The cat-and-mouse game had been going on for about half a year. Although Apple's personal terminal sales were not optimistic, they had at least managed to secure a portion of the market.
Furthermore, another development occurred: relevant agencies in the United States introduced a new policy stipulating that third-party application development companies could not develop applications for unauthorized personal terminal products.
This directly compelled domestic third-party application companies in the United States to develop programs for Apple terminals. For a time, Apple terminals became quite lively, with various third-party applications constantly emerging, making it seem as though everything would improve.
Then, Jiangnan Group held its new product launch conference for the year.
After Jiangnan Group held its first personal terminal product launch conference in 2006, an annual product launch conference became a hallmark of the company and one of the events eagerly covered by major global media outlets.
This was because Jiangnan Group consistently innovated at its new product launch conferences, always presenting surprising new products, designs, and functionalities.
Leaving 2006 aside, Jiangnan Group introduced a photography beautification feature at its 2007 new product launch conference.
At the 2008 new product launch conference, the fingerprint unlock feature was introduced.
In the 2009 press conference, the intelligent voice function was launched.
2010 saw the introduction of the full-screen design.
2011 introduced the bone conduction voice design.
2012 saw the launch of retractable front camera technology.
2013 introduced under-screen fingerprint unlock technology.
2014 featured the introduction of facial recognition technology.
2015 marked the introduction of wireless charging technology.
2016 introduced long-range wireless charging technology.
2017 saw the introduction of enhanced VR technology.
2018 featured the introduction of replaceable battery technology.
2019 introduced all-domain intelligent recognition technology.
2020 introduced liquid glass technology.
2021 launched full keyboard projection technology.
2022 introduced the all-transparent glass display technology [Exploration Edition].
2023 saw the introduction of satellite network technology.
2024 introduced all-frame flickering technology.
2025 featured the introduction of 3D scanning technology.
2026 launched all-voice timed translation technology.
2027 introduced ultrasonic ranging technology.
2028 featured the introduction of infrared ultra-long-range remote control technology.
2029 introduced vehicle-integrated control console technology.
2030 launched virtual synthesis technology.
2031 introduced hyper-concentrated fast-charging battery technology.
And now, in 2032, Jiangnan Group was naturally expected to introduce new technology, a consistent feature of Jiangnan Group's conferences each year.
Thus, over the years, countless users and media outlets have criticized Jiangnan Group for deliberately releasing technologies, many of which proved to be useless after their introduction.
For example, the replaceable battery technology launched in 2018 was a classic case of doing something completely unnecessary.
The all-domain intelligent recognition technology launched the following year, simply put, was image recognition that could automatically identify various information about objects captured in a photo. This technology was controversial upon its release because many AI intelligent software already possessed this capability, rendering Jiangnan Group's introduction of it redundant.
However, reality proved that Jiangnan Group's technology was incredibly powerful; generally, if you took a photo, there was nothing it couldn't recognize.
Moreover, beyond recognizing objects in photos, it could also help you unlock many more functions.
For instance, if you took a photo of an old vinyl record, it could instantly open a second-hand trading website and precisely locate trading information for the record you photographed. If you wished, you could directly purchase the record with a single click.
Alternatively, if you took a photo of a character from a game requiring in-game purchases, it could immediately jump to the game's official website and ask if you wanted to download it immediately.
And if you took a photo of a character obtained through gacha mechanics in a game that required spending money, it could immediately open the corresponding game, navigate to the draw screen, and ask if you wanted to spend another 648 yuan. In short, it was extremely user-friendly, leading many people to be hesitant about randomly taking photos of objects for fear of accidentally initiating a purchase.
Of course, in addition to some truly nonsensical innovations, Jiangnan Group's press conferences also featured many groundbreaking technologies that continue to influence the development of personal terminals.
Take, for example, the full-screen design, which remains a standard feature on all personal terminals, and the all-transparent glass display screen introduced in 2022.
When idle, this terminal appeared like a transparent glass display case containing various electronic components. However, upon unlocking, the front screen illuminated, and the glass instantly transformed into the phone's display screen, offering an incredibly cool visual experience.
Unfortunately, this feature was only implemented in the exploration edition, which retailed for a staggering 2 million RMB per unit. Only 999 units were released globally, and they all sold out within a day. Currently, purchasing a used unit commands a price of around 8 million RMB.
What users found most useful, however, was the ultrasonic ranging technology. This technology allowed users to measure the actual distance between themselves and any location, as well as the actual length, height, and width of any object.
After iteration, its accuracy reached an astonishing 0.01 millimeters, effectively rendering measuring tools like rulers obsolete.
Because of this, each year saw the birth of either cool or useless technologies, making Jiangnan Group's press conferences a classic source of entertainment for countless netizens.
Some companies in the Netherlands even launched dedicated betting websites where you could wager on whether Jiangnan Group's technology of the year would be useful or not.
The final result would be determined by the scores of 300 professional judges, and the winners would split all the staked funds, with the company taking a 30% service fee, which was considered reasonable.
Furthermore, due to this profit model based on commissions, these companies had no incentive to falsify results to protect their interests, ensuring the final outcomes were objective and truthful, which users readily accepted.
This game was also known as the Red and Black game and was one of the eagerly anticipated annual events for many electronics enthusiasts.
The hyper-concentrated fast-charging battery technology launched last year was rated "Red" because it increased the terminal's battery life from 9 hours of full usage to 26 hours, nearly tripling the battery performance. This allowed many users to go over 10 days without charging, and even those who frequently played games could recharge only once every two days, earning it universal praise from users.
And now, everyone's anticipation and curiosity for Jiangnan Group's new technology this year were reignited.
Then, amidst the widespread anticipation, Jiangnan Group unveiled its holographic projection technology.
There was no need to elaborate on the technology itself. Once Jiangnan Group's Marketing Director completed the product introduction, the entire live stream screen was filled with red bullet comments.
This was a characteristic of Jiangnan Group's conference live streams: viewers often immediately used red or black bullet comments to express their level of endorsement for a new technology.
Red indicated that they believed the technology to be useful, while black signified that Jiangnan Group had released the technology as a joke.
Today, the entire live stream screen was almost entirely filled with red, fully demonstrating the attitude of almost all viewers – this new technology was simply too cool.
After all, who could resist having their phone project their wife directly onto their palm?
Moreover, intelligent AI technology had developed to an extreme degree, with various intelligent AI virtual humans appearing everywhere.
These virtual humans were not like the so-called functional AIs on Earth that merely had pre-set responses and actions, even marrying their fans. These virtual humans possessed their own virtual personalities and automatic motion performance technologies, making them super AIs.
Although achieving the same reactions as real humans was impossible, and some template-like traces were still evident, they could accompany you almost like real people and help you unlock many functions.
Furthermore, this technology was extremely useful for shopping and inspecting samples. Most importantly, the technology was sufficiently cool to serve as the best way to show off.
What's more, when Jiangnan Group began demonstrating the effect of this projection technology in a room during the latter half of the launch conference, it shocked virtually all eyes present at the venue and watching the live stream.
Especially when they saw an empty room instantly transform into a beautiful girl's boudoir, and the girl was casually performing various innocent, yet incredibly suggestive, actions within the boudoir, everyone was overcome with emotion.
Of course, in addition to a girlish version, a boyish version was also played at the venue.
After all, the current global trends were quite significant, and Jiangnan Group was the first company globally to ensure that all materials were offered in both male and female versions. Consequently, Jiangnan Group enjoyed a decent reputation among those communities.
Moreover, by the end, Jiangnan Group directly transformed the entire press conference venue into a darkened cinema, with 186 projectors working simultaneously to turn the previously black space into the Place de l'Arc de Triomphe in France. The audience at the venue could look up and see the sun at noon.
The frenzy and excitement that permeated the entire conference venue at that moment were palpable.