Chapter 416: The Inflated Boss Qiao
The ODS handheld game console was launched as scheduled in June. Prior to this, Shirakawa Electric had already broadcast several different advertisements on several major TV stations in rotation.
Yes, Shirakawa Kaede had high hopes for ODS and even shot several commercials at once.
Facts have proved that after spending 200 to 300 million yen on advertising across all channels.
ODS sold very well, with more than 300,000 units shipped in the first month.
The sales volume is even better than expected. After all, to some extent, some people no longer want to buy ODS after selling FES.
Therefore, whether in terms of selling price or sales volume expectations, Shirakawa Electric has set relatively low prices.
For example, game cartridges, platform exclusive games like "Kirby's Star Wars" are only priced at 3,480 yen.
This is much cheaper than the 5,500 yen for similar game cartridges at FES.
However, the reason why ODS's sales exceeded expectations was partly because its first games were exclusive to the platform, rather than a large number of ported FES games.
"Tetris", "Kirby Star", "Magic Cave", "Multiplayer Racing", etc. are all ODS exclusive games.
Of course, several games that performed well on FES, such as "Gold Digger" and "Snow Brothers", were also ported.
In terms of the first game lineup, Shirakawa Electric, as always, went on a rampage right from the start.
A rich and high-quality game library is the biggest motivation for everyone to spend money.
Although ODS and FES belong to the same generation of game consoles, the former is more portable and can support multiplayer online.
Therefore, from the target audience to the performance of the game consoles, there are still some differences between the two.
Therefore, it is not surprising that ODS sold more than 300,000 copies in the first month.
According to the plan, the product will be sold in North America within three months of its launch in Japan.
Unlike handheld game consoles and home game consoles, Shirakawa Electric does not have to worry too much about the impact of the "Atari shock".
Today, the overseas version of ODS has officially been launched, and has also welcomed a special guest.
"Shirakawa, I have to say your factory is quite astonishing."
Jobs was shocked when he saw the spotless equipment in the workshop and the operation of the modern assembly lines.
Not only the equipment, but also the strong discipline and team spirit of the Japanese workers impressed him deeply.
It is different from the free and easy working atmosphere in North America.
The workers here are just like soldiers or robots that obey orders, and all their actions are carried out meticulously in accordance with regulations.
Seeing this kind of scene for the first time, he expressed his amazement from the bottom of his heart.
"They are all very good workers, and this batch of ODS will land in North Mi next month."
At this time, Shirakawa Kaede and Jobs were in Kawasaki City. They came here today to visit the white goods super factory.
Today, one-third of the industrial land in Kawasaki is owned by Shirakawa Electric.
The latter directly provides Kawasaki with as many as 15,000 jobs, and the number of people in the entire industry chain who rely on Shirakawa Electric for their livelihood is several times higher.
It is no exaggeration to say that today's Kawasaki is "Kawasaki of Shirakawa Electric", and Shirakawa Holdings will also participate more in the future development here.
So during today's visit, Governor Nagasu, who had received the news, was attentive in introducing the various sights of Kawasaki to Shirakawa Kaede and Jobs.
With his enthusiastic attitude, if you don't know him, you might think he is the factory manager of Shirakawa Electric.
Jobs was shocked by the discipline and obedience of the Shirakawa Electric Factory, but after hearing that the handheld game console currently being produced was the first batch of goods from North America, he also became interested.
"Baichuan, since this is a very special first batch, please leave one for me as a souvenir."
"No problem," Baichuan Feng agreed readily.
"I want the one numbered 1." Jobs believed that only the one that was unique was worthy of his collection.
Baichuan Feng agreed to his vain and somewhat conceited request.
The 29-year-old Boss Qiao still doesn't know how to restrain his edge.
But Baichuan Feng would not say anything more. He was not the kind of person who wanted to teach others. Besides, he was still young.
“By the way, Shirakawa, SIC’s chips for Mac must be reduced by another $10.
You can't imagine how popular Mac is in the U.S. right now, and SIC's chips have become famous because of this, all thanks to Apple."
This was the main purpose of Jobs' visit to Neon this time. The visit was fake, and the real purpose was to bargain.
"No, Steve!" Bai Chuanfeng rejected him directly, "This is not in line with the agreement. $90 is already our lowest price.
Moreover, SIC80281 has no profit at all in the Mac business. We have been supplying Apple at a loss!"
SIC80281 didn't make much money on Mac, but it didn't lose money either.
It's just that the profit is very thin, but if it drops by another ten dollars, it will be a real loss.
"Come on~!" Jobs was very dissatisfied with Baichuan Feng's attitude, "That's a Mac! The Mac that everyone is crazy about!
We can use SIC's chips, it's your honor, isn't it? "
"Steve" Baichuan Feng was almost laughed at by the arrogant boss Joe, "90 US dollars is our bottom line, and SIC is already the lowest among several chips with the same performance.
Have you ever thought about the price of $90, you can buy a chip from Motorola or Intel? "
"Apple's first principle in selecting suppliers is technology, followed by cost..."
"If that's the case, then why are you asking SIC to lower its prices now?"
"Baichuan, listen to me first. SIC has only obtained Apple's access qualification. But we still need to renegotiate the price.
First of all, you have to admit that because of our choice, SIC has become well-known in North America.
These are the hidden wealth that Apple has brought to SIC, and I think both sides should take these into consideration during the negotiations.”
"Heh~ " Baichuan Feng didn't know whether Jobs was shameless or was really arrogant enough to think that it was Apple that created the SIC of today.
"Steve, if you want to renegotiate, let's wait until the end of the year." Baichuan Feng was too lazy to waste words with him.
SIC and Apple just signed an agreement at the end of last year, with a contract period of one year.
Want to renegotiate? Okay, according to the spirit of the contract, we'll talk about it after the execution is completed.
There is no doubt that the two sides had major differences on the price of the chips, and the final communication ended in an unpleasant manner.
The next day, Jobs flew back to North America and had a tantrum in his San Remo duplex on West Zhongyang Park Street in Manhattan.
This is a high-end residence he recently bought. 300,000 Mac computers were sold in half a year, and Jobs also became very fat.
Not only did he spend millions of dollars to buy this place, he also hired a designer to renovate the mansion.
At the same time, the ambitious Jobs recently planned to buy an old Spanish colonial-style mansion in Woodside.
Not only in terms of economy, but also in the management of Apple, Jobs' position began to recover.
The shadow of the previous failure of the LISA computer seemed to be gradually dissipating, and Mac gave him the capital for pride and arrogance.
This is also why Jobs naturally asked SIC to lower its prices. He was so proud that he thought he had given SIC an opportunity.
Now, not only is the other party ungrateful, he even dares to resist me.
Do you know how Steve Jobs treated the people who developed the LISA computer? Steve Jobs said it directly to their faces.
"You have failed. You are a second-class team, a second-class member. There are many people here who are second-class or even third-class employees, so today, I am going to dismiss some of you."
Look, in the Beacon Country, Boss Qiao directly started to discriminate against people.
It is conceivable how upset he felt after Baichuan Feng rudely rejected his request.
But the next day, when he visited Fremont Apple's state-of-the-art factory, he immediately lost his temper again.
"Carter! Repaint all the equipment in bright colors, and the walls must be white.
Also, our factory is too dirty. Do you know what I saw when I went to Neon this time?
I saw their clean and tidy workshops! And the workers who absolutely obey orders! Why can't we do the same? "
Although Jobs was unhappy with Shirakawa Kaede's attitude, he was impressed by Shirakawa Electric's factory.
“Steve, these are delicate pieces of equipment and repainting could very well cause problems.
In addition, white walls make it easy to see dust and dirt. "Carter, the production director, objected to this.
"Do as I say!" Jobs interrupted him without question.
Carter shook his head. He didn't want to argue with Jobs anymore.
This is just a small and insignificant manifestation of Jobs' recent expansion. Do you know how he treated the visiting Gallic lady?
Jobs was quite impatient with Mrs. Mitterrand's questions about workers' welfare and working environment.
He turned directly to the translator and said, "If she is so interested in factory welfare, tell her that she is welcome to work here anytime."
The translator was so stunned that his face turned pale that he didn't dare to translate this sentence to the director's wife.
Yes, this is what Jobs was like after the success of Mac.
He felt that he was not bound by anything, including the law.
After speeding, the police gave him a ticket and were quite impatient.
Little did he know that if he had been 25 yards faster, he would have been arrested and sent straight to jail.
But Jobs acted nonchalant. After receiving the ticket, he continued driving at 100 miles per hour.
At this time, he felt that conventional practices did not work for him.
When meeting with third-party software developers, he would change his mind and go meet the artists instead, leaving the clients at the agreed location and simply walking away.
There are so many strange things going on, and wanting SIC chips to lower their prices is already quite polite.
However, Jobs's pride did not last long as he encountered the first crisis since the launch of the Mac computer.
Since July, the second half of 1984, Mac computer sales began to decline sharply.
The problem is fundamental: this is a beautiful but slow, underpowered computer, and no amount of hype can hide its shortcomings.
The design concept is impeccable, and the simple, exquisite and graphical interface are widely praised.
But this has also become the biggest weakness of Mac, because the original character display has been replaced with various elegant fonts displayed by pixels.
However, the memory required for these fonts is 20 to 30 times that of traditional DOS system characters.
Unfortunately, the most popular version of Mac is 128K, and 128K of memory becomes extremely cumbersome in less than a month.
As for the 512K version that Shirakawa Kaede tried hard to persuade, it can still hold up for now.
But whether it is 128K or 512K, Mac computers have another obvious disadvantage.
