Li Mu carefully analyzed the history of Apple's development, and he felt that the current Apple was actually at its weakest.
Because invincible products such as the iPhone and iPad had not yet appeared, Apple had not yet formed an aura of coolness around the world, and its powerful coolness aura was brought about by the iPhone. Once Apple's coolness aura was formed, it would be equivalent to practicing the Nine Yin Sutra and the Sunflower Manual. At that time, it would truly be invincible in the world.
If Li Mu could snatch the first opportunity from the iPhone, come up with the first real touch screen smartphone, and destroy the development of the IOS, it would be equivalent to breaking Apple's momentum.
After losing the lead position of the iPhone and the entire smartphone industry, Apple would lose the lead in many areas. After all, the impact of the iPhone on Apple was endless. Without the iPhone, there would be no iPad, and it would be difficult for Apple to promote the IOS. Without the iPhone to promote the IOS system on mobile devices, the sales of OS-based products would also be greatly affected. For example, the sales of PC products such as the Macbook and the iMac would at least be halved. In this case, even if Apple's future market value was exhausted, it would not be able to exceed 300 billion USD. If a high-tech company could not find a core product for a long time, it would definitely go downhill quickly.
Apple was scary, and Steve Jobs was awesome, but Li Mu felt that as long as he planned his strategy and controlled every detail, he could snipe Apple, just like how he sniped Teng Xun and QQ.
Let's call it the "Broken Wall Plan," Li Mu thought.
But then he suddenly thought of Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem." The wall-faced man in the story could mobilize all the resources in the world, and was even more powerful than Apple. Then he would be the wall-broken man for Apple!
This plan to break the wall for Apple was his own "Broken Wall Plan!"
Therefore, Li Mu suddenly felt a strong sense of historical mission. This grand strategy of breaking the wall could affect the whole world, so he must plan it well and strive for a complete victory!
When he thought of the possibility of standing in front of Steve Jobs in the future and telling him with a smile, "Steve Jobs, I am your wall-broken man."
Li Mu felt that rebirth was wonderful.
If such a day came, he believed that Steve Jobs would only look at him with a dumbfounded face. He would not understand what the word "wall-broken man" meant. But he was sure that at that time, he would be a god-like existence in front of Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs was a genius, but he was also paranoid. Carefully analyzing the behavior of this god, Li Mu thought that his strengths and weaknesses were very obvious. His strengths were naturally superior thinking, decisiveness, and unique vision. But his weaknesses were also very obvious: excessive arrogance, selfishness, cold-bloodedness, and unscrupulous means to achieve his goals.
In fact, throughout Jobs' life, glory and shame coexisted. It was just that the glory was so great that the shame was selectively ignored by many people. Li Mu had learned many small details about him, such as his refusal to pay his biological daughter's child support until the court ordered him to do so, such as deceiving friends and partners, such as using some shameless means to prevent the development and cooperation of other companies, such as Apple's previous success, to a large extent, stemmed from the deep plagiarism of the Xerox GUI. Many people in the industry even thought that what Jobs did was not plagiarism, but robbery.
In short, he was not a saint, nor was he a villain. He was an awesome person who would do anything to achieve his goals.
Li Mu did not worship Jobs, but he worshipped the huge impact that the iPhone brought to the world. In fact, Jobs was not completely right in the field of smartphones. For example, he had been reluctant to provide the iPhone SDK, or software development kit, to third-party developers. The fundamental reason was that Jobs did not want to open his products to third-party developers.
If Jobs had insisted on this closed concept, then there would have been no highly profitable APP-Store. IOS was likely to be overtaken by the fully open Android because it was too open to third-party developers.
Another example was that when he was alive, he was full of contempt for large-screen phones. He thought that people would not need such a clumsy large-screen phone, and that the iPhone 4 was the most reasonable phone size. But in fact, the development of smartphones was a process of constantly increasing the phone's size and screen ratio, and constantly searching for the golden size.
The Samsung Note, which was followed by a worldwide hit, also proved that Jobs' views were bigoted. It was a bigoted view that could not represent the general public, but only himself. After Jobs' death, the iPhone and other brands of smartphones did not follow Jobs' bigoted view. All phone manufacturers, including Apple, increased the screen size to more than 4 inches. If Jobs was still alive and insisted on 3.5-inch screens, perhaps the myth of the iPhone would not have continued;
So, no one is perfect. What is flawless is not a human, but a god. It was precisely because Jobs was not a god in the eyes of Li Mu that Li Mu had the confidence to defeat him.
Li Mu suddenly seemed to have found the next big goal in life, and he was immediately excited. Before the plane took off, Li Mu quickly called Elon Musk. He did not know much about the current situation of Apple, but Elon Musk must know more.
It was late at night in the United States. Elon Musk, who was sleeping soundly, was woken up by the phone call. The first thing he wanted to do was curse, but when he saw that it was Li Mu, he immediately became a docile sheep. He answered the phone and asked, "Li Zong, why are you calling me so late at night? What can I do for you?"
Li Mu could hear the weariness in his voice, and only then did he realize that it was still early in the morning in the United States. Embarrassed, he said, "Sorry, Eiron. I was in China and forgot about the time difference."
"Don't worry." Elon Musk smiled and said, "You are my boss. I am at your beck and call 24/7."
Li Mu smiled and said, "You are not working for me. When did I become your boss?"
Elon Musk smiled and said, "Isn't PayPal me working for you? If there is a chance in the future, I naturally hope to cooperate with you in more areas."
As he said that, Elon Musk thought of something and said, "Oh, right. After we met last time, I went to see the car that is powered by a laptop battery. It seems quite interesting. The lithium battery of a laptop battery looks small, but the combined energy is really powerful. Also, the storage per unit volume is quite ideal. I think this thing can really be invested in. If it can be mass-produced, it should be a more promising industry."
Li Mu nodded and said, "You can contact them. If they accept the investment, I can invest, and then I will give you a portion of the shares."
“OK。” Elon Musk said, "I will take some time to go there again and get to know more about it. I will also talk to them and see if they are willing to invest."
"Okay." Li Mu said, "I called you for something else. Do you know about an American company called Apple?"
"I do." Elon Musk said, "I quite like their products. It is a company with a very geeky mindset."
Li Mu asked, "What is the current situation of this company?"
Elon Musk thought for a moment, then said, "This company used to be pretty good, and their PC products were also quite valuable. However, they took some detours in the past few years, and they also encountered a bubble burst, so they suffered quite a bit. But recently, they're starting to make a comeback. In 2001, they launched a music player called the iPod, and then they launched a software called iTunes. This software is very interesting. It helps record companies in America and even around the world sell digital music. It just so happens to complement their iPod hardware, and they're doing quite well."
Li Mu frowned. The relationship between the iPod and iTunes was like the relationship between his own logistics company and logistics management system. The two were very close and could produce a strong chemical reaction. In addition, the European and American markets had always been very conscious of copyright, and the habit of paying for digital music online had long been cultivated. This gave the iPod and iTunes a very good place to develop. The iPod itself was a very good product, and the more it sold, the more iTunes users there would be. At the same time, the more music would be sold on iTunes. Apple could sell hardware to make money, and at the same time, increase the installed base of the software, and continuously increase the sales of digital music in the software market. This was a f * cking perfect closed-loop combination.
It seemed that before the introduction of the iPhone, the combination of the iPod and iTunes was a major force for Apple, and it could account for at least half of Apple's revenue.
Therefore, Li Mu hurriedly asked, "What is the market value of Apple now?"
Elon Musk hesitated for a moment and said, "50 to 6 billion USD, no higher."
"So low?!" A market value of 5 to 6 billion USD surprised Li Mu. Apple's market value exceeded 600 billion USD in 2016. If it was only 50 to 6 billion USD in 2003, then its market value would soar at least a hundred times in the next ten years!
Elon Musk said, "Wait a moment, let me check."
As he spoke, Elon Musk turned on his computer and checked the closed Nasdaq information. He said to Li Mu, "The stock symbol is AAPL, and the share price was 7.2 USD at the close of trading yesterday. The market value is 5.355 billion USD."
Li Mu cursed in his heart. Apple's market value was only 5.3 billion USD today? Makino Technology was valued at 33 billion USD during the previous round of financing. After the successful financing, the valuation had risen to more than 40 billion USD. If it went for an IPO, it would be worth tens of billions of USD, and it would not be a problem to buy ten Apple's.
Li Mu asked, "Is the situation of Apple's shareholders complicated?"
"Damn, it's too complicated." Elon Musk said, "Even Microsoft has shares in Apple, but they have been selling off their shares in recent years. Boss, don't tell me you want to invest in Apple?"
Li Mu smiled and said, "I have this thought, but I don't understand it yet."
Elon Musk said, "Boss, Apple's main business is in the hardware market, and it is very different from Makino Technology. Also, its hardware market is very small, and only the iPod is selling well. If you want to invest in or acquire Apple, I don't think it is very strategic. At least half of its profits come from the iPod and iTunes. You can easily replace them."
Li Mu suddenly thought of his own Mango-ME, which was the super performance-to-price ratio MP3 player that was used to smash the price of domestic MP3 players. The overall design of that machine was similar to the iPod-nano a few years in the future. It looked better than the current iPod, and most importantly, it was cheaper than the iPod!
If he used the Mango-ME, or another high-end version of the Mango-ME to compete with the iPod in America, and continued to smash the price of the iPod, Apple's iPod business would definitely suffer a huge blow.
Based on YY's foundation, he could develop something similar to iTunes, or he could just f * cking embed a small software like iTunes into YY. Then, he could negotiate with record companies all over the world to help them sell digital albums. Based on YY's current user base and influence, no record company would reject him. No matter how awesome iTunes was, it could not compare to the current YY. If YY were to do this business now, it would definitely beat the crap out of iTunes.
When that time came, he would develop a YTunes, and then combine it with the Mango-ME to dump it in the European and American markets. Apple's overall profits would definitely suffer a huge blow. If their main profitable product was attacked, it would be like breaking the legs of a family's main labor force. Not only would he be affected, but the other members of the family would also be greatly affected!
If the current Apple was described as a "big family," then the traditional PC business and the supporting Macn-OS system would be like the unhappy father and mother of the family.
The father had always felt that he was very talented and capable, but the outside world did not recognize him. As a result, his income was relatively meager. If he only relied on him to support the family, it would indeed be a little difficult. Although the mother had been doing her best to assist the father, the role she could play was too little to bring about a fundamental change.
At this time, the family's eldest son, iPod, finally graduated from college. He started a business with the family's eldest daughter, iTunes. Unexpectedly, the two of them started their business smoothly. With their ability, they immediately brought in a rich income for the family. After receiving this income, not only did they subsidize their parents, but they also helped their parents raise their younger siblings at the same time.
Since the family had enough income, the family's youngest son, iPod, was sent to the best school. In the next few years, when he returned from school, he would become the true pillar of the family. His younger sister, iPad, also followed in his footsteps and achieved great success.
Gradually, the eldest son and daughter, who supported the family's income, could not keep up with the development of the times. However, due to the great success of the youngest son and daughter, the eldest son had completed his stage task and retired. While the youngest son and daughter greatly promoted the family's development, they also helped their parents gradually realize the value of their lives, and helped the eldest daughter's iTunes develop steadily.
Later, the eldest daughter gave birth to her next generation. Her next generation was born with the full efforts of the youngest son and daughter. The youngest generation of the family was APP-Store.
Looking at the development route of this "family," if the eldest son and daughter failed in their business, it would bring a blow to the family, which was very likely to cause the family to collapse.
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