HPDBC Chapter 162 Steve Jobs, Now Terminally Ill
Chapter 162 Steve Jobs, Now Terminally Ill
April 28, 2010, Fruit Headquarters.
A small meeting is taking place in Steve Jobs' office.
Jobs sat in his wheelchair, a Transsion S2 in front of him. It was an express shipment he had had from China, and it had just been unpacked.
Even though he wasn't feeling well, he forced himself to use it for two hours.
From the screen to the system, from the camera to the charging speed, he didn't overlook any detail, and finally reluctantly put the phone down.
This phone was almost exactly the perfect one in his mind, and he could vaguely feel a sense of familiarity.
This phone has a design style similar to Apple's, but it's not quite like it...
Chinese manufacturers excel at 1:1 replication, but they lack innovation.
But he couldn't shake off that familiar feeling. Could his impression have been wrong?
He coughed slightly and looked at the people opposite him: COO Tim Cook, Senior Vice President Philip Schiller, and Hardware Director Bob Mansfield.
What do you think?
The group looked at each other, but no one dared to be the first to speak.
Steve Jobs himself gave the answer: "It's a perfect phone."
He pointed to the Transmitter S2.
"The 720p Retina display, although larger in size and theoretically inferior to ours, offers a similar user experience to our iPhone 4."
The 4000mAh battery is more than twice the size of ours. We don't have 22.5W fast charging, and we still don't have the battery swapping technology that Chinese users are hoping for.
The Taishan 900 boasts three times the performance of the Qualcomm MSM8255 and is stronger than our A4.
He looked at the phone, then at the iPhone 4 in front of him, and felt it was a piece of junk.
This was the phone he once thought was perfect, but now he feels his aesthetic sense is outdated.
"The price is 3999, which is about 600 US dollars. Our Apple 4 costs about 300 US dollars to produce and sells for 649 US dollars. The price in China is still 4999 yuan."
He shook his head and then looked at Cook, whom he considered the best successor.
"Tim, do you think Fruit IV has a chance of winning?"
He thought about it for a long time. If it were 2008, he would have firmly believed that Apple would win, but last year's WiFi scandal, coupled with the powerful Transsion S2 this year, made him a little hesitant.
But considering Steve Jobs was prepared to send the phone back for redesign, he ultimately persuaded him otherwise:
"Steve, our brand is stronger. When people buy fruit, they're buying the ecosystem, not just the specifications."
Steve Jobs gave a cold laugh.
"Ecology, life..."
cough cough.
The cough stopped Jobs from continuing his tirade. He bent over abruptly, pressing one hand tightly against his chest and the other hand bracing himself against the edge of the table.
The last bit of flesh on her face instantly turned even paler.
Cook's heart tightened, and he immediately stood up to support Steve's arm, handing him two tissues as he did so: "Steve! Don't get agitated, take a break."
Philip Schiller also looked panicked, and he instinctively reached for his phone in his pocket, wanting to call a doctor.
"Don't……"
Jobs waved his hand, his voice so faint it was almost inaudible.
He took the tissue, covered his mouth, coughed a few times, and a faint red stain appeared on the tissue.
He quickly crumpled the tissue into a ball and stuffed it into his palm, not wanting anyone to see it.
With Cook's help, he slowly sat back down in his chair and closed his eyes. Once the suffocating pain subsided slightly, he opened his eyes and looked at Cook again.
"Tim, I know you value commercial interests. Fruit is fruit, not because of sales volume or profit."
Rather, it is perfect.
As for the ecology you mentioned, don't Chinese people have ecology?
TaiShan OS has been running on over 4000 million devices, and their app store has tens of thousands of apps. In a while, their ecosystem won't be much worse than ours.
He coughed again, this time with even more blood.
"I want to redesign Fruit 4."
The three people in the meeting room were stunned again. At this point, they still had to redesign.
Seeing that he wasn't joking, Philip Schiller spoke up to stop him.
"Steve, the iPhone 4 is in mass production. It'll be shipping in early May, and now we're redesigning it..."
"Then postpone it. I can't let such an imperfect product enter the market."
Bob Mansfield shook his head: "Steve, it's too late."
The supply chain is secured, the production line is ready, and GG has been launched.
Changing it now would result in a loss of at least billions of dollars.
Cook didn't speak, but he rejected the opinion.
Steve Jobs stared at them, his deathly pale face still carrying a certain intimidating presence. After all, everyone was afraid that Jobs might suddenly collapse from anger.
At this critical moment, Steve Jobs remains a very important pillar of support.
"Which is more important, billions in revenue or the reputation of your fruit?"
Everyone shook their heads; of course, money was more important. But Jobs didn't think so, and he continued.
"You've all experienced the Transsion S2 just now, so you should know what this means."
If the fruit is released as planned, the media will say that the fruit has been surpassed by Chinese companies.
Fruit 4 suffered a crushing defeat against Transmit S2.
We pioneered the smartphone, made everyone aware of it, but now…”
cough cough.
After pausing for more than a minute, he mustered all his strength to raise his voice: "I spent 10 years saving the fruit from the brink of bankruptcy and turning it into the world's most popular and respected brand."
I can't let a cell phone ruin it.
Whether you agree or not, I'm going to redo it. I can't hold on much longer; I can't let this imperfect equipment be my final masterpiece.
After saying that, Jobs seemed to have no strength left and lay back down.
After giving him a moment to think, Cook spoke.
"Steve, I know your concerns, but delaying the release is not the solution."
He helped Jobs up: "Transsion has already been released. We're redesigning it now, which will take at least six months, by which time the iPhone 4 won't be out, while the Transsion S has been on the market for six months."
He paused for a moment: "What have we been using to fight for the past six months?"
Steve Jobs remained silent, and Cook continued to persuade him:
"Although the iPhone 4 has a small battery and no fast charging, our screen is small and has low power consumption. iOS is an exclusive system, and the brand is also exclusive."
Users will buy it.
He looked at Jobs: "What we need is not a redesign, but rapid iteration."
The iPhone 4s is being designed now and will be released next spring, with improvements made to the battery, design, and performance.
Jobs waited for a long time, then sat back down in his chair and looked at the Transsion S2.
"Tim, you're right. Then let's not send it back to the factory. Let's speed up the design and get the iPhone 4S out as soon as possible."
Looking at that phone, the thorn in my heart still wouldn't go away.
"But I have one request, and that's why I want to release the Fruit 4 myself."