Giant of the times

(More than 10,000 words were updated today, which would be five chapters if converted to 2k)

A few days later, Apple sued the "Anti-Walkman Alliance" led by Warner Music Group.

As soon as the news spread, it immediately attracted media coverage, and Walkman's exposure greatly increased!

Li Zetian suddenly felt that this lawsuit was worth fighting. It would not only frustrate the other party, but also increase Walkman's popularity!

This lawsuit quickly aroused discussion among the American people.

However, public opinion is basically one-sided in support of Apple!

"The record company is so overbearing that they actually issued a banning order! This is a typical monopoly, and the American people firmly resist it!"

"Record companies are so shameless. They use their own power to forcibly interfere and threaten other weak companies. Well done to Apple, which is to sue them and uphold justice and fairness!!!"

"Support Apple!"

"..."

In this lawsuit, Apple is obviously the weak side, and human nature is to sympathize with the weak. What's more, Apple is right this time! In addition, many people hope that record companies can release tape music, so that when the time comes to buy a Walkman, they will have good songs to listen to.

This lawsuit is getting louder and louder. Li Zetian has now regarded this lawsuit as a kind of alternative publicity for Walkman, and told the company's legal department to work hard to make the noise bigger, the better. At the same time, he pretended to be pitiful and acted like a weakling.

Warner Records saw that Apple often complained in front of the media, but it kept talking about Walkman and quickly guessed its intentions. However, there is nothing you can do about it.

The CEO of Warner Music Group gritted his teeth and said, "Holy shit, Apple is using this lawsuit to hype the Walkman. It's so shameless!!!"

The CEO of EMI Records smiled lightly and said: "Calm down, don't be anxious! No matter how much Apple hypes us up, if we insist on boycotting Walkman and not releasing music tapes, there is nothing Apple can do to us."

The CEO of Universal Music Group added: "Yes, as long as our alliance does not break up, even if we lose the lawsuit, it won't be a big deal. If we delay it for a year and a half, I wonder if Walkman can still be released as scheduled?"

"..."

On March 31st, Apple held a product launch conference and officially released the Walkman.

In fact, whether this product launch conference is held or not, many people know about Walkman from TV.

However, this form still has to go.

On this day, the press conference was crowded and very lively.

Tian Shuai mainly did two things on stage. The first thing was to announce that at 8 o'clock in the morning on April 1, the Walkman tape player would be launched in the United States. The second thing was to announce the price of the Walkman and related products: Walkman tape. The Walkman is priced at US$299, and comes with a free pair of Apple's official headphones - Monster headphones, as well as two AA-sized Duracell batteries and two music tapes. Users can choose two music tapes by themselves. If users want to purchase more music tapes, each will cost $10.

Although US$299 is not cheap for Americans' spending power, it is definitely not expensive. The monthly salary of most ordinary Americans exceeds US$1,000.

On April 1st, there was a queue of tens of meters in front of the Apple flagship store. The scene was very spectacular.

However, people in the surrounding shops are used to it.

This was also the case when Apple released Apple-ll last time. However, the queue today seemed to be longer than last time.

Of course, this is not difficult to understand. There are many people who like to listen to music, and the price of Walkman is much cheaper than Apple-ll, so most people can afford it.

At the end of the day, the people at the Apple flagship store were so busy that they never took a break. Less than 4 hours after opening, the inventory was sold out, and a truckload of goods was quickly shipped from the warehouse.

At 12 o'clock in the morning, Li Zetian asked someone to count the sales.

Apple currently has 14 flagship stores. The flagship store alone has sold 110,000 Walkman units, with revenue of more than 31.89 million US dollars, and sold 440,000 tapes. In cities where there are no flagship stores, Apple still chooses to cooperate with other retailers. According to the sales data provided by them, the number of Walkman sales reached 25 units and 1.21 million tapes were sold.

Of course, sales are always the hottest on the first day, and then start to drop off sharply.

On the eighth day, Walkman sales exceeded 1 million units.

At this time, the problem came out.

Users hope to use Walkman to listen to more songs, but so far, Apple has been unable to reach an agreement with record companies. Those record companies that cooperate with Apple, their company's songs are just mediocre, and users don't like to listen to them.

Not long after, there were complaints!

Many people came to the door of Apple's flagship store and complained.

"Fuck, I regret buying a Walkman now. It doesn't have the songs I want to listen to. It's all rubbish!"

"Oh, I regret it too! It's been so long and Apple hasn't released any other songs. I'm so fucking sick of hearing these songs!"

"Apple is still fighting a lawsuit with the record company, but even if it wins, it's useless. The record company doesn't make music tapes, and Apple can't do anything about it. I suddenly realized that I seemed to have bought a useless thing. …”

"Damn it, I want a return!"

"Yes, return it!!!"

“If you don’t return the goods, Apple’s flagship store will be damaged!!!”

"..."

A group of people rushed into Apple's flagship store and made a fuss, demanding returns. The situation became uncontrollable and the police had to be called to stabilize the situation.

Afterwards, Apple’s flagship store chose to close its doors and suspend operations.

Apple Inc.

Li Zetian's face was gloomy. He knew that Apple had encountered the greatest difficulty in its history.

"Mr. Li, something is wrong. It stands to reason that even if the user is dissatisfied with the Walkman, he will not cause such a violent fuss," Tian Shuai frowned, "In my opinion, there may be someone behind this incident. …”

Li Zetian nodded slowly and said thoughtfully: "The black hands behind it are probably related to the record company!"

"I suspect that's the case too! However," Tian Shuai paused at this point.

"But what?"

"However, all of Apple's competitors have this possibility, including IBM, DEC, HP, Commodity and other companies... As long as Apple is beaten down this time, it will be difficult to get up. In addition, Mr. Thomas Rockefeller Also a possibility……"

Li Zetian's eyes flashed and he said, "Are you saying that Thomas Rockefeller deliberately suppressed Apple and then took the opportunity to acquire Apple at a low price?"

"Isn't it impossible?" Tian Shuai nodded and said.

Li Zetian's brows furrowed into the character "Chuan". He suddenly felt that things were getting more and more difficult and the pressure on him was getting bigger and bigger.

"No matter who the opponent is, we should solve the problem at hand as soon as possible!" Li Zetian said solemnly, "Shuai Tian, ​​what can you do?"

Tian Shuai thought for a while, shook his head and sighed, "It would be great if we had dozens of classic songs..."

The speaker has no intention, the listener has intention.

Li Zetian suddenly came up with a plan. The worst he could do was plagiarize the songs from his previous life. However, as soon as this idea ignited, he was quickly killed by Li Zetian. Let’s not talk about whether it is possible to have dozens of classic songs in a short period of time. Let’s just say that he suddenly came up with so many classic songs. Doesn't it arouse people's suspicion? It's simply too exaggerated!

"Think again, there will definitely be a way!" Li Zetian said to him, and also to himself.

…

Because of the return incident, Apple's reputation and image have taken a big hit.

Not only did Walkman sales stagnate, even Apple-ll personal computers were severely affected!

That night, Li Zetian analyzed his financial resources and said to himself: "If you have money, then buy a large record company and destroy the 'Anti-Walkman Alliance'. No matter how strong the fortress is, it can be broken from the inside!"

However, Li Zetian found that he did not have enough funds now.

Apple has expanded wildly, establishing Seagate Technology, investing in movies, building headquarters, expanding flagship stores, Mac projects, Walkman projects, headphone projects, Apple-llll projects, etc. Its own funds are tight, and it still owes money to several banks. Tens of millions of dollars in loans.

Microsoft has some money, but not much. In order for Microsoft to develop quickly and stably, it naturally cannot spend too much. Moreover, Microsoft is facing many challenges at the moment. For example, VisiCalc and SuperCalc have appeared on the market. ,, Multiplan and other spreadsheets, due to their low prices, quickly took away Microsoft's market share. Bill Gates has asked Li Zetian for instructions. He needs to start a price war with these competitors and reduce the price of Excel spreadsheets to US$50 per copy to kill them! Li Zetian nodded in agreement, Excel must occupy the market dominance! So, mobilizing funds from Microsoft is not a good idea. Now that Apple's Walkman is about to be released, otherwise, he must be very concerned about the battle between Excel and other spreadsheets.

So now only Sunbird Company is left. Indeed, the game company is currently the most profitable company under Li Zetian's name. However, the real golden period for game companies to make money has not yet come, and Sunbird cannot make much money.

Game-Watch is one of the more profitable products of Sunbird. However, what makes Li Zetian depressed is that the global plagiarism trend is too exaggerated. Many game companies have also developed their own Game-Watch, resulting in a sharp decline in profits in this market, and Sunbird Company is still busy litigating with them, which is very depressing!

In addition, Atari's second-generation home game console, the 2600, required a large amount of research and development funds.

"The market capitalization of the world's largest record companies is over several billion dollars. It is simply wishful thinking to acquire them now!"

Li Zetian shook his head, a mountain of pressure still shrouded him...