It must be said that Arnault's parties were quite something. Although there weren't many well-known supermodels among the girls in attendance, the models with some fame and unique looks were enough to dazzle the eyes.
After all, Paris is the fashion capital, and the Lagardère Group already owns well-known fashion magazines like ELLE, so there's no shortage of resources.
Just like Arnault's future second wife, she's a model.
The girl Baron brought back to the villa was named Camille Rome. She wasn't even 21 years old and was a model who had just started her career.
According to Camille, she was born in France, but later grew up in New York and California. She had just graduated and was discovered by an agency because of her good figure and looks, and she tried her hand at modeling.
In fact, Barron was not so interested in Camille Rome's story, and he did not recognize that this girl would become a supermodel and actress in the future. All he needed was for her to help him kill time in the evening...
"Your Highness, this is the revised development plan of Honor Electronics transferred from the Caesar Foundation..."
After leaving the villa and the girl named Camille, and getting on the Bentley Mulsanne bound for the airport, Wang Wanting took out a document from her bag and said to Barron.
"Let's not look at it for now. Just briefly explain, dear Laura."
"Honor Electronics hopes to adjust its development plan for the second half of the year. They believe that rushing to launch the Mate 1C model will undermine the Mate series' high-end image. Therefore, they suggest launching a mid-to-low-priced Android phone under the Dopod brand..."
That consideration doesn't make sense...
Barron's brow furrowed slightly, then gradually relaxed.
"Anything else?"
"Honor Electronics believes the most important thing right now is to launch an Android phone that supports 3G networks. Therefore, they hope to launch the Mate 1S in the second half of this year, in 8GB and 16GB versions, with 3G support..."
"Okay, let's do that..."
The Mate 1 has already sold over 500,000 units. At the current rate, it's not a problem for the Mate 1 to sell over 1.5 million units this year.
However, as Honor Electronics said, the lack of 3G support was one of the reasons why Barron's iPhone sales weren't so high in his previous life.
Although China won't officially launch its 3G network until April of next year, many countries around the world have already entered the 3G era. Japan was the first to commercialize 3G, followed by South Korea and most of Europe and the United States. According to
statistics, the number of 3G users worldwide has exceeded 500 million, making the launch of 3G-enabled phones essential.
3G networks will also enrich the Android app landscape, attracting more users.
Furthermore, 3G support will significantly lower the price of the Mate 1S. This is understandable: after building a 3G network, mobile operators naturally want to promote their 3G plans to attract more users, thereby maximizing their return on investment and potentially even generating a profit.
Therefore, Mate 1S contracts require a limited contract period, typically at least two years. Mobile operators then subsidize the contract, allowing users to sell the phone at a lower price. Users can even get the phone for free with certain fixed-term plans.
Honor Electronics has established two R&D centers outside of China. One is located in Lijiapo, a mobile phone chip R&D center established in partnership with Avago. The other is Honor Electronics' European branch in London, where they are collaborating with Huawei and ARM to develop next-generation 4G chips.
Speaking of which, Huawei entered the mobile phone industry in 2003. After the launch of the Android operating system, Huawei also joined the Android Alliance, also known as the Open Handset Alliance. However, their primary market is China, and China will not launch its 4G network until April of next year. Therefore, Huawei phones supporting the Android operating system will not be released until next year
. Upon Barron's return to London, he saw a news story in the newspaper...
Prince William and Catherine had reunited.
This didn't surprise him, as he had known they would reconcile soon since their breakup.
Of course, Barron had played a role in this. Besides doing his best to "comfort" Catherine, he also offered William several words of advice.
Thus, the prince and the future princess reconciled, a happy ending for all.
After returning home to reunite with his wife Bonnie and son George, the family went to the home of the Earl of Bute.
Chris, the Countess of Bute, was over nine months pregnant... nine months and two weeks, to be exact.
This meant that her baby boy—yes, it had already been confirmed that the Countess was expecting a boy this time—would be born soon.
This was the Countess's second "personal" pregnancy and childbirth, so naturally, she had more experience and wasn't as nervous as she had been when their daughter, Ethel, was born.
The three Bute children, all two or three years old—a boy and two girls, including Ethel—gathered around little George, teasing him curiously.
Meanwhile, Barron and his friends sat on the sofa on the other side of the room with the Butes, chatting casually.
"It seems the SEM Group's acquisition of Reuters isn't going well?"
Earl Bute said to Barron, placing the newspaper on the coffee table and removing his glasses.
"It's still a stalemate. Although Reuters prefers Thomson to SEM—you know, both in terms of post-merger scale and the synergy between the two businesses, Thomson is superior to SEM—this acquisition is blocked by antitrust scrutiny in both Britain and the United States. Although they're trying their best to get it approved, I'm afraid it won't be that easy..."
Earl Bute nodded, agreeing with Barron's opinion.
"If they merge with Thomson, they'll become the largest market owner among financial information providers, something Bloomberg absolutely cannot tolerate. As for the British side..."
He glanced at Barron and said with a smile,
"Even Your Highness, you wouldn't agree to this deal."
"So now we're at a stalemate... unless Reuters compromises with SEM,"
Barron said with a shrug and a smile.