When Christina reminded him like this, Eric remembered that he had indeed had such thoughts, but he didn't have the energy to pay attention to these things now.
The two were chatting in a low voice, and a staff member came to remind Eric that there were only five minutes left before the press conference, and he could already enter the venue early.
Eric agreed, stood up and planned to enter the press conference hall, Christina also stood up, followed him step by step, and asked, "Eric, will you go back to Los Angeles today?"
"No, I will fly directly to Lone Pine Town in the east of California tomorrow, and I will stay in San Francisco tonight," Eric shook his head, and said to the girl, "Come back to my residence with me later."
Christina showed a faint shyness. Although she originally planned to return to Los Angeles after the press conference, but Eric said so, the girl did not refute at all, and nodded obediently.
Walking into the press conference hall, the two separated and walked to their seats.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, Victor McNairy, CEO of Firefly Electronics, walked onto the stage with a smile on his face. After a brief speech, he announced the official start of the press conference.
Then, Bill Olson, president of Firefly Electronics, took the stage and began to review a series of sales achievements of the Fireflyer player since its release last year.
When the total shipment data of the first generation of Fireflyer appeared on the big screen, there was a buzz of discussion among the guests and media reporters.
The production of Fireflyer's first-generation player was gradually discontinued in early March, and the major production lines of Firefly Electronics began to prepare for Fireflyer2. As of the end of production, the total shipment of Fireflyer's first-generation MP3 players reached 8 million units.
The reason why this data aroused the discussion of everyone in the audience is because according to the information released by Firefly Electronics at the beginning of the year, the shipment volume of the first generation of Fireflyer was only 3.95 million in the whole of last year.
This year is only the first quarter, and even in less than a quarter, the shipment of 4.05 million Fireflyer players surpassed that of the whole of last year. Of course, the production capacity of Fireflyer players has been restricted by various aspects last year. But this terrible growth rate of sales data still amazes everyone.
According to this set of shipment data, Firefly Electronics' shipments this year will definitely easily exceed 20 million units.
At present, the portable music player market in North America is about 30 million units, and the global portable player market capacity is only 80 million units. Obviously, just two years after its release, the Fireflyer player will account for 25% of the global portable music player market.
More importantly, if this trend continues, the Fireflyer player is destined to cause a fundamental change in the portable music player market.
Listening to the stage, Bill Olsen continued to demonstrate the role of the Fireflyer player in promoting the software and hardware industries such as USB interface, CD drive, and online payment. A litany of questions.
Will Firefly Electronics always hold a full set of patents on MP3 players
How will Firefly Electronics deal with possible monopoly problems
Does Firefly Electronics consider the impact of Fireflyer players on the traditional record industry
Etc., etc.
However, according to the information obtained before, this press conference did not arrange a media questioning session.
Taking this into consideration, some reporters at the venue took advantage of the gap between Bill Olson's speech and the backstreet boy group performing a new song on stage, and began to contact their superiors through mobile phones, trying to obtain private interviews with Firefly Electronics executives. Chance.
In the next few sessions, Victor McNairy and several executives from Yahoo and Nokia successively took to the stage to show the second-generation Fireflyer player, the latest version of Yahoo Music Box software, Nokia M-100 music phone and other products , during which there were still several guest performers.
Two hours later, Victor McNairy and a vice president of Nokia came to the stage again, announcing the pricing information of the most concerned products, and the press conference came to an end.
At the end of the press conference, after entertaining some heavyweight guests who needed to meet in person, Eric wanted to go back to his residence in Atherton, Palo Alto, but was dragged to the headquarters of Firefly Electronics by Victor McNairy and others.
In a small conference room at the headquarters of Firefly Electronics, when the secretary served coffee to several people, Victor McNairy said, "Eric, have you paid attention to Microsoft's antitrust case recently?"
In the past few years, there has been almost no news about Microsoft's anti-monopoly investigation in the media. It has been a long time, and as long as it does not involve personal interests, no one will pay special attention to this matter.
Eric shook his head truthfully, he must not have bothered to pay attention to these during this time.
Victor McNairy did not go around the corner, and directly introduced the current situation: "The Federal Department of Justice last week filed charges against Microsoft for bundling the Windows operating system with video players, Office and other software, and the investigation is still pending. It may involve the cooperation between Yahoo and Microsoft's Yahoo browser, because the version and function of Yahoo browser on the Windows system always take precedence over other operating systems, and the Department of Justice stated that this behavior has constituted unfair competition."
In fact, Microsoft’s monopolistic behavior goes far beyond bundling software. Others include signing exclusive agreements with PC manufacturers to exclude other operating systems; using kickbacks to forcefully promote Microsoft’s operating systems and software; forming interest alliances with hardware manufacturers such as Intel, Together to crowd out competitors and so on.
These behaviors are actually more serious than bundling software, but Microsoft has avoided it again and again, and at most it has only paid some fines. As an operating system that has formed a natural monopoly, no one has any way to completely solve these problems.
Therefore, Eric was not worried at all about what Victor McNairy said about the possible investigation of the Yahoo browser. Chris and the Yahoo management did not even inform him of this matter. Obviously , they are not worried at all.
When the cooperation agreement was reached, the two parties had already thought of an excuse in advance: this is a matter of product development progress. Yahoo has no obligation to provide the latest products for all operating system platforms at the same time, and can only tend to have a higher market share. of those.
Smiling and shaking his head, Eric looked at Victor McNairy and the others, and said, "Everyone must know that this incident has no effect on us. So, let's talk about your thoughts directly ?”
Victor McNairy was a little embarrassed when Eric pointed out that they had "ulterior motives", so Bill Olsen had no choice but to continue: "It's like this, Eric, have you ever thought about it, if YOS moves in the future? The operating system is released by Yahoo, and at the same time they will release various mobile application software, then, by then, Yahoo will definitely face a more serious software bundling monopoly problem than Microsoft now.”
Eric immediately understood: "It seems that you still want to get back the development rights of this operating system?"
Bill Olson nodded: "Eric, we all feel that this is more conducive to the development of tablet products."
"This project has always been in charge of Steve himself, and the kernel of the system is written by him himself, so, have you considered transferring this project to Firefly Electronics, and who will do the next system development work? Can you take over for him?"
Bill Olson realized that Eric didn't seem to be too opposed to this matter, and he exchanged glances with Victor McNairy, saying: "Eric, this is what we think, this project is transferred to Firefly Electronics, Steve can still serve as a technical consultant for this operating system. As for the actual operation of the project, you must know that what Silicon Valley lacks most is software technical talents. We have already found several suitable candidates through headhunting companies. principal."
Eric tapped his fingers on the conference table and thought for a while, then said, "Well, if you can convince Yahoo to transfer this project, it's not impossible."
Seeing Eric nod, both Victor McNairy and Bill Olsen smiled, and Bill Olsen said, "Eric, actually, Yahoo doesn't really want this project."
Eric wondered: "Why?"
"The development budget of this project last year exceeded 30 million US dollars, and it will only be higher in the next few years. However, if you want to generate profits, you don't know when you will have to wait. Once Yahoo is listed, this kind of money will only consume funds but will not produce. Profitable projects will definitely weigh heavily on Yahoo’s share price.”
Yahoo’s current scale is far from the deep-rooted Google that it was more than ten years later. Even Google’s various forward-looking innovative projects were once criticized by investors, and Google executives had to cut their budgets in this area. Now Yahoo, with its tens of millions of dollars in additional spending every year, is indeed more vulnerable to criticism in this regard.
The main reason why Steve Jobs was excluded from Apple's board of directors was that Jobs stubbornly developed products that the board of directors were not optimistic about. Many corporate giants have declined because their products cannot keep up with the times. In many cases, it is not because there is a lack of visionary talents within the company, but these talents are usually unable to compete with capital that pays more attention to immediate interests.
Even if Yahoo goes public, the absolute control will actually still be in the hands of Eric. However, now that he has entered the capital market, it is impossible for Eric to go his own way so as to cause anger and resentment, and he still has to adapt to the rules of the game in many cases.
After thinking about this, Eric didn't insist anymore.
It also seems better to have the mobile operating system at Firefly Electronics, which is completely private.
In Palo Alto, San Francisco, Eric is located in a mansion in the affluent area of Atherton.
It was already evening.
Forcibly dragging Caroline into the bedroom to dress up, looking at the doll-like girl wrapped in a light pink sports suit in front of her, Melanie nodded with great satisfaction and said, "Now, I don't believe someone Lolita can't take the bait."
Caroline blushed and said weakly: "Eric is not a lolicon."
"Yeah, whatever you say is what you say, let's go, let's prepare dinner, he said he will come back to eat tonight."
Caroline followed Melanie anxiously with small steps, thought for a while, and said, "Mei, can you, can you go out to live tonight?"
"Of course, I have already called an old classmate of mine in San Francisco," Melanie nodded briskly, seeing Caroline's expression began to relax, and immediately turned around: "However, think about it carefully, I I still gave up on this idea." Stretching out her hand to pinch Caroline's delicate face, Melanie said with a smile, "I think if I hide, there is a 200% chance that you will back off and give up tonight's event." Chance."
Caroline retorted without any confidence: "I, I won't."
"Anyway, I will watch you tonight. If you run away, I will strip you naked and throw you into his room."
Caroline blinked, thinking of the scene Melanie described, her face turned red again.
The two girls had just been busy in the kitchen for a while, when the sound of a car sounded in the yard.
Seeing that Caroline almost threw a carrot in her hand, Melanie put down the kitchen knife helplessly, and said, "Let's go, let's welcome the boss home together."
As soon as they walked out of the kitchen, the two girls saw Eric and Christina entering the door together, talking and laughing. Christina held Eric's arm in a very friendly manner. The girl was very polite when she saw Melanie and Caroline. Greeted gently: "May, Carly, hello."
Melanie looked helpless, and there must be nothing tonight.
Disappointment first flashed in Caroline's eyes, but she was soon relieved, and politely responded, "Hi, Christie."
Eric also nodded to the two girls, watched them come out of the kitchen, and said, "Go ahead, I'll take a shower first."
Having said that, seeing that Christina was going to let go of herself, Eric leaned into the girl's ear and said something. Christina shrank her neck shyly, glanced at Melanie and the two, and followed Eric toward the girl. Go upstairs.
Just as he walked up the stairs, Eric thought of something again, turned his head to Melanie and said, "Mei, can you prepare a set of clothes for me, I want to change after I take a shower, something more casual."
"Okay, boss," Melanie nodded with a smile, and when Eric disappeared, Melanie complained again: "Okay, okay, I am the maid's life."
Caroline immediately said, "May, why don't I go."
"Forget it, I don't want to be put on by the boss." Melanie sighed, looked at Caroline beside her, and said, "Now, tonight is out of the game again, but, didn't he think of Christie?" Na's age?"
Caroline glanced at the stairs, paused, and said, "Eric, well, anyway, she did it voluntarily."
Melanie curled her lips and said, "I think, even if the boss kills someone, you can definitely find a reason for him."
Caroline retorted solemnly: "Eric doesn't kill people."
"I mean, what if, what if?"
Caroline wrinkled her little nose and said in a low voice, "Well, there must be a reason for that."
Melanie immediately put on a helpless look that I knew was such, patted her forehead, and said, "Forget it, I'll go and prepare clothes for the boss, but we may have to stay in Lone Pine Town for more than half an hour." Oh Yue, heh heh, I don't believe that there will be no chance to put you, little girl, on his bed."