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

Chapter 869 Apple: Am I a fish in the mud?

With everything in place, Jia Yueting remained inactive and did not choose to rush into broadcasting.

Over the past month, he has been planning his first live broadcast as if he were polishing a precision instrument.

He was all too aware of the weight of "everything is difficult at the beginning," and the extent of his bargaining power in subsequent price negotiations largely depended on this.

The results of the first battle will not only determine the bargaining power in subsequent negotiations, but will also become the industry's benchmark for judging "Jia Yueting-style live streaming".

Therefore, he carefully selects products, ensuring they are from areas he is familiar with and proficient in, in order to minimize the margin for error.

His inner pride wouldn't allow him to make the same mistake twice; after all, the lesson of tens of billions was unforgettable.

Ultimately, he adopted Chen Mo's suggestion: a new Xiaomi product.

This is, after all, his old profession, which he has been immersed in for many years. He can name everything from the technical aspects of mobile phone components, chip parameters, screen quality, and supply chain logic to the software aspects of the system ecosystem.

Back in August, while Chen Mo was dealing with Lao Liu, Jia Yueting had already led the Letu team in multiple rounds of tug-of-war with Xiaomi.

At the negotiating table, after learning about the new products launched by Xiaomi, he did something that surprised the Xiaomi team: he refused the usual rebates on the spot and only made one condition: the exclusive first sales rights for Xiaomi's subsequent new products on Douyin must be firmly held by Letu.

Of course, this involves a sales performance bet: if the agreed sales volume is reached, the right to sell in the next round will be automatically activated; if not, everything is off the table.

As for the subsequent rebates, he said, "Win the battle first, then we'll settle the details."

After the LeEco debacle, Jia Yueting finally figured out how Xiaomi—or more accurately, how the other side of the empire—worked.

Chen Mo said, "If you want to make money, you can't think about making money first."

Did Xiaomi make money selling the first generation at 1999 yuan? Even if it sold at cost or at a loss, and subsequent products had a profit margin of no more than 5%, would that prevent Xiaomi from becoming one of the world's top three mobile phone manufacturers?

What about the other side back then? They made a game, and after it went live, they gave away all sorts of benefits, to the point that players started to doubt their own existence and were afraid that such a great company would go bankrupt. They made WeChat, and it's still free and ad-free to this day.

Will it prevent Chen Mo from becoming the richest man?
This statement is contradictory, yet also correct!

The more Lao Jia read it, the more he found every word to be precious, and he regarded it as a guiding principle.

Why should his debut broadcast focus on the immediate small gains? What he wants is free publicity, an earthquake-level reputation in the industry, and the anchoring effect of "Letu = top-tier first-sale channel".

With this victory, subsequent resources, bargaining power, and industry standing will naturally follow.

The first battle is the decisive battle!
We're going all in!
When gods fight, apples suffer.

The marketing director of the China region looked bewildered at the data report: this year's marketing investment increased by 20% compared to last year, and the media was specially arranged to reveal the appearance design of the iPhone X before the press conference, but the popularity was less than half of that in previous years.

This made him curse the Chinese companies for being unethical, but he could only watch helplessly as Xiaomi and Huawei dominated the trending topics.

Sometimes he even had the urge to find some people to salute Apple.
It's worth noting that these three companies were the top three mobile phone manufacturers in terms of domestic market share in the past two months when they held press conferences.

Samsung, Meizu, and OPPO/Vivo hastily ended their campaigns last month, leaving the stage entirely to Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi.

On September 12, Apple held its fall product launch event at the newly built Steve Jobs Theater, unveiling the iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone X, Apple Watch Series 3, and Apple TV 4K.

The iPhone X, released last, became the focus: a 10th-anniversary edition, a notch-style full-screen display, a 5.8-inch OLED screen, the removal of the Home button, the A11 Bionic chip, wireless charging, Face ID…

Each one carries the label of "Apple-style innovation".

But the price is even more eye-catching: $999, with a starting price of 8388 yuan in China, making it the first mobile phone in the mass consumer market to break the 8 yuan price range.

As for the iPhone 8/8 Plus, apart from the return of the glass body and the A11 chip, its appearance is almost identical to the iPhone 7, but the price remains stubbornly in the 5 to 6 range.

An incident even occurred that day when Apple executive Phil Schiller failed to unlock Face ID on his first demonstration, raising questions about the technology's reliability from the media and the public present.

Then Cook announced on the spot that all new products would be launched simultaneously in the global market on September 22!
On the day of the press conference: Apple's stock price rose as much as 1.21% after the market opened, but then fell back due to a lack of surprises, and eventually closed down 1.4%.

Following the press conference, media opinions were mixed.

Firstly, some tech media outlets expressed their approval of the innovative features of the iPhone X.

Some media outlets have called the iPhone X "the biggest innovation since the iPhone 4".

"Face ID and full-screen design are considered to be the future trend."

"Cook has finally woken up from Jobs' legacy."

Moreover, the "AR augmented reality" concept at this press conference was eye-catching, but it was only briefly mentioned and not elaborated upon.

Many foreign media outlets have also criticized the press conference.

Due to a large amount of information leaks before the launch event, almost all of the iPhone X's features were revealed, making the launch event "lacking in mystery" and rather dull.

One tech news website even criticized Apple for "lacking innovation," arguing that features like full-screen displays and wireless charging were technologies that had already been overused by manufacturers like Xiaomi, Samsung, and Huawei.

Moreover, the iPhone 8's awkward positioning stems from the fact that its appearance is almost indistinguishable from the iPhone 7, except for the addition of a color option, leading many users to criticize it as the "iPhone 7S".

Even the Washington Post, a local American newspaper, couldn't help but criticize, "The new iPhone X is overpriced, and the rest of the new products are practically useless. It has to be said, this was a terrible launch event."

As public opinion intensified, Apple's stock price fell for several consecutive days, wiping out $500 billion in market value, which also affected related stocks and contract manufacturers.

Besides internal factors, there were also external factors: the day after Apple's launch event, Xiaomi and Huawei almost simultaneously announced their own launch dates, both coincidentally choosing September 22nd. This was precisely the day Apple's new iPhones were released globally.

Back at the IFA trade show in Berlin on September 2, perhaps under pressure from competitors developing their own chips, Huawei released news about the Kirin 970 ahead of schedule, with Yu Chengdong emphasizing that it was the "world's first AI mobile phone chip".

Strengthen technological leadership through comparative tests (such as completing an AI task in 5 seconds vs. 9 seconds on an iPhone 8).

He delivered the entire speech, showcasing his fluent English.

Huawei originally had a three-step strategy for its fall product launch event.

First, technology comes first: building momentum in advance with the Kirin 970;

Then a press conference was held in Germany, with a full-scale domestic promotion and distribution campaign covering all channels, combining globalization with localization;

The press conference featured a precise comparative marketing strategy, directly pitting it against Apple, Samsung, and Xiaomi.

This strategy not only boosted the market popularity of the Mate 10 series, but also strengthened Huawei's brand image of "high-end technology".

But when Xiaomi suddenly championed "domestic production," public opinion shifted, and this strategy completely failed.

Currently, the only way to maintain the buzz is through Huawei's official Weibo account and Yu Dazui's personal Weibo account, which are gradually leaking materials related to the launch event, such as the full-screen design and Leica dual cameras.

On September 13, some media outlets even exposed the invitation letter that Huawei sent them. It had a black cover with the number "10" faintly visible on it. Anyone with eyes could tell that the number meant the heavyweight product at this launch event: the Mate 10.

The sign above reads: "This equipment is worth the wait!"

Perhaps in an attempt to buy time and catch up, many media outlets began to report extensively on Huawei's press conference, creating momentum for it.

Apart from the appearance and price not being disclosed, most of the specifications have been revealed.

Ultimately, after much piecing together, the Huawei Mate 10 was presented to the public.

“配备6.1英寸的18：9全面屏，分辨率更是高达2160*1080。

It features a dual Leica rear camera setup, and is powered by its own newly developed Kirin 970 processor (possibly an AI chip), paired with 6GB of RAM. It will also come pre-installed with Android 7.1.

Perhaps influenced by previous events, this time the promotion did not include words such as "domestic product" or "self-developed," perhaps for fear of triggering some kind of trigger.

Yu Dazui posted a photo of an invitation on Weibo, with the caption: "See you at the press conference on September 22nd!"

The comment section was instantly flooded with comments like "punching Apple", "stomping Samsung", and "targeting Xiaomi".

Xiaomi, on the other hand, takes the completely opposite approach—keeping a low profile to the point of being almost mysterious.

Aside from knowing that the chip is called "Xuanjie O1," the official statement makes no mention of its performance, leading some critics to speculate whether Lei Buqun is feeling guilty.
Aside from the speculation that it would be a new 8-series phone, everything else about the press conference remained a mystery.

Lei Jun remained tight-lipped this time, only posting a single Weibo message: "A new beginning."

Below is an image of an "O" shape, full of technology and mystery.

This has sparked various speculations in the comments section, with some suggesting it's hinting at "Xuanjie O1".

This, on the contrary, aroused the public's curiosity and voyeuristic desire.

Some netizens even went to the Mi'an Xinsheng and Xiaomi factory to take photos, where they saw trucks marked with the SF logo coming and going.
At this time, Lei Jun was in seclusion—he knew that in the age of information explosion, even the best wine needs advertising.

For the same product, a slight difference in the launch event's impact can lead to vastly different sales figures.

The new product to be released this time is equipped with the self-developed Xuanjie O1 chip, and the domestic component rate is close to 80%.

On the day of the press conference, heavyweight figures from both the political and business circles will be present.

No room for error!

If the 2011 Xiaomi launch event was a life-or-death battle "from 0 to 1", then this time, it is a crucial leap for Xiaomi from 1.0 to 2.0.

Lately, he has been watching Xiaomi's press conference videos over the years, especially the "anti-routine" speech style pioneered by Chen Mo, which he has watched countless times. He even regretted it a bit after watching it, thinking, "Damn, could I have done it myself back then?"

He has made progress over the years, developing a unique "Lei-style" rhythm derived from the "Chen style"...

Looking at the various data and pre-made images presented below, Lei Jun decided to personally oversee the creation of this PPT!

Playing with the prototype designed by Chen Mo himself, Lei Jun, who had followed the project from start to finish, mapping the two-dimensional graphics on the drawings step by step into reality and overcoming countless difficulties along the way, showed undisguised love, confidence and pride in the new phone.

Only when you personally participate in making something, and you like it first, can you expect others to like it.

This product is truly an unprecedentedly good product!

He simply wants to introduce it to everyone who understands it.

At the same time, another person was also playing with the new machine and creating a PowerPoint presentation.

It's not Chen Mo, it's Jia Yueting.

(End of this chapter)