Video Game Empire

On July 15, 1981, Cleveland Municipal Stadium, home of the Cleveland Indians. [Starting] The stadium was packed today, and the MLB All-Star Game was held in Cleveland this year.

The four major professional leagues in the United States: nfl, mlb, nba and nhl, Chinese audiences may only be familiar with nba. Especially after Wang Zhizhi joined the Mavericks, it was the first time for a Chinese to compete in this professional league that represents the highest level of basketball. And Yao Ming joined the Houston Rockets as the No. 1 pick, which made the whole country start to pay attention to this basketball game on the other side of the ocean with great enthusiasm.

When Yao Ming was all-powerful in the NBA, there was another Chinese player who showed his skills in the MLB League (American Professional Baseball League). He was no less well-known in the United States than Yao Ming at that time. He is the main pitcher of the New York Yankees, and is praised by the Taiwanese people across the strait as the "Taiwan-Taiwan Light" Wang Jianming.

Baseball is known as the national football of the United States and has always been the No. 1 sport in the United States. In the 1980s, the influence of nfl (American Professional Football League) has not yet begun to catch up with mlb, so mlb still sits firmly in the first professional league in the United States the throne.

The season of the mlb starts in April and runs until the end of October. The in-season All-Star Game is the second most attractive game in a season after the Finals.

The nba is divided into east and west, and the mlb is also divided into the national league and the american league. The Cleveland Indians are affiliated with the American League, so according to baseball rules, the visiting National League All-Star team takes the lead in the first half of the first inning.

The first pitcher sent by the AL All-Star team. In particular, the Indians were selected as the main pitcher of the All-Star team, and his appearance immediately attracted huge cheers from the home fans. The NL's star hitters don't seem to be in shape yet. A clean three ups and three downs ended the first half of the game.

Baseball has a slower pace. The game is not as critical as football and basketball, and you can miss a good shot if you are not careful. Many fans had not found their seats by the end of the first half.

For TV broadcasts, the time when the offensive and defensive positions of the two sides exchanged between innings is the time for commercials, so tens of millions of spectators in the United States are eagerly watching the professional baseball All-Star game. music.

The first thing in the shot is a female white-collar worker who is leaning over a row of filing cabinets to rummage for information. Her figure wrapped in the uniform, with a bulging front and back, is definitely an American hot girl. But her expression at the moment was full of distress. Suddenly, the screen changed, and there was a computer in front of her. Hot girl only needed to tap the keyboard a few times, and a document was displayed on the computer screen.

"Computers make work easier!" The hot girl smiled at the camera with her seductive eyes.

At this time, in Los Angeles, thousands of kilometers away from the game site, two brothers were sitting together watching the game in the living room of a family.

"This girl is good, I like hot girls with **** like this!" One nose was slightly red. The boy with a few freckles on his cheeks looked at the advertisement and said to his brother next to him. Both are loyal baseball fans, but the older brother supports the Los Angeles Dodgers, while the younger brother supports the Dodgers' city rivals, the Los Angeles Angels.

The brother didn't answer. His focus isn't like his teenage hormonal burst brother, who's just staring at hot girls. He was more concerned about the computer that appeared in the TV commercial just now.

My brother just applied to a consulting firm not long ago, and needs to sort out a large amount of customer information every day. It has always been the company's biggest headache. If he can really solve this problem with a computer, he can suggest that his boss spend money to invest in one. So he stood up and found paper and pen. Be prepared to jot down the sales line above for the next rerun of this ad.

All of America. Tens of millions of viewers saw this ad, and many of them were new to it. Ikon reached a strategic cooperation agreement with the mlb league as early as March, and became the national brand promotion partner of the professional baseball league. At the same time, Aikang also spent a lot of money on several TV stations that broadcast the MLB game, and spent a lot of money to buy a TV commercial for the broadcast season. In this All-Star Contest, Aikang spent a lot of money to shoot a series of five sets of advertisements, focusing on promoting the newly listed -3 computer.

Sports and entertainment are the most important topics for Americans, especially middle-class white-collar workers, in their daily chat. And Aikang's designation for the -3 computer is business office, so sports events are an excellent promotion platform.

While American audiences were watching the MLB All-Star Contest, in New York, the largest economic center in the United States, more than 700 kilometers away from Cleveland, the global launch of iKON Computer's new products was held in the Brooklyn hypermarket of Computer Garden Company.

And the protagonist of this conference is the -3 computer, which has just met the American TV audience in the advertisement. Compared to the previous -1 and -2, the new -3 computer is actually a series.

In the -3 computer launched by Aikang, the memory can be expanded from the standard 128k to 512k. The display has two options of monochrome and color. The newly added storage hard disk also has two options of 10m and 20m. Depending on the user's configuration requirements, the -3 computer is priced from $2,999 to $3,999, divided into several different price points.

"This new computer, which has gathered the wisdom of all the R&D personnel of Aikon, has the biggest advantage over the previous -1 and -2, which is faster speed and more powerful performance! I can say with confidence that the market All the products on the computer are obsolete, and the personal computer has entered the 32-bit era!"

Sir Albert Hawke of Ikon Computer, with a confident and passionate tone, waving his arms high, said to all the audience who attended Ikon's new product launch conference.

In fact, the erm-1 processor used by the -3 computer is a castrated version of the 32-bit processor. Just like Intel's previous 8086 and 8088 processors, the 8086's internal and external buses are both 16-bit, but the mainstream external devices on the market were still in the 8-bit era when the 8086 was launched. So after the 8086 sales were frustrated. Intel reviewed the situation and launched a castrated version of the 8-bit external bus processor 8088.

The bit width of the bus is wider. The faster the transfer of information. So in general, the performance of a 32-bit processor will be much more powerful than a 16-bit processor.

Now the erm processor developed by the Oriental laboratory. It also ran into a problem that Intel had a few years ago. Peripherals are not being developed as fast as processors are being developed. If the new processor uses a 32-bit external bus, there are few peripherals and chips on the market to choose from. Because most 32-bit processors are still used as high-end products in minicomputers and mainframes, they are not used as cpus in personal computers.

Therefore, the erm-1 processor used by the -3 computer finally chose to be castrated, and the external bus was only 16 bits. Although this processing will make the processor unable to exert its maximum performance, it is also a helpless thing.

"Sir Hawke, this time last year. When your company launched the -2 in Los Angeles, it was targeting business applications as well. Now, just a year later, your company has launched a brand new business PC, and both will There will be no competition, does it mean that the previous -2 is obsolete!"

Chandler Thomas, senior editor of Computer Enthusiast magazine, asked Hawke on stage a somewhat pointed question. On July 15 last year, he was one of the participants at Icon's new product launch conference in Pasadena, Los Angeles, on the West Coast. Since then, Thomas has followed the development of Ikon. Witness the entire process of this little-known company's sudden emergence to grab a large share of the PC market.

-2 and -3 are defined as overlapping issues, which Ikon management has long considered. The sales of -2 computers have been on the rise since they were launched last year, which is also reflected from one side. The market for business PCs is rapidly expanding.

Aikang officially saw this point, and then set the new computer-3 as an enterprise-level business application. However, the -2 computer is still continuously garnering huge profits for the company, and Aikang is naturally reluctant to stop production of such a hot-selling product.

To avoid -2 and -3 competing with each other. The best way is to segment the market. Let -2 cut prices to seize the low-end business market, and let -3 seize the mid-to-high-end business market.

"First of all. I have a piece of news for you. With the continuous advancement of computer hardware technology, the manufacturing cost of the -1 and -2 computers previously produced by Ikon is also falling. With the support of the company's board of directors, the company's board of directors has decided to reduce the retail prices of -1 and -2 computers by $150 and $400, respectively.

All dealers who distribute computers have received relevant notices from Aikang Company two weeks ago. If you've been shopping for a computer these days, you'll find that retailers have adjusted the latest prices for computers in accordance with the company's requirements. "

Hawke paused and continued: "The -2 computer is now priced at $2,499~www.readwn.com~ which is $500 less than the minimum configuration of the -3 computer. Said the target users of both are There is a difference, the less well-off customers can choose the cheaper -2 computer.

Customers who pursue high computer processing performance can choose the latest -3 computer. Different consumers make a reasonable choice after considering their actual needs, comprehensive performance and price!

The -2 uses an 8-bit 6502 processor. Although it uses a dual-processor parallel design to improve computing performance, it is still far inferior to the 32-bit erm-1 processor. I would be lying if I continued to boast that the -2 was not lagging behind! "

Li Xuan sat in the audience and watched Hawke handle all kinds of questions from reporters with ease. No matter how sharp the reporter's question, he showed the suave qualities of an English gentleman.

Aikang's -3 computer is the highlight of the entire Oriental Group in the second half of this year. Naturally, Li Xuan will not stay in Hong Kong. He flew to the United States as early as the beginning of July. (To be continued..)

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