Neil Brantley introduced the basic technical details of iPlayer. While Simon was playing with a prototype the size of a Sony Walkman in his hand, he asked Girl C: "What is the approximate cost?"
Claire Gein said: "The microhard drive used in the prototype has not yet been mass-produced. Other components also need to be customized based on the finished model confirmed in the future. The approximate cost should be controlled at around US$200."
Simon shook his head slightly: "It's a bit high."
Once a digital music player is released, its direct competitor will be your Walkman. The price of the Walkman in North America is about US$300. Since it wants to compete, the starting price of the iPlayer should also be set at US$299. To achieve this goal, the hardware cost of the player should be controlled within $150, so as to leave enough marketing and profit margins for Tinker Bayer and distribution retailers at all levels.
Now, the hardware costs $200. To ensure the promotion and profit of the machine, the retail price needs to be set at $400.
Claire understood why Simon said this and said: "Hard disk technology and thin film liquid crystal technology have developed rapidly in recent years, and costs have continued to decline. If we launch a formal product next year, the cost should be even lower by then. .Simon, I think the biggest obstacle facing the promotion of this machine is the issue of music copyright."
Simon nodded. He was still very impressed by the battle of wits and courage between Apple and the major record giants.
The record giants are no less conservative than Hollywood.
Daenerys Entertainment already owns Universal Music.
However, if only one record company provides content support, it is obviously not enough. All major record giants in the world must join the digital music player camp.
When Sony launched its video recorder, it was directly sued by major Hollywood studios. Although they won the lawsuit, they lost the market.
Once the digital music player is launched, in order to protect the interests of physical records and related hardware fields, the record giant will definitely not have much lower backlash than the Hollywood studios after the emergence of video recorders.
In the original timeline, the Internet industry rose in the late 1990s. Due to the wanton spread of pirated music on the Internet, the record industry was severely impacted. Out of their instinctive hostility to the Internet, major record giants are unwilling to promote genuine music on Internet platforms, which has further caused the proliferation of piracy.
In Simon's view, if the major record giants can unite to promote genuine music through Internet channels, even if piracy is still inevitable, the impact of the Internet on the record industry will not be so serious. On the contrary, even in Western societies with strong consumer awareness and copyright awareness, once they get used to pirated music on the Internet platform, it will definitely be more difficult to charge for it.
AOL is in the process of upgrading its own network services with ADSL technology, and other Internet service providers will only follow suit in the next few years.
When the technology upgrade is completed and the average user's Internet speed reaches a minimum level of 256K, it will only take two or three minutes to download an MP3 music at most. By then, pirated music on the Internet will quickly become popular.
The best way to avoid the impact of Internet pirated music on the record industry is to provide a genuine music sales platform.
Just like the videotape industry.
If Hollywood had resolutely resisted the popularity of video recorders, there would not have been a huge output value of the video tape industry that is equivalent to twice the movie box office.
However, the reason is easy to understand, but it is not so easy to get the conservative record giant to follow the trend.
In the final analysis, it is still profit.
Sony used to be the staunchest opponent of Internet digital music. The key is that Sony not only owns Columbia Records, but also has considerable hardware interests in tape players, CD players and other fields.
Thinking about the obstacles that may be faced in promoting digital music players in the future, Simon frowned slightly, but then quickly relaxed.
It is nothing more than soldiers coming to cover up the water and earth.
Since it is determined that digital music is the inevitable development trend of the entire recording industry, then we should continue to do so firmly.
No matter what other people do.
What's more, it's not like he doesn't have any chips in his hand.
Thinking of this, Simon made up his mind to focus more on Daenerys Entertainment's record business. In the past two years, most of his attention has been on movies and other business areas. Although he took over Universal Music, this company The subsidiaries did not develop much.
Tinker Bayer's current flagship product is still digital cameras.
The development of digital music players is just to complete the patent layout in advance. If you want to launch a formal product, it will not be until next year at the earliest.
Everyone continued to discuss some issues, and before they knew it, it was time to get off work.
Girl C proposed to have dinner together, and Simon agreed.
Everyone left the office building together and agreed on a restaurant location. As soon as Simon got into his car parked on the roadside, Jennifer Bry's petite figure came over and stopped the bodyguard who wanted to close the car door. She leaned forward and looked expectantly. He looked at the man in the car and said, "Simon, can I give you a ride?"
Simon originally wanted to explain something to Girl A, but when he saw the little girl approaching, he did not refuse and said with a smile: "Okay."
After the man finished speaking, the little girl immediately got in the car, as if she was worried about being robbed of her seat.
In fact, Girl A was right behind her, and she was originally going to sit in a car with Simon. Seeing this situation, Alison smiled and gestured to Simon in the car, and pointed to Girl C. Turn around and walk away.
The bodyguard closed the car door outside.
In the car, little Jenny fumbled awkwardly and finally opened the fenders between the rear car and the front driver's seat.
Simon watched the movements of the goblin beside him and said with a smile: "Actually, you can still hear it."
Jennifer blinked and said with a little slyness in her eyes: "As long as you can't see it."
With that said, the little body came towards the man and asked: "Simon, will you stay in San Francisco tonight?"
Simon turned off the intercom connected to the driver's seat and shook his head: "No, I have to go home on time at night."
Little Jenny pressed her body against Simon again, holding the man's arm and shaking it slightly: "But, you used to stay overnight in San Francisco?"
"It's different this time." Simon didn't have any objection to the girl's almost unfamiliar familiarity. He looked at the girl wrapped around him and smiled again: "It's awkward, it's flat, I don't feel anything at all."
Little Jenny didn't feel inferior at all. She put her chin on Simon's shoulder, sniffing the girl's unique light fragrance, and said softly with a little seduction: "Actually, being young has its advantages. You can touch it. I'm only 12 years old this year. I'm very young." Exciting.”
When the two thin lips were on the ear, Simon was really stimulated by this pseudo-loli who claimed to be 12 years old but was actually 20 years old.
The car took less than five minutes to reach a nearby restaurant.
After everyone got out of the car, they obviously noticed Jennifer Brie, whose face was red as if she had just experienced something.
However, even though everyone realized what had just happened, the little girl was very sensible and did not stick to Simon as she did in the car. Instead, she walked to Girl C with a low eyebrow and held Claire's arm, as if following her. A little girl who is shy around her elder sister.
This cover-up was very effective. Except for girls A and C and Neil Brantley, no one else in the restaurant showed any special expression to the strange blush on the little girl's face.
After dinner, Simon still didn't stay overnight in San Francisco.
After watching Simon's car leave and saying goodbye to Neil Brantley, Girl C and little Jenny got into a white BMW car together.
Girl C rented a house in the affluent area of Atherton in the north of Palo Alto. Although it cannot be compared with the mountain mansion in Woodside, it is also very grand and spacious. The courtyard covers an area of more than 600 square meters and the two-story The European-style villa has four bedrooms and six bathrooms, as well as a gym, screening room and private wine cellar.
After following Simon for several years, although it is not possible to buy it yet, it is more than enough to rent such an apartment.
In fact, when she first chose to rent this apartment, Lady C had the idea that Simon might come to stay overnight.
But the man never came.
Unexpectedly, a certain little goblin could succeed.
After starting the car and driving towards the Atherton area in the dusk, she looked at little Jenny who looked normal next to her. Girl C paused and couldn't help but asked with some teasing: "Only, 5 minutes?"
5 minutes
Jennifer Bree immediately rolled her eyes at Girl C and said dissatisfied: "How could Simon be so useless?"
Feeling the instinctive support for a certain man in little Jenny's tone, Girl C shrugged and asked, "Then what have you done?"
Little Jenny suddenly felt a little disappointed again and said, "It's just a kiss and a touch."
As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to check his jeans twice, regretting that he shouldn't have worn tight jeans today. The man tried to reach in the car, but he couldn't because his clothes were too tight. I wonder if he would be disappointed.
Girl C glanced at little Jenny's expression, said nothing, and continued to look forward.
In fact, I'm a little envious.
I spent a lot of time with Simon at first, and occasionally took the initiative, but never succeeded.
Now, I have completely left Simon's side, and there will definitely be no chance in the future.
Regarding her boss, Girl C knows very well that both ABCD and housekeeper Alice are very greedy.
Such a dazzling man is so powerful that any woman will probably have her heart fluttered.
I still clearly remember a scene in New York where I accidentally bumped into Girl A while watching a boxing video of her boss knocking out ten people in an Australian boxing ring while satisfying herself. Later, I also copied a copy of that video, and occasionally fantasized about being held down by my boss and being brutally ravaged.
Driving through the streets of San Francisco, Girl C could not help but feel a little warm as she thought of these things.
After leaving the Westeros family, starting her own business, and possessing a net worth of hundreds of millions, Girl C now has a large group of suitors around her. However, Claire can't help but compare the men who pursue her with her boss, and then she loses interest.
If you want to get along with those mediocre men, you might as well stay single.
So I am still single until now.
The two women in the carriage were lost in their own thoughts and stopped talking for a while.
On the other side, Simon boarded the plane and did not waste the half hour from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
When Girl A walked into the office in the front cabin of the Boeing 767 with coffee, Simon was holding a pencil and writing something in a notebook.
After pouring a cup of coffee for Simon and placing it in the man's hand, Girl A paused and was about to turn around and leave, but was stopped by Simon.
The man ordered, without raising his head for a moment, and continued to focus on his work. Alison quietly sat down on the sofa next to the porthole, waiting for Simon's richness.
Simon continued to list in his notebook for a while, and finally tore off a page and said, "Help me collect information related to these technologies, including major manufacturers, patent distribution, industry scale, etc., as detailed as possible."
Alison agreed, stood up, took the page and took a look.
Above is a series of technical terms.
Mechanical hard drive, flash memory, thin film liquid crystal, battery, ARM, touch screen...
Having been with Simon all day today, Girl A knows that many of these are technologies involved in digital music players. Although she didn't quite understand the other item, Alison didn't ask any more questions. Seeing that Simon had already picked up a script and flipped through it, Girl A quietly turned around and left the office.
Behind the desk, flipping through a script in his hand, Simon was still sorting out today's work in his mind.
Once the $1.5 billion financing plan of Yigrit Company is completed, how the money will be planned has not been finalized at the afternoon meeting.
However, first it was necessary to build an exclusive Eagleite corporate office park.
Simon doesn't have much preference for building a luxurious corporate headquarters building. The reason for doing so is mainly due to the need for confidentiality.
Yigret has expanded too rapidly, and the company has never stopped recruiting. It currently has more than 5,300 employees. Due to the lack of a unified office space, more than 5,000 employees can only be scattered in different office spaces.
The scattered office locations lead to poor communication between teams. The most important thing is that it greatly increases the difficulty of corporate confidentiality.
Yigrit launched cloud computing last year. In the actual application process, only Yigrit's own business and the closely related Blockbuster Online can enjoy instant flexible space leasing benefits, because its own technology is still being improved, and at the same time it avoids traditional Server and data center manufacturers have quickly followed up, and in order to obtain more revenue, ordinary customers can generally only enjoy services similar to those of traditional server rental manufacturers.
The difference is that compared to traditional server leasing, the leasing service provided by Yigret is cheaper and more convenient in terms of capacity expansion.
Even with such a low profile, many details of Yigret's cloud computing technology have been discovered by other manufacturers, and they have begun to follow up accordingly.
This matter is largely due to the fact that the confidentiality system of Yigret Company is not perfect enough. The scattered office spaces are also a major obstacle that restricts Yigret Company from implementing strict confidentiality measures.