Chapter 313 Counterattack
Fang Hexuan was really angry at Jobs's unethical behavior.

Both Steve Jobs and Wozniak received invitations to the Maple Leafs' press conference, but neither of them showed up, which was quite rude.

Even if you, Steve Jobs, do not consider Maple Leaf to be a friendly competitor, they are still in the same industry. Isn't it a bit too hasty to act so quickly?
At least we have to wait until NBC and other mainstream media have reported on Maple Leaf's new product launch. If you, Apple, make trouble again, Boss Fang may feel better.

This is like two families living opposite each other. One of them is having a wedding today, but you deliberately make trouble and hold a funeral. It would be strange if others are happy!
Moreover, Jobs's surprise attack disrupted Fang Hexuan's already scheduled schedule, which was really unethical.

I had originally planned to spend the night with Stephanie Seymour, but now I have to call her to coax her.

"Oh! Old Joe, why are you so naughty?"

Fang Hexuan secretly complained in his heart, this lifelong enemy really gave him a lot of worry!

The incident happened suddenly. Under the order of CEO Julian, Maple Leaf's public relations team rushed to contact several newspapers and TV stations, asking these media to reserve space or time for Julian and big boss Fang Hexuan to be interviewed in order to fight back against the malicious slander of Jobs and Apple.

Many media outlets in California received industry news last night that Jobs was very dissatisfied with Maple Leaf Computer and that the two companies might engage in physical combat and physical violence in the future.

The media loves to watch the fun, no matter how big the event. They are hoping that the discord between Apple and Maple Leaf will escalate. It would be best if the bosses of the two companies could personally come out to curse each other, which would be interesting and a hot news topic.

In the morning, Fang Hexuan accepted interviews from several local California newspapers at the Maple Leaf Corporation headquarters, specifically refuting Jobs' "absurd views" point by point.

After a simple working lunch at the company, I attended the public relations department's meeting to analyze the publicity effects of yesterday's press conference reported by the U.S. media.

In general, relying on the influence of NBC, the largest television network in the United States, as well as the introduction of many mainstream newspapers on the East and West Coasts, plus advertisements in many magazines, Maple Leaf Company, including its new personal computer Maple I, successfully became popular throughout the United States.

Finally, the tens of millions of dollars in advertising fees were not wasted. As reflected in the sales data, the report Julian submitted to him showed that yesterday alone, Maple I sold a total of 6726 units in the United States, and pre-orders reached 15078 units.

You know, the price of Maple I is not low, and Fang Hexuan did not intend to adopt a low-price strategy from the beginning.

Since it is competing with Apple and IBM, Maple Leaf Computer cannot sell its products at a low price, as that will only reduce the influence of its own brand in the minds of consumers.

Generally speaking, choosing low-price competition is often the only way for laggards to catch up with leaders.

But everyone started at about the same time, and Maple I's performance and appearance are no worse than the other two companies, so there is no reason to lower its price.

So, the 16KB memory version of Maple I was priced at $1098, and the 64KB version was priced at $1598.

Compared to the Apple II 1977KB at $4 and 1298KB at $48 in 2638 and the IBM 1981 5150KB at $16 in 1565,

The price of Maple I seems to be much lower, but Maple Leaf's profit is not much less than that of the other two.

The reason is naturally the technological upgrade and improvement of the supply chain, and the memory prices in the market are also falling.

In addition, the supply chain of Maple I introduced a large number of manufacturers from Japan and Taiwan, and the final outsourcing was also done in Taiwan. As a result, the unit cost of Maple I was actually lower than that of Apple II and IBM5150.

These factors are also reflected in the price of Apple's latest Apple II. The 16KB version is currently $1298 and the 64KB version is $1738, which is not much higher than the Maple I.

Fang Hexuan was not as greedy as Jobs. Without damaging his own brand, he set a price slightly lower than that of Apple II based on cost, which was completely affordable.

This is probably one of the reasons why the computer achieved good sales results on the first day.

In fact, it is not difficult to understand. Today, Apple has not yet become a god in the minds of American consumers, and Apple computers are not the only irreplaceable choice.

When there is a product that looks better than Apple, has a more reasonable design, better computing performance, and even better marketing, consumers will naturally be more willing to choose the former. At two o'clock in the afternoon, Fang Hexuan flew to Los Angeles.

The three major American television networks all have their own branches in Burbank, and NBC's Los Angeles branch is located here.

He had originally planned to take a 6-7 hour drive to Los Angeles on the highway in the morning, but now, in order to catch up with the NBC recording interview, he had to go ahead and let his bodyguards drive over themselves.

A recorded interview is a one-on-one face-to-face conversation. The host who interviewed him is Doug Campbell, 43 years old. He has interviewed some celebrities before and is well-known in the American television circle.

After the two of them sat down, Campbell took the lead and asked the questions that had been set in advance:
"Mr. Fang, what is your response to Mr. Jobs' claim that 'Maple Leaf Computer copied Apple'?"

As soon as this question was asked, the photographer's camera immediately focused on Fang Hexuan.

He leaned back slightly, looked at the camera with sharp eyes, and answered calmly and confidently:

"This is complete nonsense. I don't know how much nonsense Mr. Jobs had last night. I hope he can regain his sanity when he wakes up this morning."

Fang Hexuan first denied it forcefully, and then blatantly ridiculed the other party. This way of starting off with a bloody fight surprised Campbell on the opposite side.

"Mr. Jobs believes that Maple I copied at least two features of Apple II. One is the industrial design creativity, and the other is the GUI design of the operating system. What do you want to say about this?"

Fang Hexuan no longer had the fierceness he had just shown. He smiled with a relaxed expression and said:

"As for the first accusation, I think it's absolutely ridiculous."

"Excuse me, Mr. Campbell, do you like hot girls?"

Campbell was a little confused by this question. He blinked at Fang Hexuan uncertainly.

"Yes, you heard it right!"

"Haha, Mr. Fang, I'm afraid that after answering this question, I will have to sleep on the sofa when I go home at night. But, of course, any man likes hot girls!"

Fang Hexuan suddenly snapped his fingers, nodded, and said with a smile:

"Yes, you love hot girls, and I love hot girls, but can you say that I copied your idea?"

Campbell felt that Fang Hexuan's behavior was a little inappropriate, but he still nodded as agreed.

"Of course not!"

"Haha, now Mr. Jobs is accusing me of illegally liking the same things as him, isn't he?"

"Yeah, that makes some sense!"

"As for the second accusation, I am too lazy to refute it, because the Alto computer launched by Xerox in 1973 feels more wronged than I do. It is obviously the world's first computer designed with a GUI interface, but now it is said to be Mr. Jobs's idea. This is ridiculous."

"I don't know if the TV audience knows these inside stories, but in Silicon Valley, everyone knows that it was Steve Jobs and Apple who stole Xerox's ideas. Not only did they not thank the other party, they didn't even pay a penny for the patents."

"Excuse me, what qualifications does he have to accuse me and Maple Leaf Computer?"

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(End of this chapter)