Mentioning the idea of jointly developing a mobile phone project was purely a spur-of-the-moment decision.

Su Yehao had more or less guessed it already.

The opening of an Apple retail store in Hong Kong alone wouldn't be worth Jobs making a special trip all the way here.

Looking around.

It seemed that the only thing in all of Hong Kong that could attract Jobs' attention was Su Yehao himself.

Therefore, he figured Jobs probably cared a lot about the so-called "Newton handheld computer" project, which was why he had come to visit today.

The purpose was self-evident: to gain support at the board meeting.

You should know that the personal computer business was Apple's main business. Although its market share was a bit low, it still had customers. The iMac G4 desktop computer launched last year sold well, and other shareholders had always hoped that Jobs would strike while the iron was hot and use the macOS system to grow bigger and stronger.

With Apple's financial strength in the past few years, when it was constantly teetering on the brink of bankruptcy, it was difficult to support several research and development projects at the same time.

And from Jobs's meaning, he obviously wanted to go a step further on the basis of the iPod portable music player and launch a product similar to the iPod Touch. Su Yehao had seen this thing. In his previous life, his college roommate used one. Except for the inability to make phone calls, use navigation, and cellular mobile data, it was almost the same as a mobile phone.

That's why Su Yehao thought about taking it a step further and directly persuading the other party to try launching a mobile phone project and make some preparations in advance.

The proposal for cooperation was too sudden. Jobs was stunned for a moment before asking, "Su, are you serious? If the two parties cooperate, in what way will it be conducted?"

Su Yehao didn't even think about it and replied decisively:

"This is not a small project. The investment will definitely be huge. If we can really achieve some results, we have the opportunity to become creators of a new era and successful leaders of trends. If we really want to do it, we should of course go all out and adopt a deep cooperation approach."

"For example, your Black Diamond mobile phone is responsible for funding, production, and sales, while Apple is responsible for the software part?" Jobs's mind worked quickly, and he instantly realized that there was indeed a possibility of cooperation between the two sides.

Su Yehao nodded:

"That's right. Apple's research and development department is also very powerful under your management, and they can provide some help. I hope to create a subsidiary that is not easily influenced by the board of directors. The board of directors often only holds us back, focusing only on immediate interests and ignoring the real gold mine. Technology is developing very fast. I have been paying attention to research on handheld computers and smartphones for some time."

These words really struck a chord with Jobs. Back then, he was driven out of the company by the board of directors. In a fit of anger, he even basically cleared out his Apple stock.

In recent years, Apple's performance has still not been particularly good. Even with the successful example of the iPod, some shareholders still do not recognize his new handheld computer plan, and feel that attention should continue to be focused on the personal computer business.

At this moment.

The more Jobs thought about it, the more he felt that with Su Yehao's funds and strength, coupled with Apple's system and software, they might really be able to create a groundbreaking new product.

In fact, in this era, the positioning of smartphones has gradually become clear. Nokia is ambitiously trying to promote the Symbian operating system to make mobile phones more interesting and add functions such as Internet access and photography.

In order to attract Jobs's attention and get his help, Su Yehao struck while the iron was hot and added:

"The smartphone I envision should have a color-rich, ultra-clear screen, eliminate most of the physical buttons, and use a multi-touch capacitive screen."

"It can easily access the Internet, send and receive emails, and have functions such as listening to music and taking photos. It can directly install the software from the computer into a small device, and connect to the Internet of Things anytime, anywhere through wireless networks and cellular mobile networks."

"Many key technologies have made some breakthroughs. It is very likely to completely defeat companies such as Nokia and Motorola, and allow us to succeed on a new track. Frankly speaking, even if you can't make up your mind, I will try..."

To Su Yehao's surprise.

Jobs didn't react much after hearing this, just a little surprised.

After thinking about it, Su Yehao guessed the reason.

It is estimated that in Jobs's handheld computer plan, he already had similar ideas. There are only so many technologies available on the market, and the development ideas are similar.

A multi-touch capacitive screen is indeed much better than many resistive screens on the market today.

Unfortunately, the technology is not yet mature enough, and the mass production cost is too expensive to be commercialized on a large scale. As long as you are willing to invest money in it, the possibility of making a breakthrough is relatively high.

Although it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision, judging from Apple's performance, now is indeed a pretty good time for cooperation. First, Apple is short of money, and second, it lacks new growth points.

As the company's largest shareholder, Su Yehao certainly knows that in Apple's research and development center, they are already designing a very beautiful iMac G5 desktop computer. While using a new LCD screen, they also plan to abandon the PowerPC processor jointly developed with IBM and Motorola, and purchase a new CPU from Intel. The laptop project has also begun.

The main reason for Apple's change is the emergence of immersion lithography technology.

The performance of the next-generation processor will be greatly increased. Now we are just waiting for ASML to mass produce it and send the immersion lithography machine to the production center of Hong Kong Microelectronics Group first.

If Apple continues to stick to the rules, the result will only be ruthlessly eliminated. Its strength does not allow it to invest huge amounts of money to develop a new processor that is not as good as directly purchasing from Intel.

Jobs took a deep breath and said, "Actually, my handheld computer is also preparing to adopt a design similar to your idea, but your vision is obviously more complete than mine. It should indeed be a new mobile phone! Maybe we can subdivide it and divide it into multiple products for different types of needs. This may be the future."

Finding that this person was a little tempted, Su Yehao asked Linda Yun to bring paper and pen, and drew the shape of the iPhone 4 according to his impression, and said with a firm tone:

"Maybe it will take many years from project establishment to launch, but I will make it happen. How about continuing to cooperate with me as Apple's CEO? With Apple's current funds, it is difficult to support such a project. In the future, people may call us the real fathers of smartphones."

Taking the paper and looking at it, Jobs found that it only had one round button, and the screen was painted with small grids, with English labels such as "Phone," "SMS," "Time," "Camera," and so on.

Seeing this picture, Jobs, who had been in business for so many years, couldn't help but feel a little excited.

In the dark, he felt that smartphones should be like this...