NOVEL WEB Chapter 757: 757
I don't understand, that's why
Steve Jobs gave a cool-headed order.
I looked back and forth between Chloe, who had turned pale, and Brian, who had turned red and blue.
Verizon may not know, but AT&T has made a huge gain in market share by signing an exclusive supply deal with Apple for the iPhone.
Of course, its market share declined a few years later when the exclusivity agreement was lifted, but that opportunity allowed it to push out Verizon and emerge as the leader in the US telecommunications industry.
The bait called iPhone is too tempting to turn away like this. I wonder how he will come out.
"Are you really not going to sign a contract with us?"
Brian from Verizon asked with a stiff expression on his face.
"Do I look like someone who talks nonsense?"
"You will regret it."
"Regret? I have no regrets in my dictionary. Who are you to dare teach me?"
Jobs responded with a snort. It was a typical Jobs response.
"How long do you think Verizon will be number one? What will happen in a few years when the iPhone comes out and Apple stops supplying the iPhone to Verizon? I can see what will happen."
Brian trembled at Jobs' openly sarcastic behavior.
But Jobs didn't stop and continued to sneer.
"When that happens, you won't be with Verizon after you tossed this deal. No, you can't be with Verizon."
"······."
Brian bit his lips hard and didn't answer.
But as if he couldn't stand hearing the insults any longer, he jumped up from his seat.
"Verizon won't supply the iPhone. Try your best."
All the Verizon employees who followed Brian stood up.
Jobs looked up at the Verizon team in silence, a smirk on his face.
Brian's face became even more distorted at the sight of that laughter.
"······What are you going to do about Singular?"
Brian asked Chloe, who was still sitting.
She answered with an embarrassed face.
"We'll talk some more."
"ha ha ha!"
Brian laughed out loud. But soon he stopped laughing as if he had never laughed before and looked straight at Chloe and asked.
"You want to sign this ridiculous contract?"
"We should try to negotiate."
Brian said, pointing his finger at us, or rather at Jobs.
"Do you think negotiations will work with that heartless person?"
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"But we can't just sit back and let T-Mobile take over. If we do that, we might be pushed out of second place."
Chloe said firmly.
Although the documents Jobs presented were vicious, it seemed that AT&T, the number two company in the industry, calculated that losing this contract would be a huge loss.
"Ha! As a senior in the industry, I'll give you some advice. If you accept that deal, all the profits will go to Apple, not Cingular. And Cingular will end up with a huge deficit. Ultimately, it will also hurt its parent company, AT&T."
"······We take care of our own business. We don't need advice."
Chloe ignored Brian's advice. Brian looked down at Chloe with a displeased expression.
But Chloe didn't avoid his gaze.
First and second place always had to compete with each other.
Of course, if we pull out together here, we may not be able to reduce the gap, but we may be able to maintain the status quo.
But Jobs's words that he would call T-Mobile made her unable to back down.
If T-Mobile joined hands with Apple to exclusively supply the iPhone, even its second place position could be at risk.
"Do as you wish. We will be going now."
Brian, who had been glaring at Chloe for a long time, left the conference room without saying a word after saying his last words.
Tim Cook followed Brian out, probably to once again warn him to keep what happened today a secret.
The chilly atmosphere that had been hovering around the office became even colder.
Jobs remained silent with his arms folded, and Chloe also remained silent, just fiddling with her papers.
I was the first to speak to break this uncomfortable silence.
"Is AT&T still willing to negotiate?"
Chloe answered my question with a trailing edge.
"That's right······."
He asked again, watching Chloe watch Jobs' reaction.
"Are you really going to accept these terms? I am a major shareholder of Apple, but frankly, this is an unprecedented deal."
He said this while tapping the document with his index finger, which contained the vicious terms.
"Even though they are asking me to offer a plan that offers unlimited data, 200 SMS messages, and 450 minutes of voice calls?"
AT&T had to set its own plan prices, but unlimited data had never been on the market before.
Unlimited data plans were a real poison to telecommunications companies.
This was because the structure was such that it was bound to inevitably see a deficit.
But I understood why Jobs set these conditions.
The iPhone was a device that could never exist without data.
It was clear that the data usage would be incomparable to that of other devices.
AT&T would make a lot of money if they charged users for the amount of data they use, but they're asking them to give that up.
"On top of that, everyone who uses an iPhone will have to pay Apple 10% of their monthly mobile phone bill."
They were also forcing me to pay a certain percentage of my monthly fee.
"If there is a problem with your iPhone, Apple, not the carrier, decides on replacement and repair, and Apple also handles the repair process."
What this meant was that iPhone customers were Apple's customers, not the carriers' customers.
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"iPhones can only be sold at Apple stores and AT&T stores, and no other distributors can get involved."
In short, this meant that distributors with contracts with mobile carriers could not sell the iPhone, and only Apple and AT&T direct distributors could participate.
AT&T had contracts with retailers like Walmart and Best Buy.
But if we were to stop that, we would have no choice but to expand AT&T stores.
This was a huge investment.
"It's even a contract that gives exclusive rights only in the United States."
Apple was free to sell iPhones all over the world, except the United States.
However, this contract was an exclusive contract valid only in the United States.
In addition, there were many other toxic provisions, so it would be difficult to list them all.
I was just wondering why AT&T would accept these terms.
"What on earth is the reason for this contract? As an investor, I want to tear it down."
Even though I am a major shareholder of Apple, it is not like that.
If I were a major shareholder in AT&T, this would be a deal I would absolutely oppose.
Jobs glared at me with a curt expression, as if my words were ridiculous, but I didn't stop talking.
"Chloe. Is there such an urgent reason? Isn't the market share difference with Verizon not that big? I think it's around 5% to 10%. If we just grow slowly, we could win someday."
Jobs said in a curt voice.
"Charlie. Whose side are you on?"
"Of course I'm on Jobs' side. But this is something that doesn't make sense to me."
"The iPhone is a game-changing device. Just being able to sell the iPhone exclusively in the United States means you can beat Verizon. Knowing that, isn't that why AT&T is here instead of leaving?"
Even so, I don't think it's necessary to go this far in writing this.
"I know that much. What other reason is there to close the deal while taking on huge losses?"
"Hmm······. Did you know that Verizon and AT&T are companies with roots in the same family?"
"To some extent."
AT&T is a telecommunications company with a history of over 100 years.
Its predecessor was the Bell Telephone Company, founded by Alexander Graham Bell.
It was a monopoly with no competition, and the United States was not a country that would let that happen.
They issued an order to sell off all but the Janggi-ri Telecommunications Network and its telecommunications equipment subsidiaries, citing anti-monopoly laws.
Because of this, AT&T had no choice but to split the company into regions and sell them off.
When its once lucrative long-distance telephone business became unprofitable due to competition, AT&T jumped into the emerging computer business to survive.
That too was a huge failure, pushed aside by IBM and Apple.
"They got beaten up by the antitrust laws and split up the company. They went around and around and acquired the companies that had been split up, but Verizon had already taken over the market. The main company is AT&T, so how much of a blow to their pride must they have been to Verizon?"
The company was forced to break up under the pretext of antitrust law, but over time, through mergers and acquisitions, only two telecommunications giants, Verizon and AT&T, remained.
"It's like splitting a big dinosaur and then two new dinosaurs were created. Well, when you're doing business, there are times when pride takes precedence over profit, right?"
Jobs' friendly explanation made it a little easier to understand what was going on.
Jobs never intended to sign a contract with Verizon from the beginning.
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They just used them to get AT&T to move, and the third largest carrier, T-Mobile, to do the same.
'Anyway, I'm telling you, you're smart in this kind of thing.'
I admire the way he chose to do it.
I know how important this process is because I have taken losses and made many investments for different reasons.
AT&T had a reason to beat Verizon, and they couldn't afford to miss this opportunity.
That was why Chloe was smiling bitterly.
"As you said, we absolutely must win this contract to beat Verizon. To do that, we are discussing a merger with SBC. We have to win this contract even for the sake of the merger."
Chloe's words made me realize the source of the discomfort I had been feeling.
I thought something was strange, but it turns out AT&T hadn't merged yet.
Since the iPhone was released earlier than my previous life, there are bound to be some differences from what I remember.
"We're going to sign an exclusive contract for the iPhone and use that as a weapon to convince shareholders that we have insufficient coverage. And the government won't be able to stop us."
Chloe's words were that they would merge with SBC to expand coverage nationwide.
This ridiculous contract was absolutely necessary for this.
I looked at Jobs, who was still grumbling curtly from the side.
Was all this Jobs' idea or Tim Cook's advice?
Whatever anyone thought, this was a one-sided move.
"But I can't accept everything. I think I need to exclude some things."
Chloe, still looking at the sullen Jobs, spoke cautiously.
"Everything else is fine, but giving Apple 10% of my monthly fee is too much to ask."
I also thought this part was the most toxic clause.
Because it is a condition that the board of directors and shareholders will unconditionally oppose.
No company accepted the demand to give up its own profits.
"Instead, how about significantly increasing the subsidy for iPhones based on a two-year contract? The more iPhones sold, the more profits Apple makes."
It was a suggestion that was as simple as closing one's eyes and pretending not to see anything.
'They can't give you a fixed amount of monthly fee, but they're saying they'll increase the subsidy for the iPhone by that amount.'
But even though it's the same word, it's different.
The subsidy sector was an area that could be judged as an investment for sufficient business expansion.
"Hmm······."
Jobs swallowed and stroked his chin.
As he took on a troubled appearance, Chloe continued to speak persuasively.
"We will do everything in our power to sell iPhones. The more iPhones we sell, the more customers will use our carrier."
That meant Apple and AT&T had a shared destiny.
Just then, Tim Cook opened the door and came back in, his face etched with fatigue.
"Did you give a good warning?"
Tim Cook nodded and sat back down.
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"I've given you ample warning, so you won't do something stupid like publicize our demands to the press."
No matter how angry Verizon is, they won't do something like that.
Jobs shrugged his shoulders and said, as if he had the same thought.
"AT&T says they want to negotiate with us."
"Oh, really?"
Tim Cook looked at Chloe with eyes that were hunting his prey.
"You can negotiate with me. You go out and coordinate."
Tim Cook stands up again.
"Everyone, let's go to my office."
Tim Cook led all the AT&T employees out of the conference room.
The conference room door closed, leaving only Jobs and me behind.
"Jobs. Was this your plan from the beginning?"
Instead of answering my question, Jobs just laughed.
"T-Mobile is just a card to pressure AT&T."
"T-Mobile isn't big enough to join hands with us."
"So, calling Verizon and T-Mobile were both meant to pressure AT&T. Was this Jobs' idea? Or······."
I looked out the door Tim Cook had walked out through and trailed off.
But Jobs was still smiling.
"What does it matter? What matters is that AT&T can't escape our grasp anymore. By the way, the reason I showed you this deal is not for anything else······."
I cut him off in bewilderment at Jobs' playful remark.
"Are you trying to tell me to sell iPhones in Korea?"
< I don't understand, that's why > End
< The US and Korea will release simultaneously