Chapter 261 After the Press Conference

In fact, the price war had already started four months ago when Xiaomi released the Xiaomi 4 at a price of 1999 yuan.

Two months later in September, Lei Jun's golden status as the only true god in the mobile phone industry was shattered when Meizu released the "Meizu MX9" priced at 4 yuan.

The Weibo account was flooded with comments, with thousands of '1799' comments seemingly asking Junzi, "You really don't make money, are you really honest?"
Mr. Lei is so annoyed that he wants to say that he has been tricked. Normally, mobile phone manufacturers will first release the new generation of true flagship products of the year, and then release simple and low-priced sub-flagship products to undertake sales tasks.

Taking Xiaomi as an example, the digital series was the high-end flagship phone of the year that played a hungry marketing game and built a good reputation, while the S series was the high-end version of the previous generation flagship phone, focusing on cost-effectiveness.

However, last year's digital series Xiaomi Mi 3 did not receive a good market response, so the company chose to skip the low-priced sub-flagship Xiaomi Mi 3S and directly launched this year's true flagship Xiaomi Mi 4 at a so-called "Art Journey of a Steel Plate" press conference.

Everyone is doing this, but Meizu is so shameless that it actually released the low-priced sub-flagship Meizu MX4 first.

In short, the counterpart of Meizu MX4 should be Xiaomi 3S, which is like an inferior horse against a superior horse compared to Xiaomi 4.

The public doesn't care about these things. It's not us who asked you, Xiaomi, to castrate the inferior horse. Since your superior horse was arrested on the spot and sold at the same time as the inferior horse, we will naturally just make a horizontal comparison.

It's okay for Lei Jun to suffer a loss, as everyone knows how bad Meizu's supply chain is. Besides, Xiaomi is already a big winner, and the two companies are not even on the same level of competitors, as the shipment volume is so different.

He only needs to make the Xiaomi 3S that he skipped, change the name to "Xiaomi 4 Special Edition" and release it during the Double Eleven period, so that Huang Zhang can know who is the only god.

And that bastard named Xie, who provoked me at the National Day reception and even stuck his thigh on me to intimidate me, right? Young people, don't be too presumptuous, it's useless!

The plan went well, and until today, Mr. Lei felt that the situation was very good and that he would soon dominate the mobile phone industry.

Xie Jingxing heard his inner voice, but he didn't quite understand it and misheard "Don't be too presumptuous, it's useless" as "May the force be with you". He was greatly encouraged by this blessing.

Then the real flagship Meizu MX2499Pro came forward with a price tag of 4 yuan. The inventory of 300 million units occupied 50 billion yuan of cash flow. Is there any price war more outrageous than this?

The Hammer phone, which already had a difficult supply chain, was sent directly to the ICU for emergency treatment. Disheartened, Luo Yonghao publicly apologized to users and went abroad to relax and take a vacation.

Under the impact of Xiaomi, OnePlus and Meizu, VO completely let go of the online market and focused on offline sales channels.

Huawei said it was none of its business. This year, its true flagship 'mate7' successfully entered the high-end market for civil servants while Apple was affected by policies. The focus of market operations has been fully shifted, and a shipment volume of 500 million units can be expected in the future.

I have also been admitted to the civil service. You idle people in society should not come and interfere with me, as it will have a bad influence. Try to have as little contact with me as possible and don't worry about me.

As for the sub-flagship 'Honor 6', it will try to get by by reducing the price during Double Eleven. The enemy's army is strong, so it will stay out of the spotlight for the time being and start all over again with the next generation of new products.

Well then, all the competitors have shown their talents, and only Xiaomi is left fighting against Meizu's superior horse with its inferior horse.

“The rhythm is messed up.”

After the press conference ended and many executives left, Mr. Lei calmed down and made a summary.

Lin Bin, Xiaomi's No. 1800 figure who built the Internet sales channel, rested his chin on the sky and said, "Everyone is focusing on the 2500 yuan price range. It's a good thing that Meizu has expanded the price range to - yuan. We can try to raise prices and make high-end products. This year, Huawei has been left with nothing."

"Their brand power is naturally close to business attributes, and favorable policy orientation cannot be regarded as the main factor." Mr. Lei emphasized with a frown.

Lin Bin did not comment. He was of course aware of the facts. Huawei and Meizu both have their own product systems, which makes it easy for them to make mid-range products cheaper and high-end products more expensive.

What about Xiaomi?
Previously, he copied Apple and Samsung, and each new product was different, as if he was schizophrenic. Now that the systematic family product design concept has just taken shape, how could he expose his shortcomings?

"One high and one low, both blocked at the top and bottom, Meizu's strategy of coming late and catching up this year is worth learning. I will try out the MX4pro in person later."

雷总斟酌片刻继续说：“加快‘小米5’研发，双十一期间发售‘米4特别版’用点心。1799-2499，700元差价对价格敏感性消费者不是个小数目，他们囤货300万台整机风险很大。”

"How about this first?" Lin Bin confirmed.

Mr. Lei nodded slightly. The cyclical nature of the mobile phone industry determines that everyone will play with products from generation to generation. It is unlikely that there will be the kind of competition that exists in the Internet industry, where Didi offers a 10 yuan red envelope subsidy today and Uber follows up with 11 yuan tomorrow.

The current head-on confrontation was completely planned by Meizu in advance, but the cycle of a new product can be as short as three months or as long as half a year, and at most it can slightly disrupt the rhythm of several major competitors.

The Crab Roe Duo looked like they were about to win a small victory, but he still felt it was useless. Xiaomi's annual shipments were close to 300 million, so you should sell out the million units in stock first!

…………

【1000000】

Huang Zhang stood in the middle, with Xie Jingxing and Teacher Ma on his left and right. The three of them used small hammers to smash the ice-shaped numbers in front of them, symbolizing that the pre-sale shipments had exceeded one million units.

Red wine poured out from the ice, and people raised their glasses to celebrate amid laughter and joy. Every face at the celebration banquet was filled with joy.

“Before, you asked Tmall to support you. Now, I ask you to support Tmall more.” Teacher Ma praised generously.

Huang Zhang's face flushed as he held the wine glass in his hand: "We will fully support Taobao as long as they want as many products as they want!"

"Online channels are our lifeline." Xie Jingxing took over the conversation and added.

The majority of the million pre-sale shipments were distributed through online platform channels such as JD.com, Tmall, Suning, and Gome, followed by offline distributors. The data performance on the retail side was not particularly good.

Mr. Ma was being polite, but Huang Zhang took it seriously. How could a second-rate mobile phone manufacturer like you support the battle between two e-commerce giants that went public one after another on Singles' Day? "You should communicate more with Tmall on marketing strategies later, and keep the popularity before the official launch. Thank you for your hard work."

As expected, Teacher Ma, who was at the peak of his life, was sublimated and was about to become an immortal, and his lightness turned into an encouraging attitude.

Ji Gang smiled silently and seemed to be thinking about something, wondering whether it was necessary to transfer Alibaba's shares in Meizu to the company entity of the e-commerce division to facilitate cooperation in online sales channels.

Huang Zhang seemed to understand the ways of the world, but he was not completely clueless. He thanked him again dryly: "Mr. Ma, I want to toast you. To be honest, if Alipay hadn't developed a customized version for us, users' actual experience of fingerprint touch technology would be much weaker."

"This is just the beginning. In the future, the FLyme system we built based on Alibaba Cloud will be a major move that will determine the landscape of the mobile phone industry. I hope that one day we will not have to share the world with Android and Apple. We want Apple to use our operating system!"

Teacher Ma was feeling so happy and excited that he even took the initiative to tease Luo Yonghao.

——It is my unshirkable responsibility for the rest of my life to make the Hammer phone a success and then acquire the inevitably declining Apple and revive it.

This famous quote is quite similar to asking Apple to use Meizu's operating system. Huang Zhang squinted his eyes and laughed heartily. Lao Luo once called him a fool, and he felt very relieved to get his revenge today.

One of them is dreaming of successfully integrating the mobile phone market across industries, while the other is feeling proud and relieved of all his depression. They both enjoy their neurotic thoughts jumping around.

Yang Yan and Ji Gang, who were in charge of the development of the FLyme system, looked at each other with a sympathetic look. While the big bosses were happy to brag, they were not optimistic about the difficulties encountered in the actual development of the operating system.

We can't spoil the fun of today's occasion. We have to find an opportunity to report everything later. Don't brag publicly every day. Otherwise, if we fail to deliver, they will be the ones who will be slapped in the face and take the blame.

"You guys chat."

Xie Jingxing pointed at Bai Yongxiang and Li Nan who were standing not far away and talking quietly. Huang Zhang nodded repeatedly: "Go ahead, don't be so tense, relax."

"..."

Xie Jing Xing was speechless. A carpenter can be happy just by making the phone, but as someone who took over Meizu with the aura of "who else but me", how can he relax if he doesn't sell the phone?

Meizu MX4Pro is not perfect. Internal actual machine testing found that the chip can hardly drive the 2K screen, and the phone gets hot and the battery life is so poor that it has affected the actual user experience.

Secondly, although customized versions were developed in advance by cooperating with two super applications, WeChat and Alipay, the actual application experience of the so-called fingerprint touch technology, except for mobile payment, is far from the level of Apple's ecosystem.

This is also the fundamental reason why open source technology will be needed in the future. Only when everyone joins in can it form a whole and allow software manufacturers to spontaneously add fingerprint touch functions.

Finally, there is the old issue of supply chain. After several months of sorting out, Meizu internally evaluated 7 first-tier suppliers, led by Goodix Technology, and the supply chain investment support and training plan is barely on the right track.

The monthly production capacity of Meizu MX4Pro is capped at 43 units, not to mention the fact that there are nearly 300 units in stock.

On the other side, Li Nan is in charge of the 'Meizu Blue' sub-brand in the 1,000-yuan market, which demands a monthly production capacity of millions of yuan from the supply chain and carries the upper limit of Meizu's entire shipment volume.

"Our production line has already started, and it is expected to be online at the end of December to match the students' winter vacation. Objectively, there is more time and no need to overstock. After all, these are low-end products with low-tech components, and there is still time to increase production capacity later."

He analyzed positively: "We are focusing on the market. We plan to use this wave of popularity to hold a brand launch conference to warm up the market, and then hold a product launch conference, and then hold a concert for the product launch."

"In this way, the popularity of our entire brand can be maintained from now until the beginning of next year. The entire series of MX4, 4Pro, Meizu 1, and Meizu Note 1 will compete with Xiaomi, and the business growth will definitely not be bad."

Li Nan spoke incessantly and confidently, and Xie Jingxing had no choice but to listen. Fortunately, Bai Yongxiang remained calm and nodded to him quietly to indicate that it was okay.

"We invited the SH48 girl group and the Korean girl group Apink to the concert. Young people like these."

“Will the audience be a bit narrow?”

"No, even if you don't like girl groups, isn't there an audience for all the white legs on the screen? We have also invited young singers like Deng Ziqi, and we are still communicating and asking for prices. Mr. Xie, how about arranging a duet for you?"

"I don't care. It's easy to confuse the brand positioning of Meilan."

"That's a shame. We are planning to invite 50 guests. It will be a grand occasion."

"50... 50? I told you that as long as Meilan's shipments are good, I'll accept even if I lose money on every unit sold. But you embezzled public funds to select a concubine?!" Xie Jingxing's eyes widened.

Li Nan laughed and defended himself, "You didn't say specifically how the loss occurred. I will definitely make the shipment volume look good."

Xie Jingxing thought about it and decided to hold back. This fat guy was a rare marketing genius. Since he was put in charge of the sub-brand, he had to be prepared for some tricks.

Do whatever you want.

After sending Li Nan away, Xie Jingxing and Bai Yongxiang looked at each other in silence. After a moment, they both chuckled.

"Morale is high throughout the company, Walter." He raised his champagne glass to indicate.

Bai Yongxiang clinked his glasses and said in broken Mandarin: "I understand. It will be fine after the product is officially released."

Xie Jingxing took a deep breath. November 11th was still 11 days away. He was actually a little impatient.

(End of this chapter)