My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 765 Starting with OEM Manufacturing, Guided by a Divine Intervention

The main reason is that the press conference was so attractive, showcasing so many fresh and interesting aspects of the event.

To the surprise of most viewers, they rushed to buy it, and there were even some samples in stock.

Steve was truly visionary, or perhaps he was surrounded by a group of brilliant experts.

They truly defined multimedia as encompassing three stages: images, sound, and animation...

Of course, it's also possible that the rhetoric was devised in just 48 hours.

Standing on the stage, Steve held up a memory card and said earnestly, "In the future, all you need to do is carry this with you. You can go anywhere with the 87 Mac computers to do job demonstrations, roadshows, product introductions, and project planning. The Mac computer will thus become the watershed between before and after the 87 models..."

The difference is huge.

You can add color images to Word documents and tables!

This is a task that was previously only possible with professional-grade graphic editing workstations.

Because the main chip of previous Apple computers remained unchanged, versions from seven or eight years ago could still use various later Apple software.

This is also the biggest reason why the Kungfu software package sold millions of copies last year.

But after upgrading to 386, this huge performance gap finally became unbearable.

Perhaps also due to the piracy issue last year, Steve finally abandoned the older models completely and stopped using them backwards.

In retrospect, this may have been the key factor behind the phenomenal sales of the 87 Mac models.

Color and sound card are basic elements, which iconicly demonstrate that the 87 Macs were indeed a groundbreaking computer product.

Two years ago, during their first collaboration, Wei Dong mocked Steve for exaggerating his computer sales, saying that the 85 model didn't have that many impressive features, yet it was still hyped up excessively.

This is a true milestone.

A computer with only true color display would have been a bit simplistic, but adding a sound card completely highlights its multimedia selling point.

This greatly expands the consumer base. Regardless of whether they have bought a computer before, everyone now realizes that they can find some use for this thing.

Because Steve's "PPT" was a sloppy one, the third item besides pictures and sounds was animation.

The English word "animation" can refer to both the technology of moving images and animated films.

Disney's global phenomenon is "Disney Animation," which made Wei Dong realize that he was probably referring to videos...

Sound, light, and video—that might be the logic.

However, computers with 386 chips cannot handle dynamic images; they cannot even drag video frames.

It can only drag 2D animations at most.

So Steve then demonstrated on the movie screen how to read a book on an e-reader with background music playing, emphasizing that a 20MB hard drive can now hold hundreds of books.

He knew how to put on airs. He'd sit in a North American country bungalow with a long porch in front, a light drizzle falling, and sit at a table with a cup of coffee and a cigar, slowly flipping through classic novels on his computer.

The gentle, breezy atmosphere of savoring life, coupled with the echoing country music, has likely won over another group of people, especially those who had never owned a computer before and had no idea what a computer could do.

Finally, several colorful games were showcased.

He Yuzhu looked at it very carefully, emphasizing that this was part they had prepared extensively beforehand.

Even without a sound card, this is a segment we plan to focus on promoting.

The first game I opened was Contra, the super popular side-scrolling game this year!
Apple purchased the copyrights from relevant game companies in Japan.

It became a global sensation as soon as it was released on the Famicom, which cost just over a hundred dollars a unit, and the game was also included with the 87 Mac models, which could be played with the keyboard.

At this point, you can hear that the game used MIDI sound effects to create this scene.

Playing it on a TV can still make it tense and exciting, although it's rather monotonous.

The small speaker inside the computer case only makes a buzzing sound.

A colorful Tetris game;
The adventure/puzzle game "Shadow Gate";
Several vertical-style fighter jet and tank games.

And chess, the game best suited for a colorful atmosphere.

At this point, Apple's ambitions became truly apparent.

In terms of work, color images are used to increase efficiency and increase the proportion of production tools, while in terms of entertainment, the enhancement of color to various games is highlighted.

They even spend a lot of money to buy games from other platforms to prove their "versatility".

The final product shown turned out to be the "Heroes of the Three Kingdoms" game made by Lin Wangfu.

The original purpose was to demonstrate it to Steve, so an English version was made, and even the game was called SANGO.

The result was that the game, also a 2D animated version, completely shattered the Western knight culture-themed "Shadow Gate" into dust!
In particular, Lin Wangfu made this game with the initial intention of fulfilling Wei Dong's requirements, but in reality, he made his own soundtrack enjoyable.

He added more than ten MIDI tracks to the game; the files were small, yet they highlighted the melodious beauty of classical Chinese music…

The key point is that "Shadow Gate" is so simple that it looks like a pencil drawing, while this Three Kingdoms game has various character classifications such as cavalry, infantry, and archers.

Even though it's quite crude, its image quality is far superior.

The combination with the music is simply stunning.

The final explosion occurred here: when consumers across North America finally began flocking to buy Apple computers, some people opened their boxes on the spot and found that the final game was missing.

The first few games were included as a bonus on a 20MB hard drive, along with a compressed file containing one hundred classic novels, and the core kung fu software package.

It was packed full.

Retailers in various regions were also somewhat confused. "No, it arrived a few days ago and hasn't been opened yet. This game isn't on the shipping list either. The sound card and speakers are brand new, just delivered."

After making numerous calls to the head office, I learned that the game was provided by Kungfu Software at the last minute, and it cost $49 each, so it had to be purchased separately.

Then buy it!
After Wei Dong finished his demonstration, he went to Los Angeles with Qin Yuye to watch a basketball game.

That's the good thing about capitalism. Since you designed this game, they won't dare to give it away casually, because if they later demand compensation, it could be an astronomical sum.

Everything is confirmed in accordance with the contract.

Steve Jobs got carried away at the launch event and forgot to mention this. The final announcement revealed that the 87 Apple Macs, priced at 5299 yuan, will be the most advanced products of this era. Currently, only 400,000 units are available, first come, first served, and those who pre-order will also receive theirs…

This time, it's truly different.

The 87 Mac models can do things that no other brand can!

AMD's 386 chips are so popular that no other company can get their hands on them, and even Intel was caught off guard.

The 386 chip technology originally belonged to Intel.

Because of that agreement, Intel had to share all the technical details and manufacturing processes of its chips with AMD by 96. This was originally an internal agreement between the two chipmakers when they were both suppliers to IBM.

However, this precondition was not specified. After Steve took advantage of the loophole to acquire AMD, he could justifiably allow the sharing of existing blueprints and technical requirements, and even presented the fact that products had already been produced in the laboratory as a fait accompli, giving him a very high chance of winning.

This has made Intel hesitant to disclose more of its technology!
They kept delaying the large-scale launch of the 386.

As a result, even IBM didn't have many 386 computer models.

Currently, this is the only product in the entire market whose performance is far superior.

Back in 87, computers were primarily used for typing and spreadsheets, and even in the European and American markets, most of their functions were limited to this.

In the last two years, Apple computers have developed entertainment features such as reading and playing small games.

Other manufacturers may not have realized how important sound cards are for entertainment and multimedia.

Okay, now there's no choice.

Therefore, the features that Steve demonstrated at the launch event are not available on other computer brands.

Even IBM cannot do it.

Many businessmen who brought their mobile phones to the scene instantly blocked all the cellular analog signal lines in the area!

The twenty landline phones deliberately placed on site were constantly being answered.

The states quickly placed orders for 50,000, 100,000, and 200,000 units.

Then anxious businessmen from the stands came down to grab phones and make calls, mostly to check sales figures in their regions and place additional orders.

In the end, I simply gave up on confirming it, because it was obvious that all the stores I could contact were sold out, and the customers queuing up were placing orders without hesitation.

I'm willing to wait ten days, half a month, or even several months for an order!

The European distributor alone placed an order for 500,000 units...

Steve stood on the stage, beaming like an auctioneer, listening attentively to the numbers being called out.

The film on the big screen was shot on film that had been filmed beforehand.

The data is now constantly changing in a spreadsheet displayed on a small projection screen next to us, with data from each state.

In developed states like California, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Texas, the starting price is 200,000 units!

New York and Los Angeles ordered 80,000 and 60,000 units respectively!
The number quickly accumulated to over four million units!

Qin Yuye's face flushed red as she grabbed Rang Weidong's arm tightly, exclaiming, "My God, my God, it's much worse than last year!"

Wei Dong tensed his muscles to defend himself: "Nonsense! Last year they only changed the appearance, this year's product is a revolutionary change. Old Lin, congratulations on your fortune!"

The sound card company was newly registered in California. Originally, the two of them should have shared the costs, with Steve receiving 20%. However, Wei Dong was allowed to take all the profits from his own share.

That means they now hold 442% of the shares, making them both major shareholders.

Four million sound cards and speakers—that's hundreds of millions of US dollars!

Chow Yun-fat's small shares in the sound card company and speaker factory probably earn him millions of US dollars!
Lin Wangfu rarely reached out and put his hand on Rang Weidong's shoulder: "Thank you for everything you've done."

Liang Jiahui and his girlfriend sat a little further away, secretly peeking over. They didn't know how much money they would get, but four million computers...

It's unbelievable just to think about it.

Demimore forced a smile as he looked at them.

Just then, Steve, standing on the stage, somehow saw Wei Dong and probably noticed the various expressions around him. He happily walked to the edge of the stage and teased, "My dear Pete, as the general agent for the Asian region, aren't you going to place an order? Japan has already ordered 100,000 units."

Wei Dong suddenly remembered that Apple didn't sell many computers in Asia, especially Southeast Asia, so there was no official distributor. Last year, he took over the distributorship and became the agent for all regions except Japan, South Korea, and the South China Sea.

Raising their hands in a "uh-huh" manner, they asked, "One hundred thousand units?"

Lin Wangfu's ambitions were even greater than his: "The numbers in Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand alone are more than that, maybe 200,000! The key is to immediately boost the scale of new product production in chip manufacturing and foundries!"

That's right, the order for over four million new computers simply cannot be fulfilled by Citibank in its home country.

This further highlights the importance of Shanghai-based contract manufacturers.

It feels like last year was laying the groundwork for this year's full-scale production capacity explosion.

It might even require opening a new factory to complete the task!

(End of this chapter)