Author: quiet thoughts

Because of Jobs' paranoid aesthetic, not only the host computer, but also the keyboard and mouse are all beige in color.

In addition, the Mac does not have a cooling fan, which is another evidence of Jobs' decisiveness and stubbornness.

He believes that the fan will increase the noise of the computer and is very unsightly.

But Mac does not have a fan to dissipate heat, causing many component failures.

The media gave it the nickname "Beige Toaster", but obviously that nickname did not help to increase the popularity of the product.

The 512K external memory cannot save this shortcoming. After all, the external memory port is too small for consumers to choose the large external memory version, but the lack of a fan is a design flaw.

Because of its attractive appearance and the advantages of a graphical system, Mac sold very well in the first half of the year.

But as people gradually realize its limitations, sales will slowly decrease.

Since August, monthly sales of Mac computers have dropped to just below 20,000 units.

From the initial monthly sales of 50,000 units to less than 20,000 units now, it is almost a cliff-like decline.

“Exquisite appearance, but useless!”

"$2,945! The most expensive Pingchang brand toaster in the United States!"

“128K external memory was not Jobs’ worst choice, and 512K external memory was not his most correct choice.

Because the 512K version saved the current Mac, otherwise the Mac would have gone the way of the Lisa series."

"Pop!" He threw the newspaper in his lap onto the sofa. Jobs was furious!

However, he was angry, but Jobs also knew that if he didn't do something, Mac would really be doomed.

At the beginning of the design, he misunderstood that the expected sales of Mac in the first year were not 1 million units.

But now let alone 1 million, not even 40% of the expected goal has been achieved.

According to the current sales trend, in another two months, Mac may not be able to sell 10,000 units a month.

Think about Pingcheng's investment in the Mac project. The research and development cost is 50 million, and the publicity cost is also 50 million.

With a high cost of 100 million US dollars and continuous investment, if the sales volume cannot be maintained, it is unclear whether it can make a profit.

In addition, Lisa and Mac failed twice in a row, and the blow to Pingping's reputation will be fatal.

That point is even more important than whether it can be profitable. Think about it if people lose confidence by mistake.

Jobs suddenly felt a sense of fear. This was the last thing he wanted to see.

At that time, a figure of a person slowly appeared in his mind, and Jobs immediately picked up the phone without hesitation.

"Hongchuan, deny him."

"Steve, can't I change my habit of making phone calls in the middle of the night?"

"Sorry man, but he's in a hurry. The Mac has been having some problems lately, did I hear?"

"No, I heard a little bit about it."

"Well listen man, he needs my advice now. How can Mac turn around?"

Jobs is now quite grateful that he listened to Maple Hongchuan's suggestion and released an additional 512K Mac version.

Otherwise, it must be more difficult on today's Mac.

Hongchuan Feng was a little hesitant. He actually didn't want to ask about that matter.

Is Jobs' arrogant attitude this time still fresh in his memory?

"Man, Mac cannot fall to the East. Once Mac falls to the East, not only will Pingcheng suffer heavy losses, but SIC will not gain anything either."

Seemingly guessing his hesitation, Jobs began to try his best to persuade Hong Chuanfeng to realize the connection between them.

"Also, he's sorry for what happened.

And if you ask me to give you a reasonable method, Pingcheng will continue to purchase SIC chips and the price will remain unchanged."

Well, the last sentence convinced Hongchuan Feng, so that’s the attitude of not asking for help.

“Steve, put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Look at what consumers are complaining about, and what can they improve?

Facts have proved that 512K external memory is not the optimal solution. If you want to run Mac's graphics system smoothly, you need at least 1MB external memory.

The same goes for heat dissipation. Macs need to add fans and implement that design as soon as possible.

It doesn’t take much time, but at least it needs to make consumers aware of their attitude.”

"manner?"

"Yes, for example, we have announced that we are developing a fan version of Mac and a larger external memory configuration.

In short, demand needs to be mobilized instead of letting consumers misunderstand Pingchang's attitude."

"Okay, he will consider it. Thank you for my suggestion."

After hanging up the phone, Jobs hesitated.

When has he, who has always been conceited, bowed his head to consumers?

Moreover, he believed that the suggestions given by Hong Chuanfeng were probably given from the perspective of Neon Enterprise.

Neon and Beimi are obviously two completely different markets.

Jobs was hesitant and decided to start from a marketing perspective.

In the month since arriving from the east, Pingcheng has stepped up its efforts in public opinion announcements and public relations, including advertising and goods delivery.

It was too late, and the nickname "Beige Toaster" became more and more popular. It was even more popular than the name of Mac.

In the latest month of sales, Mac sales have dropped to just under 10,000 units.

In his despair, it was then that he remembered Hongchuan Feng's original advice.

But by then it was too late to make improvements.

Under multiple pressures, he made a despicable and unruly move.

Jobs decided to install a Mac emulation program on the Lisa computer in stock last year and sell it as a new product, naming it "Mac XL".

The very expensive Lisa sold last year has 1MB of external memory and a fan.

I think that doesn’t completely solve all the shortcomings?

However, a scam is a scam, and Jobs' actions made employees outside Pingcheng feel contemptuous.

His skills were incomparable to Anna Hoffmann, and when his persuasion was fruitless, he simply resigned.

However, the paranoid Jobs not only continued his plan, but also repeatedly made mistakes in the subsequent series of advertising and marketing.

This also paved the way for his career to suffer next year, but of course that's not a story later.

After Neon's Hong Chuanfeng gave him advice about Mac, he continued to devote himself to his own career.

In August and September, a number of audio brands such as Hongchuan Electric, Sony, Philips, and Sushi, after working hard for more than a year, finally made the optical disc rewritable format officially commercially available.

Among them, CD-R is a one-time burning disc. As the name implies, after the optical disc factory produces an empty red disc, the user is allowed to perform a single write operation.

The written content of the optical disc can be read repeatedly, similar to CD-ROM.

The production cost of optical discs in that format is the lowest, because there is no need for molds to press the outer contents, and the cost of a single CD-R empty red disc is less than 10 yuan.

As for another CD-RW that can be read and written multiple times, its performance is similar to that of a floppy disk.

Users can modify the external content of the disc multiple times according to their own needs until the disc is scrapped.

Of course, whether it is CD-R or CD-RW, they all need to be equipped with a disc burner before they can be used.

The local optical disc recorder is much more expensive, even more expensive than the CD player.

For example, the price of the recorders launched by several companies at the same time is basically around 400,000 yuan per month.

Then after everyone has discussed it, we have reached a tacit agreement on the same price.

Does the optical disc burner use laser to burn uneven holes on the empty red disc to replace the "0" and "1" of the digital information?

So every time it is used, the disk surface will be damaged.

Compared with CD-ROM's steel mold pressing, CD-RW can be used for about 3 to 10 years at most.

But that service life is enough for ordinary users.

Moreover, current optical disc recorders are generally larger and more expensive, and are mostly used by shops or businesses.

As for the general public, they probably have to wait another two years for the cost of recorders to come down before they consider purchasing one.

Even so, the emergence of recordable optical discs has greatly promoted the popularity of optical discs.

Because that means that the external content of 700MB can indeed be controlled by everyone.

I can’t afford a recorder, but convenience stores offer recording services for a few hundred months at a very cheap price.

Nowadays, when copying large files, there is no need to flip a floppy disk back and forth dozens of times.

It's so easy to get it done with just one CD, which is a qualitative leap compared to before.
To be continued...