Chapter 847: Dad eccentric
After taking over the microphone that Bill Olsen handed over, Eric didn't sit in the chair. The details were completely beyond his expectations. He also understood that this should be Bill Olsen's hope for him. Can stay on the stage for a while.
Like Ern Olsen, on the back of the simple folding chair, Eric looked down on the stage and looked at the first few rows of people who shined brightly in their past and present. They looked up at themselves and thought of the scenes of rebirth these years. Eric gave birth to an unprecedented smug, and the inexplicable emotions of these days have suddenly disappeared.
When the audience was completely quiet, Eric held the back of the chair and said, "I think, everyone sees a chair, maybe the first reaction is to sit down, especially when you realize that this chair is When you are in the position. However, in the next few minutes, I must let myself restrain the thought of sitting down. I also hope that I will consistently restrain all similar thoughts in the future. Because once I sit down, we It is often beginning to pursue comfort and lose the motivation to move forward."
Many people in the field didn't understand why Eric suddenly said this. Some media reporters even used this scene as a specially arranged show. Therefore, Eric’s voice fell, and the scene just sounded for a while. Warm guest applause.
The smile on Eric's face did not change at all. He continued: "Many people certainly don't understand why I suddenly said this. I haven't reached the age where I can instill the philosophy of life. In fact, this is just a sudden feeling. And the hair, this chair shouldn’t have appeared on this stage, just like in the original plan, I shouldn’t stand here now. It’s all changed in a hurry two hours ago, it happened. What, I think hundreds of media reporters and friends present will be able to dig out all the insides before the sun sets today. The reason why everyone gathers here today shows that you can definitely see irelyer and Yahoo music store for the whole record. The pinnacle of the industry has changed, but it's clear that those who have built their own chairs and are beginning to enjoy ease don't want to see this change, so they almost instinctively try to delay or even prevent this change."
Eric’s voice fell, and the banquet hall suddenly sounded awkward arguments. The crazy spotlights lit up again, and some eager reporters even started dialing the phone.
Eric clearly revealed what happened suddenly a few hours ago. Except for the media’s crusade, it will add some blockages to the other side. It will not have any material impact on Sony, but it is just a little bit of an irresponsible little fight. He quickly continued: "In fact, in the era of this technology explosion, all business managers should have a sense of consciousness, instead of being replaced by others, it is better to replace themselves. I admit that the traditional portable music player is very good, They also bring too much fun to our lives. However, this cannot be the reason for refusing to change. The innovation of technology and the advancement of technology are the general trend of the whole era. Now I can proudly say that irelyer is a subversion. Sexual innovations, however, I am still looking forward to the emergence of products that can replace irelyer, I hope to create this product is the company within the firefly system. As for those who keep their own 'chairs', I I will never persuade or even pray for you to make a change. I will take down all your 'chairs' and break you by the way. Bottles and jars all around, so you have nothing! "
Eric’s last fierce and arrogant declaration made everyone on the scene into a brief shock and silence. Immediately, the banquet hall rang the warmest applause and cheers during the entire conference. Westerners generally advocate freedom and publicity, and look forward to breaking the authority. Eric’s words have just poked the excitement of many people. The applause and cheers lasted for more than a minute, and Eric was able to continue the next step. .
After the irelyer conference ended, from the evening newspaper of the day, in the following days, the media in North America and even around the world appeared in the eye-catching layout of Eric standing next to the backrest folding chair, about the removal of the 'chair' The declaration also became the most exciting declaration at the press conference.
However, although the media and the public generally have strong expectations for irelyer, it is not that no one is pouring cold water.
The media, as Eric said, on the day after the press conference, revealed that Celine Dion was temporarily relieved of the pressure of Sony Records at the irelyer press conference.
Sony's US branch eo Howard Stringer, who was chased by reporters, said that irelyer is too dependent on the d-drive and usb interface on the hardware. Although the sales of personal computers in North America reached a staggering 26 million units in 1996, Even more than the annual sales of traditional household appliances such as color TV. However, since the d-drive and usb interface have only been implemented in the last two years, many personal computers do not even have these two interfaces. In the last 26 million PCs sold last year, the number of devices with both d-drive and usb interfaces was Less than 5 million. Even now, more than half of the mainstream PC models on the market do not contain d-drive and usb interfaces. Although the irelyer's $299 price is very close to the people, most families cannot go for a music player. Updating personal computers worth thousands of dollars, therefore, irelyer can only be regarded as a niche product for a long time, it is impossible to compare with mainstream players such as alkman, d-machine, md player.
Eric certainly knows what this is what Howard Stringer said. Firefly Electronics has detailed information about it in previous market research.
However, considering that last year plus this year's p sales, North America will have at least 10 million PCs supporting irelyer connections, Eric is very optimistic about the sales of irelyer, Bill Olson also predicted that the rest of this year In nine months, Firefly Electronics should be able to achieve 1 million units of irelyer sales.
In the history of the past, mp3 players first appeared in Japan and South Korea, and adopted a flash storage medium with very low capacity at that time. Not only is the price expensive, but the number of stored songs is not even as good as a box of traditional tapes. Compared with micro hard drives, it has not been popular for a long time. Apple's use of micro-hard disk manufacturing ipod due to the initial Jobs platform closure strategy, the same is not popular, until 2005, Jobs in Apple's all-high persuasion, promised ipod compatible indos system, mp3 player is completely realized on the traditional player Counter-attacks, and in that year, more than 22 million units of sales, this figure is more than twice the sales of Apple's previous closed platform.
In Eric's view, when the iPod opened the platform in 2005, it has already missed the golden age of mp3 players. As more and more mobile devices began to support music playback, mp3 players were quickly eliminated. At this time, irelyer can be said to be in one step, it uses a large-capacity micro-hard disk storage medium, and supports the indos platform from the beginning, even if the capacity and function and personal computer support are not as rich and convenient later, Eric Still very optimistic about the prospects of irelyer.
However, it turns out that the management of Eric and Firefly Electronics is still far from optimistic about the sales of irelyer's 1 million units this year.
After the press conference on April 2, irelyer officially started selling in the North American Best Buy chain and Amazon platform on April 5, and achieved a total sales of 25,000 units on the day of the sale. It is not how coincident this number is, but Because the major sales platforms have a stocking capacity of only 25,000 units, and less than four o'clock in the afternoon, the retail outlets across the United States have been sold out. The 5,000 irelyers of the Amazon online store were also swept away before the evening of the same day. air.
Fortunately, considering that irelyer experienced a pre-sales boom that may be ushered in after a multi-month publicity period, Firefly Electronics has reserved 100,000 players in advance, and in the evening, quickly added to the major warehouses located on the east and west coasts of the United States. In major chain stores, Firefly Electronics' assembly plant in San Francisco's monthly irelyer also began to release all production capacity, increasing monthly production to the limit of 150,000 units.
Although many media have used irelyer's first-day sales as a temporary phenomenon due to advertising and topical effects, when irelyer sold the fourth day, the cumulative sales exceeded 100,000 units, and the single-day sales did not decrease. At the time of the trend, everyone changed their minds and looked at irelyer, and some retailers have even begun to increase the sales price of irelyer.
In four days, 100,000 units sold, and the sales volume per day reached 25,000 units. According to this trend, even after a period of time, consumers are cooling the freshness of irelyer, but the total sales of irelyer in 1997 will definitely not be only 1 million units.
As a result, Sony and other traditional portable player manufacturers have begun to be completely calm. After all, even the best-selling alkman has a current annual sales volume of only 15 million units, with an average daily sales of less than 50,000 units. Moreover, this number is the world. The total sales volume of major consumer markets, if only the North American market, alkman's single-day sales face irelyer's horrible sales momentum in recent days, there is no advantage at all.
Therefore, on the day of the April 8th irelyer sales data exceeded 100,000 units, Sony Records could not wait to announce that it would file a lawsuit in the San Francisco federal court, irelyer will promote the spread of online pirated music, requesting that the irelyer player be banned. Production and sales.
The next day, on April 9, a Gulfstream v-type business jet landed at a small private airport on the outskirts of East Hampton, Long Island. Firefly electronic eo Victor McNealy and President Bill Olsen got off the plane. Boarded a black Bentley sedan greeted them.
In just a few days, two people can be described as busy, but the success is too fast and too strong. The two of them are also in a strong sense of excitement. irelyer achieved $30 million in sales in four days. Amount, even in the future, with the enthusiasm of consumers, the data will be halved. This year, the sales of irelyer will not be less than 3 million units, which means annual sales of 1 billion US dollars.
One billion dollars, for a start-up company, it is a miracle, and two people will also get very rich bonuses and options rewards. Of course, the basis of all this is that Firefly Electronics must expand its capacity as soon as possible. After all, Firefly Electronics' current San Francisco factory has a monthly output of only 150,000 units, which is simply unable to meet market demand.
In order to discuss new cooperation agreements with parts suppliers around the world, Victor McNealy and Bill Olson have already filled the agenda for the next week. However, Eric suddenly called them in the morning and asked the two to fly to New York to see him, and even sent a plane from the firefly to pick them up. Although Victor McNealy and Bill Olsen hope that something can be resolved through a conference call, Eric’s attitude is very firm, and they have to board the plane and come over.
Bentley sedans into East Hampton City, Victor McNealy is still not satisfied with Eric's arrangements, whispered: "Eric may want to discuss with us the lawsuit filed by Sony Records. I don't think this kind of worry is necessary at all. After all, according to a similar lawsuit filed by Sony's video recorders in the past, the federal court is likely to directly reject Sony's lawsuit and will not file a case."
There is a case law system in American law, which is based on the judgment cases of previous courts to form a basis for judging similar cases.
At that time, Sony's video recorders were sued by Disney and Universal for ten years of possible film and television copyrights, and ended up with Sony's victory. This time, the lawsuit that irelyer may face is almost exactly the same as the case of the Sony video recorder. According to the principle of case law, the federal court will basically dismiss the Sony record. I don't know if Sony executives realized that the basis for the dismissal of this lawsuit was precisely the power that the company had spent a long decade of ‘competing’. How would it feel?
Bill Olsen looked at the driver who drove in the front row. He was too familiar with Victor McNealy, who was not focused on technology research, so he didn’t complain with the other person. He just smiled. Laughing, looked at the block outside the window, suddenly remembered something, the driver of the car said: "Mr. Moen, is there any good gift shop nearby?"
Carter Moen glanced at Bill Olsen through the rearview mirror and said, "Of course, not far from the front."
Bill Olson said: "That time to stop."
"No problem," Carter Moen smiled and nodded.
Victor McNealy asked in confusion: "What are we going to at the gift shop?"
Bill Olsen had some helplessness with this straightforward but slightly lower emotional partner. He had to lift his foot and kick it on his lap, and he blinked and shut him up. When Eric was in San Francisco a few days ago, he accidentally mentioned that he had to come to East Hampton to give his two children a birthday. Eric did not avoid the fact that they already had children, which shows that he is right. The two children are still very close. Although I don't know if the birthdays of the two children have passed, but since they come, the empty hands are always out of court.
Carter Moen quickly parked his car outside a boutique shop in downtown East Hampton, and Bill Olsen took Victor McNealy and got off and picked two good birthday presents. Linhai Manor purchased by Eric in East Hampton.
As the car drove into the manor, Victor McNealy and Bill Olsen entered the villa with their Virginian, and the two soon discovered the fact that the manor had two mistresses, because The coffee they served was Joanna Pakula, who played the leading role in Tornado.
Eric is wearing a light-colored sweater and casual trousers at home, with two children around the age of four playing together in the corner of the living room, the strange style of painting with some inexplicable harmony. Looking at the two men coming in, Eric greeted the little boy in fact, and Victor McNealy and Bill Olson pretended to give a gift without knowing it, Eric thanked After that, he smiled and introduced the two: "This is my son, Kevin, this is summer and summer, my daughter."
Eric didn't introduce the two women too officially. Victor McNealy and Bill Olsen also felt a little relaxed. Then they smiled like two strange uncles and greeted the two little guys, the little boy. Some feared that the head would be transferred to the father's shoulder. The little girl with beautiful big eyes looked at them curiously, and did not respond to the greetings of the two, which made Victor McNealy and Bill Olsen. How awkward.
Everyone chilled a few words, and Eric got up and went to the study room with two people to talk about things.
When Virginia came over and wanted to take Kevin, Eric just shook his head and said to her: "I will come, in addition, Jeff Bezos will come over, you let him Wait a little."
After that, Eric walked up the stairs with Kevin. After seeing a small figure behind him, they followed a few of them. Eric said with a smile: "Baby, you can't come over."
Hawaii looked at Kevin, who was still in his arms, and blinked and said, "Dad is eccentric."
Although this sentence is complaining, Victor McNealy and Bill Olsen always feel that the tone of the little girl is a bit strange. If you use literary statements to describe it, it seems that the feelings are not full enough, and there are too many daughters missing. The emotion that the father should have when he spoiled.
But they did not dare to go deeper, look at each other and quietly follow Eric.
Eric did not hear her daughter’s complaints, just smiled and said: “Let’s stay in the living room, no mess.”
In the smirk of Joanna and Virginia, the little girl didn't make any noise when she saw her words. She stopped and looked at her father and took the two guests up the stairs. (To be continued.)