Cooperation

"This phone is indeed impressive, but are you really so confident that it can seize market share from giants like Nokia?"

Chen Mu's phone was certainly eye-catching, but Xiao Mu Phone was still far too young. At most, it was a dark horse; there was simply no way it could compete with established phone companies.

So Tony did not actually think too highly of it.

Deep down, he still favored his own plan. Entering the energy industry was the path to an industry filled with unlimited business opportunities!

"Phones are just small-time stuff."

Tony was very clear on this point and continued, "Besides, not everyone can afford a phone like this."

Even Nokia's most expensive phones could already sell for eight or nine thousand. This phone, which looked even more "advanced," would have to cost at least that much, right?

And at that price, how many people in the world could afford it?

"That's precisely Xiao Mu Phone's greatest advantage."

Chen Mu smiled, looked at Tony, and asked, "Do you know what the greatest advantage of Chinese manufacturing is?"

"Let me think. Cheap labor and low costs, I suppose?"

After thinking for a moment, Tony easily came up with the advantages of Chinese manufacturing as the "world's factory."

"That's right—the cost. Xiao Mu Phone's actual cost is only around five hundred yuan. Note that I mean RMB."

More than five hundred RMB converted into dollars was not even one hundred dollars!

In other words, this phone was absolutely affordable for everyone!

"Really?"

If that was the case, then this was indeed a highly profitable venture!

Tony was somewhat surprised. At that moment, even he was startled by China's cost control. It was truly frightening.

The main factor was actually the technology. Because of the system, Chen Mu's investment in technology was practically zero-cost, allowing him to keep costs down to this extent.

"A cost of one hundred dollars, plus all those miscellaneous taxes and labor expenses—even if everything is added together, it should still be under one hundred dollars. Even selling it for two hundred—no, three hundred dollars—would bring in enormous profits!"

Only then did Tony realize that phones might truly become a hugely profitable industry.

Especially given China's production capacity and cost control.

"So, we need a large amount of initial investment for production. Also, we hope to obtain Jarvis's program and have it installed on the phones when they leave the factory."

Of course, the Jarvis AI system on the phones would actually be heavily simplified. It would only have basic processing capabilities, inferior even to many AI programs on phones from Chen Mu's previous life. It could only make calls, send texts, and play music, but to people of this era, it was simply epoch-defining black technology!

"That, of course, won't be a problem."

Tony thought for a moment, then nodded. He had complete confidence in Jarvis. He did not believe that merely installing a Jarvis backup at the other party's factory would allow them to steal the technology. Letting Jarvis stay there would actually benefit him greatly—the biggest benefit being that Jarvis could monitor whether their factory engaged in any dishonest behavior. So he agreed quite readily.

"For the initial investment, ten billion dollars. I hope we can build more factories in China and begin production as soon as possible."

Tony only considered it briefly before making the decision. Ten billion dollars was already an enormous sum!

Tony's investment was very risky.

"That's wonderful!"

Ten billion dollars was naturally an unimaginable fortune to Chen Mu. He could use that money to do many more things!

"Of course, I have conditions for such a large investment. Stark needs to hold ninety percent of Xiao Mu Technology's shares!"

"Impossible. I can give you shares in Xiao Mu Phone, but ninety percent is too much. The most I can give you is seventy percent."

As for shares in Xiao Mu Phone alone, the exact amount did not matter much to Chen Mu. Phones were not even his main product.

"Deal."

Chen Mu had expected more bargaining, but Tony agreed immediately. Clearly, Tony's original expectation had not even exceeded seventy percent.

In any case, Tony only cared about Xiao Mu Phone. As long as he held more than fifty percent and had absolute controlling rights, he did not care about the rest.

As for Xiao Mu Technology's other products in the future, Tony did not take them seriously at all. Or rather, the arrogant Tony believed that Chen Mu had only come up with Xiao Mu Phone through sheer luck.

Tony simply did not believe Chen Mu could come up with any other product that would impress him.

"Come on, Brother Chen Mu. Have a drink!"

In high spirits, Tony took a bottle of treasured red wine from the nearby wine cabinet and warmly poured Chen Mu a glass. For the first time, he no longer looked down on Chen Mu quite as much. After all, in his eyes, Chen Mu was undoubtedly a boy who brought him wealth.

"Now that we've settled the cooperation, there's a personal matter I'm not sure whether I should bring up."

Chen Mu took the glass and looked at Tony as he spoke.

"Go ahead."

Tony raised his glass in invitation.

"Mr. Tony should know that we originally produced toys, and we have also obtained licenses to manufacture the appearances of all your company's weapons. I was wondering if you could let us take a look at the Iron Man armor?"

Chen Mu looked at Tony and stated his purpose.

"I'm planning to produce some life-sized wearable Iron Man toys. Would it be possible to see the actual Iron Man armor?"

"Toys? Of course, no problem."

Tony did not refuse. To him, it was no big deal. He was only letting someone take a look—what was the issue?

They were only toys, after all. Could Chen Mu's little factory possibly manufacture real Iron Man armor?

They were only fit to make toys!

As for licensing the toy designs?

Did that really matter?

If Chinese factories wanted to produce them, they could simply start producing them. Stark was too far away to control them anyway. Besides, doing so was indirectly helping him advertise. He would be happy about it, so why would he refuse?

"That's great! And I'm actually one of your fans as well. Just thinking about wearing armor and flying through the sky is enough to make anyone envious!"

Of course, Chen Mu was just making that up, but he still put on an admiring expression.

"Ha, of course that's fine. I wouldn't even mind letting you wear it for a bit!"

Tony glanced at Chen Mu's build. It was not much different from his own, so he said that.

Letting him wear it was naturally no problem. The armor was controlled by Jarvis; was he supposed to worry that Chen Mu would put it on and run away?

Letting him wear it would only give him a thrill. He would not even be able to move beyond this building!

"Really?"

Hearing that, Chen Mu was overjoyed!

"Of course. Come with me."

Tony nodded and spoke to Chen Mu before walking toward the room beside them. That was Tony's laboratory, as well as where he stored the armor.

Chen Mu hurriedly followed. Tony being willing to let him wear the armor filled him with indescribable excitement. This time, it was no longer an act!

"Ms. Xu Jia, please come with me. Let's discuss the specifics of our cooperation."

Xu Jia wanted to follow them to take a look, but Little Pepper stopped her. With no other choice, she followed Little Pepper toward the office.