162: Chapter 162 Steve Jobs, Now Terminally Ill

April 28, 2010, Apple headquarters.

A small meeting was being held in Steve Jobs's office.

Steve Jobs sat in his wheelchair with a transsion s2 placed in front of him. This was something he had had urgently shipped over from China, and it had just been unboxed.

Even though his physical condition was not great, he had forced himself to use it for two hours.

From the screen to the system, from the camera to the charging speed, he hadn't missed a single detail, and finally, he reluctantly put the phone down.

This phone was almost identical to the perfect model in his mind, and he could vaguely sense a familiar feeling.

This phone resembled Apple's design style, yet it didn't...

It's just that Chinese manufacturers are best at 1:1 copying; they don't know how to innovate.

But he couldn't shake that familiar feeling. Could his impression really be wrong?

Coughing slightly, he looked at the few people opposite him: COO Tim Cook, Senior Vice President Philip Schiller, and Hardware Lead Bob Mansfield.

"What do you think?"

The few looked at each other; no one dared to speak first.

Steve Jobs gave the answer himself: "This is a perfect phone."

He pointed at the transsion s2.

"A 720p retina-grade screen. Although the size is larger and theoretically cannot beat us, the actual experience is not much different from our iphone 4."

"A 4000mA battery, more than twice as large as ours. 22.5W fast charging, which we don't have. The battery-swapping technology that Chinese users are looking forward to—we still don't have that either."

"The Taishan SM8255 has triple the performance, stronger than our A4."

He looked at this phone, then looked at the iphone 4 in front of him, and felt it was nothing but trash.

This was the phone he once thought was perfect, but now, he felt his aesthetic sense was behind the times.

"Retail price 3999, about 600 USD in Chinese currency. Our iphone 4 has a cost of about 300 USD, a retail price of 649 USD, and it's still 4999 Yuan in the China region."

He shook his head and then looked at Cook, the successor he considered the best.

"Tim, do you think the iphone 4 has a chance of winning?"

He thought for a long while. If it were 2008, he would firmly believe that Apple would win, but after last year's WiFi-gate, plus the powerful transsion s2 this year, he was also a bit hesitant.

But thinking of how Steve Jobs was prepared to send this phone back for a redesign, he finally persuaded him:

"Steve, our brand is stronger. When users buy Apple, they are buying the ecosystem, not the specs."

Steve Jobs sneered.

"Ecosystem, eco..."

Cough, cough.

This coughing sound stopped Steve Jobs from continuing to berate. He bent over abruptly, one hand pressing tightly against his chest, the other supporting himself on the edge of the table.

The little bit of color left on his face instantly turned even paler.

Cook's heart tightened; he immediately stood up to hold his arm, and incidentally pulled out two tissues to hand over: "Steve! Don't get worked up, take a break first."

Philip Schiller's face also revealed a look of panic; he subconsciously reached out to touch the phone in his pocket, wanting to call a doctor.

"Don't..."

Steve Jobs waved his hand, his voice so weak it was almost inaudible.

He took the tissues, covered his mouth, and coughed a few times; a faint light red appeared on the tissues.

He quickly crumpled the tissues into a ball and tucked them into his palm, unwilling to let anyone see.

Leaning on Cook's support, he slowly sat back in his chair and closed his eyes. Once that suffocating pain eased slightly, he opened his eyes and looked at Cook again.

"Tim, I know you value commercial interests. The reason Apple is Apple is not because of sales, not because of profits."

"It is because of perfection."

"As for the ecosystem you mentioned, do the Chinese not have an ecosystem?"

"Taishan OS runs on over 40 million devices, and their app store also has tens of thousands of apps. In a while, their ecosystem won't be much worse than ours."

He coughed again, this time with more blood.

"I want to redesign the iphone 4."

The three people in the conference room were stunned again; at this point in time, he still wanted to redesign it.

Seeing that he was not joking, Philip Schiller took the initiative to speak up and stop him.

"Steve, the iphone 4 has already entered mass production. It's shipping in early May; redesigning it now..."

"Then delay it. I cannot let such an imperfect product enter the market."

Bob Mansfield shook his head: "Steve, it's too late."

"The supply chain is locked, the production lines are set, and the marketing has already been launched."

"Changing it now would cost at least billions of dollars."

Cook didn't speak, but he also vetoed this idea.

Steve Jobs stared at them, his pale face still possessing some deterrent power. After all, everyone was afraid that Steve Jobs might not be able to catch his breath and would collapse.

At this critical moment, Steve Jobs, as the spiritual pillar, was still very important.

"Which is more important: billions of dollars or Apple's reputation?"

Everyone shook their heads; of course, money was more important, but Steve Jobs didn't think so, and he continued to speak.

"You just experienced the transsion s2, you should know what this means."

"If Apple releases as originally planned, the media will say Apple has been surpassed by a Chinese company."

"iphone 4 suffers a crushing defeat to the transsion s2."

"We created the Smartphone, let everyone know about the Smartphone, but now..."

Cough, cough.

After resting for more than a minute, he used all his strength to raise his voice: "I spent 10 years saving Apple from the brink of bankruptcy and made it the most popular and respected brand in the world."

"I cannot let one phone ruin it."

"Whether you agree or not, I want to redesign it. I won't last much longer; I cannot let such an imperfect device be my final work."

After finishing, Steve Jobs seemed to have no strength left and lay back down.

Letting him think quietly for a while, Cook spoke up.

"Steve, I know your concerns, but delaying the launch is not the way to solve the problem."

He supported Steve Jobs: "Transsion has already released it. We need at least 6 months to redesign it now, and by the time the iphone 4 comes out, the transsion s2 will have been selling on the market for half a year."

He paused: "What do we use to fight during these six months?"

Steve Jobs didn't speak, and Cook continued to persuade him:

"Although the iphone 4 has a small battery and no fast charging, our screen is small, power consumption is low, iOS is an exclusive system, and the brand is also exclusive."

"Users will buy it."

He looked at Steve Jobs: "What we need is not a redesign, but rapid iteration."

"iphone 4s, start designing now, release next spring, and make up for the battery, design, and performance."

Steve Jobs waited for a long time, then he sat back in his chair and looked at that transsion s2.

"Tim, you are right. Then we won't send it back to the factory. Accelerate the design and let the iphone 4s arrive sooner."

Looking at that phone, the thorn in his heart still wouldn't go away.

"But I have one requirement. This is the requirement for me to personally release the iphone 4."