Chapter 168: Arrival... Trouble Ahead!

Seattle, or rather the state of Washington, is known nationwide as a haven for tech-savvy straight dudes. It's incredibly easy to find contemporary "internet-addicted teens" or "internet-addicted youths" who are deeply immersed in computers.

As soon as Carter heard that someone on his end needed people who could operate computers, he immediately reassured himself that he would definitely handle it for Carter. The guarantee sounded as solemn as a vow and forcibly pushed Carter's prepared words about compensation back into his stomach.

When it came to small computers, Paul strongly recommended Apple's Apple II to Carter. With a recommendation from a current professional and the endorsement of Apple's future glory, Carter readily agreed to purchase the Apple II.

But when he called Apple, his expression changed once again.

The Apple II, launched in June 1977, was undoubtedly the best-selling personal computer of the time. Diana Melton, a salesperson for Apple's personal PC division, fluently listed the current parameters of Apple computers and the prices of the models available.

The available models of the Apple II at that time were mainly divided into: a 4KB memory version for $1,298 and a 48KB memory version for $2,638!

After introducing the product information, Melton, as usual, heard silence on the other end of the phone. She knew the customer was contemplating, comparing the pros and cons of the two models, or maybe worrying about something else.

After all, the voice on the other end didn't sound too mature, maybe a high schooler? Or a college student?

One who worked during the holidays and earned some money, so they wanted to buy their own computer. Ah, another tech nerd.

As Melton, with her hand propping up her chin, waited for a response from the other end of the phone, she silently imagined what Carter might look like: curly hair, black or brown, not particularly muscular, maybe no abs, and a pair of thick glasses that could be used as bulletproof shields.

"I want to order five 48KB memory Apple IIs. Also, don't you have a model with even larger memory?"

"Five 48KB Apple IIs? I'm sorry, Mr. Blake, did you say five?"

Melton's hand supporting her head trembled, almost snapping her neck. She immediately concentrated on the voice on the other end of the phone. What a rich dad, not a nerd!

Although the sales of the Apple II were high, most orders came from federal government purchases, such as standard educational computers in the American education system, etc. In terms of individual customers, there weren't many orders.

And the few individual users mostly purchased the basic 4KB version. The 48KB version sold even less, and ordering five at once was even rarer.

"Yes, I want five. Can you deliver them to Georgia for me?"

The voice of the sugar daddy remained so charming. Suppressing her excitement, Melton gently replied, "Of course! I will arrange the most professional transportation vehicles and personnel to ensure that the computers you need are delivered intact. Also, you seemed to have another question just now? Could you please repeat it?"

"I was wondering if you have a model with larger memory? 48KB seems a bit inadequate. You can't even fit a seed in there!"

Once again, distinguishing models by memory size, just like the sales strategy for future iPhones. Reflecting on the past and feeling that everything has a connection, Carter couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by the small yet exaggerated memory.

With the mindset of an archaeologist, Carter added an additional computer to the original plan of four, intending to keep one for himself.

"I'm sorry, sir. 48KB is currently the maximum memory capacity our processor can support."

"Alright, then this will do. Here's my address..."

After ordering the computers and recruiting computer operators, Carter took out pen and paper and began preparing his speech.

It was Carter's first time giving a speech in America, so it was a fresh experience for him. To ensure success, Carter's speech was meticulously prepared, and Goodman also helped with revisions.

Five days passed quickly, and on this day, the goods arrived!

But when he actually opened the boxes, Carter felt like trouble was brewing!

Setting aside the size and capacity issues, the main problem was that these computers didn't come with a mouse! How are you supposed to use them?

However, when he powered them on, Carter was surprised to see that the screens were color displays, not the blue-white or black-white single tones he had imagined.

The operating system was not macOS of the future but something completely unfamiliar to Carter, with a UI that lacked the crispness of macOS and instead had a somewhat antiquated feel, reminiscent of Windows 98's boxy buttons but even older.

These were all the conclusions reached by the pseudo-archaeologist Carter after an hour of research. Based on these conclusions, Carter easily deduced the next: he had wasted over two thousand dollars!

Feeling like a sucker, Carter turned off the computer in frustration and then proceeded to open the remaining boxes with Goodman.

There were check sorters, magnetic ink character recognition printers for producing new checks with MICR encoding, and the raw materials needed. Carter understood these two items much better, despite their somewhat dated appearance.

"What's this?"

Burying his head in the box, Carter suddenly found a pile of strange objects that looked like planks. After considering possibilities like "maybe it's a curling iron," Carter couldn't figure out what they were for.

So, picking up one of them and holding it in his hand, Carter asked Goodman.

"These are for merchants who support credit card services! You place a pressure-sensitive paper underneath, make a copy of the credit card information such as the card number and cardholder's name, and then use this device to press down. This way, the credit card information is copied onto the paper!"

Smiling as he took the pressure-copying device from Carter's hand, Goodman put it away while explaining:

"Then the cashier at the merchant fills in the date, transaction amount, and other information, then calls our credit card authorization hotline to confirm whether the customer's credit card has enough funds to pay for the transaction."

"If it's sufficient, we'll provide the authorization code to the cashier, who fills it in and asks the customer to sign for confirmation. Finally, the receipt and credit card are returned to the customer, and the merchant keeps the copy. Then they bring the copy to the bank for settlement."

"At the same time, when we issue the authorization code, we also correspondingly deduct the credit limit from the card. These pressure-copying devices were probably not something merchants were willing to buy at the beginning, so we had to buy them first and provide them to them for free. When the transaction volume increases, we can sell or rent them to them."