Rebirth 2010: I taught Mr. Lei how to make a mobile phone

Chapter 461: First time making, no experience

Media practitioners also have peak and off-peak seasons. Normally, they work from 9 to 6 like ordinary workers, and the intensity is not high.

But when it comes to hot events, there is no concept of working hours, and people have to work overtime to get the reports done and sent out.

This is also a very competitive race, racing against time and competing with competitors for traffic.
As for the direction of the reporting, it depends on whether there is any instruction from the company that is "correct". If not, it depends on the reporter or editor to come up with a report based on their own experience and knowledge.

After an article is written, it will go through multiple proofreading and review processes before it is sent out, including proofreading for typos, typesetting, format, etc.

Review whether the expression and direction of the content are consistent with the platform’s own position.

If the platform is larger or more authoritative, the manuscripts to be published will be reviewed by reviewers hired by the platform to check whether there are any problems with the core content and professionalism of the article.

Generally speaking, the larger and more official the media platform is, the more attention it pays to program scheduling, and the stricter the review of published content will be, because in the eyes of the public, this represents the future direction of the trend.

For example, if the government wants to rectify the online car-hailing market, it usually informs the central media in advance and prepares to report on it first, so that the public can have a psychological preparation process, and then it will be natural to issue relevant policies later.
Of course, it cannot be ruled out that some large platforms have to rush to complete the work, which results in the editor having no materials, or having to write short essays on their own without any effort, and the proofreading is also perfunctory.

After it was released, the public complained because they were confused, the parties involved lost sleep because of panic, and the corresponding industry was panic-stricken and began to rectify.
Done? Sorry, it's my credit!

It's broken! Sorry, what does it have to do with me?

Big deal~ Sorry, it's all the fault of the people below me. I've already punished myself with three cups of wine, what else can I do~
Then the media platforms continued to sing and dance, the singing and dancing were prosperous, and the waves were surging.
All I can say is that there are always makeshift teams everywhere, and after seeing this happen so many times, everyone gets used to it.

That night, relevant media reports were written, proofread, approved and then released urgently, and corresponding articles were published on their respective platforms regarding this Xiaomi press conference.

But at least this time the media outlets all reported relatively reasonably from their respective standpoints.

"Press conference together: When Lei Jun meets Chen Mo, the press conference can still be held like this"

"Two billionaire CEOs' joint activities make netizens laugh so hard"

"Xiaomi chose the method with the most traffic for its press conference, which may provide new ideas for its competitors."

"After flagship phones and knockoff phones, who will be the next one to be trained in home appliances?"

"The self-developed chip has begun to show its power, a complete revelation of Mi'an Xinsheng!"

"After a year, Xiaomi and Bian launched new products again. A 3-minute quick review of Xiaomi's press conference"

"It's coming, it's coming, it's coming with new products."

Most of the reports were positive. Even if there was a small incident like taking photos, most people believed it was a marketing strategy that had been discussed beforehand.

This kind of gimmick is what these media people love most.

The deep cultivation layout in the field of smart home appliances, the rapid expansion of Xiaomi Home to 200 cities a year, and the silent development of Mi'an Xinsheng's self-developed chips.
After reading these reports, people were impressed that Xiaomi had done so many things in the past one or two years, and they could even find the shadow of the other side behind them.
However, there are also many media outlets that believe that everything has two sides, and some media outlets with close relations with friendly competitors are not very optimistic about this Xiaomi press conference.

They dare not make a hasty judgment on Xiaomi and Redmi phones, and can only start from two other aspects, such as new home appliances and gaming phones.
Some experts and media in the home appliance industry predict that Xiaomi's entry into the domestic home appliance industry will not be as smooth as before, and they are not very optimistic about its development prospects.

Professional media in the home appliance field: A senior reporter from China Home Appliance Network published an article late at night titled "Xiaomi will have a hard time in this battle in the home appliance field"

". Has the industry been stagnant for too long? Is innovation seriously lacking? The domestic home appliance industry is obviously not as simple as Lei Jun said. Although I admit that Xiaomi's home appliances are really low-priced this time, they also use self-developed chips, and are backed by JD.com's mature online channels and marketing support from the other side.

However, the quality of the products and whether the chips meet the demand are the issues that Xiaomi needs to face. Cost-effectiveness and price war are not a panacea. Xiaomi has been able to maneuver in the mobile phone industry with these two tactics, but it may not be able to adapt to the traditional home appliance industry.
Xiaomi has made extensive investments in the home appliance sector in the past two years, and this time it launched nearly ten small appliances such as humidifiers, microwave ovens, rice cookers, and electric fans.

But what were Xiaomi’s previous successful cases?

Be it a stylus, a small power strip, or a small desk lamp, they may succeed by chance in small things, but no matter how small a home appliance is, it is still a home appliance and has its own technological barriers. Have no other companies wanted to use Internet thinking to develop home appliances before?

Smart home is not something that has just been proposed this year.

Then why haven’t there been any successful cases before?

Do these companies not want to? In fact, they still can't. Even domestic strong companies such as Midea, Gree, and Haier, and foreign big brands such as Samsung, Panasonic, and Siemens are still exploring the field of smart home.
Xiaomi is actually taking the route of low price and low quality this time. Some big brands are still very strong now, and the perception of "brand is category" has been formed in the market;

Perhaps young consumers will quickly accept Xiaomi home appliances, but it will take time to influence the general public.
Let alone the production capacity, it is enough to make Xiaomi suffer."

As soon as the article came out, the home appliance industry rallied together to attack Xiaomi, using qualifications and quality as pain points. Public opinion was overwhelming, and without exception, everyone was pessimistic about Xiaomi.
On the other hand, some relevant authoritative experts also began to criticize the G4 gaming flagship phone launched by Xiaomi.
".Domestic flagship phones don't dare to sell for less than 4 yuan now, and a gaming phone dares to sell for 4399? Lei Jun is really getting ahead of himself this time. When will Xiaomi phones catch up with Apple phones?"

".Being half a step ahead is genius, being one step ahead is madness, and the appearance of G4, in my opinion, is at least three steps ahead. This step is too big, and Xiaomi is likely to be in trouble this time."

".. Judging from the phone's parameters alone, even if the performance is as powerful as the press conference said, it is a compromise at the cost of being clumsy and dumb, and it completely abandons the female market in terms of appearance, which I think is unwise."

The expert's voice drew criticism from Mi fans and players from the other side of the coin, but this time they were particularly tough.

"How much fans can afford to pay is a question mark."

"..It is beyond doubt that everything will depend on the sales in the next few days to know the potential of G4 in the market."

More netizens, seeing that those media experts were stubborn, did not continue to criticize them, because they had more important things to do, which was to take pictures of the moon!
It's not about who can take a clearer picture of the moon, but about whose pose is closer to the original, or whose picture is more abstract.
Many netizens also used Photoshop to manipulate the original pictures and made secondary creations, which attracted even more heated discussions among netizens.

Just like this, the #Shoot the Moon# contest initiated by Lei Jun and encouraged by Chen Mo spread like the ice bucket challenge on Weibo and even on Sina Weibo.
The course of events gradually deviated from the original track and headed in an outrageous direction.

Before going to bed, Lei Jun did the thing he regretted most that day, which was to open the Bi'an Weibo.

Then he saw all kinds of spoof photos of himself, such as holding Thor's hammer and shooting the moon, and replacing the moon with Chen Mo's big face.
The photo with the most likes in his comment section is a photo of him riding on a broomstick with Thor's hammer in his hand, chasing Chen Mo in the air. He even named it "Harley Chasing Mo!"

Damn, it's just like a shrimp or a pig's heart. Lei Jun wants to quit the Internet, but he has to put on a smile for Xiaomi. Who understands his pain?
At the same time, a guy in Xishan No. 1 Courtyard was hugging his apprentice and browsing Weibo. He looked so satisfied and felt happier than if he had earned hundreds of millions.

When it comes to the ability to make things happen, netizens are truly the best!

August 8th is the release day for Xiaomi’s new products.

Play is play, joke is joke, but Xiaomi’s shopping spree is no joke!

At ten o'clock in the morning, the starting gun sounded.

Offline, countless Mi fans waved their money and flocked to Xiaomi stores across the country to shop.

Online, many people who are planning to replace their phones or purchase home appliances have also started to wait in line to buy.

For them, other brands’ mobile phones are available for purchase at any time, but not Xiaomi phones.

They still remember vividly the last time Xiaomi phones were snapped up. It was really a case of the early bird catches the worm. If they were a few seconds late and turned to scalpers, the difference would be hundreds of dollars.

The phone will last for a while as there was sufficient stock in the past.

The rush to buy Komi home appliances is even more popular, because these small appliances basically range from tens to hundreds of dollars. Even if the price is three digits and does not start with 3, it is really cheap, at least more than half cheaper than other brands of the same type.

It is no wonder that everyone seems to have turned into a millionaire per capita, and is scrambling to buy Xiaomi small appliances like buying cabbage.

No matter what experts say about quality and usability, you won't be at a loss or cheated for such a small amount of money. Even if there are problems, they can still trust Xiaomi's after-sales service.

Just like that, Xiaomi's smart small appliances were sold out in just 3 hours on the first day of their release, amidst the unanimous pessimism of media experts.

Consumers who failed to get the product vented their anger on these experts and scholars. "Fuck, I listened to your money-throwing words and went to buy it after get off work at noon. All the samples in Xiaomi Store were sold out."

"Haha, there are still people who believe what experts say. Their own home appliances are probably all big foreign brands. They know nothing about domestic home appliances."

"I didn't get it. Who knows that it feels like I lost hundreds of dollars without spending the money. I feel so bad. [Breaking down and crying]"

第二天，小米首日销售数据出炉，限量的40万台红米H4、20万台小米X4、10万台Pro、10万台Max版、米家家电全部销售一空。

But at the end of this report card, there is one product whose sales volume is very eye-catching, that is Xiaomi G4.

In such a hot sales scenario, Xiaomi G10, which is also limited to 4 units, sold 8.1 units!
Total sales exceeded 20 billion!
On this day, except for Mijia home appliances which were all sold out, the sales of Xiaomi 4G mobile phones were the same as yesterday.

The H series and X series are still sold out.

The sales volume of G4 was 6.4, which was a decrease instead of an increase.
As the first batch of Xiaomi's new products arrived, some bloggers on Bi'an Video and Zhihu released unboxing videos and reviews of the Xiaomi series products, and gave positive comments on the workmanship and materials, software system, and features mentioned at the press conference.

Driven by this wave, it has attracted more attention and sparked a buying spree.

However, the sales trend of G4 has not changed and is still declining slowly.
A week later, some media outlets were reluctant to speak out against Xiaomi's strong sales performance, with daily sales in the tens digits.

But the media that had previously predicted the future of the G4 mobile phone finally had the confidence to jump out and make a final conclusion.
"8.1, 6.4, and now 3.9. Despite this incredible exposure and popularity, the G4 has not seen any improvement. I can now guarantee that if we predict the total sales of Xiaomi G4 based on this trend, it will be a problem whether it can exceed one million units. This may be the lowest-selling mobile phone in Xiaomi's history, no doubt about it."

"Selling a million units of a vertical series of mobile phones may be a good result for other mobile phone manufacturers, but for Xiaomi, which ranks at the forefront of the domestic mobile phone market, this result is not even a passing grade."

"On one hand, the H series and X series are limited in quantity every day and they are not enough to sell, and on the other hand, there is excess inventory. I can only say that Lei Jun made a good move this time. In fact, it could have sold better."

"Business must follow objective laws. Lei Jun is still too emotional. No matter how good the relationship is, it cannot violate the market laws. Perhaps this will teach Lei Jun a lesson. To be more serious, it may affect the subsequent related cooperation between Xiaomi and Bi'an. Let us wait and see."

"The future of gaming phones in the current mobile phone market is unclear. Even a strong company like Xiaomi cannot break this rule. It can only be said that Lei Jun's bet on Chen Mo failed. In other words, Chen Mo has screwed Lei Jun this time."

"Although people are very enthusiastic at the press conference, after a period of cooling down, when people's emotions calm down, they will know what they really want."

".After speculating all the possibilities, there is only one result that can win, that is, Lei Jun is betting that the mobile game on the other side will be a big hit.
But now the market is changing rapidly. The other side of the mobile game has achieved glory in the past, but can it replicate its previous success this time? This is an unknown question, and not everyone will always be at the forefront.
The most important thing is that a mobile phone built for a certain vertical field is completely dependent on the software market, which is completely putting the cart before the horse. It is not surprising that the current sales volume is so low. "

The media's reports have led to mixed reviews among consumers about the Xiaomi G4, the flagship gaming phone, and the polarization is extremely serious.

Either they praise it to the sky or they curse it to death. There is absolutely no neutrality.

It also discourages consumers who originally wanted to buy the machine, and only some game enthusiasts are charging forward fearlessly.

"The special effects are full, and all kinds of mobile games are completely stress-free, especially playing the game "The Other Shore" is extremely smooth, it's so smooth, and the battery life can last for a whole day. I declare that Xiaomi G4 is my dream phone~"

"The above comments are complicated, why don't you mention taking photos? The distant view is blurrier than the stars, the main point is a hazy beauty! And for the games on the market, 2999 yuan X4 can easily satisfy you, why spend more than a thousand yuan, do you have money to burn?"

"If you want to know, if you have enough money, you can just buy an iPhone 5 and Xiaomi G4. Use the i5 for taking photos and the G4 for gaming. You can use both. But to be honest, the G4's photo quality is not even comparable to the H4. It's just like Chen Mo said, just make sure it's usable."

"G4? It's like holding a small brick. I'm worried it might pull off my pants when I put it in my pocket. But I guess it's a good self-defense weapon."

Recently, a reporter from CCTV Economic Channel interviewed Lei Jun of Xiaomi Technology and asked him questions about some issues that people are concerned about recently.

"Mr. Lei, did the booming market after Xiaomi's press conference meet your expectations?"

“Well, I expected that everyone might like it. When these products were first launched, we were thinking about what the users’ needs were, what pain points they faced, whether our products could solve such problems, or even better, how to make a product to better serve users.

To be honest, I didn't expect it to be so popular, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the consumers and Mi fans who have chosen and trusted Xiaomi."

"What do you think about the recent shortage of Mijia home appliances? Some people online say that Xiaomi is engaging in hunger marketing, and some even say it's a trick. What do you think about this issue?"

"First of all, I want to apologize to everyone. I'm sorry, it's true that we were not well prepared. In fact, we tried our best to prepare the goods, but there were still purchase restrictions and sold-out situations.

Alas, to be honest, we followed the previous rules and prepared twice the original scale in advance. As a result, we found that everyone's purchasing power was 2 to 3 times what we estimated. Now I am walking on thin ice. Thank you again for your kindness! "

“Have you ever analyzed why Xiaomi home appliances are so popular?”

"Well, maybe it's the first time to use the Internet model to make smart home appliances. We don't have much experience. We are also crossing the river by feeling the stones, so we don't plan to make money. Basically, we won't make money by selling at a flat price. But I didn't expect it to be so much cheaper than our competitors. We make small profits but quick turnover, small profits but quick turnover."

Perhaps it is not convenient to expand on this aspect, so the reporter continued with the next question, "Has Xiaomi taken any effective measures to address the insufficient production capacity?"

"Now, factories related to mobile phones and home appliances are working as hard as they can. Some factories are even working in three shifts. Of course, there is overtime pay, so you can rest assured. At the same time, we are also expanding some factories.

In addition, we plan to broadcast some non-confidential production lines live on the other side of the Internet, so that users can monitor the production online.
Finally, I want to assure you that Xiaomi will do its best to deliver high-quality products to consumers.”

"Boss Lei, this method of online supervision is quite novel. How did you come up with it?"

"Well, to be honest, this was a suggestion given to me by Chen Mo, senior consultant of Xiaomi and chairman of Bian Technology. I thought it was a good idea, so I decided to give it a try. Maybe everyone is curious about how a product is produced. This way, we can feel involved. It also proves that we are really working hard on production and we are not deceiving everyone."

"Speaking of this, the online public opinion about the Xiaomi G4 phone is not very good. I wonder what you think of this phone?"

"This is an attempt by Xiaomi to combine software and hardware. Although the sales volume is indeed somewhat different from what we expected, I am still very confident in the market prospects of this phone. It is too early to talk about success or failure now. We need time to prove it."

"Okay, let's give the answer to time. Thank you Mr. Lei for taking the time to accept our interview."

Once the program was broadcast, regardless of how netizens reacted, the competitors went crazy again.

Since the Xiaomi press conference on August 8, Xiaomi's rhythm has never stopped. It took pictures of the moon, released battle reports, and then made a lot of noise about the G10. Both black and red were red, and the popularity was overwhelming. Now it is accepting an interview, saying that it is not profitable, and it has tinkered with some kind of network supervisor?
Oh no, why does this guy named Lei have so much work to do?
And that guy surnamed Chen is not a good guy either. The experts have advised you not to make any suggestions, so why are you the only one who is making trouble?

This guy accounts for at least 30% of Xiaomi’s success!

They are the two who are in cahoots with each other!

Nowadays, whenever the executives of small appliance manufacturers are interviewed, the reporters invariably talk about Xiaomi, which makes them very annoyed.

However, the only thing to be thankful for is that Xiaomi's production capacity cannot keep up, which made them feel relieved, and the original plan to carry out corresponding brand promotions was temporarily suspended.

The domestic home appliance industry was affected, and mobile phone manufacturers adjusted their original product release rhythm because of Xiaomi's press conference.

In fact, whether it is Huawei, Meizu or Coolpad, each company's new products have been prepared long ago, and they are all waiting for Xiaomi to make the first move. After all, countless previous experiences have proved that if you make a move before Xiaomi, you will easily be stabbed in the back by Xiaomi.

This has also become the Xiaomi Law that is tacitly accepted by domestic mobile phone manufacturers, so never hold a press conference before Xiaomi's press conference. Originally, there was another sentence after it, and the same applies to the other shore, but because the other shore has recently ceased its activities, the second half of the sentence has been deleted.

Therefore, three days after Xiaomi's press conference, Huawei held a mobile phone press conference. Yu Chengdong personally took the stage and launched Huawei's first Android 2G flagship phone, the D4, priced at 3990 yuan, which is only 4 yuan cheaper than the Xiaomi X9MAX.

The Honor 3C was also announced, priced at the same 4 yuan as the Xiaomi H799. It launched both high-end and low-end products, and its intention to compete with Xiaomi was extremely obvious.

Meizu is not to be outdone. The Meizu MX2998 priced at 4 yuan and the Meizu Blue Note798 priced at 4 yuan are only 1 yuan cheaper than Xiaomi, and their main selling point is to make someone mad.

Later, OV also entered the market with 4G mobile phones, and even Tianyu cooperated with China Mobile to develop a 4G Android smart flagship phone called Bumblebee, which is a contract phone.

Domestic manufacturers have all made their moves and there has been constant news from abroad. The Galaxy S4 launched by Samsung at the beginning of the year broke many mobile phone sales records in one fell swoop. There are reports that next month, Samsung will also launch the Galaxy Note 3 and smart watches, which have attracted much media attention.

Apple’s fall conference will be held as scheduled at the beginning of next month. This time, Apple revealed that it will not launch a new generation of Apple mobile phones, but there will be an enhanced version.

Starting from Xiaomi's press conference, a new wave of competition has set off in the mobile phone industry in the second half of the year.
(End of this chapter)