of the question.

If a forced acquisition is absolutely necessary, IBM, with a market capitalization of $580 billion, will do everything in its power to help Intel maintain its independence.

So even though Apple's market value has now risen to nearly four billion US dollars, almost on par with Intel, it still had to end in disappointment.

We can't bring Intel under our wing, nor can we immediately use Intel chips to build the latest and most powerful computers. As soon as IBM, or any other company, realizes that this performance gap can be openly demonstrated, they can seize the high-end market and create the stereotype that high-end computers are the most powerful. It will be difficult to reverse this impression in the future.

After thinking for a moment, Wei Dong said, "Why don't you tell Steve to try to launch the new Golden Apple PRO or MAX in September? Change the appearance of everything from the monitor to the computer case, keyboard and mouse, and add a 386 chip. Then sell it at the most expensive price currently available."

This kind of trick that Apple later used in its iPhones didn't really exist in the 1980s.

Apple computers are particularly simple and arrogant. They release a new model every year. Even IBM has high and low configurations for the same model, but Apple doesn't. At most, you can add an accessory, such as a floppy drive or hard drive.

Wei Dong's guess was that Steve hadn't yet built a large enough product development team, and that it was a bit of a makeshift operation.

They can't have such a complex product line like IBM.

I also asked a technician to come over and draw a sketch of the new computer case, keyboard, and mouse, and then faxed it over.

Previously, it was a sea-view room, so Wei Dong has been spending the last few days at the Electronics Building working with them on the research and development of surveillance equipment, aiming to launch the first generation of surveillance systems in China with fully independent components.

All I can think of is that boxy surveillance camera with a bit of a rain-covered edge. It just so happens that the surveillance computer that the tax office used to replace the security booth in the parking lot had this unique boxy shape.

To be precise, it's like taking a dumpling wrapper and placing it on the computer case, with ridges on the front and back, creating a stylish wrapping design. If you flip it over and place another one on top, the two semicircles facing each other on the side adds a touch of design flair.

What are now commonplace, ubiquitous styles thirty years later become artistic masterpieces that transcend the ordinary.

The front panel is made of polished titanium alloy, contrasting with the frosted, semi-circular dumpling skin shape, creating a new style. Combined with a dual-panel keyboard featuring a semi-circular design, a mouse with similar dual textures, and a monitor with a polished panel, it's clearly a high-end product.

IBM's most expensive model sells for a certain price now, and this one, with a hard drive included, is even more expensive. The goal isn't to sell in large quantities, but to sell prestige. The regular 86 model is still the one that drives sales volume.

Now that 3D software exists, could we urge the development team to create such software, or games with 3D effects that require computing power and cannot be run on a regular CPU?

It's all for showing off!

This idea, of course, came from selling cars later. It doesn't matter how many cars you sell. Anyway, the most luxurious and high-end domestic cars are in my hands. They can turn in circles on the spot and go straight into the water. It doesn't matter how many cars you sell. What matters is to create the most high-end and luxurious brand image. Even when you sell cheap cars, people will think they are high-end and luxurious.

There are many similar short videos, aren't there?

You can plate that golden apple with gold, but of course, it'll be a bit embarrassing when technology improves in a few years.

Qin Yuye listened with excitement and immediately went to report to Steve.

Steve boasted that he was a top-notch product manager, which was simply astonishing.

While arranging for people to immediately begin feasibility research and development testing, he also discussed and communicated with Wei Dong in detail, but made a firm decision: "I want to develop my own chip!"

This time he'll definitely have to buy chips from Intel, but with his personality, he can't stay subservient to others for long.

Wei Dong was surprised by his boldness and decisiveness, but he was sure to cheer him on: "I support you! If we move production to Jiangzhou in the future, we can definitely use high-quality and low-cost outsourcing to help you conquer the world!"

Steve agreed with satisfaction, stipulating that Wei Dong would receive a share of the profits from the sales of Golden Apple, and that both sides could even begin preparing for the production of the new computer, starting entirely on a new production line separate from the previous 86 models.

Of course, Wei Dong should handle the additional investment in the mainland factory himself; this is also his way of showing support for Steve.

Since they had already distributed over 60 million US dollars, even if a significant portion of the distribution could only be made after the goods were delivered, Apple could still distribute it to Rang Weidong under the guise of investment.

For Apple, which has already received billions in revenue from previous deliveries, this amount of money is no problem at all.

Including the commissions from the sale of more than 300,000 computers and the revenue sharing from memory cards, which amounted to more than eight million US dollars, and then more than 400,000 copies of the software package were sold!
Despite the impact of piracy and copying, the excellent reputation of this three-in-one software spread rapidly throughout North America.

A decent word processing software with many beautiful and unique templates; a spreadsheet software for personal accounting and creating beautiful journals; and the most stunning electronic presentation software.

The latter, in particular, has become the office software recommended by almost all companies throughout North America.

This almost untapped field allows any company to connect an Apple Model 2 computer to a TV of 20 inches or even larger for project presentations, which is extremely convenient!
Some people even immediately developed wired and remote-controlled page turners that could be used on various types of computers!

As we all know, in Europe and America, there may be private use and some piracy, so companies should never take chances.

If capitalists catch a company using pirated software, they will definitely sue it until it goes bankrupt!

Because that's cutting off someone's livelihood and killing their parents; software makes money precisely because there's no piracy.

So now it's selling very well in Europe.

This amounted to over 20 million US dollars, bringing the total to over 94 million US dollars. After various maneuvers, over 3 million US dollars in taxes were paid first, and then the funds flowed to Hong Kong under the names of Apple Inc. and Kungfu Software Inc.

Qin Yuye had already spent over nine million dollars on various purchases in California, and finally returned home in glory with over eighty million dollars.

This is the kind of North American tech profit that even Hong Kong's top billionaires can't earn right now, and it's just from this wave of gains that lasts about three or four months.

From inviting a Hong Kong team to Shanghai to shoot an advertisement for Apple computers, to the product launch, sales commissions, and then taking the funds back to Asia for investment.

The bigwigs in Hong Kong have definitely been watching these past few months.

Even if the exact amount is unknown, just seeing Qin Yuye frequently accompanying Steve to various occasions is enough.

Even Hong Kong media outlets have followed up with gossip reports about her purchasing properties in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

The Hong Kong business community, which keeps a close eye on various US stock markets and European and American business news, is extremely excited.

All the bigwigs in Hong Kong gathered around with their respective talents.

We're all young people, let's get to know each other first, have a meal, and have a party.

Qin Yuye couldn't help but brag to Wei Dong over the phone: "Wow, so many! The third young master of the Li family, the second young master of the Zhang family, a Yale PhD..."

Wei Dong said, "If you come back, we'll sign the agreement. Ten years. Give me ten years, and I'll give you all the shares in the shampoo and cosmetics company. Um, I can also give you the shares in this software company. If you're in a hurry to get married, let's try to cooperate for another five years, and then I'll give you half. It won't delay you too much."

As long as he seizes this golden opportunity for cooperation, he doesn't care about this or that, and he becomes increasingly indifferent to everything else.

(End of this chapter)