Chapter 586 Fierce Competition

In early February, Apple officially launched its latest mobile phone, the IPhone 3G. As the name suggests, this phone supports 3G networks.

The front of the iPhone 3G uses a 3.5-inch LCD screen, available in black and white, and the back is made of plastic. However, unlike Honor Electronics' Mate 1S, the IPhone 3G is still only equipped with a 2-megapixel rear camera, without a front camera.

In fact, in Barron's previous life, the IPhone 3G was only launched in June this year, but before Christmas last year, Honor Electronics launched the 3G network-supported smartphone Mate 1S, and Apple was a little impatient - because it supports 3G networks and has a very high cost-effectiveness, so now, one and a half months after the launch of Mate 1S, the sales of this phone have exceeded 2 million units!

You know, the sales of the entire Mate 1 series and IPhone 1 did not exceed 2 million units, and this number was reached by Mate 1S in just one and a half months.

This also made Apple realize that it seemed that Mate 1S had already captured the needs of many consumers in some aspects.

Therefore, under the personal supervision of Jobs, Apple accelerated the pace of research and development and released the iPhone 3G mobile phone ahead of schedule in early February.

Not only Apple's iPhone mobile phone, but also brands including Samsung, LG, Motorola, etc. have announced that they will release their Android-based smartphones in succession after April this year.

Obviously, after seeing the great success of Honor Electronics in the smartphone market, these brands are gearing up to join the competition.

And Honor Electronics has not relaxed at all. They are ready to consolidate their current leading position in ate 2.

At the same time, Honor Electronics announced that they have purchased the remaining shares of TSMC held by Philips, which increased the proportion of TSMC shares held by Honor Electronics from the previous 10% to 18.7%, surpassing the Taiwan Development Fund and becoming the largest shareholder of TSMC.

In addition, Honor Electronics also announced that it would invest in MediaTek, holding 15% of its shares and becoming the second largest shareholder of the company.

Honor Electronics will also cooperate with MediaTek to launch an Android-based smartphone chip integration platform. This platform will first be used in the mobile phone products of Dopod, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Honor Electronics.

…

Also in February, on the 12th, in order to avoid more serious social and economic problems caused by mortgage defaults, the US government and the six major mortgage lenders proposed a "lifeline plan" to help homeowners who are about to lose their homes because they cannot repay their mortgages.

According to the plan disclosed by US Treasury Secretary Paulson on the same day, homeowners who are overdue for mortgages for 90 days or more can contact mortgage lenders. If the homeowners meet certain conditions, they will have the opportunity to obtain a 30-day buffer period, and their houses can be temporarily suspended from being auctioned. During this period, mortgage lenders will formulate repayment plans that make it easier for homeowners to afford.

The "lifeline plan" covers all types of home loans. The six mortgage companies participating in the plan, including Bank of America, Citibank, and JPMorgan Chase, account for almost 50% of the US mortgage market.

Prior to this, according to estimates by some industry insiders, more than 1 million homeowners in the United States will not be able to repay their mortgages on time this year, and they are facing the fate of having their homes confiscated and auctioned.

Regarding the "Lifeline Plan", a government spokesman said that no plan can solve all the problems in the housing market, and the president believes that the plan can help Americans overcome the current difficulties.

However, some American congressmen believe that the plan came too late and was too weak to deal with the current serious mortgage arrears problem in the United States.

Afterwards, on February 14, Valentine's Day, Bush officially signed a package of economic stimulus bills, with a large tax refund and consumption stimulus in an attempt to revive the American economy.

After all, he also understood that the anti-terrorism war that made him unprecedentedly famous, now that the Iraqi side has successfully overthrown Saddam's regime, their army is still trapped in the swamp of the Middle East and it is difficult to get out.

This has caused great opposition to him from the global and American people. If the American economy is hit hard again...

There is no doubt that this year's election is destined to be a losing battle for him!

...

On Valentine's Day, Barron naturally returned to his home in Kensington to spend time with his wife and children.

However, during the day, he had sent Valentine's Day gifts to Tamaran, Ivanta, Beatrice, Fan Bingbing and others, and made sweet phone calls...

"I want to live in Chatsworth for a while..."

Bonnie suddenly said, leaning on Barron's arms.

"Why do you want to live there?"

In Barron's impression, Chatsworth will be the most beautiful after spring. If he goes there now, the scenery will inevitably be a bit monotonous.

"Although the scenery at Grace Lavender Manor in Australia was also nice, I didn't know why I missed Chatsworth Manor very much, so..."

Bonnie looked at Barron and said softly:

"And I heard that Mr. Sean's health has not been very good recently, and I want to visit him."

Sean is the old butler of Chatsworth Manor. He retired due to health reasons before, and Ramos, who used to be Barron's full-time butler, succeeded him as the butler of Chatsworth Manor.

It is also because Butler Sean has devoted almost his entire life to the Devonshire family. Therefore, after his retirement, Barron still kept him in the manor. In name, he is the consultant of the manor, but in fact, it is equivalent to providing him with old age care.

Bonnie's words also reminded Barron that since last winter, Sean's physical condition has been getting worse and worse since he accidentally fell once...

"Then I'll go back with you for a while, baby."

"Yeah."

...

"Junning, how do you feel about this job now?"

As the convoy drove on the streets of London, Barron casually asked his assistant Zhang Junning.

After the help of her former personal assistant Wang Wanting, Zhang Junning has now started to do her current work independently.

"It's very fulfilling and very challenging. I will try my best to do my best..."

Of course, what Zhang Junning didn't say was that in addition to the excessive amount of information that needed to be processed in business, some of the private affairs of the Duke of England also "opened Zhang Junning's eyes"...

For example, on Valentine's Day before, so many gifts given to different women all needed to be handled through her.

What surprised Zhang Junning the most was that the identity of each of these women was not ordinary - in comparison, Fan Bingbing, who had the greatest impact on her, was already the most "ordinary" one among them.

Before this, how could Zhang Junning have thought that Fan Bingbing, the most famous actress in mainland China, was actually the woman of the Duke beside her, and even gave birth to a pair of children for him...

"Although a personal assistant needs to serve me, it also requires management skills. If you can manage the 'logistics team' well, it will not only improve work efficiency, but also greatly reduce your own workload..."

Barron's words interrupted Zhang Junning's "random thoughts". She carefully thought about her boss's words and knew that he was also giving her advice.