Chapter 979: 200/0 Possibility

Christina reminded Eric that he did have 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 over to remind Eric that there were only five minutes left before the start of the press conference, and he could already enter the venue early.

Eric agreed, stood up and planned to enter the 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 eastern California tomorrow, and I will stay in San Francisco for one night tonight," Eric shook his head and said to the girl, "Wait back to the place with me later."

Christina showed a touch of shyness. Although she originally planned to go back to Los Angeles after the press conference, Eric said that, the girl did not refute it at all, and nodded obediently.

Walking into the conference hall, the two walked to their respective positions separately.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Victor McNally, 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, including off-stage guests and media reporters, there was a buzz of discussion.

The first generation of fireflyer players was gradually discontinued in early March, and the major production lines of Firefly Electronics began to stock up for fireflyer2. As of the end of production, the total shipments of fireflyer's first-generation mp3 players have reached 8 million units.

The reason why this data aroused discussion among the audience is because according to the information released by Firefly Electronics at the beginning of the year, the first generation of fireflyer shipped only 3.95 million last year.

This year is only the first quarter, and even less than a quarter, the shipment of 4.05 million fireflyer players has exceeded that of last year. Of course, the production capacity of fireflyer players has been limited in 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 have a 25% share of the global portable music player market.

More importantly, according to this trend, the fireflyer player is destined to cause a fundamental change in the portable music player market.

Listening to the stage, Bill Olson 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 series of questions.

Will Firefly Electronics hold the full set of patents for mp3 players?

How will Firefly Electronics deal with the possible monopoly problem?

Does Firefly Electronics consider the impact of fireflyer players on the traditional record industry?

Etc., etc.

However, according to the information obtained before, the press conference did not arrange a question-and-answer session for the media.

Taking this into account, some reporters in the venue took advantage of the gap between Bill Olson's speech and the performance of the guest Backstreet Boys on stage to sing a new song. Chance.

In the next few sessions, Victor McNally 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 the period, there were still a few performers.

Two hours later, Victor McNairy and a Nokia vice president took the stage again to announce pricing information for the most talked about products, and the conference ended.

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 pulled by Victor McNally and others to the Firefly Electronics headquarters.

In a small conference room at Firefly's headquarters, Victor McNally said, "Eric, have you been paying attention to Microsoft's antitrust case recently?"

In the past few years, there has been almost no information about Microsoft's antitrust investigation in the media. It has been a long time. As long as it does not involve vital interests, no one will pay special attention to this matter.

Eric shook his head truthfully, he definitely didn't have the heart to pay attention to this during this time.

Victor McNairy didn't detour and directly introduced the current situation: "The Federal Department of Justice last week brought charges against Microsoft for bundling the Windows operating system with video players, office and other software, and the investigation also It may involve Yahoo Browser, a partnership between Yahoo and Microsoft, because the version and functionality of Yahoo Browser on Windows systems always takes precedence over other operating systems, and the Department of Justice says this behavior constitutes unfair competition."

In fact, Microsoft's monopoly goes far beyond bundling software. Others include signing exclusive agreements with PC manufacturers to exclude other operating systems; using rebates to forcefully promote Microsoft's operating systems and software; and forming interest alliances with hardware manufacturers such as Intel, Common exclusion of competitors and so on.

These behaviors are actually more serious than bundling software, but Microsoft has avoided it time and time again, at most only paying some fines. As an operating system that has formed a natural monopoly, no one can completely solve these problems.

Therefore, Eric is not at all worried about what Victor McNally said about the possible investigation of Yahoo's browser. Chris and Yahoo management did not even inform him about it. Obviously , they are not worried at all.

When the cooperation agreement was reached, the two parties had already figured out the excuse in advance: this is a product development progress issue, 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.

Shaking his head with a smile, Eric looked at Victor McNally and said, "Everyone must know that this matter has little impact on us. So, let's talk about your thoughts directly. ?"

Victor McNairy was pointed out by Eric that they had 'ulterior motives', and it was still a little embarrassing, Bill Olson had to continue: "That's it, 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, at that time, Yahoo will definitely face a more serious software bundling monopoly problem than Microsoft is now.”

Eric immediately understood: "It seems that you still want to take 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 computer products."

"This project has always been personally in charge of Steve, and the kernel of the system is written by him. So, have you considered transferring this project to Firefly Electronics? Who will be responsible for the next system development work? Can you do it in his place?"

Bill Olson realized that Eric didn't seem to be too opposed to this, and looked at Victor McNally and said, "Eric, we think so, this project is transferred to Firefly. Electronics, Steve can still serve as the technical consultant of this operating system. As for the actual operation of the project, you must know that the most important thing in Silicon Valley is the technical talents in software. We have already found several suitable talents through the headhunting company. principal."

Eric tapped his finger on the conference table and thought for a while, and said, "Well, if you can convince Yahoo to turn this project over, it's not impossible."

Seeing Eric nodding, Victor McNally and Bill Olson both smiled, Bill Olson said: "Eric, actually, Yahoo doesn't really want this project too much."

Eric wondered, "Why?"

"The development budget for this project exceeded $30 million last year, and it will only be higher in the next few years, but if you want to generate profits, you don't know when you will have to wait. Once Yahoo goes public, this kind of consumption only consumes funds but will not generate Profitable projects will definitely weigh heavily on Yahoo's stock price."

Yahoo's current scale is far from the deep roots of Google's tree more than a decade later. Even Google's various forward-looking innovative projects were once criticized by investors, and Google's executives had to cut their budgets in this area. Now Yahoo, with tens of millions of dollars in extra spending every year, is indeed more vulnerable to this kind of blame.

When Steve Jobs was excluded from Apple's board of directors, the main reason was that Steve Jobs was stubborn in developing products that the board of directors was not very optimistic about. Many corporate giants decline because their products cannot keep up with the times. In many cases, it is not that there is a lack of visionary talents within the enterprise, but these talents are usually unable to compete with capital that pays more attention to immediate interests.

Even if Yahoo goes public, absolute control will actually remain in Eric's hands. However, since he has entered the capital market, Eric cannot be so determined that he will cause anger and resentment, and he must adapt to the rules of the game in many cases.

Figured this out, Eric no longer insisted.

It also seems better to put the mobile operating system in a completely private Firefly Electronics company.

In Palo Alto, San Francisco, Eric's mansion in Atherton's affluent neighborhood.

It's already evening.

Forcibly dragged Caroline into the bedroom and dressed up. Looking at the girl who looked like a doll wrapped in a pale pink sports suit in front of her, Melanie nodded with satisfaction and said, "This time, I don't believe in someone Lolita can't take the bait."

Caroline blushed and said weakly, "Eric is not a lolicon."

"Hmmmm, what you say is what you say, let's go, let's prepare dinner, he said he'll be back for dinner tonight."

Caroline followed behind Melanie with small steps, thought for a while, and said, "May, can you, can you go out and stay tonight?"

"Of course, I've already called an old classmate of mine in San Francisco," Melanie nodded cheerfully, watching Caroline's expression relax, and immediately turned back: "But, think about it, I I still give up this idea." She reached out and squeezed Caroline's delicate face, and Melanie smiled: "I think if I hide, there is a 200% chance that you will withdraw and give up tonight's meeting. Chance."

Caroline retorted with no confidence at all: "I, I won't."

"Anyway, I'll be watching you tonight. If you run away, I'll strip you naked and throw you into his room."

Caroline blinked, thinking of the scene that Melanie had depicted, her face flushed again.

The two women had just been busy in the kitchen for a while when the sound of a car rang out in the yard.

Seeing that Caroline almost threw a carrot out of her hand, Melanie put down her kitchen knife helplessly, and said, "Let's go, let's go meet the boss and go home."

As soon as they walked out of the kitchen, the two girls saw Eric and Christina talking and laughing and entering the door together. Christina was very affectionate and hugged Eric's arm. The girl saw Melanie and Caroline and was very polite. Greetings, "May, Carly, hello."

Melanie looked helpless, and she must be out of action tonight.

A flash of disappointment flashed in Caroline's eyes at first, and then she was relieved, and politely responded: "Hello, Christy."

Eric also nodded to the two women, watched them come out of the kitchen, and said, "You guys keep busy, I'll take a shower first."

Having said that, seeing Christina want to let go of herself, Eric leaned into the girl's ear and said something, Christina shyly shrank her neck, glanced at Melanie, and followed Eric towards the two of them. Go upstairs.

Just walking up the stairs, Eric thought of something again, turned his head to Melanie and said, "Mei, can you help me prepare a set of clothes, I want to change into a set of clothes after taking a shower, to be more relaxed."

"Okay, boss," Melanie nodded with a smile, and when Eric disappeared, Melanie complained again: "Okay, okay, I am the life of the maid."

Caroline immediately said, "May, why don't I go."

"Forget it, I don't want the boss to wear small shoes," Melanie sighed, looked at Caroline beside her, and said, "Now, there's no drama tonight, but, didn't he think about Christie? Na's age?"

Caroline glanced at the stairs, paused, and said, "Eric, um, anyway, she is willing."

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 nose, and said quietly, "Well, there must be a reason for that."

Melanie immediately made a look of helplessness I knew, and patted her forehead, and said, "Forget it, I'll go get the clothes for the boss, but we may have to stay in Lone Pine Town for more than half the time. Yue, hum, I don't believe that there will be no chance to stuff you little girl on his bed."