Those Years When I Was Forced to Top the Forbes List

Chapter 297 was reported? (6K6)

California, USA.

Cupertino, Apple headquarters.

3 points in the early hours.

Industrial design director Jony Ive was lounging on a soft leather sofa, dreaming of a world-famous dream of money and beautiful women, in which he was vigorously kneading Paris Hilton's buttocks, when he was suddenly awakened by a phone call.

"Oh, damn it."

He threw off the blanket covering him, picked up the phone, saw the caller ID, let out a long sigh, and calmed his morning grumpiness.

But once the call connected, the person on the other end seemed much angrier than he was.

"Turn on your computer and look at that damn voting machine in China!"

Jonathan Ive frowned.

"Give me a minute."

He got up, turned on his computer, opened his work email, and found a link sent by Steve Jobs.

Next to the link was the word "FUCK," expressing Jobs' anger.

Opening the webpage, in the blurry live stream clips on YouTube, the male host's fingertips swiping across the screen were smoother than a resistive touchscreen should be.

It seemed like Steve Jobs on the other end of the phone was also repeatedly replaying that video.

After a long silence, a loud crash came from across the table, the sound of a glass breaking.

"This is definitely capacitive touch!"

Jonathan Ivey was also fully awakened and watched frame by frame.

"This screen is at least four inches."

A furious roar erupted from the other end: "This comes from a Chinese company! Gather all information about it! Now!"

The United States does not celebrate its Independence Day on October 1st.

But today is still a weekend worth celebrating.

At this precious time when people should be spending time with family and enjoying outdoor activities, Apple held an emergency management meeting at 8 a.m.

Steve Jobs' ruthlessness extended to others, even after a sleepless night while battling cancer. He arrived at the company eating a green apple to stave off hunger and slammed the data that iPod head Fadell and Jonathan Ive had compiled from Youku videos and Super Girl live streams onto everyone's desks.

"Their animation rendering latency should not exceed 200 milliseconds."

"The interface of this voting device has an inertial scrolling algorithm similar to ours."

"This is a leak! A technology leak!"

"They are stealing our future!"

"Everyone, we need to prepare for a battle!"

Amid Jobs's fierce words, everyone silently browsed the pictures and documents in their hands.

The screenshots of the actual function tests on Youku Video are significantly clearer.

Some of the directors present had never seen their own iPhone in person, but they found the picture quality amazing. From video screenshots to printed paper, they could still vaguely see the subtitles of the movie playing on the phone.

The screen is also very large.

Those who knew about Apple's research and development progress became serious.

Scott Forstoll, the senior director in charge of system development, picked up a screenshot of the system interface from a Youku test video and frowned deeply, saying:
"Their interface is self-developed and completely different from ours. Also, when was this video released?"

Jonathan Ive said, "August 21st."

After he finished speaking, the atmosphere froze for a moment.

The executives involved in the research and development were all looking at Jobs.

On August 21, their prototype still had serious flaws: dropped calls, abnormal battery shutdowns, and frequent software crashes. Jobs said in an internal meeting that it was "completely unusable."

Of course, this was the result of Jobs being too demanding; in fact, there were many alternative solutions, but he disagreed with them all.

To this day, no demo machine has been made that completely satisfied Jobs.

This obsessive pursuit of perfection resulted in the iPhone becoming increasingly powerful and smooth in all aspects, which everyone considered a good thing.

But now, a mysterious adversary has emerged.

Forstoll rubbed his head in anguish: "I've said it before, Samsung is developing smartphones and Nokia is working on a new mobile operating system. If we don't seize the opportunity, we might be overtaken by the newcomers. Now we don't even know the specifications of this phone, how can we start this battle?"

Ivy added, "Based solely on the inertial scrolling algorithm, it might not be possible to determine if they plagiarized."

"Because of this!" Jobs waved the documents in his hand, then slammed them on the table. "Capacitive touchscreen! Multi-touch! Our legal department is currently conducting a global patent search, and we haven't found any multi-touch patents registered in China!"

As he spoke, he noticed that no one in the room was excited, and he gradually calmed down.

He knew that everyone had their opinions about his pursuit of perfection, and some people had even been working overtime day and night recently to meet his demands.

At this point, as the team leader, he needs to come up with some convincing solutions as soon as possible.

“I have some more evidence,” Jobs said firmly. “This mobile phone company is in Shenzhen, China, and Foxconn is also in Shenzhen.”

Ivy was startled.

He was in charge of the trial production of structural components at Foxconn.

"Impossible, Foxconn doesn't possess these things!"

“I know, Johnny,” Jobs addressed him warmly. “I don’t doubt you. I just think we don’t have a foothold in China, and to handle this, we need to find a reason to get their help. As far as I know, Foxconn has good relations with local governments. Johnny, you should think about whether it’s ‘possible’ that you’ve revealed anything to Foxconn.”

Ivy gradually fell silent, her mind racing.

"Perhaps they might get some information."

At that moment, Jobs' secretary rushed in and whispered something to him.

Old Joe changed color.

After a moment, he looked at the senior executives.

"Guys, perhaps we need to hurry up."

"Johnny, I know this is difficult, but for the sake of the company, you have to persevere."

More than three hours ago.

Beijing, October 1st night.

Chen Xuebing put everything aside today and spent all his time reading the various speculations made by electronics enthusiasts on different forums about the Kirin phone.

Around 7:50, he turned on the TV in his hotel room, waiting for "Focus Interview" to end, thinking about how to let Apple know about this.

In order to create some misunderstandings for Apple, he has not yet revealed the appearance of the Kirin's back. He even prepared the first design draft of the Kirin - the "iPhone 4" - and had "American netizens" send it to the other side of the ocean after the CCTV advertisement aired, so that Apple would be quite nervous.

Lost in thought, the television screen flashed.

The screen goes black.

A female voice reminiscent of an Estée Lauder advertisement begins to play, and the screen goes black while subtitles appear.

"In 2005, an inspiration from the East changed the way the world touches the future..."

As the black screen gradually brightens, ink washes appear, transforming into a slender hand that lightly touches the water's surface, creating ripples.

Chen Xuebing saw that the picture quality was good, even clearer than when played on a computer, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

The "2005" in that sentence was added at his specific request, representing the time when they began research and development.

"While the world is still communicating with keyboards, we choose to listen to the voice of fingertips."

A deep male voice and Chinese and English subtitles appear simultaneously.

"While the world still speaks in buttons, we listen to the whisper of fingertips."

The music of piano and guzheng begins, and the scene changes.

In the morning light, a streamlined phone without a logo sits quietly on a sandalwood table, its screen lighting up as a finger slides across it.

The narration is gentle yet firm: "In 2006, Kirin—the world's first touchscreen smartphone, no buttons required, the future is in the palm of your hand."

The video shows a fast-paced editing sequence where users can zoom in and out on photos, swipe through playlists, and type "Hello, world" using their fingers on the phone screen.

"Inspiration knows no boundaries, but innovation requires courage."

As the music swells, a phone in the video is plugged into a computer via a data cable, automatically syncing data. A pigeon leaps from the phone and flies into the computer screen.

"Kunlun OS - Wisdom without walls".

As the music reached its climax, the screen gradually went black again, revealing a Shanghai night scene and bilingual subtitles.

"On November 1st, in Shanghai, the world will redefine intelligence."

"Tick."

Water droplets fell, blurring the image.

Half a second later, the scene suddenly turned cheerful, and a child's voice rang out: "Learn English by reading 'English Weekly'!"

CCTV had a bit of a knack for inserting an English weekly newspaper after the sophisticated-sounding Qilin advertisement. Although it was still abrupt, it was much better than the flooring and lubricant ads that followed.

Chen Xuebing internally rated the advertising effectiveness at 85 points.

A 30-second ad costs twice as much as the ones that follow, costing 1200 million in just one month.

The original script was actually better, at 25.5 seconds, but CCTV's timing was very strict. To fill those 30 seconds, some footage was slowed down and a voiceover was added, making it a little bloated.

But overall, it conveyed a sense of technology quite well.

The next thing to do... is to let Apple see it.

No rush, let it ferment for two days and see if the apple comes knocking on our door.

Mr. Chen isn't in a hurry, but someone else is.

Beijing time is in the East 8 time zone, while Silicon Valley is in the Pacific Time zone. The time difference is 15 hours due to daylight saving time.

When CCTV News broadcasts its news before 8 p.m., it is 5 a.m. in Silicon Valley.

When Apple held an emergency meeting at 8 a.m., the news, after three hours of dissemination, finally reached them midway through the meeting.

The emergency meeting turned into an even more urgent meeting.

At 2 a.m. Beijing time, Terry Gou, who was asleep, suddenly received a strange phone call.

Apple's legal team contacted him directly, claiming that Foxconn had leaked Apple's designs to Shenzhen Qidian Company, and that the previous technical contact person, Ive, had admitted to leaking confidential information. Apple would sue both Ive and Foxconn, award the orders to Flextronics, and inform its Silicon Valley counterparts about the leak.

Guo Tai-ming neither understood nor cared about the talk of prosecution or not.

However, handing over the order to Flextronics and then notifying Silicon Valley touched a nerve.

Foxconn has experienced explosive growth over the past decade, maintaining an annual growth rate of over 50%. Flextronics was once its biggest competitor. Two years ago, they finally surpassed Flextronics to become the world's number one integrated electronics manufacturing and processing contract manufacturer. This position has brought a huge increase in their global orders.

On the other hand, they had just snatched many American orders from Japan, including from Apple, and the cooperation had only just begun. If they lost Apple's orders at this time, it would actually support Flextronics and damage their reputation in Silicon Valley.
This is absolutely unacceptable.

He couldn't even find a rebuttal for a moment, and after hearing the other party's somewhat ambiguous tone, he surrendered directly: "We would never sell your design! What exactly is going on? What Chinese company? What exactly do you want us to do?"

The Apple legal representative on the other end smiled with satisfaction: "We have already sent the details to your legal department via email. We hope you can fully cooperate with us in our technical investigation of Singularity Technology to complete the acquisition."

This is a strategy recently formulated by Apple. Singularity has already appeared in a CCTV advertisement showcasing many smartphone features, including some that Apple doesn't offer. The advertisement's "changing the way we touch" promotional design is highly similar to theirs and is likely to quickly provoke an international response.

After analyzing the advertisement frame by frame, Apple executives collectively concluded that even if the company copied them, it wasn't a complete copy. If they rashly filed a lawsuit with the ITC (International Trade Commission) or directly initiated an international patent lawsuit without understanding the other party's background, they would likely fail due to insufficient evidence.

If they fail, they will not only lose their status as "pioneers," but also be labeled as scoundrels.

Direct confrontation is no longer an option; the best solution is acquisition.

Fortunately, it wasn't Samsung or Nokia that took this step first; it was just a Chinese mobile phone company.

With Apple's market capitalization of $600 billion, everyone thought that acquiring a Chinese company would be no problem.

Terry Gou is a smart man. When he heard the word "acquisition," he knew that this might not be a matter of technology leakage, but rather that Apple had its eye on the company's technology.

He was slightly surprised: a mainland factory could actually be targeted by a top 30 US company by market capitalization.

But the other party didn't give him a chance to hesitate, and reminded him again with a threat: "Mr. Guo, we hope to receive your message in the United States on October 2nd."

"Understood! However, we hope your company will not unjustly blame us."

After hanging up the phone, he immediately woke up the legal counsel of the head office, Hon Hai Precision Industry, and the person in charge of Foxconn to work overtime, on the one hand to investigate the so-called technology leak, and on the other hand to investigate the company.

Furthermore, the order to investigate Singularity Corporation was given a special implication: "Check if there are any loopholes in their corporate structure!"

The Foxconn representative replied, "We'll arrange for someone to investigate tomorrow morning when we start work."

Many Taiwanese companies operating in mainland China don't celebrate National Day; they have to go back to work tomorrow, Monday. This is especially true for Foxconn, which operates on two shifts the day before the end of the universe.

Terry Gou retorted sharply, "This is a matter for tonight, don't drag it out until tomorrow morning!"

Under pressure, the investigation was highly efficient.

From 2 to 4 o'clock, a lot of information was gathered, all of which were insider information: a well-known company in Huaqiangbei, wholly owned by the company, used to be a piracy factory, and now helps Spreadtrum do turn-key chip marketing.

Foxconn's management in Shenzhen went to great lengths, contacting every possible connection within the mobile phone industry.

However, the two-hour hasty investigation missed the people behind the company and the information on the internet.

It's not that they don't understand the internet, but when they found out about "piracy factories," they thought they were being clever and wondered: what information could you possibly find about a piracy factory on the internet?
In fact, given the current state of search engine technology, there isn't much information about Singularity Technology on the internet... unless you specifically look up the related terms "Kirin phone" and "the people behind it".

When Terry Gou heard the words "piracy factory" and "turnkey," he understood immediately: this company might have pirated the new phone that Apple was working on in advance.

The scalpers in Huaqiangbei are incredibly resourceful and lawless. If they completely copy someone else's appearance, it could really be considered a leak of Foxconn's secrets.

The appearance of an apple—isn't that what he processed?

Terry Gou was a little nervous, not wanting to take the blame for this.

Is this counterfeit goods factory still operating?

"It should be open. I've sent someone to their factory to check it out! We'll know soon!"

"Tomorrow morning! Use all your connections in Shenzhen! Report this factory for operating illegally! They must be shut down! Ideally, they should be severely punished!"

The next day.

BJ Shunwei Venture Capital was packed with distinguished guests.

A banner reading "October Golden Autumn Roadshow Investment Conference" was hanging on the wall of the lobby.

More than twenty investment institutions from Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen, some invited and some uninvited, all wanted to attend this investment extravaganza.

Even if you don't invest, it's fine to take a look for free.

JD.com has received a lot of media coverage in the past month, with many positive reviews from Beijing residents. Having just passed its Series A and Series B funding rounds, it's now heading for its Series C round.

Mr. Chen is now hailed as the "Internet value referee," having made four moves in the past month, totaling nearly $5000 million!
Some reports have dubbed the past financial month "the September of the internet."

Or "Chen Xuebing's September".

Today, this Mr. Chen is going to spend another $3000 million!
Furthermore, insider information suggests that in the Series D round six months later, Mr. Chen will invest $1.25 million to underwrite JD.com's valuation, and the contract has already been signed.

Instead of a dedicated conference table, the hall had a large whiteboard set up like an open classroom, with some scattered seats.

Liu Qiangdong stood in front of the whiteboard, watching more and more investors take their seats, and felt a little tremble inside.

IDG Capital, GSR Ventures, SoftBank Asia, Sequoia Capital, CDH Investments, Shanghai United Venture Capital, JAFCO Asia.
He wouldn't have dared to dream of such a scene just a month ago.

A month ago, if any of these organizations sent him an invitation, he would have eagerly taken his business plan and rushed to their city!

At that moment, Mr. Chen, who was sitting in the front row, gave him a reassuring look, and he pursed his lips and began to silently recite the performance growth presentation.

Liu Qiangdong wasn't the only one who was nervous.

Several entrepreneurs and their teams were also sitting nearby, preparing to go on stage.

He Xiaopeng from UC, Xu Yunfeng from Fengyao Network, Hu Li from iQiyi, and Cheng Danting from Xinglian Registration Network.

Shunwei Capital's portfolio includes YY and Lakala, which have already received funding. UC now needs to expand its technology team and servers, and the others are also in dire need of funding. Chen Xuebing decided to take advantage of this financial gathering to give them a chance to pitch.

If you can integrate, then do so; if not, at least you've seen the world and will know how to integrate next.

The meeting was scheduled to begin in fifteen minutes when General Manager Liu arrived late, but he made a strong first impression:
"Haha, thank you! Thank you, General Manager Xu, General Manager Jiang, and General Manager Luo, for giving me this face! I'm so happy! So happy! Haha!"

Everyone present stood up and took the initiative to shake hands with Godfather Liu.

Chen Xuebing also turned his head and nodded to Liu Chuan.

"Xuebing!" Liu Chuan looked at Chen Xuebing today, his eyes even brighter, and laughed heartily: "I heard that the 20 billion yuan from the social security fund and Central Huijin has been secured for you?"

These words startled everyone.

Changzheng Capital has raised another 20 billion yuan?
Or is it the national team?

Chen Xuebing chuckled and stood up: "President Liu's information network is even better than mine."

"Hey, so you get connections, but I don't? I heard you bet 200 million in profits in a month with the social security fund, right? Since they agreed to give you money, that means you made a fortune last month! Treat me to dinner! Treat me to dinner!"

Liu Chuan came over and put his arm around Chen Xuebing's arm, looking like one of his own and feeling proud.

Today's financing amount is not large, only a few hundred million RMB. Although many well-known institutions came, most of them are not the top investors in their respective institutions. Chen Xuebing, who is currently riding high, and his godfather Liu Chuan are standing in the center, and there are not many people who are qualified to talk to them.

These two are the real behind-the-scenes big bosses.

IDG's number one player has arrived.

"Mr. Chen, congratulations! How much social investment will this 20 billion yuan of national team funds attract? In which areas do you plan to invest next?"

Xiong Xiaoge smiled and came over to shake hands with Chen Xuebing.

Liu Chuan did a program with him, so he did have some face.

Chen Xuebing raised his eyebrows, a hint of meaning in his voice: "I'll tell you once Mr. Xiong helps me manage the operations."

"Hehehe, thank you for your kind words, Mr. Chen." Xiong Xiaoge said with a smile, "I heard that your TMT fund is going to withdraw a large amount of funds next year. The TMT sector is our main focus. Let's have some tea and chat sometime."

IDG invests in China's TMT sector.

These words also made most institutions realize a certain message.

Yes, Mr. Chen is still investing personally; his large fund team hasn't entered the market yet.

They raised another 20 billion yuan from the national team, and with some social resource integration, wouldn't it be worth several billion?
He personally invests in the early stages, and then PE funds follow up in the later stages once the project grows. He even goes public on the secondary market. His securities fund ranks first in returns, and there's a good chance it can be further speculated on.

What a grand strategy!

TMT has great potential.

We must pay special attention to Mr. Chen's investment trends; a behemoth is definitely about to emerge from here.

Mr. Chen's current multi-betting strategy might just be a smokescreen.
Some institutions are starting to secretly consider: should they follow the trend completely?

Those with quick wits and sharp eyes disregarded everything else and surrounded Chen Xuebing, handing him their business cards.

"Mr. Chen, if you have any good projects, please include Chenguang!"

"Mr. Chen, come to Shanghai sometime and visit us on Chongyang Festival!"

Small and large institutions differ in their level of restraint, but the core principle is the same: no one gets up early without a profit.

Liu Chuan laughed again: "Xuebing, they all think highly of the projects you invest in, but I think highly of the projects you manage yourself! I watched the CCTV ad last night! It was very well done! When are you going to bring out your own projects so we can make some money together?"

The voice just fell.

"We did it!" Hu Li's eyes lit up, and she rushed over, throwing herself in front of Chen Xuebing, and smiled sweetly at Liu Chuantian:

"Mr. Liu, this is an advertisement from iQiyi! You have such excellent taste!"

What's the point of memorizing data if you can't just go after investors directly?

Liu Chuan chuckled at Hu Li's quirky expression: "Oh? What do you guys do? What's your relationship with the cadets?"

"Chen Xuebing is my brother! He invested in this project! iQiyi started its video website two months earlier than Youku."

Hu Li talked on and on, while Chen Xuebing chuckled to himself and didn't interrupt.

Xu Yunfeng and Cheng Danting felt a pang of envy as they watched Hu Li rush into the crowd of investors.

Cheng Danting hesitated for a moment, then silently walked behind Chen Xuebing.

Chen Xuebing noticed a fragrant breeze beside him, turned around and saw Cheng Danting biting her lower lip.

After thinking for a moment, he smiled, raised his hand, patted her back, and whispered, "Don't be nervous."

His relationship with Cheng Danting certainly couldn't be exposed to the public, but today was crucial for her, and Chen Xuebing unusually made a slightly inappropriate intimate gesture in public.

Cheng Danting blushed slightly, but still reached out and squeezed Chen Xuebing's wrist before letting go.

Chen Xuebing is her stepping stone; she even named the project "Xinglian Registration Network." Now, she's about to proceed with the next round of financing. The Series A funding will determine the future, so what is there to hold back?

Sharp-eyed investors noticed this subtle move.

Those who were quick went straight up to talk to Cheng Danting.

Xu Yunfeng witnessed the whole thing, his mouth was crooked, and he wished that the "Evil-Repelling Sword Manual" would fly out of the sky and grant him a female body!

As everyone chatted and laughed for a while before taking their seats, Chen Xuebing suddenly took out his phone. He glanced at it and saw that it was Lu Weibing calling. It was another opportunity for Qidian mobile phones to be promoted, so he answered the call.

"Hey, I'm in a meeting. If it's not urgent, I'll talk to you later."

Just as he was about to hang up, the voice on the other end made his brows furrow and his voice grow louder.

"what?"

"Who reported this?!"

"Go crazy!"

The word "report" is so sensitive that it drew everyone's attention.

"Are you at the factory right now?" Chen Xuebing's question carried a hint of tension, causing the surroundings to fall completely silent.

"Then let the business administration officer answer the phone!"

Chen Xuebing remained silent for a moment, his brows furrowed. Hearing a new voice from the other end, he spoke with a touch of authority:
"Hello there!"

"I am Chen Xuebing!"

"Let me make this clear: Singularity Technology is a production unit authorized by the Ministry of Information Industry, and our license will be issued soon! We are operating legally! No one can shut us down!"

(End of this chapter)