The Industrial Giant Reborn

After the meeting, Chen Zhiwen brought Woz to one of his offices.

"Sit down, be casual." Chen Zhiwen greeted with a smile.

"Okay." After finishing speaking, Woz sat down on the sofa next to him.

"Come on, drink beer." Chen Zhiwen took out two bottles of beer from the refrigerator, one for each person. In hot weather, drinking cold beer or Sprite is the best. Can experience the hot summer.

"Thank you." Woz opened the beer bottle very casually with a smile.

After taking two sips, Chen Zhiwen said, "Steve Jobs is still your good friend, right?"

"Yes." Woz froze for a moment and asked, "Boss, what's wrong?"

"It's okay. I heard that Jobs recently promoted his computer in some Silicon Valley companies in the United States. Do you know about this?" Chen Zhiwen said with a light smile.

"I know, boss, I actually made the computer in Jobs' hands." Woz thought for a while, hesitated for a while, and replied.

"Oh, what's going on? Let's hear it?" Chen Zhiwen asked "curiously".

"About 4 months ago, Jobs found me, and he asked me to help him deal with a technical problem. I also had time at that time, so I helped him deal with it. Later, we studied together, spent a month, and made a Very simple computer." Woz continued: "At that time, I was just combining some basic MOS functions. Jobs thought it was a very promising product, so he wanted me to start a business with him. I didn't agree at the time. But let him take the prototype away, he went to find customers, but it took a few months and only sold a few units."

"So that's what happened? Do you think that computer has great potential?" Chen Zhiwen asked with a smile.

"I don't know, I think it has some uses. For example, if we use this kind of computer in the terminal of Costco's future warehouse management system, it may be very convenient, but I'm not sure about it. In fact, Jobs thinks it is very useful." Potential," Woz said.

"In those few months, he only sold a few units, is he still persisting?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

"He is still insisting, Jobs said, the cost of this computer is too high, because we assemble it, and to reduce the cost, we need to use modern factories for mass production, and the computer needs to be redesigned, because it is We made it at home, and a lot of hardware needs to be upgraded, which requires a lot of money, but we can't get it out." Woz said.

"At home?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

Woz didn't understand what it meant, but he nodded and said, "Yes, it's my home."

"Oh, OK, it's nothing." Chen Zhiwen said, because Woz in this life has undergone earth-shaking changes from before. In the previous Woz at HP, his monthly salary was only 2,000 US dollars. Not a lot, but he lives in Silicon Valley and rents a house near Hewlett-Packard. The rent is already high, plus the daily consumption, the habit of overdraft, basically moonlight, and now, the annual salary that Midea gives him starts at With $100,000 plus a bonus, he is naturally richer, and Woz bought a house in Los Angeles very early.

Therefore, in this life, the future Apple company will no longer start a business in a garage.

Chen Zhiwen then asked: "Then what is Jobs going to do now?"

Woz replied: "He was going to seek investment. A few days ago, he went to a former Atari shareholder and wanted him to invest, but he was rejected."

"Why didn't you find me?" Chen Zhiwen asked curiously, "He should know about your situation, right?"

After taking Woz as his subordinate, Chen Zhiwen knew that the most famous Apple might have an accident, so after learning that Jobs had resigned from Atari last year, he arranged for people to watch Jobs, and because of this, he learned about four A few months ago, Jobs and Woz walked relatively close, running to Jobs' house every day.

The private investigator gave a startling answer, they were gay, because whenever Woz was off work, Jobs went to his house.

But Chen Zhiwen knew that these two people must be messing with something, the biggest possibility is the computer, because the whole history, except for Woz becoming rich, there is no change in other aspects.

Just like in history, Jobs took samples to many exhibitions and went to many companies to visit and sell his own computers, but the results were very dismal because the price was too high, one of which cost 3,000 US dollars, although it was cheaper than IBM or Wang An's computer is cheaper, but with such a large sum of money, who would buy a computer without any foundation, and the first generation of Apple's computer is really weak in function and has no great commercial value.

Until recently, when Jobs stopped recommending his computer to various companies, Chen Zhiwen knew that he must be thinking about further optimization, that is, preparing to build Apple's second-generation computer, but the cost of this is very high, and it is absolutely necessary to introduce outside funding.

"Because I don't know how to tell you, I'm afraid you will think that I have other jobs." Woz said with some embarrassment.

"It's nothing. You also used your spare time to help Jobs, and you didn't set up a company, right?" Chen Zhiwen said with a smile.

Everything is under his control, no matter whether Woz comes to him or not, it would be better to find him, if not, then bring it up by himself, if this is the case now.

"Yes, boss, are you also interested in this computer?" Woz asked.

"One thing, do you have this computer sample at home?" Chen Zhiwen asked.

Woz said: "Yes, it's in my study, and Jobs also lives in my house."

Chen Zhiwen nodded and said, "That's just right, let's go and have a look together?".

Jobs lived in Woz's house, and he had known for a long time that investing in the future Apple was the most important thing when he came to the United States this time.

A long time ago, Chen Zhiwen thought about whether to change Apple's history? The method is also very simple, just build a personal computer by yourself.

But after thinking about it again and again, Chen Zhiwen decided not to change the history, and still let Apple start a business like it did in history, and just be an investor himself.

The most fundamental reason for this is that in the early days of computer development, it can be said that it was a war between all parties. Everyone used their own rules to specify the shape, mode, standards, etc. of the computer. Without a unified standard, although the computer industry is fast However, the first batch of computer developers were all spared. None of them could develop very smoothly until the 1980s. Even Apple, the company that created this era, also declined due to internal and external reasons.

At the same time, he must also consider that he is a Chinese, and no one will care too much about investing in supermarkets and stocks in the United States. Even if he makes a lot of dollars in the United States by relying on arcade machines, as long as he shares them appropriately, no one will control them. I won’t take a second look at myself, but personal computers, this is a big industry that caused shocks in Silicon Valley and even the United States just after its appearance. 80 years ago, the concept of a computer company was hyped. Apple went public in 1980, and its market value directly soared to 1.8 billion Dollar.

You know, in the United States in 1980, the market value of the beverage giant Coca-Cola was only a little over 4 billion U.S. dollars. An Apple company that was established four years ago was comparable to a beverage giant that was half a century younger. sought after.

Such a sought-after industry, the US government and capitalists will never let it not be controlled by companies in their own country, and European companies from allies will not do it either. In the 1970s or even the early 1980s, the largest market for computers was the United States. Without this In the market, after the computer is built, it may not be able to sell many. Only after the computer brand has been rolled up to a certain extent in the United States and has formed a certain standard, it will slowly spread to Europe, Japan, and even the mainland that has just reformed and opened up.

Another reason is that Chen Zhiwen didn't know anything about computers in the 1970s or even the early 1980s. In industries without prophetic advantages, he tended to find suitable talents to invest in instead of investing by himself.

The best time is to wait a few more years, when various standards in the computer market emerge, and the computer model has become a type he is familiar with, then Midea can enter the market, and by then, countries around the world will also start research and development. Computer, one more is not much more beautiful, and no one will care.

My biggest advantage may be my familiarity with various software, such as office three-piece suits, computer games, etc. In terms of hardware, I need real technical investment. I will naturally invest in this in the future, but the prophet cheat is useless. It needs to invest a lot of money in various research and development, but if you invest in Apple now and get a lot of returns in a few years, you can just have money to spend on research and development.

Lincoln's limousine quickly passed through the streets of Los Angeles. This car was sent by Henry Morgan. Comfort is basically the ultimate.

In less than half an hour, he arrived at Woz's villa in Malibu, Los Angeles.

At the door at this moment, there was a young man with long hair and a messy beard sitting in the yard basking in the sun. It was Jobs.