"Apple..." The old man's expression was somewhat grim. If there was anyone in the US who could make the elder feel uneasy, it was likely people from Morgan or Rockefeller.
People often say the US is a country of three branches of government, and that's not entirely wrong, because behind the US are the "big four": the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Morgans, and the House of Windsor.
Goldman Sachs, in essence, is a banking group, and one-third of the world's investment banks are controlled by the Rothschild family. Thus, Goldman Sachs is essentially a part of the US's three branches of government, and it is quite helpless against the other two.
Of course, there is also a tacit understanding between the parties: open and fair commercial competition is acceptable, but resorting to underhanded tactics behind the scenes is not allowed. If they must play dirty, they have to be discreet, otherwise, the other two will join forces to teach them a lesson.
And behind Apple is the influence of Morgan, so Apple also has backing.
In fact, the shadows of these three groups can be found behind all large enterprises in the US. No company can escape them, because without the involvement of these three, these companies would essentially be unable to survive in the US.
These enterprises will find ways to extend their reach.
However, Walmart is an exception. Walmart itself has the hands of both Goldman Sachs and Rockefeller involved behind it. But Old Walton was an extraordinary person; under his control, through various means, he successfully broke free from the control of these two families and independently became the fourth pole of the US.
It is said that within 100 years, the Walton family will be the super-financier family in the US, second only to the Rockefeller and Morgan families.
Ahem, I've digressed a bit. So when the old man discovered that Apple was also going to join the smartphone industry, which he considered his exclusive domain, he found it quite troublesome.
"Can we release the smartphones before Apple?" the old man asked, frowning.
"I have already consulted Mr. Page about this matter. He stated that the development work for Android is basically complete, and Google smartphones can be mass-produced at any time. However, there is another issue..."
"What issue?" The old man waved his hand, speaking domineeringly, "Forget it. It's definitely a money issue. You personally handle this matter. No matter how much money and resources it takes, ensure the problem is resolved!"
"Sir..." The secretary's expression was very awkward, but he still had to brace himself and say, "This problem is likely not something money can solve, at least not in the short term."
"There's such a problem?" The old man was very surprised, then curiously said, "Then tell me, what exactly is the problem?"
"It's a mass-production issue!" the secretary said with a wry smile. "Mr. Page indicated that Google's technical personnel discovered that if the Android-developed phones are to be mass-produced, almost all the parts are non-standard electronic components, and these components can currently only be purchased from Jiangnan Group. These parts cannot be obtained anywhere else!"
"There's such a thing?" The old man was stunned. "Can't our US produce these parts? Has our technology been completely surpassed by the Chinese?"
"No, it's not like that. We have these technologies domestically, and in fact, most of them were invented by us. But the problem is that we cannot produce these products domestically. The factories capable of producing these products are all concentrated in China and have joined the China International Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance. We can't find any manufacturers domestically, so we can only purchase them from China!" the secretary said.
"And because Apple also holds hundreds of key patents required for smartphones, if we want to circumvent these patents to produce smartphones, we must use the parts specifically designed for smartphones. The design, from blueprints to production lines, for these parts is also entirely in the hands of Jiangnan Group."
"Our technical personnel further discovered that these parts are designed in a very tricky way, with many areas requiring unique processing techniques. This means that these parts can only be produced by Jiangnan Group. If we want to mass-produce smartphones, we can only go through Jiangnan Group."
"Otherwise, we would have to change all the production designs and start over to design and produce a smartphone. This would take at least 2-3 years to complete, and mass production would likely not be possible until 2010 at the earliest," the secretary said.
The old man's mouth opened, and then he suddenly became furious, "Why wasn't this situation reported earlier? How do we only find out such crucial information now? What have you all been doing!"
"Sir, we had no idea about this situation before. Andy Rubin never told us this information from beginning to end. He only said that all the technical patents were in his hands, but he never told us that all the parts and equipment needed for development were manufactured by Jiangnan Group. His company was merely assembling these parts!"
"Our people have already interrogated Andy Rubin in prison. He said that the reason he chose to conceal this was mainly because he feared that we would refuse to cooperate with him if he revealed this matter."
"Also, he believed that this matter was not that important. He thought there couldn't possibly be parts and equipment that the US couldn't produce. He thought as long as he could get our investment, he could get these parts custom-produced from other countries. He never considered the situation of our domestic inability to produce them."
"..." The old man fell silent. Well, he also hadn't considered such a situation.
"Not a single one?" the old man asked somewhat unwillingly.
"None!" the secretary shook his head. "Except for some small workshop-style manufacturers, we can no longer find any American companies capable of mass-producing these parts. After all, their production costs are too high, and the prices are too expensive. Compared to the prices in China, they have no competitiveness at all."
"Yes, the cost is too high!" the old man muttered, then recalled a lot of work he had personally overseen, such as building numerous factories in Southeast Asia and transferring all his company's production lines. These were all personally supervised by the old man, helping Goldman Sachs and its subsidiaries achieve enormous profits.
Unknowingly, Goldman Sachs faced the same problem as Apple. Moreover, it can be said that Goldman Sachs' situation was actually more serious than Apple's.
Although Apple's 80% parts demand came from the China International Electronic Technology Industry Development Alliance, most of them were public version parts, which many manufacturers could produce.
At the same time, although Jiangnan Group was the controller of the alliance, out of consideration for the stability of the entire alliance, it could not order member units of the alliance to refuse a large order. Therefore, apart from some parts that could only be produced by Jiangnan Group itself, Apple actually had no supply concerns.
Even if they really fell out with Jiangnan Group, they could find alternative manufacturers to solve the problem within about a year by gritting their teeth.
However, the situation with Goldman Sachs was much more serious. Because the Android phones they stole had all their parts design work completed by Jiangnan Group, they could not bypass Jiangnan Group at all, unless they overturned all the designs and started anew. But this was not Goldman Sachs' forte. When had these financial elites ever seriously engaged in industrial production? They couldn't handle such things.
In fact, the entire phone was currently being handled by Google. But Google was only slightly better than Goldman Sachs today. After all, Google's main business was still software and programs. As for Google's expertise in hardware development, that would have to wait for another ten years.
However, the old man was the old man after all. If direct production was not feasible, then they could use less direct methods.
The old man's eyes rolled, and then he squinted and said, "In fact, the current Jiangnan Group does not know that all their technology and patents are in our hands. They still think the Android phone is theirs."
"In that case, why don't we let them produce their Android smartphones themselves, and then have them deliver them to the US themselves!" The old man's smile reappeared. "We can have Jiangnan produce our phones and deliver them to the US. If we present our patents at this time, what do you think will happen to this batch of phones from Jiangnan Group?"
"They will be directly seized! Seized indefinitely! Or directly as compensation for infringing our patents, they will be directly compensated to us!" the secretary said with a smile. "But sir, Jiangnan Group will not ship too many smartphones at once, at most a few hundred thousand units. This is probably not enough for our market demand, and Jiangnan Group will not be fooled a second time."
"Then let them send a lot more at once, a million units, and at the same time, you let Google redesign all the smartphones. When the second-generation smartphones are released, Jiangnan Group will no longer be involved!" The old man said happily. This solved another major problem in his mind, which made him very happy.
That evening, Hao Jianguo received a message from the old man, asking the Android company he controlled to inform the Jiangnan headquarters that the smartphones had been fully developed and could be mass-produced and sold. At the same time, they were to find a way for Jiangnan Group to transport over a million smartphones into the US market at once, so that Goldman Sachs could directly seize them.
Seeing this request, Hao Jianguo's fingers trembled slightly, and then he picked up the phone. Following Goldman Sachs' orders, he reported to Huang He that all design and development work for the Android smartphones had been completed. He also revealed that Apple's smartphones might be completed in early 2007, and hoped that headquarters could accelerate mass production and release them before Apple.
"Alas, Jianguo, you might have to wait a bit longer!" To his surprise, Huang He was not happy upon hearing this news, but said somewhat dejectedly, "Let's put the smartphone matter aside for now. The company is temporarily unable to arrange further matters for the smartphones!"
"Boss, what happened?" Hao Jianguo asked quickly.
"It's not a big deal. It's just that the company's main efforts and funds are focused on the company's vacuum high-speed rail project, so it's unlikely we can focus on the smartphone project in the short term. Moreover, the company is unable to open up new fronts!" Huang He said helplessly.