Chapter 49: A Lovely Bunch

At first glance, Nolan Bushnell's dealings with Atari seemed to have no connection to Ethan Jones, but in reality, the implications were substantial.

For instance, when Atari was under Nolan Bushnell's control, Ethan Jones could use Stanford's name as a bluff, but once Atari fell into the arms of Disney or MCA, such tactics would lose their effectiveness.

The former, needless to say, represented the fierce face of Disney in any era. Beneath its friendly exterior was a bloodthirsty capital giant.

The latter, MCA, founded in 1924, was a current media powerhouse. Universal, one of Hollywood's Big Eight, was its subsidiary.

Faced with these facts, Ethan felt that after the collaboration on "Snake Game" expired, he had to disengage. Even if he continued with arcade games in the future, he couldn't ally with Atari, now part of these corporate giants.

Because these guys were ruthless predators. Who knew what they might do?

Or, he even had a suspicion that after the "Snake Game" contract expired, he might not be able to walk away. If those guys really bought Atari, they wouldn't just let "Snake Game" go, right?

Everyone wasn't a fool; who couldn't see the value of "Snake Game"!

No matter what, they would pester him to renew the contract!

"Hey! How did such a thing suddenly happen?"

Ethan was a bit annoyed. He had just planned to play the hunter and focus on the 6502, but how come someone was trying to take his home from him?

Of course, despite the complaints, Ethan didn't forget the main business.

After quickly handling the matters at hand, he approached the phone and dialed the number given by Woz.

Then, he heard a sweet female voice; it was the operator.

After understanding Ethan's needs, she transferred his call to MOS Company.

The ringing sound was a long wait, and after five or six seconds of picking up, the redemption sound played.

"Hello, MOS Tech, how can I help you?" A deep male voice entered Ethan's ears.

"Is this Mr. Chuck Peddle?" Ethan looked at the business card in his hand.

On the blue-and-white card, a simple introduction was written:

MOS Tech Engineer - Chuck Peddle

Ethan's inquiry received a positive response.

"Yes, I am Chuck, Chuck Peddle. May I ask who you are?"

"Hello, I'm Steve Wozniak's friend. You know Steve Wozniak, right? The guy you met in San Francisco before... the chubby one."

Ethan's words paused a bit, but the other end of the line became excited.

"Oh, I know! I know! Woz! That brother who worked at HP, right?"

"I remember, I remember. He bought two MOS 6502 chips from me!"

"Is today's call because he used the 6502? Is it working well, right?"

"Did he praise our chip? Did he find any other issues?"

"Oh—excuse my rudeness, I'm just too excited right now! I really want to know your feedback on the 6502!"

The urgent voice made Ethan smile.

The guy on the other end of the phone seemed kind of cute, even though they were far apart. Ethan could clearly feel that this guy, answering the call, was like an elementary school student waiting for exam results, his face filled with hope, eager to receive praise from the teacher.

And this eagerness made Ethan clear his throat and say, "Oh, Mr. Peddle, please don't be in a hurry."

"As you said, I'm here for the 6502. My friend used your product, and it's excellent."

"He even mentioned multiple times that when the performance and low price of the 6502 collide, the world might change because of it."

Following Woz's cue, Ethan provided positive feedback to the other side.

After hearing his words, there was suddenly no sound on the other end of the phone.

This situation puzzled Ethan. After waiting for a few seconds and seeing the other side still silent, he called out cautiously, "Mr. Peddle? Mr. Peddle?"

A cautious tone revealed Ethan's confusion.

The somewhat soft tone, however, hinted at a sob.

"Cough, sorry... sir, I'm a bit too excited."

'?' This response surprised Ethan.

But the next second, the other side revealed the truth.

"Oh—thank you, thank you for liking our product, and more thanks for trusting us."

"In fact, before Woz contacted me, many friends called to inquire about the 6502, but after hearing the price, they thought we were scammers. Only Woz, your friend, believed in us!"

"Thank you very much for your attempt! Thank you for your help! You've proven that we're not scammers! Oh—this is really so exciting! Sob, sob, sob—someone finally believes in us—"

"If I wasn't on the phone, I would even want to share this joy with my colleagues!"

Ethan raised an eyebrow at this response.

Okay, he finally understood why Woz wanted him to be sincere.

These guys were really...

Too interesting.

Thinking of this, Ethan smiled and said, "Oh, Mr. Peddle, can I ask you a question?"

"Sob—sure—"

"Is this your company's phone?"

"Cough—yes—"

"Okay, if you don't mind, you can call all your friends. I will tell them that your product is excellent."

Ethan's words had not yet fallen, and the other end of the phone showed confusion. "What? Sir, I don't understand what you mean."

"I said, you can call your engineers over. I will tell them that your product is excellent."

Ethan's repetition made Chuck Peddle on the other end ecstatic.

After a scream, Ethan only heard a thud, followed by the rapid fading of footsteps.

After waiting for about two minutes, a sudden roar emerged, growing louder as it approached.

However, the sound came and went quickly.

After the commotion, there was silence.

Then came the inquiries, "Hello? Is this Mr... Oh! Sorry, I forgot to ask your name... Um... Steve Wozniak's friend, are you still there?"

"I'm here. You can call me Ethan."

"Okay! Ethan, my colleagues are all here."

"Then please let them pick up the phone."

Ethan's invitation was met with endless excitement.

"Hello Ethan! I'm Bill Mensch, the architect of the 6502! Do you guys really think the 6502 is fantastic?"

"Yeah, our personal computers are up and running, and they're amazing!"

"Oh, Ethan! I'm Rod Orgill! Do you really like the 6502?"

"Of course! We love it, love its performance, love its price!"

"It's my turn! It's my turn! I'm Ray Hilt, hello Ethan! I want to know how many chips you need this time? Or, can I know which company you represent? We can offer you 6502 specifically. If you think $42 is too expensive, we can give you a price of $25 per chip! Because you're the first ones to buy our product!"

"???"

Honestly!

When the words of a voluntary discount appeared, Ethan Jones was truly bewildered!

What's going on?

How can there be such a business!

You guys are the sellers!

Why would you voluntarily discount?

Ethan opened his mouth, at this moment, he really didn't know what to say.

He admitted that his brain's capacity couldn't handle the surprises created by the other party.

And the people on the other end of the call seemed to know they were too excited. After a few reprimands, the voice of Chuck Peddle emerged, "Sorry, Ethan, we were too excited, probably scared you. Please forgive us."

"But, one thing is true, our 6502's price can indeed be lower, down to $25."

"As for why... my colleague just said it, first, thank you for your trust, thank you for choosing us. Secondly, when we made this chip, we never thought about making money."

"We just want to promote computers."

"..."

Ethan was shocked!

He never expected that what the old professor said in the previous life was actually true!

These people are really carrying ideals to do this thing!

Damn! Doing business without making money? What kind of spirit is this?

Ethan felt his head was a bit overloaded.

Stuttering and confirming with the other party for quite a while, he finally accepted this fact.

And when he found out that Woz's sincerity could bring such rewards, Ethan didn't hesitate anymore and directly stated his purpose, "Um... everyone, I know you can hear my voice."

"Firstly, I really like your 6502, and I called to learn about this chip."

"Secondly, my real purpose is not to purchase the 6502 but to know if you are willing to grant me authorization."

"Production authorization, research and development authorization."

This statement plunged both ends of the phone into a strange silence.

After several seconds, Chuck Peddle finally spoke.

"Ethan, are you serious?"

"Of course."

"Oh... this won't work."

"Huh? Why?"

Ethan was puzzled; this wasn't how it was written in the script!

Chuck Peddle on the other end of the phone smiled bitterly, "Ethan, I think, before you called, you might not have carefully understood us, or... um... now probably not many people know about the issue with our MOS."

"Our central microprocessor is based on the development of the 6800."

"You didn't hear it wrong; our 6502 is developed based on the 6800, Motorola's 6800."

"Before solving this problem, we can't grant you authorization because we currently don't have a patent."

Note:

Chuck Peddle, the patent holder of 6502.

This chapter may seem somewhat fictional, but in reality, these people were like this. Initially, they priced it at $42, then at the San Francisco Electronics Show, someone suggested $25 would be suitable for the public, and they immediately changed the price. In 1976, when Atari wanted to buy CPUs from them, Atari said $12 for a CPU wouldn't make them lose money, so Chuck Peddle directly changed it to $12 each. Of course, in reality, the $12 price for the 6502 was still profitable; Chuck Peddle mentioned in a 2014 interview with the Computer History Museum in Mountain View that the production cost of the 6502 in 1975 was $4 for a board with two cores. The production cost of a single 6502 chip was only $2.