After a few days of rest, Ge Mengshi returned to work as usual.
At Chen Pingjiang's insistence, she moved back to her parents' home, while he only planned to visit her after finishing his tasks at hand and finding some free time.
What was the important matter?
Naturally, it was the iPhone 4 launch event.
Too many people came to know Apple phones and became loyal Apple fans starting from this mobile phone launch event.
It was also this launch event that made Steve Jobs himself famous domestically, placing Apple on the throne.
From January to October 2009, in just 10 months, Apple's stock price rose by 236%, which was a miracle for any company, and this was precisely Steve Jobs' brilliance.
Moreover, Steve Jobs did not go to work at Apple for a long period during this time, as he was busy seeking a liver transplant operation.
This wave of Apple's stock price increase also made Chen Pingjiang a fortune, with profits close to a small goal of 1 million US dollars.
Reducing holdings was out of the question; instead, they had to continue increasing their value.
Limited by factors such as patents and production capacity, Orange Phone was temporarily unable to be sold overseas, but Apple could.
As Apple's stock price rose, Chen Pingjiang also benefited handsomely.
"I wonder what kind of shock Steve Jobs will bring us this time,"
Zhou Guangping remarked with emotion.
Inside the meeting room, Orange Phone's executives gathered, basically from middle management to senior management, around forty people, not one less.
Chen Pingjiang attached great importance to this Apple launch event, and he hoped that everyone present would also take it seriously.
You must recognize your opponent, know how powerful an opponent it is, in order for Orange Phone to remain invincible in its upcoming confrontations with Apple.
"This old man is also unyielding, he's been fighting cancer for many years, hasn't he?"
Lin Bin looked at Steve Jobs with admiration in his eyes.
Not to mention Steve Jobs' contributions in business and technology, his spirit of fighting against disease and illness alone was enough to earn people's high regard.
Unfortunately, Chen Pingjiang knew that this old man had only about a year and a half left to live.
Strictly speaking, he also delayed his own treatment; he could have beaten cancer.
When he was first diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, doctors considered it incurable and directly told Steve Jobs that his life expectancy was only 3 to 6 months.
This news caused Steve Jobs' mindset to "collapse."
Fortunately, the hospital quickly performed a pathological biopsy for Steve Jobs, preventing his breaking mental state from lasting too long.
The results showed that Steve Jobs' pancreatic tumor was a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, a very rare type of pancreatic cancer that can be cured by surgery, accounting for only 1-5% of pancreatic tumors.
Compared to classic pancreatic cancer, this type of cancer is less difficult to treat and has a very good prognosis.
Theoretically, Steve Jobs only needed to undergo surgery to have a better chance of survival.
But this guy, perhaps too clever for his own good, was constantly looking for folk remedies outside.
He tried everything from vegan diets, acupuncture, and herbal treatments, and later even searched online for more bizarre therapies, taking cow dung capsules and consulting psychics.
What seemed utterly absurd to ordinary people, Steve Jobs deeply believed in...
He felt that surgery cutting open his body was an invasion of his person, which he found difficult to accept.
However, a check-up nine months later made him pay the price—the tumor had metastasized.
After metastasis, his right pancreas, gallbladder, stomach, bile duct, and part of his small intestine were successively removed.
Logically, he should have received proper treatment now, right?
But the old man refused, rejecting chemotherapy and attempting to starve the cancer cells to death.
He only ate fruit and drank juice every day, and in the end, he didn't starve the cancer cells, but almost did himself in.
It was also thanks to his wealth that he successively underwent liver transplants, kidney transplants, and targeted therapies, trying almost every treatment available in the world, spending nearly 300 million US dollars, but ultimately failing to save himself.
Someone called out,
"It's about to begin."
Only then did it pull Chen Pingjiang out of his thoughts.
At 10:00 AM on June 7th, local time in San Francisco, USA, Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference officially opened at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.
A washed top, ordinary jeans.
Steve Jobs simply walked onto the stage like that.
As Steve Jobs began to discuss the new generation Apple phone, the iPhone 4, the new device's design lit up on the big screen.
Everyone in the meeting room had somewhat grim expressions.
At the iPhone 4 launch event, the first point Steve Jobs emphasized was the phone's brand-new exterior design.
Its thickness of only 9.3 millimeters shocked the entire audience.
Such a thickness could be said to have broken the record for the world's thinnest smartphone; compared to the iPhone 3GS's 12.3-millimeter thickness, the iPhone 4 was 24% thinner.
Lin Bin and Zhou Guangping both looked displeased.
"Our S1 has a thickness of 11.9 millimeters, it's 2.6 millimeters thinner than ours."
Zhou Guangping nodded,
"I estimate he integrated the phone's antenna and frame. The stainless steel frame on the side is divided into two segments, acting as two antennas. One is responsible for receiving Bluetooth, WiFi, and GPS signals, while the other is responsible for UMTS and GSM mobile signal reception. This design significantly reduced the phone's thickness."
"In terms of appearance, I think it's on par with our Orange S1, but the iPhone 4 no longer uses chips provided by Samsung; instead, it uses its own A4 chip. I feel they must be very confident, and this part will probably be stronger than our Qualcomm chip."
Chen Pingjiang also said,
"I don't know if it's stronger or not, but what's certain is that a self-made chip combined with the iOS system will definitely allow for more comprehensive optimization. Even if it's slightly inferior to yours, it can surpass you after optimization."
The reason Chen Pingjiang said this was because he had later used Huawei phones; the self-developed Kirin 9000S, though only 7 nanometers, managed through various optimizations to make the phone's fluidity no less than that of other phones.
The iPhone 4's brand-new camera system was the most unexpected feature for consumers.
Its 5-megapixel camera supported 720P HD video recording, giving consumers an unprecedented mobile photography experience.
According to Steve Jobs, "The iPhone 4 uses an imaging component, which significantly improves its imaging capabilities."
In addition to the aforementioned improvements, the iPhone 4's display technology also far exceeded industry standards.
The display screen's resolution achieved a high contrast ratio of 800:1, increasing fourfold compared to the iPhone 3GS.
Fortunately, the opponent had not developed a beauty camera engine, so the Orange S1 remained the only phone on the market with beauty features.
When they saw that the contract prices for the 16GB and 32GB versions of the iPhone 4 were 199 US dollars and 299 US dollars respectively, equivalent to 1360 RMB and 2043 RMB, everyone present turned pale.
Finally, Chen Pingjiang clapped his hands, attracting everyone's attention:
"These are two-year contract prices. In reality, when sold domestically, the 16G version will definitely not be below 5000 RMB, and the 32G might even be 6000 RMB. Our prices still have a significant advantage."
"I know what everyone is thinking. The reason I called you to watch this launch event today is to tell you that there's always someone better. Orange Phone will go international sooner or later and will clash with these giants, so we must develop better phones to fight tough battles.
As you can see from this launch event, Apple has areas where they do better than us, and also areas where they are not as good as us, so there's no need to be unduly modest."
Lin Bin also said in a timely manner,
"We should learn from their strengths, such as chips, iOS system, resolution, and so on."
After the meeting, Chen Pingjiang, Lin Bin, and Zhou Guangping found a barbecue restaurant and had some drinks.
"Actually, after watching this launch event, I'm not as flustered,"
Zhou Guangping said with a smile.
"Because of Mr. Chen, we are very competitive in terms of appearance and photography, and most importantly, our price is set very appropriately. Even if Apple launches domestically, we are not afraid."
"Many of the technologies inside can also be referenced for our upcoming S2."
The reason the iPhone 4 became hugely popular was mainly because it had no strong competitors, but now with the Orange S1 in the domestic market intercepting it, it naturally won't reach its original heights.
However, it is also undeniable that the iPhone 4 will inevitably become the Orange S1's strongest competitor, and a portion of high-end users will certainly be lured away.
This situation objectively existed and could not be remedied by Chen Pingjiang merely shouting a few slogans.
Chen Pingjiang was already prepared to face the impact coming in three months.
Indeed, just as Chen Pingjiang expected, the next day, Weibo, Renren, and other forums were filled with news and posts discussing the iPhone 4, and domestic news media also reported extensively on it.
"I'm so torn, I don't know whether to choose the iPhone 4 or the Orange S1. The iPhone 4 feels great, but the Orange S1's beauty camera is exclusive!"
"It's up to you; make a decision based on your personal circumstances. For example, I'm used to Apple laptops, so getting an iPhone 4 is a natural progression. I'll definitely buy it as soon as it launches domestically."
"It definitely won't be cheap; it will 100% exceed the Orange S1's price. I'll just choose the Orange S1; its appearance isn't bad, and the photo quality is better."
"I admit the Orange S1 has some merits, but not many. Trying to compete with the iPhone 4? Forget it. I don't know what the OP's intentions are for asking such a question; these two phones aren't even in the same league, how can they be compared? In my mind, the iPhone 4 is amazing; it massacres the Orange S1."
"Heh, it's your right to choose the iPhone 4, you foreign brand worshipper upstairs, but there's no need to put down the Orange S1, right? No matter what, Orange Phone is a domestic product; anyway, I support domestic products."
"If you have money, go for Apple; if your budget is average, buy the Orange S1. Act within your means. Besides, the iPhone 4 won't ship until September-October, and we don't even know if it will be out of stock by then; you might not get to use it until the end of the year. Maybe you'll just buy it then, only for the Orange S2 to be launched, which turns out to have stronger performance than the iPhone 4, and then you'd be in a predicament."
For a time, the internet was ablaze with endless arguments.
One group championed the iPhone 4, while another supported the Orange S1, each presenting their reasons.
Eventually, it escalated into a war of words.
Compared to Orange Phone's composure, Samsung and HTC were troubled; the launch of the iPhone 4 was truly like a stab in their backs.
They felt they couldn't compete with the iPhone 4 in the international market, and in the domestic market, they couldn't beat the Orange S1.
They were caught between a rock and a hard place.
(End of chapter)