Chapter 176 Alternative means of monetization

After some ferrying, Lin Hui discovered that this was not Apple's unique rule.

This time and space is common for measuring the value of "software" and "creativity" separately.

There are even websites dedicated to selling “creatives” in this time and space.

Of course, the so-called selling of “creativity” here refers to the sale of “original creativity”.

After learning about this situation, Lin Hui suddenly seemed to have opened the door to a new world.

I have to say that this simply provides Lin Hui with a brand new method of monetization.

When ideas can be sold, doesn't it mean that Lin Hui can monetize some projects that are inconvenient for him to directly sell ideas?

Moreover, Lin Hui noticed that many creative ideas can be sold anonymously.

This was undoubtedly very attractive to Lin Hui, so Lin Hui silently wrote it down.

It involves the software shortcut commands.

If Lin Hui chooses to sell his creativity.

That means after signing the corresponding contract.

The idea of ​​shortcuts as a software is no longer owned by Lin Hui, but by Apple.

Lin Hui is not allowed to claim that he came up with the idea of ​​the Shortcut Command software in various public occasions.

Lin Hui thought it was nothing. The idea of ​​the shortcut command software was not originally his idea.

Lin Hui just made a cameo appearance as a transporter from another time and space.

Even selling the idea would not be difficult for Lin Hui to accept.

Despite what he thought in his heart, Lin Hui still looked calm when facing the staff sent by Apple to contact Lin Hui.

The two sides have gone through several rounds of tug-of-war, and Apple's rhetoric is a little different each time.

But the core content expressed by Lin Hui has never changed.

Thousands of words condensed into one sentence:

——The shortcut command software is my hard work! You need to pay more!!

The reason why he dared to ask for money unscrupulously was because Lin Hui had identified Apple's sore point - lack of innovation.

To be precise, there is a lack of innovation in products, although the things in the laboratory are innovative and fancy.

But the official product still contains toothpaste.

Although Apple's products also lacked innovation in the following years, it has become even more extreme in the past few years.

Even now the common saying is: "S is the real upgrade" and "Apple/Apple replaces one generation every two years."

This probably means that Apple/Apple 4s, 5s, and 6s are the real replacements, while the digital series are completely useless.

This seemed to be true in the early years. Why is this happening? Probably because there are no enemies.

At this time, the Android camp is still strong except for the BOOM phone, which has not yet exploded.

There is no one else who can fight, so why innovate when there is no opponent?

Despite this, in order to make money in the stock market, Apple still has to show that it is working hard on innovation.

In this case, it is naturally a good choice to seek innovation at the software level. After all, innovation in software benefits at no cost.

And shortcut commands are indeed a good innovation in software. In the past, Apple/Apple promoted the combination of shortcut commands + Siri as a version feature of subsequent versions of iOS.

In short, Lin Hui is very clear about the value of shortcut software to Apple.

What’s more, Apple’s first-round quotation was US$60 million, so there is definitely room for the actual transaction price to rise.

If the negotiation goes well, an increase of 25% to 30% is possible.

Moreover, the team that Apple contacted Lin Hui online this time was a team headed by Adrian Perica.

Although this person's status in Apple is not as high as it was 19 years ago.

But in terms of authority, it is far from comparable to that of He Yue, who had negotiated a share with Lin Hui before.

In this case, Lin Hui does not need to be too hesitant.

Lin Hui shouldn't think too hard.

With technology in hand, I have the world.

After several rounds of tug-of-war, the two parties finally negotiated a transaction price of US$75 million after tax, and finally signed a letter of intent online.

After signing the letter of intent, you only need to sign the formal contract again for it to take effect.

After the formal contract is signed, Apple will need to pay Lin Hui US$75 million in four installments.

An initial payment of US$45 million will be made to Lin Hui when the formal contract is signed.

The remaining 30 million U.S. dollars were settled in three installments, each time settling at 5 million U.S. dollars, 10 million U.S. dollars, and 15 million U.S. dollars respectively.

These settlement times depend on the progress of Lin Hui’s upgrade of the shortcut command software.

Lin Hui needs to upgrade the shortcut commands three times based on the current shortcut commands.

They are adaptability upgrade, functional upgrade and expandability upgrade.

As for the compatibility upgrade, it’s easy to say. It just requires Lin Hui to make the shortcut command software compatible with the upcoming iOS8 version.

This thing is a piece of cake for Lin Hui. Even if Apple makes Lin Hui compatible with iOS12, it won't be a big problem.

The five million US dollars was basically free to Lin Hui.

The functional upgrade is a function that Apple requires Lin Hui to further develop the shortcut command software.

The functional completeness should be at least 40% better than the current shortcut command.

This is not difficult for Lin Hui.

Lin Hui had thought about it before when developing the shortcut command software.

If Apple really acquires it, it will definitely require Lin Hui to carry out functional upgrades.

So when I was building the shortcut software earlier.

The main function of this software is to realize the required action modules/built-in operations.

Lin Hui only built 80 built-in actions at the time.

In fact, if Lin Hui wanted to just add built-in actions, he could have added more than fifty more.

Lin Hui couldn't help but feel that he was really too foresight.

Under such circumstances, it is not easy to ask Lin Hui to continue to upgrade the functions of the shortcut command software.

Let alone a 40% increase in functionality, there is no problem if Lin Hui continues to increase it by more than 60% on this basis.

The final payment of US$10 million can only be obtained by upgrading the functionality by 40%. This task is easy for Lin Hui.

If everything goes well, it can basically be done in one day.

After completing the adaptability upgrade and functional upgrade, the US$60 million is basically stable.

The scalability upgrade is to basically combine Siri and the shortcut command software.

This is a little troublesome, but it is not a technical trouble, but a practical trouble.

Whether it is adaptability upgrades or functional upgrades, Lin Hui can do it domestically.

But the functional upgrade of Siri and shortcut commands may have to be carried out in the United States.

After all, Siri's main team is in the United States.

Although it was a bit troublesome, Lin Hui still did not refuse. After all, Lin Hui had a lot of things to do and needed to go to the United States.

In addition, Apple has promised to upgrade the shortcut command software in the future.

Lin Hui will take the lead when collaborating with Siri in this area.

This is undoubtedly very nice. It’s great to think about being able to command a team of top software engineers from a top giant like Apple.

Maybe we can also kidnap some engineers, Lin Hui thought mischievously.

In addition to the above.

There are many appendices to the previously signed letter of intent.

Including but not limited to clauses such as "requiring Lin Hui and Apple to keep the contents of the letter of intent strictly confidential."

These are all things that a contract should normally cover.

In fact, Lin Hui also needs privacy very much.

Otherwise, developing a piece of software, selling it for hundreds of millions of dollars, and making it known to everyone would be okay.

Speaking of this transaction, Lin Hui had originally thought about whether the money from the contract exchange should be cash or stocks.

The settlement form of the transaction is that Apple has indeed prepared a plan to settle the transaction in stocks.
To be continued...