Chapter 20: Wang An Plans to Change His Path

Due to William White’s unexpected involvement, history inevitably began to veer off course. The IT industry, in particular, was affected the most. Wang An Computers was a major company, and its founder was something of a legend. In a society like America, such achievements were not easily attained by someone of Chinese descent.

America had always been centered around whiteness; this was a fact that had never changed. The Chinese community rarely concerned itself with politics—over half of them never voted. This was a significant disadvantage. If you don’t respect your own rights, how can you expect others to respect you?

Wang An Computers’ so-called computers were, in truth, just word processors. In the parallel world, this company eventually went bankrupt. The incompetence of his successor was one reason, but Wang An himself was getting old and refused to change.

This time, however, things were different. Mr. Wang’s health was still relatively sound. Though he was not as vigorous as before, he was holding on well enough. Since he could still manage, he intended not to leave trouble for his child. He knew perfectly well that his son lacked ability—he was just a privileged heir, barely able to keep the family business afloat, let alone expect more.

In America, such situations are often resolved by handing the company over to professional managers and bringing in a few strategic investors, which typically prevents things from getting worse, at least in the short term. Unfortunately, the Chinese tradition was different—passing the business from father to son was the preferred choice. This might work in other industries, but not in IT. In this field, tradition meant obsolescence, and companies that fell behind were inevitably abandoned by the market.

At present, Wang An Computers was much larger than Apple. What was even more astonishing was that the company held a vast number of patents. It was hard to comprehend why, in the previous world, Wang An Computers had stubbornly refused to change.

Perhaps it was a matter of timing. For now, the old man was still holding on, so naturally, he wouldn’t stand still. But if his health failed, his son would be no match for the old foxes around him.

The White Software office suite was revolutionary for current office workflows. Those typewriters and word processors were already on the verge of being phased out; it was only a matter of time.

At present, there were only two such software products. Should any more appear, word processors would have no future in the market.

Would there be more such software? Undoubtedly so. Everyone loves dollars, and it wasn’t even difficult to develop software of this caliber. Perhaps not effortless, but certainly not hard.

Wang An Computers was a giant; turning such a ship around wasn’t easy—it would take at least a year. If Apple failed to work harder in that time, they would be finished.

Though the great Joe acted indifferent, he wasted no time. The third generation of Apple computers was ramping up again, and they were determined to beat Wang An Computers to market.

“Father, why can’t we develop our own software? The software on our word processors is pretty good—couldn’t we just tweak it a bit?”

Wang An could only sigh at his foolish son. Seeing others reap high profits and wanting a piece of the pie was understandable, but as the successor to a major company, he should know better. This wasn’t a schoolboy’s game.

The other side had the backing of a family business—it was never that simple. He only saw the thief eat the meat, not the thief get beaten.

The key issue was innovation. If the rival were a small company, they wouldn’t have mattered—they had plenty of ways to make them yield. But since the competitor was powerful and well-connected, everyone had to play by the rules. If they dared to develop similar software, patent lawsuits would bury Wang An Computers.

Still, he could only patiently instruct his son, to prevent him from making mistakes in the future.

“Son, have you considered that the other party might have patent protection?”

“That can’t be. I checked—the company was just founded. They’re just lucky, that’s all.”

The old man was speechless again. If they’d only just started, then it was even worse—it meant they’d been planning this for a long time. How could a new company be so well-prepared?

“Son, do you think people would invest so much money without certainty? This William White is no ordinary man. To give up on the oil industry outright—that takes resolve. Would someone so decisive act without preparation? Go read his books—this is a prodigy we’re talking about. How could he not protect himself with patents? Our strength lies in manufacturing. Why would you abandon your strengths for your weaknesses? How foolish can you be?”

“I’m sorry, I was wrong.”

“Sigh, go check the patents. It’ll be a good learning experience.”

“I understand, Father.”

Checking patents was easy enough, and the results left him speechless. Not only did they have patents, but they were exhaustive and complex. Forget imitation—even drawing inspiration would violate dozens of patents, according to his original plan.

Many companies tried the same thing and reached the same conclusion: William White was shameless—this was a bottomless pit. Even if you developed something, you wouldn’t be able to sell it.

With nothing to be done in the short term, IT companies began reaching out to White Software. They had no time to waste—while Apple’s sales were soaring, their own were plummeting.

Existing customers were dissatisfied—if Apple could do it, why couldn’t their similarly priced machines? The IT companies hadn’t expected negotiations with White Software to go so smoothly. Software tailored for their systems was already in testing; results would be available in a month at most. In about forty-five days, they’d have the products in hand.

With that, there was no reason to hesitate. The partnership terms were generous—there was money to be made in helping to sell, with impressive profits, perhaps more than they would earn developing their own software.

For capital-controlled companies, immediate profit was paramount. This was the shortcoming of professional managers—they didn’t care about long-term benefits, only about revenue linked to their own income. Partnering with White Software would boost short-term gains; the choice was obvious.

White Software’s office suite gave users a much better experience, prompting many small and medium-sized businesses to flock to Apple for inquiries.

Joe was no fool. Such an opportunity was not to be missed, and he seized it with both hands. To make the most of this final chance, Apple ramped up its promotions. And it worked—Apple’s salespeople were excellent, and computer sales continued to climb. If they could maintain this momentum, selling twenty thousand units a month would be no problem.

Morgan Stanley remained cautious in their valuation of Apple. Though they admitted their estimate was low, they didn’t raise it.

Such was the era—it was not easy to win the capital market’s approval. They were undecided about Apple’s value, and as for White Software, they were completely at a loss.

In their eyes, a software company was no different from a shell company, not worth much at all. If pressed to name a price, it would not exceed twenty million dollars.

After all, they had no fixed assets, their brand was nothing special, and all their employees were new, with an average age under thirty. What value could there possibly be?