Chapter 37 Section Three

There is something to gain. Jobs' four-compartment strategy tells Apple what is the main product and what is not.The implication is that all products and projects not covered by the four grid strategy will be ruthlessly cleaned. When Jobs and Woz founded Apple, their goal was to make the best personal computer in the world.But once the company's scale expanded and no new profit growth point could be found, under the leadership of CEOs such as Sculley and Spindler who lacked strategic acumen, Apple began to try various product projects. In terms of hardware, in addition to computers, Apple is still struggling to operate its own brand printers, monitors and even 3D graphics cards that it is not good at.What's even more amazing is that Apple actually cooperated with Japan's Bandai (Bandai) to produce Pippin, a multimedia game console.In terms of software, various projects are even more numerous and emerge in endlessly.For example, Kai-fu Lee, who is only in charge of the interactive multimedia department, has a large number of projects such as speech recognition, speech synthesis, handwriting recognition, QuickTime, QuickTime VR, MediaAuthoring Tool, QuickDraw 3D, Games API, QT Conferencing, Kaleida MediaPlayer, etc.

Before Jobs, the industrious Amelio had cut two or three hundred dispensable projects.Jobs was even more drastic, cutting off 70% of the remaining dozens of projects.Jobs told reporters: "We reviewed all product plans, cut 70% of the items, and only left 30% of the essence. Apple's product team is very excited now, because there is no tasteless, discarded. It's a pity that the project is weak. We can easily get on the right track." In addition, in addition to ATG, a research institution in the United States, Apple has also invested in a research center in Singapore, which is engaged in the research and development of speech and handwriting technologies for East Asian languages. Dictation machine products. In 1995, Apple even established an enterprise named "Apple South (Zhuhai) Technology Co., Ltd." in the South Software Park in Zhuhai, China, through a joint venture.Unfortunately, most of the results of these R&D institutions or joint ventures are not well received. Apart from spending money like water, it is difficult to bring more income to Apple.

Jobs pointed the machete mercilessly at these institutions that spent more and produced less.A large number of joint ventures ceased operations.The research center in Singapore was completely shut down, and the office buildings and office furniture owned by Apple in Singapore were also sold out. In October 1997, ATG, which had contributed to Apple a large number of new technologies such as QuickDraw, QuickTime, QuickTime VR, ColorSync, and AppleScript, was shut down by Jobs. It may be difficult for people today to understand Jobs' decision to give up long-term R&D investment.After all, big companies like Microsoft, IBM, and AT&T all have dedicated research institutes.

A former Apple executive said: "Steve Jobs is the best product manager and marketing manager in the world, and has an outstanding reputation in the fields of product design and marketing. But in the field of engineering and research, Jobs may not always be able to convince technical personnel. He closed the institute, perhaps out of cost-saving considerations, perhaps because he felt that ATG was not doing a good enough job, but in any case, he lost a lot of outstanding people in doing so.” Of course, the reason why Microsoft has always invested heavily in the field of research is because Microsoft has not experienced Apple's near-bankruptcy situation.At a critical moment of life or death, Jobs didn't have time to think so much. All he could do was cut off all the burdens neatly based on his own strategic judgment.

Of all the burdens that have been cut, perhaps the biggest one is Sculley's legacy to Apple-the Newton PDA. Seriously, the Newton PDA was indeed a revolutionary product.Until then, there had never been a computer small enough to fit in a pocket.This kind of product is not bad, and a lot of effort has been put into the product design, but it is a bit out of date.At that time, limited by hardware technology, it was still difficult for PDAs to be small and exquisite in the true sense, and it was impossible to be perfect in terms of computer capacity, computing power, and battery life. Sales of the Newton PDA picked up after Jobs returned.If you persist for a few more years, the Newton PDA may usher in a glorious moment, just like Palm's PDA products a few years later.But Jobs had no time to wait.In the four-compartment strategy, there is no place for PDA products yet.

In February 1998, Jobs officially ended the research and development of Newton PDA products. A large number of Newton PDA fans held signs, chanted slogans with loudspeakers, and protested outside the Apple headquarters building. The media criticized Jobs, saying that he cut off the PDA project supported by Sculley because of his revenge on Sculley. revenge?Maybe.In Jobs' mind, Sculley was always the sinner who destroyed Apple.But at the same time, it is also an undisputed fact that the Newton PDA played no role in Jobs' four-compartment strategy. For Jobs, a Zen believer, taking revenge on Sculley by cutting off the project is too persistent and too incomprehensible for the reincarnation of cause and effect; for Jobs, a strategist, since he has already used the four-frame method to build a strategic position, he is absolutely not rigid. The truth of gains and losses in one city and one pool.

PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds can only survive if a strong man breaks his wrist.