When Andy Rubin heard that Larry Page was going to introduce him to Li Mu, Andy Rubin was stunned for a long time. He instinctively thought that Larry Page was joking with him, and repeatedly asked Larry Page When Page asked for confirmation, he believed it.
Afterwards, Andy Rubin hurriedly determined the time with Larry Page. An hour later, he would come to Makino Technology on time to meet with Li Mu.
After hanging up the phone, Andy Rubin was so excited that he didn't know what to do.
In Andy Rubin's perception of Silicon Valley tycoons, Larry Page is already a very top tycoon. As for Bill Gates, he is basically a god-level figure who can only be admired. Li Mu, a young man from China, is a non-human being in Andy Rubin's eyes.
Looking at the entire Internet industry, there is no other person besides Li Mu who can start from scratch and create such a great business in a short period of time.
There are many self-made billionaires in Silicon Valley, but none of them are worth tens of billions of dollars. Bill Gates? He is not self-made. There are really few people who come from Silicon Valley as good as Bill Gates.
Because of this, Andy Rubin found it unbelievable. According to normal circumstances, even if he applied for a job at a company like Makino Technology, he would not have the chance to meet Li Mu. Unless he was in a very high management position, he would not even be able to work at Makino. Not even the vice president of technology can be seen.
The larger the company, the clearer the internal hierarchy. This is not to highlight the privileges of management, but to save time. Whether it is recruitment interviews or cooperation talks, clear rules must be followed within the company. Hierarchical logic, otherwise if all interviews and talks are sent directly to the CEO, the CEO will probably be exhausted to death.
For companies like Makino Technology, unless they are interviewing vice president-level talents or important positions such as the head of a large business unit, which require Li Mu's personal confirmation, Li Mu doesn't even have time to understand other levels of positions. Because the person in charge of that position will be responsible for this person and this position, you only need to look at the results of the person in charge's feedback.
The same goes for investment and financing.
Makino Technology has its own investment department. This investment department does not serve the will of Li Mu alone, but serves the entire Makino Technology. Its external investment ranges from several million to tens of millions or even hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, with a very wide span. If it's large, if it's over 100 million yuan, Li Mu will personally check it. If it's less than 100 million yuan, the head of the investment department and the head of the business department can make the decision as long as they agree. For investments below tens of millions, an investment manager and the committee of the investment department can make all the decisions.
For Andy Rubin, his new project financing target is even less than 10 million US dollars. In the eyes of Li Mu, it is a waste of time to hear about such a project. He directly arranges for a project with corresponding authority of this amount. Just let the investment manager come and talk to you.
However, Li Mu wanted to meet him in person, which made Andy Rubin both excited and nervous.
…
Larry Page resigned from Makino Technology. Before leaving, he had already sent a message to the Google board of directors, asking them to prepare for an emergency meeting. In any case, Li Mu wanted some of the benefits in Google's pocket, not with Google is an enemy, which is enough to make the entire Google board of directors breathe a sigh of relief. The only thing left is to communicate quickly to see how much profit should be given to Li Mu, a Venetian merchant, as a ticket to cross the sea, so that he can board his ship.
Li Mu studied Apple's stock price today in the office. Today, Apple's stock price fluctuated slightly for a day, with an overall decline of 2%, which is basically stable.
Within Apple, the stop-loss faction and the counter-attack faction are still working hard for their own goals.
The stop-loss faction is still communicating with Microsoft about the acquisition, but there is little progress. Microsoft's attitude is relatively tough. They only want Apple's operating system and complete machine production business. As for the rest, they are not prepared to take over.
However, the stop-loss faction within Apple wants to sell it all, which means that the takeover party will have to pay extra for Apple's now inferior iPod business, although the iPod business line can still squeeze out almost 100 million US dollars. The funds can be used for temporary turnover, but this is only to quench thirst. The follow-up events of the iPod business are the most terrifying. Production line shutdown, foundry settlement, user and dealer returns and refunds, and a large amount of inventory that needs to be sold at a reduced price to recover losses. But even so, everything will Even if the iPod is in stock, it is difficult to save the fate of losing money on each one sold.
If Microsoft is unwilling to carry the iPod, then the stop-lossists themselves cannot bear such a large loss, so the whole situation becomes a stalemate.
However, the counterattacks are actively looking for countermeasures.
This group of geeks, composed of programmers, product managers and various technical personnel, all gathered together at a critical moment and desperately looked for ways to break the situation. This was also an unprecedented unity in Apple's internal business lines. Tim Ku Although Ke was ordered at the critical moment, he maintained the mentality and fighting spirit of the business team very well.
The counter-attackers now have a general idea. They feel that if they immediately stop the iPod business and shut down the iPod production line, the losses behind it will be difficult for Apple to bear, so they decided to look for new breakthroughs in the iPod business. The specific operation is divided into two parts. First, the iPod production capacity must be reduced to a minimum while maintaining the continuous operation of the production line, and then the current problem of iPod returns and subsequent low-price clearance must be solved; second, new iPods must be developed quickly!
Developing a new iPod is the most critical, because Tim Cook believes that although Makino Technology's Mango-ME2 is very cost-effective, its current production capacity has not yet reached the stage of global distribution, which means that, Mango-ME2 still has a long way to go. In the future, it will continue to increase production capacity, expand sales and after-sales systems, and then complete market occupation. In this process, it will be difficult for Makino Technology to have extra experience to invest in the new generation of Mango-ME2. ME, so while Makino Technology was running at full speed and unable to turn around, Apple quickly developed a next-generation iPod that could fully surpass Mango-ME2, which became the top priority of the counterattack.
Tim Cook has even begun to lead the team in product project establishment and subsequent development. They have selected a preliminary product solution, which is to implement device networking in the next generation iPod.
Device networking means that the iPod will be separated from the computer to a certain extent and become a terminal device directly connected to the Internet. On this basis, it is necessary to support the connection between the iPod itself and iTunes through the Internet. At least it can be downloaded directly from iTunes through the iPod. music.
The counter-attackers are divided on this issue. Some believe that they can directly write the iTunes iPod version software into the microcontroller system and then add a WLAN module to the iPod. In this way, users can use the Internet and the iTunes software on the iPod to For downloading songs, the advantage of this solution is that it is relatively fast to develop and low-cost; but the disadvantage is also obvious. If the next-generation iPod is designed in this way, it will have little room for expansion;
Others believe that since they want to counterattack Makino Technology and completely reverse the iPod's defeat, they must catch up with Makino Technology at the most core level, welding a WLAN module to the iPod and writing a simple iTunes microcontroller. Although it can make the iPod Connect to the Internet and use it without a computer, but Makino Technology can also use this method. They can also write YYtunes into the microcontroller, and then bundle it with WLAN and add it to the next generation of Mango-ME. By then, the new generation of Mango -ME catches up with iPod in terms of performance and starts a price war. What will Apple do then
Therefore, this group of people proposed an ambitious solution: develop an operating system for iPod! It is not only necessary to realize the use of iTunes on the iPod, but also to realize the use of other software. In this way, the iPod will undergo a qualitative change.
For most IT companies around the world, developing an operating system is an extremely large project, and most companies do not have this basic strength at all. But Apple is different. Apple has this technical strength, and it is very powerful. technical reserves.
Apple was able to launch IOS in more than a year in its previous life, largely relying on the foundation of the MacOS operating system. It can be seen that there is enough foundation to develop a mobile operating system based on the desktop operating system. It's not too difficult.
These people just want to rely on MacOS to develop a mobile operating system for iPod, completely widening the gap with Makino Technology. If Makino Technology wants to develop a mobile operating system, even if it recruits top teams from all over the world, it will take at least three to five years. It will take years to achieve results. This time difference is enough for Apple to make a beautiful turnaround.
However, this solution also has its shortcomings. In order to be able to cope with a mobile operating system, Apple needs to subversively redesign and upgrade the iPod's hardware. This will greatly increase the cost of the iPod. Will extend the development cycle.
If it is a microcontroller, Apple can start research and development immediately. The hardware is mature and the software is also mature. But if it is an operating system, the amount of engineering will immediately increase exponentially.
In addition to developing its own mobile operating system, Apple also needs to conduct in-depth understanding and research of microprocessors and other hardware on the market, and then formulate multiple sets of hardware matching plans, then repeatedly conduct various tests and demonstrations, and finally select A solution comes out.
For Apple, the microcontroller solution is like assembling an unpowered glider toy, which is generally not difficult;
However, the operating system solution is equivalent to upgrading an unpowered glider toy to assembling a stable, reliable, and high-performance remote control aircraft model, which is much more troublesome.
The selection of materials, the selection and matching of motors and batteries, the selection and matching of remote control transceiver modules, ESCs, and servos are all a huge amount of work. Even for Apple, it is a big project.
A large project naturally means it will take a long time. Such a plan, from project establishment to software and hardware development to finished product, will take at least one and a half to two years to be implemented. Apple itself is already riddled with holes. How can it still survive in such a situation? How long did you survive the crisis
(End of chapter)