San Francisco, Mountain View.
Simon, Girl A, Girl C and Neil Brantley, the other co-founder of Tinkerber, are gathering here at a corner workbench of a laboratory in Tinkerber's headquarters.
It was the end of the day's work, and most of the employees had gone off work. Simon and others stayed behind to try out some new products in Tinco Bayer's laboratory.
Leaning on the only leather chair next to the workbench, Simon was playing with a prototype of a 16-inch and two-centimeter-thick tablet in his hand. This was not the iBook concept that will be released this fall, combining the concept of an e-book with a music player. The iPad-10 with iPlayer and other functions, to be precise, should be a follow-up series of iPads that may be launched in two or three years. The main difference is that this prototype is equipped with a camera that can take pictures.
Girl A and Neil Brantley stood on either side of Simon, while Girl C sat face to face with Simon on the workbench in an inconspicuous manner, and her slender calves occasionally hanging down would touch Simon. Have some interaction.
Tilting her head and pretending to be cute, she cooperated with her boss in taking a photo. Claire said: "Boss, does "Ghost Chronicles" really not need us to provide some experimental equipment that is still under development, like this iPad? ?”
The experimental products being developed by large and powerful electronics giants are often several generations ahead of the products on the market. Each new generation of products launched may be far from the ultimate technology of a company. Therefore, consumers often complain that various manufacturers squeeze out toothpaste, which is definitely not unfair.
For "Ghost Chronicles", the equipment used by Lin Yibin is the second-generation Tinker Beyer digital camera iRec-20, which will be launched at this month's spring conference. The only difference is that it has gone through Tinker Beyer's side. Some modifications made by engineers are mainly for battery life and radio reception. They are not considered cheating, but are just for better shooting. In the future, if consumers have needs, they can also make relevant modifications by themselves.
However, if you want, future iRec-30 and even iRec-40 prototypes are available in the Tinker Bayer laboratory.
Simon operated the touch screen prototype in his hand and used the built-in software to modify and debug the photo of Girl C he had just taken. He shook his head and said: "No, what we want is real effect. You don't want to wait for the movie to come out. Users use iRec-20 to imitate the shooting results and find the effect gap." Is it too big?"
"I'm just worried that the movie conceived by the boss himself won't turn out well. That would be a pity."
"Will not."
Simon said, after trying out the tablet computer in his hand, he put the machine aside and moved the leather chair slightly closer to the work table. At this time, there was an iMac-10 prototype that was also about to be launched on the table. He patted it to block it. Girl C's thighs on the prototype: "Give me."
Claire pushed herself forward and moved a little to the side, then jumped off the workbench and sat on her boss's lap without hesitation. Together they looked at the iMac computer in front of them.
Girl C has a slender figure, and it doesn't matter if she is held in her arms. The soft and fragrant feeling is very refreshing. Simon casually put his arm around the girl's waist, operated the mouse with one hand, and clicked on the interface similar to the previous iMac.
The graphical interface operating system developed by the Linux kernel installed on this PC was also directly named iOS-10 by Simon Tu to save trouble.
The mouse pointer crossed the row of 'File', 'Settings', 'Program', 'Recycling', 'Mall', 'Game' and other icons at the bottom of the desktop. Simon first selected 'Mall'.
Again, developing an operating system? It is not as difficult as imagined.
The difficulty is ecology.
The biggest difference between the new iMac and the original version is that it adopts the software store concept of later smartphones and places the software mall directly on the desktop. Users only need to connect to the Internet to download or purchase software. It also focuses on security concepts because it can All software entering the iOS software store will undergo strict review by Tinker Bayer.
On the other hand, Tinkerbeier also conducted very extensive investigations privately.
Software ecology is important, but for ordinary users, the software that is often used is actually limited to a few or even a dozen. Therefore, building an ecology is not as difficult as imagined.
As for the hardware? Are the most popular personal computer peripheral hardware products currently made by the company? This is not a problem.
Of course, this is just for Tinker Bayer.
In order for technology companies in the Westeros system to have their own absolute control platform in the field of desktop operating systems, Simon personally coordinated? Including the major technology giants directly under the Westeros system, just before the launch of this new film, Hundreds of technology companies have quietly completed the development of iOS versions of their own software.
This is actually like Google used to be.
Why is Android successful
On the one hand, it was because Apple was too closed-minded and took the initiative to give up most of the market. On the other hand, it was because Google, which was rapidly growing at the time, already had the strength to allocate sufficient resources to promote the development of an operating system. Otherwise, Apple's spare market may eventually be swallowed up by Microsoft's mobile operating system.
Today's Tinker Bayer, backed by the Westeros system, can call upon more than ten times more resources than Google did in the past. Even if Microsoft already has absolute control in the field of desktop operating systems, if Simon is determined, who will win in the end? Hard to say.
Simon just wasn't going to do it.
This is no longer just the reason why I am still a major shareholder of Microsoft. If necessary, it doesn't matter if I give up tens of billions of dollars in Microsoft stock.
The main reason is that Simon hopes to have a dominant ecological environment in the field of desktop operating systems, which can avoid internal friction between various standards and provide a stable development environment for the higher-level Internet industry.
Of course, the launch of iMac and iOS is, on the one hand, to check and balance Microsoft. On the other hand, a more important reason is to prepare for the future mobile Internet era. In the PC era, Simon can let Microsoft take the lead, but in the future mobile era, the initiative must be taken back.
In the laboratory.
Girl C, who was leaning on Simon's arms, watched her boss open the iOS version of the office software suite developed by Microsoft for her, and said with a smile: "Bill must be very angry because of this matter. At first, Microsoft wanted to delay it, but I directly Tell him that if Microsoft cannot get the iOS version of Office before our spring launch, or deliberately gives us a defective product that is difficult to operate, then Microsoft Office will never want to enter the iOS platform, and we will launch our own office software. and industry standards.”
Simon smiled and asked, "How did Bill answer you?"
"It's just that we got the software on time." Claire raised her chin towards the computer screen, and then leaned towards the man behind her: "Boss, I actually think we can definitely compete with Microsoft, although I can also understand some of the boss's opinions. Consider, but at least, it is not too difficult to get more than 20% of the market share. As long as 20%, with the current size of the PC industry, our market value can be added to at least 200 billion. U.S. dollars. Well, what about Dell, whose market value recently exceeded 200 billion?"
Simon did not answer directly, but asked: "What do you think is Tinker Bayer's biggest competitiveness?"
Girl C said without much thought: "Of course it's innovation."
"Yes, innovation," Simon said: "The reason why Tinker Bayer has been able to rise so quickly is that we have successively launched a number of consumer electronics products that did not exist on the market before or were extremely niche. Look at iMac again. As the PC industry has entered an era of red ocean competition, does this product have anything to do with innovation?"
"Why doesn't it matter? Our iOS system is the biggest... well, innovative."
Girl C felt a little embarrassed until the end.
iOS can only be called 'new', but it has nothing to do with innovation.
Simon smiled and continued: "So, no matter what, if Tinker Bayer wants to develop for a long time, the most important thing is not to forget its core development ideas and not to limit itself to some simple things." Product field, in addition, it is also very, very important to not follow the trend of chasing other people's already quite mature products, unless you can be sure that the similar new products you launch have absolute innovative leadership. Perhaps many years from now, you will find that in the field of electronic products Having already achieved the ultimate, Tinker Bayer can definitely break through again, even if it is to make a car or something, there is nothing wrong with it.”
After hearing what her boss said, Claire pecked at the rice and nodded.
However, Neil Brantley, who was quite understanding next to him, said: "Simon, you just mentioned cars. This seems to be an extremely mature product field?"
"Of course, so I also say that there must be an absolute breakthrough. For example, to completely overthrow the current fuel vehicle industry, Tinker Bayer can make more environmentally friendly electric vehicles."
When Claire heard this, she also started to argue with her boss: "Boss, in fact, electric cars are not environmentally friendly at all. I remember you said when we chatted before, rechargeable batteries seem to be more environmentally friendly than disposable batteries, but during their entire life cycle Internally, it also consumes a lot of resources and leaves behind heavy pollution waste that is difficult to deal with. If we make electric vehicles, the size of the battery will definitely be larger, which means more serious environmental problems. Also, electricity, simply speaking, is used Electricity may seem environmentally friendly, but at this stage most sources of electricity are still thermal power generation that produces a large amount of pollutants.”
Simon listened patiently with a smile and said: "It's a very sharp analysis. However, just because we know this does not mean that everyone knows it. C, as businessmen, if we want to succeed, we must highlight the advantages of our products as much as possible." Various advantages allow users to ignore or forget certain disadvantages.”
"I know, boss, how about I take some time to learn about the electric vehicle industry?"
"No, now is not the right time. The development of rechargeable batteries has been very rapid in recent years, but there is still a lot of room for growth. It will not be too late to wait for another five or ten years. You have to know that the time is actually Very important." When Simon said this, he remembered something and asked the girl A next to him: "Did you take the article I read on the plane with you?"
Girl A nodded, took out a folder from her bag and handed it over.
Simon took it, opened it, and searched among the pages of excerpts in the folder. He quickly found one and said to Girl C: "Look at this, this is a Canadian wireless communications manufacturer called RIM. However, until now, RIM is only a paging solution provider and has never launched its own terminal products. This article is also RIM's warm-up for its first pager terminal. In my opinion, this is also a very important project. It is an unwise development strategy. The pager market has developed for so many years and there are many monopoly giants. This company does not have many advantages."
Girl C quickly read the article with Simon's hands, thought for a moment, and said: "Boss, if there is something about this article that attracts you, I think it should be RIM's two-way paging technology and data packaging solution, right?"
"Smart," Simon praised and said: "Traditional paging is one-way. RIM proposed the concept of two-way paging. This is a breakthrough. In addition, because of the current wireless network environment, RIM's data packaging solution , and can save traffic to a large extent, which is also a breakthrough. The traffic resources saved by using this technology for one or two pagers may not be obvious, but if there are 10 to 20 million or even 1 to 20 million using the data packaging solution For pager products, the resources saved are very considerable.”
"Boss, what do you mean, we buy this company and make... Well, even so, boss, you just said, it's still not appropriate to make pagers?"
Simon closed the folder, handed it to Girl A again, and said, "I just want you to see. Tinker Bayer can just focus on a few of its own products now, and I'm not sure whether you can do it well."
Claire immediately complained: "Boss, you just said that we should work hard to break through?"
Simon felt Girl C's soft body twisting and swaying in his arms, and quickly surrendered, smiling: "Okay, okay, let me tell you my thoughts. RIM's technology has no obvious advantage in making pagers, but , you can try to make a business phone that can send and receive emails at any time.”
With that said, Simon gestured to the side, and Neil Brantley, who had been listening carefully, quickly handed over a pen and paper not far away.
Simon picked up the pen and quickly began to draw the style of the BlackBerry phone in his memory: "That's about it. This business phone should have a larger screen for easy reading of emails, and a full keyboard for easy writing, sending and receiving of emails. Developed With this mobile phone, we can build our own server to provide business users with the ability to send, receive and check emails anytime and anywhere, and we can even integrate Igret's ICQ instant messaging software to enable online chat."
After listening to this, Claire didn't feel bright at all: "Boss, is this possible?"
Simon smiled: "First of all, it's technology. RIM's patent can easily be extended to online email sending and receiving. In addition, unlike pagers, the advantages of data packaging are more obvious on this phone. In addition, It must also have a price that is acceptable to users. Finally, there is marketing. Whether it was iCam or iPlayer, marketing accounted for a large proportion of the success, and we cannot deny this."
Historically, BlackBerry's success was largely due to chance.
During the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the demand for wireless communications surged in a short period of time, resulting in data congestion. As a result, Vice President Cheney's BlackBerry took the spotlight because BlackBerry's servers were independent and could maintain communications smoothly. Immediately, the BlackBerry phone, which had been launched for two years, attracted attention.
After 9/11, BlackBerry quickly gained 1 million users, and then experienced a geometric explosion. At its peak in 2008, BlackBerry had 80 million users worldwide, and its market value once exceeded US$80 billion.
Then, the iPhone was born, and BlackBerry declined rapidly.
This is not to say that BlackBerry is not good enough, but that each era has its own limitations. BlackBerry is only suitable for the 2G and 3G eras, and Apple has just hit the future.