Faced with Marvel's presumptuousness, William White had no choice but to express that he didn't really need money. Comics were purely his dream and not for sale.
This explanation was very compelling. If you don't need money, there's no point in talking. A rich person's hobbies are tricky. Even if you manage to buy it, it would definitely cost an astronomical amount.
For William White, comics were his dream, and Stan Lee completely understood those feelings. If he hadn't been broke, he would have chased away those shareholders long ago.
...
"Markkula, what is this? Does our second-gen machine have a quality issue?"
"Probably not. It was sent by White Company. They said they fine-tuned it for you and request a payment of fifteen dollars. It must be in cash; they don't accept credit cards or charge accounts," said Markkula with a laugh.
"Damn it, here we go again with his marketing tricks. Markkula, I can bet that improving the performance wasn't just a matter of a few bucks," grumbled Joe with a constipated look.
Markkula, however, saw it differently. His eyes were already gleaming, and he immediately began testing the computer.
"Damn it, how did he do that? Why do I feel like the improvement is massive?"
Being industry insiders, they were very well aware of what the Apple II stood for.
"Steve, don't get worked up. Since no adapter card was added, that means the hardware configuration was changed. No, wait, this motherboard has undergone significant modifications. Get the tech department over here immediately."
After a hectic scramble, they finally got the results.
"He's a genius and a madman," remarked Markkula.
"No, no, Markkula, he's a jerk! No wonder he chose to collaborate with Motorola; he's had this planned all along."
"Yeah, who would've thought? While everyone's moving up the product line, he's going in the opposite direction."
"Markkula, did you say they charged fifteen bucks?"
"Yes."
"This bastard, if the CPU goes up by fifteen dollars, shouldn't the other parts also increase?"
Of course, but what can you do about it? Are you willing to not use it?
"Contact them at once. This little redesign needs to be done; we need to stay ahead."
Even though Jobs was unhappy, he had to admit that William White really had a knack for it. However, this made the Lisa project look quite embarrassing.
"Jobs, you better head to Los Angeles. I don't believe they have only just one. Since he made the 8-bit CPU have a 16-bit channel, he could surely make a 16-bit CPU have a 32-bit channel. But won't this make the 68000 feel very awkward?"
...
He didn't realize that Motorola's development direction had already shifted. Their focus had moved towards industrial applications long ago, and they didn't care much about personal computer development anymore.
Exploiting the 68000's potential this way was truly baffling, and not everyone supported this move.
There were, of course, those who objected, but William White confidently readjusted some personnel roles.
Sometimes, it's hard to understand these techies. The most basic principle is practicality -- why should R&D be an exception? If you don't understand your target customers, what's the point of your research?
Motorola's research was indeed impressive, but it just kept going in circles. They were doing well with wireless phones, and yet they dabble in satellite phones -- what a wild idea.
The 68000 had vast potential; it just wasn't suitable for personal computers.
...
William White's strong suppression quickly yielded results.
Jobs himself came to negotiate. If the Apple II used this CPU, along with William White's game consoles, it would amount to orders in the million-unit range.
If Apple led the charge with this change and added in William White's game consoles, how would rival companies in the market react?
It was an obvious situation.
You could stubbornly stick to your guns, but consumers wouldn't be buying. If products in the same price range had significantly improved performance, it would be a death sentence not to change.
The best part was, this CPU factory was still called Motorola, which wouldn't raise any concerns.
Sure, Atari might have its reservations, but what's the big deal? It's not like I'm refusing to sell it to you; you're just being foolish.
"Steve, that's not possible. The most you'll get is a three-month window. You need to understand, I'm not the majority shareholder in this company, so it's not like I can ignore business."
"Damn it, so what happens to our Lisa project?"
"Trust me; you won't like the Lisa project. The price and performance just don't match."
"You knew about this all along -- you slick devil."
"Holy cow, how would I know if Motorola won't sell me any shares? If I don't see enough profit, take a guess if I would do this?"
"You're hindering the progress of mankind."
William White suddenly spurted out his coffee, coughing violently.
"Steve, trust me; making big strides can be dangerous -- it's not a good idea."
Jobs felt a headache from dealing with William's antics. He actually knew William White had made significant concessions, but his discontent was purely emotional.
Without further negotiations, William White was quite pleased because Jobs rarely got bested, and it was usually others who got steamrolled by him.
*****
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