I’m in Hollywood

San Francisco, Marriott Hotel.

Today is the day when the third-generation firefly player was released, and the hotel's largest ballroom was packed with guests and journalists from all quarters as it was last year.

However, after listening to the new product introduction by Victor McNally, CEO of Firefly Electronics, Larry Ellison, who was sitting beside Eric, clapped his hands perfunctorily, and came over and said indifferently. : So, that's all, Eric? More capacity, longer battery life, and an increase in sound quality that is hard for consumers to feel intuitively? Seriously, if I were you, after the conference, I would put The entire team responsible for new product development was fired.

Eric looked at Christina Aguilera, who stepped onto the stage to start the halftime performance, and said without turning his head: If I do this, Sony, Philips, and even Microsoft want to enter the field of digital music players. The company has to go crazy. Larry, wouldn't you be thinking that too?

Larry Ellison said dissatisfied: You guy, I'm worried about you. So many manufacturers are launching digital music players this year, but your team just came up with a generation of mediocre products that are nothing new. You Do you think Firefly Electronics can still maintain its own advantages?

Then give it a try, Eric said with a smile on his lips: Speaking of which, we have prepared a lawsuit fund of 100 million US dollars, and we are waiting for a lively lawsuit with everyone.

I think you're going to be outraged, Larry Ellison grinned and suddenly realized something, looked at his watch, and found that if it ended like this, the time of this conference would be too short, So he leaned over again and whispered: Eric, there is a surprise, right?

Eric shrugged: Guess what?

Speaking of which, the just-released third-generation firefly player is indeed just another hardware and software upgrade on the basis of the previous two generations, and there is nothing that can make people's eyes shine. No wonder Larry Ellison will Disappointed, and by and large other reporters and guests at the scene felt the same way.

However, this is definitely not because the R\u0026D team of Firefly Electronics lacks innovation.

In fact, because Eric, the strong boss, is always watching, it is impossible for the Firefly Electronics R\u0026D team to slack off, and there are quite a few new product ideas that come out every year.

If necessary, Firefly Electronics can launch products such as refreshing full touch-screen firefly players or smaller button-type firefly players using flash storage media at any time.

It's just that Eric didn't want to expand Firefly's product line too eagerly, and came up with a lot of digital music players with different styles and prices but with little difference in function. Because this will only make consumers difficult to choose, and then instinctively tend to lower-priced styles, which will lower the average selling price and overall profit of Firefly's electronic products.

Moreover, Eric and the management of Firefly Electronics agreed that the company's most important task at present is to further improve the surrounding ecological services such as digital music stores and user payment systems related to firefly players. This is the only way to maintain the firefly player market. Advantages The most powerful 'moat'.

As long as users can obtain music content with far more convenience than other products of the same type, even if Firefly Electronics is forced to further license the related patented technologies of mp3 players under anti-monopoly pressure in the future,

It is also difficult for competitors to threaten the market position of Firefly Electronics.

After Christina's performance, Tina Brown stepped onto the stage, and under the doubtful and anticipatory gazes of the guests, she officially began to introduce the mini music store plan jointly promoted by Firefly Electronics and Yahoo.

When the prototype picture of the mini music store appeared on the live big screen, Tina Brown hadn't even officially started the function introduction, and there was already a clear commotion.

After all, most people can easily guess the purpose of this machine based on its appearance.

Later, when Tina Brown began to demonstrate the operation of the full touch screen, many keen-eyed media reporters had already begun to secretly spread the news.

Larry Ellison simply listened to Tina Brown's introduction, and then brought a furry face over again with a tentative tone: Eric, is this machine's operating system customized by Microsoft?

Eric was a little surprised that Larry Ellison would grasp the most crucial point in such a short period of time and said again: Guess what?

Larry Ellison confirmed his judgment from Eric's expression, grinned and patted his shoulder, then gave a thumbs up: Good job.

Eric smiled and didn't deliberately say a few words to cover up.

It is well known that Larry Ellison dislikes Microsoft. When he saw a brand new operating system appearing on the Firefly Electronic Mini Music Store, he naturally thought that Eric was planning to challenge the market position of Microsoft's windows operating system. How not to get excited.

If the time is pushed back five years, Eric may have this idea, but now, with the release of Windows 98, Microsoft's dominance in the field of PC operating systems has been unshakable, and Eric naturally has no intention to do it. This doomed attempt, his eyes have been closely fixed on the field of future mobile operating systems.

The firefly electronic mini music store brought surprises to the conference far more than the third-generation firefly player, which should have received the most attention, and the new-generation m-200 music phone released by Nokia at the same time.

At the end of the conference, the Internet media and the evening news of the day began to flood the news about the Firefly electronic mini-music store. Some media also made the same guess as Larry Ellison, and then many people called Firefly. Electronics and Yahoo executives were testing, and even Microsoft couldn't sit still. The door classmates endured it until the next day, or dialed the phone and tested it around the corner.

However, the buzz about the mini-music store didn't make Firefly and Yahoo executives too excited.

Eric came to San Francisco from Los Angeles at noon. The press conference started at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and ended at 4 o'clock in the afternoon. Most of the reporters and guests who will stay are looking forward to the reception tonight. Eric and Firefly Electronics, Yahoo! And high-level companies such as Nokia had to rush to the headquarters of Firefly Electronics for a meeting.

A large part of the shareholders and executives of Seagram Group are full of doubts about the cooperation between Universal Music and Firefly Electronics. The company's total debt of 12 billion US dollars also makes them have to be cautious about the demands of creditors. The other party terminated Negotiations with us also make sense. Now that Universal, Warner, and Sony have all been ruled out, we only have two options, EMI and BMG.

In the conference room, Eric listened to Bill Olson's introduction to the current situation, while flipping through the materials in front of him.

A few days ago, Eric was also surprised to hear that Universal Music refused to continue licensing negotiations. To this end, he hurried back to Los Angeles from the East Coast, met with Edgar Bronfman again, and increased the loan amount he promised to Seagram Group to $1.5 billion. That's the highest overweight Eric was willing to give, and Edgar Bronfman probably expected it too. However, Edgar Bronfman still did not let go.

It is conceivable that the capital forces that obstructed the cooperation between Firefly Electronics and Universal Music behind the scenes have made full preparations.

Warner Records and Sony Records were excluded from the beginning, and now, without Universal Music, the most high-quality potential partner, Firefly Electronics has only two European record companies, EMI and BMG, to fight for.

After Bill Olson finished, Tina Brown said: The decline of the record industry is still going on, I think, whether it is Universal Music, Warner Music or Sony Records, sooner or later, they must consider the transition to digital music players. question.

The key is that we don't have time to wait for them to take the initiative to transform now, and the company needs to complete the content layout as soon as possible.

Perhaps, we can target more small and medium-sized record companies. Although the strength of the five major records is very strong, these small and medium-sized record companies are also very rich in content.

The best singers and records are in the hands of the top five records. We collect 100 records from small companies, and they may not be worth the influence of one record from the top five singers.

The Backstreet Boys and Spice Girls of Firefly Records have been able to bring enough influence to digital music stores. What we need to do now is to give users more choices in content.

...

Eric's audience discussed for a while, raised their heads, and asked Bill Olson, who was sitting diagonally across from the conference table: Bill, what are the reactions of the two companies in Europe, or do you think these two, which? Is it easier for a family to win?

Bill Olsen said with a wry smile: EMI and bmg have a colder attitude towards digital music sales licensing than before Universal, and they should have had private contacts. Obviously, an offensive and defensive alliance has been formed, and we can only fight for them at the same time. Both, or, give up at the same time.

There was silence in the conference room.

After a moment, Victor McNally said: Eric, actually, the solution to this has always been simple. The major labels are basically just trying to get a piece of the pie from digital music players. So, you just need to agree to transfer a part of Firefly's shares, and the situation we are facing now will be solved.

The pencil in Eric's hand turned around between his fingers, shook his head slightly, and said, Victor, this is not easy at all.

Eric, I understand that you have great expectations for Firefly Electronics. We have no shortage of funds, and our performance growth is also very strong. These are our advantages. But we also have to face up to our weaknesses, and we need partners. And even if you think this company will be worth $100 billion, or even $200 billion in the future, we have to act on Firefly's $30 billion valuation and reach right now, that's the reality.

However, everyone should be clear that the products of Firefly Electronics are definitely more than just firefly players.

Jeff Kleber, the vice president of Firefly's electronic supply chain who was transferred from Nokia, raised his hand to attract everyone's attention, then looked at Eric and said, Eric, what do you mean? Are you saying that the firefly player is actually not the most important thing for Firefly Electronics, I remember you have expressed a similar point of view before.

Eric nodded and said, Although the firefly player is currently almost the entire profit source of Firefly Electronics, just like the cassette tape recorder and the md player that will be eliminated before it is fully promoted, this product In the next five to ten years, it is likely to be replaced by new portable music players, such as mobile phones.

Then, Eric, I have a solution, Jeff Kleber said: We could spin off the firefly player business, create a separate subsidiary, and then use that subsidiary's name. Seek external partners we need. In this way, other potential business units of Firefly Electronics will not be disturbed. Even, if it is true as you said, firefly players are destined to be eliminated, and we can even put this at the highest point. The business takes off, of course, if you're willing to sell.

In the conference room, when they heard Jeff Kleber's words, everyone's eyes lit up, and Eric's fingers that turned the pencil also stopped.

In fact, as long as the firefly player can be quickly promoted, Eric doesn't mind sharing part of the profits with several major record companies. However, Eric was very resistant to the record company's intention to directly invest in Firefly Electronics.

For him who can clearly see the future, the arm company owned by Firefly Electronics and a number of technical teams related to tablets and smartphones are the company's most valuable assets. The firefly player is very important to Firefly Electronics. Say, more of a transition product.

Jeff Kleber's suggestion also gave Eric a sense of clarity.

Spinning off the firefly player business separately and setting up a subsidiary can not only solve the current dilemma faced by Firefly Electronics, but also enable the firefly player to be listed separately for operation.

After all, although Henry Paulson’s remarks at the Hearst’s party were unrealistic, one thing was true. The executives and employees who held shares of Firefly Electronics hoped that the company could go public in order to obtain More generous returns, this kind of appeal is understandable to anyone.

Slowly using a pencil to draw a circle on the information in front of him, Eric considered it for a moment, then clicked on the center of the circle with a pen, without any sloppiness, looked up at the crowd, and said decisively: Then, let's do this. , Now, let's discuss how to implement it.

Inside the Ballroom of the Marriott Hotel.

It was already nine o'clock in the evening. Although the banquet hall was crowded with people and seemed very lively, there was still an inexplicable atmosphere in the crowd.

Because, until now, several core executives of Firefly Electronics as the host have not shown up, and only one manager of the public relations department of Firefly Electronics has come forward to preside over the opening of the reception.

In order to entertain guests from all walks of life, the banquet hosted by Firefly Electronics was very attentive and the details were impeccable. The guests did not have much dissatisfaction, but they were more and more curious in their hearts. Many people They looked at the entrance of the banquet hall more than once, expecting the appearance of the senior executives of Firefly Electronics.

Some media reporters at the party even hid in the corner and began to contact the outside world, trying to find out what happened.

After more than half an hour, at the entrance of the banquet hall, the figures that everyone was looking forward to finally appeared, and the guests who couldn't stand it all gathered around.

Eric was behind the crowd for a while before entering the banquet hall. At this time, Victor McNairy and others had attracted the attention of most people. However, when Eric entered the banquet hall, he was immediately caught by Larry. Ellison caught: Eric, tell me what happened, I almost called the police if you didn't show up?