Chapter Eight Hundred and Forty Seventh Father Partiality

Taking the microphone passed by Bill Olsen, Eric didn't sit in that chair. This detail arrangement was completely beyond his expectations, and he also understood that this should be what Bill Olson wanted him to do. Can stay on stage for a while.

Like Bill Olson, he patted on the back of the simple folding back chair. Eric looked down the stage and looked at the first few rows of people who were shining brightly in both past and present lives. They all looked up at themselves slightly, thinking of the scenes of rebirth in the past few years, Eric had an unprecedented smugness in his heart, and those inexplicable emotions in recent days were suddenly swept away.

Many people in the stadium did not understand why Eric suddenly said these words. Some media reporters even regarded the scene in front of them as a specially arranged show. Therefore, when Eric's voice fell, it was not too much for a while. Warm polite applause.

The smile on Eric's face didn't change at all, and he continued: "Many people definitely don't understand why I said this all of a sudden, and I haven't reached the age where I can instill life philosophy to everyone. In fact, it's just a sudden feeling. And hair, the chair in front of me should not be on this stage, just like the original plan, I should not be standing here now. All these changes were made in a hurry two hours ago, in the end it happened What, I think the hundreds of media reporters and friends who are here will be able to dig out the inside story of everything before the sun goes down today. The reason why everyone is here today shows that you can definitely see the impact of the Yahoo Music Store on the entire record industry. It’s the pinnacle of change, but it’s clear that people who have built their chairs and are starting to enjoy the comforts don’t want that change, so they almost instinctively find ways to delay or even prevent it.”

Eric's voice fell, and there was a buzzing discussion in the banquet hall. The crazy spotlight came on again, and some eager reporters even started to dial their mobile phones.

Eric clearly revealed what happened suddenly a few hours ago, except that the media crusade will add some blockage to the other party, it will not have any substantial impact on Sony, but this is just an innocuous small counterattack, He quickly continued: "Actually, in this era of technological explosion, all business managers should have a sense that it is better to replace themselves than to be replaced by others. I admit that traditional portable music players are very good, They also bring too much fun to our lives. However, this cannot be a reason to refuse to change, technological innovation and technological progress are the general trend of the whole era, and now I can proudly say that it is a disruptive However, I still look forward to the emergence of products that can be replaced, and I hope that the companies within the Firefly system will create such products. As for those who are standing still by their 'chairs', I absolutely do not I will persuade and even beg you to make changes, I will remove all your 'chairs', and smash all the bottles around you, leaving you with nothing!"

Eric's final stern and flamboyant declaration caused everyone in the venue to fall into a brief shock and silence. Immediately, the most enthusiastic applause and cheers of the entire press conference sounded in the banquet hall. Westerners generally advocate freedom and publicity, and look forward to breaking authority. Eric's remarks just hit the excitement of many people. The applause and cheers lasted for more than a minute before Eric was able to continue to the next session. .

After the press conference, starting from the evening news of the day, in the following days, the prominent pages of the media in North America and even around the world appeared the photo of Eric's speech standing by the folding chair with backrest, and the declaration about removing the 'chair' It also became the most exciting statement at the press conference.

However, although the media and the public generally have strong expectations, it is not that no one has poured cold water on it.

The media also, as Eric said, unearthed the information that Celine Dion was temporarily pressured by Sony Records to cancel the performance at the press conference on the day after the press conference.

Howard Stringer, CEO of Sony's US branch, who was chased by reporters, said that the CD drive and USB interface on the hardware are too dependent. Although the sales of personal computers in North America in 1996 reached an astonishing 26 million units, even more than The annual sales volume of traditional household appliances such as color TVs. However, since CD drives and USB ports have only been implemented in the last two years, many personal computers do not even have these two ports. Among the 26 million newly sold personal computers last year, the number of devices with both CD drives and USB ports is still less than 5 million. Even now, more than half of the mainstream personal computer models on the market do not include CD drives and USB ports. Although the US dollar price is very close to the people, it is impossible for most families to update the value data for a music player. A thousand-dollar personal computer, therefore, can only be regarded as a niche product for a long time, and it is impossible to compare with mainstream players such as iPods and MD Walkmans.

Of course, Eric is also aware of what Howard Stringer said. This is the situation. Firefly Electronics has collected detailed relevant information in the previous market research.

However, considering last year's PC sales plus this year's PC sales, North America will have at least 10 million connected PCs. Eric is still very optimistic about sales. Bill Olson also predicts that in the remaining nine of this year. In the middle of the month, Firefly Electronics should be able to achieve sales of 1 million units.

In the history that happened, MP3 players first appeared in Japan and South Korea, and they used flash memory storage media with very low capacity at that time. Compared with micro hard drives, it was not popular for a long time. Apple's iPod made with a micro-hard drive was also not popular due to the initial strategy of Steve Jobs' platform closure. It was not until 2005 that Steve Jobs agreed to the ows system under the persuasion of all Apple executives, and the MP3 player completely realized the counterattack of the traditional player. , and sold more than 22 million units that year, more than double the sales of all Apple's closed platforms before the iPod.

In Eric's view, when the platform was opened, the golden age of MP3 players was actually missed. As more and more mobile devices began to support music playback, MP3 players were quickly eliminated. At this time, it can be said to be in one step. It uses a large-capacity micro-hard disk storage medium and supports the platform from the beginning. Even if the capacity and functions and personal computer support are not as rich and convenient as later, Eric is still prospects are very optimistic.

However, it turns out that Eric and the management of Firefly Electronics are still far from optimistic about the sales of 10,000 units.

After the press conference on April 2, on April 5, it officially began to sell on Best Buy chain stores in North America and Amazon and other platforms, and the entire sales volume was achieved on the day of the sale. It is not how coincidental this number is, but because various One of the big sales platforms had only one unit in stock, and before four o’clock in the afternoon, retail outlets across the United States had already announced that they were sold out, and Amazon’s online store was also swept up by the evening of the same day.

Fortunately, considering the possible pre-sales boom after more than a month of publicity, Firefly Electronics has reserved 100,000 players in advance, and quickly replenished them from warehouses on the east and west coasts of the United States that night. In the big chain stores, Firefly Electronics' assembly plant in San Francisco has also begun to release all production capacity, increasing the monthly output to the limit of 150,000 units.

Although many media regard the hot sales on the first day of sales as a temporary phenomenon caused by advertising and topic effects, the cumulative sales on the fourth day of sales exceeded 100,000 units, and the single-day sales did not decline at all. At that time, everyone changed their minds, and with admiration, some retailers have even begun to raise their sales prices.

In four days, 100,000 units were sold, and the single-day sales volume reached 100,000 units. According to this trend, even after a period of time, consumers will not feel the freshness, but the total sales will definitely not be only 1 million units.

As a result, traditional portable player manufacturers such as Sony began to be completely restless. After all, even the best-selling player currently sells only 15 million units per year, with an average daily sales of less than 50,000 units. The total sales volume of the large consumer market, if only the North American market is counted, the single-day sales volume has no advantage at all in the face of the horrible sales momentum in recent days.

Therefore, on the day that the sales data exceeded 100,000 units in April, Sony Records could not wait to announce that it would file a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court to ban the production and sales of players on the grounds that it would promote the spread of pirated music on the Internet.

The next day, on April 9, a Gulfstream V commercial airliner landed at a small private airport outside East Hampton on Long Island. Firefly Electronics CEO Victor McNally and President Bill Olson got off the plane. Climb into a black Bentley sedan that greets them.

In just a few days, the two of them can be described as crazy, but the success came too fast and too violently. The two of them were also in a strong sense of excitement, and they achieved sales of 30 million US dollars in four days. , even in the future, with the cooling of consumer enthusiasm and the halving of various data, this year's sales will not be less than 3 million units, which means annual sales of 1 billion US dollars.

$1 billion is a miracle for a company that has just started, and the two will also receive very generous bonuses and option awards. Of course, the basis of all this is that Firefly Electronics must expand its production capacity as soon as possible. After all, Firefly Electronics' current San Francisco factory has a monthly output of only 150,000 units, which cannot meet market demand at all.

Victor McNairy and Bill Olsen had already packed their schedules for the coming week in order to discuss new partnerships with parts suppliers around the world. However, Eric suddenly called them in the morning and asked them to fly to New York to see him, and even sent a plane under Firefly to pick them up. Although Victor McNally and Bill Olsen hoped that something could be resolved through a conference call, Eric's attitude was very firm, and the two had to board the plane and rush over.

The Bentley car drove into East Hampton, but Victor McNairy was still not satisfied with Eric's arrangement, and whispered, "Eric may be discussing with us the upcoming lawsuit brought by Sony Records, I don’t think this concern is necessary at all, after all, according to the similar lawsuits that Sony’s VCRs were subjected to, it is very likely that the federal court will directly dismiss Sony’s claims, and will not file a case at all.”

There is a case law system in American law, which is based on the judgments of the previous courts to form the basis for the judgment of similar cases in the future.

That year, Sony's VCR was subject to a decade-long lawsuit by Disney and Universal over possible film and television rights, which ended in Sony's victory. This time, the lawsuits that may be faced are almost exactly the same as the case of Sony VCRs. According to the principle of case law, the federal court will basically directly reject the lawsuit of Sony Records. I just don’t know how Sony executives will feel when they realize that the basis for the dismissal of this lawsuit is precisely the power that the company has spent a long ten years to “win”.

Bill Olsen looked at the driver in the front row. He was too skilled in terms of human and worldly knowledge, and Victor McNally, who was focused on technical research and development, did not complain with the other party, but just smiled in agreement. Laughing, looking at the block outside the car window, he suddenly remembered something, and said to the driver: "Mr. Moen, is there any good gift shop nearby?".

Carter Moen glanced at Bill Olson through the rearview mirror and said, "Of course, it's not far ahead."

Bill Olson said: "Please stop then."

"No problem," Carter Moen smiled and nodded.

Victor McNally asked suspiciously, "What are we going to do in the gift shop?"

Bill Olsen was a little helpless to this partner with a straightforward personality but a slightly lower emotional intelligence, so he raised his foot and kicked him in the leg, winking to signal him to shut up. When Eric was in San Francisco a few days ago, he accidentally mentioned that he was coming to East Hampton to celebrate his two children’s birthdays. Eric did not shy away from both of them that he already had children. The two children are still very close. Although I don't know if the birthdays of the two children have passed, but since they came, it is always rude to be empty-handed.

Carter Moen quickly parked his car outside a boutique in downtown East Hampton, and Bill Olsen pulled Victor McNally out of the car to pick out two nice birthday gifts before the car drove away. Purchased from Eric's seaside estate in East Hampton.

The car pulled into the manor, and Victor McNairy and Bill Olsen entered the villa with Virginia, who greeted them. The two soon discovered the fact that the manor had two mistresses, because the help It was Joanna Pakula, who once played the heroine in "Tornado," who served the coffee.

Eric was wearing a light-colored sweater and casual trousers at home, and brought two four-year-old children together in the corner of the living room with Lego blocks. The strange style of painting brought some inexplicable harmony. Watching the two walk in, Eric hugged the actual little boy and greeted him. Victor McNally and Bill Olsen pretended to be unaware of it and sent gifts. Eric thanked him. Afterwards, he introduced to the two with a smile: "This is my son, Kevin, this is Xia Xia, my daughter."

Eric didn't introduce the two women too formally, so Victor McNally and Bill Olsen felt a little more relaxed, and then greeted the two little guys with a smile like two strange uncles, little boy Some fearfully turned her head to her father's shoulder, but the little girl with beautiful big eyes looked at the two of them curiously, and also did not respond to their greetings, which made Victor McNally and Bill Olsen Somewhat embarrassing.

Everyone exchanged a few words at random, and Eric got up and took the two to the study to discuss things together.

Virginia came over and wanted to take Kevin over, but Eric just shook his head and said to her: "I'll come, in addition, Jeff Bezos will come over later, you let him Just a moment."

After finishing speaking, Eric walked towards the stairs with Kevin in his arms. When he saw a small figure walking behind them, Eric smiled and said, "Baby, you can't follow."

Hawaii looked at Kevin who was still in his father's arms, blinked, and said, "Dad is biased."

Although this sentence is a complaint, Victor McNairy and Bill Olson always feel that the little girl's tone is a bit strange. If it is described in literary terms, it seems that the feelings are not full enough, and there are too many daughters missing. The emotions that a father should have when he acts like a spoiled child.

But they didn't dare to go deeper, looked at each other, and followed Eric quietly.

Eric didn't seem to hear his daughter's complaint, he just said with a smile: "Obviously stay in the living room and don't make trouble."

In the light laughter of Joanna and Virginia, the little girl saw that her words had no effect, she still stopped obediently, and watched her father lead the two guests up the stairs. (To be continued.)