The board of directors fell into silence, finding themselves without a suitable course of action.
Collaborating with Jiangnan Group meant an unwillingness to be treated and controlled by them any longer.
However, going it alone seemed to involve higher costs and a less robust foundation compared to Jiangnan Group. The entire board felt cornered. In the end, the board decided to wait and see how other mobile phone manufacturers would choose, and then react accordingly.
This was a non-decision, and Ackerman didn't know how to respond. Regardless, a mobile phone could still be sold without the 00 Game Center. They would just have to wait and see.
Unfortunately, the situation would not improve simply by their waiting; often, changes seemed to be for the worse.
They might disagree, but other companies would agree.
Three days later, Atari held another press conference, announcing cooperation agreements with twelve mobile phone companies, including Sony Ericsson and LG. In the future, all mobile phones launched by these twelve companies would come pre-installed with the 00 Game Center platform.
Concurrently, some of these companies also released modification tools. By connecting their phones to a computer, users could utilize these tools to install the 00 Game Center on their already purchased phones.
Of course, this was only possible on certain latest phone models; older models could not use these modification tools.
The news sent shockwaves across the entire network. People outside the industry had never expected Jiangnan Group to give up the 00 Game Center.
They had assumed Atari would be the exclusive means for Tianxing Phones to promote itself. They never imagined Jiangnan Group would be so decisive in pushing the 00 Game platform to mobile phone manufacturers.
At the press conference, a representative from Jiangnan Group also made a promise, stating that the platform would not charge any fees, offering free licensing. Furthermore, mobile phone companies could receive revenue sharing from the platform.
At the same time, the 00 Game platform once again extended an invitation to all game developers, encouraging them to list their games for sale on the 00 mobile game platform. While they might not receive the previous 70% revenue share due to the involvement of mobile phone manufacturers, a 50% net profit was still achievable.
In addition, the representative for the 00 Game platform announced that in addition to the classic Atari games released in the first batch, they had officially partnered with Blizzard Entertainment, Jiangnan Game Studio, Epic Games Studio, and Shanghai Softstar Game Studio to release new paid titles on the 00 Game platform.
Blizzard Entertainment would launch a new turn-based strategy game called "Warcraft Chess." Jiangnan Game Studio would release a dodging game called "Crazy Birds." Epic Games Studio would launch the shooter "War Machine," and Softstar would port "The Legend of Sword and Fairy" 1 to mobile, with an added new ending for this version.
Furthermore, representatives from the 00 Game platform and Epic Games Studio unveiled a software called "00 Unreal" at the conference. While it sounded like a game, it was actually a mobile game development engine specifically designed for mainstream mobile operating systems.
It boasted ease of use, simplified coding, a vast library of free and open-source game data, and perfect compatibility with the 00 Game platform. According to the representative, even an average programmer with only one year of coding experience could use this program to independently create a simple mobile game.
Of course, given the current performance limitations of mobile systems, which primarily supported pixel-level games, the difficulty of the 00 Unreal mobile game editor was naturally not expected to be too high.
Notably, 00 Unreal had also prepared a new programming language called "Star Language" and a programming tutorial for users with no prior programming experience. This new programming language was reportedly very simple. By self-studying with the tutorial for a week, one could directly engage in game development, drastically reducing the barrier to entry for creating games.
However, to the surprise of most reporters at the press conference, this incredibly powerful programming language was entirely programmed in Chinese. It was said that the prerequisite for mastering Star Language was a proficient command of the Chinese language.
"How is this the easiest programming language in the world? I think it's clearly the most difficult!" one reporter bluntly commented, though it seemed to be the honest truth.
Indeed, for programmers who did not understand Chinese at all, Star Language was undoubtedly the most difficult programming language in the world.
Consequently, this new programming language, heavily lauded as revolutionary, received little attention from the global media. However, Chinese media treated it like a treasure, reporting on it extensively.
After all, it was a programming language entirely in Chinese. While Yi Language existed before, its popularity was low and it lacked significant promotion.
But with Star Language developed by Jiangnan Group, it was a completely different story. Hype-generating media articles flooded in, and in a flash, Star Language was proclaimed the mainstream programming language destined to replace C language in the future.
Of course, these reporters were merely exaggerating to receive travel expenses from Jiangnan Group. Some self-proclaimed intellectuals amplified the hype even further.
Their motivation wasn't genuine realization or being bribed by Boss Huang, but rather a clear understanding that Star Language could never replace C language. Its ultimate fate, like Yi Language, would be to remain a niche pursuit, ultimately becoming an ignored relic.
Therefore, the higher they hyped Star Language now, the greater Jiangnan Group's eventual fall would be, and the more satisfaction they would derive from their cynical commentary. They were truly masters of passive aggression.
Naturally, no one knew what the future held, but time would tell.
Finally, the representative from Jiangnan Group announced a crucial piece of information: the Tianxing 5 mobile phone would be the last in the Tianxing series and the final mobile phone produced by Jiangnan Group. Henceforth, Jiangnan Group would cease to manufacture mobile phones.
Upon hearing this, everyone present, including reporters and representatives from other mobile phone companies, was utterly stunned. They had never anticipated that Jiangnan Group would announce such a move. They were essentially abandoning the entire mobile phone industry, voluntarily giving away what they had previously struggled to prevent from succeeding.
Was this real or fake?
Many in the audience rubbed their eyes and ears, convinced they had misheard. A reporter then stepped forward with a microphone and asked, "Sir, can you confirm the veracity of your statement? Will Jiangnan Group never again produce new mobile phones or enter the mobile phone industry?"
"Yes!" the representative from Jiangnan Group replied without hesitation, speaking with conviction. "Everything I have said is true, and it has been unanimously confirmed by everyone at Jiangnan Group. If Jiangnan Group violates what we have said today in the future, we are even willing to bear legal responsibility!"
While the previous statement could have been reinterpreted or retracted, the Jiangnan Group representative's willingness to bear legal responsibility elevated the commitment to an irrefutable level, making a reversal practically impossible.
After all, these words were spoken in front of a global assembly of journalists.
"Sir, why is Jiangnan Group abandoning the mobile phone industry? As far as we know, the current mobile phone industry is thriving, with the market growing exponentially each year. It is a flourishing sector. Why would Jiangnan Group wish to abandon such a market?" another reporter inquired with confusion.
"That is because you are only seeing the surface. The prosperity of the mobile phone industry is temporary; it will all disappear rapidly in the future. Our professionals have predicted and analyzed that within a maximum of 15 years, all mobile phones currently on the market will vanish entirely, and devices solely used for making calls will also disappear."
"This is because the technological content of mobile phones is too low and too simplistic to meet users' growing needs or to adapt to the rapid advancements in network development. Therefore, we firmly believe that mobile phones will inevitably disappear because they are destined to be obsolete by the times. Jiangnan Group has decided to be at the forefront, leaving this soon-to-decline market to seek a new device that will truly change the world!"
"Wow! This guy dares to say that all mobile phones will disappear in the future!" The statement made by the Jiangnan Group representative once again shocked everyone. If Jiangnan Group announcing its withdrawal from the mobile phone industry was merely an acceptable strategic adjustment with its own reasons, not overly surprising, then directly predicting the demise of mobile phones was completely outlandish. After all, even a fool could see that the mobile phone industry was destined for explosive growth, possibly leading to an era where everyone owned a mobile phone. How could they simply disappear?
Of course, many were curious about the new device mentioned by the representative. Thus, a reporter immediately asked, "A new device? Could you please tell us what kind of new device it is? Is Jiangnan Group already conducting research and development for this device, and perhaps even has a prototype?"
"Well, that is a top-secret matter for our company, and we are not in a position to disclose more information at this time. However, I can tell you that the abbreviation for our device is: pt."