America's No. 1 financial conglomerate

Chapter 394 Even Steve Jobs is starting to lose all shame.

The plan is set; it's time to start the deception early.

After leaving the Helios Institute, Ernst had planned to fly directly to IBM's headquarters in New York State. However, just as he got into his car and was about to head to the airport, a phone call from Jobs changed his plans.

They turned around and drove straight to Apple's headquarters, also in Cupertino.

When Ernst stepped into Jobs' office, the first thing he noticed was Jobs' slightly somber expression.

Ernst, with a hint of doubt, asked, "You should be riding high these days, so why do you look so worried?"

Upon hearing this, Jobs gave a bitter smile. "An excellent product is not just about having outstanding performance and innovative design. What a product needs is sales, the realization of commercial value."

"The iMac G3's sales are not as good as expected?" Ernst's first thought was this, but he quickly dismissed it. "Wait a minute, I've been seeing a lot of reports about you and Apple in various newspapers and media lately. The iMac G3 is selling like hotcakes, isn't it? It seems like there are long queues of customers at many stores, and some areas even faced shortages at one point."

Such a booming sales scene is clearly a far cry from the situation of poor sales.

As Ernst said, Apple's launch of the latest generation of computer products, the iMac G3, at its press conference on May 6th ignited the entire market.

The design is highly innovative, featuring a semi-transparent colored plastic shell that resembles a brightly colored plastic droplet, creating a striking contrast with the monotonous and dull appearance of mainstream computer products on the market.

With its unique design, the iMac G3 became a symbol of fashion as soon as it was launched, gaining the attention of consumers.

Ernst also bought an iMac G3, and after using it for a while, his immediate impression of the product can be summed up in two words.

Comfortable.

This comfort doesn't come from appearance or performance, but from the user experience created by the theme interface.

Other computer products on the market use black and warm white as the main colors for their interfaces, resulting in a relatively monotonous and rigid overall style.

The iMac G3, however, completely broke with this traditional design pattern, adopting an ocean-themed interface dominated by blue tones, similar to the computer interfaces Ernst was familiar with.

The color that many people consider a symbol of the Windows interface was actually developed and launched by Apple, and Microsoft is the copycat.

For the past month, Ernst has seen almost daily reports about Jobs and the iMac in various media outlets.

The reports about G3 made Ernst, who was boasting, blush for him.

They hailed him as God descending upon Apple, a savior sent by Jesus to rescue the company, believing that it was his return and guidance that revitalized the struggling Apple.

The iMac G3 was hailed as a masterpiece of God, sparking a blue trend in the market. Everyone seemed to suddenly realize that blue was the color that best highlighted the sense of technology.

This "Apple effect" has not only impacted ordinary consumers but has also affected the entire technology industry.

Even Ernst's subsidiary, Atech, has been affected to some extent.

Ernst knew that the iPod 2 product that Atech was developing had set the main color of the interface to blue, and even incorporated blue elements into the color scheme of the product shell, in order to cater to the market's pursuit of blue-themed technology products.

Looking across the entire technology industry, almost every company is learning from Apple.

Just as Ernst was racking his brains, Jobs spoke up again, "It's precisely because the iMac G3 is selling so well in the market, exceeding our expectations, that I'm worried."

Ernst had only one thought in his mind at that moment: This guy is such a show-off.

Is this human language?

The product sold so well that it even became a source of trouble.

"Did you know that YueDong Games cancelled our order for 1200 computers?"

When Ernst heard the news, he was stunned for a moment, then slowly shook his head. He rarely cared about Leap Games anymore, and he rarely even read the daily briefings sent to him by his secretary at Leap Games.

Frowning, and somewhat puzzled, Ernst asked, "You didn't call me here specifically for this, did you?"

Upon hearing this, Jobs couldn't help but roll his eyes, as if to say that even answering the question was somewhat embarrassing.

The iMac G3 is priced at $1299. With an order of 1200 units, even considering the discounts that may be available for bulk purchases, the total amount would only be around $150 million.

While the loss of $150 million in orders will have some impact, it's not to the point that Jobs would need to personally call Ernst.

"What I want to talk about is not the orders for YueDong Games, but the production capacity issues reflected behind those orders."

"Given YueDong Games' order for 1200 computers, given our current production capacity and booming sales, the delivery time is already three to six months away. That's why YueDong Games ultimately decided to cancel the order."

Jobs' tone revealed his helplessness: "And it's not just YueDong Games that's canceling orders. In the past month or so, due to insufficient production capacity leading to excessively long delivery cycles, we have had many large orders canceled, and the total amount of these orders has exceeded $2 million."

"That many?" Ernst looked surprised when he heard the number.

However, he quickly realized what was going on and asked Jobs, "So you're contacting me because of supply chain issues?"

Seeing Jobs nod, Ernst said somewhat speechlessly, "AI Technologies' headquarters are in Cupertino. Why don't you go directly to Cook and talk to me?"

Cook is an absolute genius; even Ernst had to admit that this guy really got Ernst figured out.

Taking the iPod as an example, apart from a brief period of supply shortage when the product was first launched due to market demand far exceeding expectations, the market supply of the product has always remained sufficient in the subsequent market operation.

Of course, it's not surprising that there is ample supply. As the product is on the market for a while, consumers' novelty wears off, and sales will decline to some extent. In addition, with the increase in supply capacity, it is normal for the supply and demand relationship to change.

What's most commendable about Cook is that he has been able to effectively control inventory while ensuring sufficient supply, preventing any backlog of stock.

For ordinary consumers, their only concern is whether the product can be purchased smoothly.

Even the media is focusing more on product sales figures.

Only people like Steve Jobs knew just how difficult it was to achieve a balance between sufficient supply and inventory.

This requires not only precise control over every link in the supply chain, but also extreme control over market data on the sales side.

That's why he hopes Apple can learn from iTech's successful experience in building its supply chain system, so as to solve Apple's current production capacity shortage and avoid future overcapacity.

"But Apple doesn't have the money." Jobs stared intently at Ernst's face.

"Are you crazy?" Ernst looked at Jobs in disbelief upon hearing this and couldn't help but raise his voice.

What to do if production capacity is insufficient?

The most direct and effective method is to increase production lines and expand production scale.

If you've already realized the importance of the supply chain, you should invest more energy and resources in building and optimizing the supply chain system. Why do you need production lines? Why waste money on them?

Does Apple run out of money?

How could Apple possibly be short of money right now?

It doesn't have much money.

What is big money?

It's about the funds to build factories and purchase production lines. Clearly, Steve Jobs wanted to build the production lines himself and have Apple handle the assembly process itself.

Faced with Ernst's questions, Jobs remained stubborn, insisting, "I don't trust the assembly process of the contract manufacturers. I'm worried that they won't be able to strictly adhere to Apple's quality standards when assembling products, which could affect the quality of the products."

Ernst was so angry at Jobs’ explanation that he laughed.

"The entire iMac G3, except for the PowerPC 750 processor which was designed by Apple, had almost all its hardware components sourced externally. Even this self-designed processor was ultimately manufactured by IBM and Freescale."

"Since you can trust the contract manufacturers for the production of core hardware, you're now telling me you don't trust their processes for product assembly?"

"Just to ensure the quality of the product assembly process, they have to invest a lot of money to build their own assembly line. They have money to burn!"

Steve Jobs, however, was not convinced by Ernst's words and insisted on his own point of view, along with his well-reasoned argument about the "iPod."

Ernst really didn't want to waste his breath arguing with him about this issue. No matter how much you say to a perfectionist, it's useless and will only create distance between you.

He picked up the glass in front of him and asked directly, "Why did you call me here?"

Jobs' expression turned serious. He looked at Ernst with some anticipation and slowly said, "I hope iTech can acquire the production lines for Apple's other existing products."

Ernst was stunned. He stared at Jobs for a long time, then picked up his coffee cup, took another sip, and tried to calm himself down.

Are you sure you're not joking?

Seeing that Jobs' gaze remained unchanged, Ernst was somewhat amused and exasperated. "But this is precisely an opportunity," Jobs said hastily, his tone tinged with urgency. "AiTech can use this acquisition to officially enter these new business areas."

Steve Jobs was like an unreasonable girlfriend; he didn't care whether you wanted it or not, he just wanted it.

"Apple's production lines include not only camera and peripheral production lines, but also a server production line. Considering the scale of demand for server products from your other companies, iTech's entry into the server field will not be a problem in terms of order support."

Ernst is so angry he wants to curse. What's the point of entering a new business area? Is acquiring production lines enough?

The real problem lies in technical issues.

Apple is just an assembly machine in these areas, and iTech's technological reserves in these areas are practically nonexistent.

Investing money to acquire these production lines would not only bring no economic benefits, but would also become a burden on the company.

Moreover, Cook is not Steve Jobs; he doesn't trust contract manufacturers. Even if AI Technology enters these fields, it doesn't need to purchase production lines.

Unless AGI's cameras and peripherals are in high demand like the iPod, AGI will not purchase production lines to place with contract manufacturers to stabilize production capacity when it encounters production capacity issues with its contract manufacturers.

Seeing that Ernst remained silent and expressionless, clearly indicating his refusal, Jobs could only increase his bargaining power: "If iTech is willing to acquire these production lines, Apple can transfer the related technology patents to iTech free of charge."

When Ernst heard the condition of transferring the technology patent free of charge, he didn't just want to curse; he wanted to punch the other person and then throw his coffee in their face.

How much technology does Apple actually possess? Most of its products are assembled.

Seeing that Ernst wasn't interested, Jobs revealed his final trump card: "If you're thinking of increasing your Apple stock holdings, here's an opportunity."

Ok?

Ernst's previously calm face finally showed an expression of interest.

"What do you mean by that?"

Steve Jobs didn't answer immediately, but stared intently at him, a hint of wariness in his eyes. "So, you've been plotting against Apple all along?"

Ernst, through the overseas investment firm Fengyun Investment, already holds 4000 million shares of Apple stock, representing approximately 11% of Apple's total share capital.

This shareholding ratio is already quite high. If it is only for investment purposes, an 11% shareholding ratio is sufficient to meet the needs, and there is no need to further increase the shareholding.

Therefore, Steve Jobs has reason to suspect that Ernst's increased shareholding was driven by a desire to further control Apple's management and decision-making power.

When faced with Jobs's questioning, Ernst gave the same answer as before, calmly saying, "I'm just optimistic about Apple's future prospects, and about you as a person."

Jobs stared intently into Ernst's eyes, trying to find a clue in his gaze to determine the truthfulness of his words.

However, Ernst's gaze remained calm and firm, revealing nothing unusual.

After observing for a long time, he changed the subject: "In your heart, I seem to be very important to Apple."

Ernst lowered his head and pondered for a moment. "Of course, as long as I am still an Apple shareholder, and as long as you are still willing to be Apple's CEO, I will support you unconditionally."

"I believe you." Jobs didn't care whose company Apple would ultimately become; all he wanted was Ernst's promise—a promise not to interfere in his management.

"I plan to issue 1500 million new Apple shares. If you're willing, we can do private placement."

Ernst was certainly willing; he was determined to get his hands on that delicious apple that had been bitten into.

>