I can become stronger by paying salaries. I have one billion employees!

Chapter 273 Flowers Bloom Inside the Wall, Fragrance Spreads Outside: 30 Units in Five Days! Lei Yijun: I want one too!
On June 25, the Alexa smart speaker was launched in the North American market.

Online sales channels are mainly Amazon and eBay, while offline sales channels are mainly Best Buy and Walmart.

Previously, Wang Teng contacted several tech bloggers on YouTube and Facebook to create product test videos for Alexa.

They may not have the largest number of fans, but their audience profile is highly targeted and they have a very strong influence among young viewers.

For example, Marques Brownlee, the second-ranked YouTuber in the tech category with over 10 million followers, only had over 400,000 followers at the time. However, his review video of the Alexa smart speaker garnered 740,000 views, over 50,000 likes, and an engagement rate of 6.8% in just three days.

In the video, Marques introduces to the camera: "Hey, what's up guys! Today I'm reviewing a speaker product equipped with intelligent voice interaction engine technology. I'll reveal the R&D team of this product at the end of the video. You can guess which technology company it is."

In the comments section, company names such as 'Google', 'Amazon', and 'Microsoft' quickly floated by.

"Before using it, we need to download an app called Alexa from the app store. Yes, its design is inspired by Star Trek."

OK, after successful installation, first add the device in the app, select "Alexa smart speaker" as the device type, confirm that the speaker is in network pairing mode, then enter the Wi-Fi password to complete the connection.

Marques shook his head, skillfully completing the preparations.

It's clear that he had thoroughly researched how to use the Alexa smart speaker before filming the video.

“Alexa!” Marques shouted into the air.

"Good morning, I'm Alexa, it's a pleasure to serve you." The smart speaker on the desktop glowed green, and a warm and enthusiastic greeting came from the speaker.

"Play me 'We Are Young'," Marques demonstrated the music playback function.

When connected to the internet, Alexa smart speakers can instantly access music resources from Amazon Music and Spotify.

"Okay, I've found Fun.'s 'We Are Young' for you. Please enjoy!"

Three seconds later, Alexa replied.

It receives voice commands from Marques, uses a voice recognition system to convert the analog audio signal collected by the microphone into a digital signal, processes and analyzes it through the TI OMAP 3630 chip, and then calls the music platform API interface to execute the song playback operation.

As the music began to play softly, a string of exclamations like 'Oh my God,' 'Oh my goodness,' and 'Amazing' floated up in the comments again.

In fact, Wang Teng was behind the manipulation of user comments.

Afterwards, Marques used the Alexa smart speaker to check the weather and traffic conditions, set alarms, reminders and to-do items, and add items to her Amazon shopping list and place orders via voice commands.

This amazed the audience!

It's worth noting that while the United States had Siri voice assistant in 2012, it could only perform simple tasks such as making phone calls, booking restaurants, or sending text messages.

The voice recognition success rate is not high. If you ask it to play "Jay Chou's songs", it can understand it as "Jay Chou's songs".

Poor noise reduction technology makes it unable to accurately recognize voice commands in noisy environments.

Siri has weak multi-turn conversation capabilities. For example, if you ask it which restaurant in New York is the tallest, Siri can answer normally, but if you continue to ask it what the restaurant's signature dish is, Siri will be completely confused.

It has absolutely no memory function for preceding questions!

It's supposed to be a smart voice assistant, but it's no different from someone with intellectual disabilities.

Google also launched a voice search function in 2011, but the underlying core principle was just voice recognition technology.

In terms of natural language processing, speech synthesis, and algorithm models, it is still far behind Alexa smart speakers.

"Alexa, turn off the lights!" Marques suddenly pointed to the light bulb above his head and gave the command again.

'Snap!'
The lights immediately went out!

"Alexa, turn on the lights!" Marques commanded with a smile.

For this test video, he specifically replaced the light bulbs in the room with Philips Hue smart bulbs and added them to the Alexa device list so that they could be controlled by voice.

"I heard that the manufacturer of Alexa is actively expanding the range of connected smart home appliances. I think it won't be long before I can use Alexa to control all the appliances in my house."

"TVs, air conditioners, refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, and even curtains and robot vacuums—science fiction movies have become reality. This is a very cool artificial intelligence product."

Marques put away his smile and stated it in a serious tone.

He paused, then added, "Actually, letting Alexa play music, set alarms, send text messages, and book restaurants are just its basic functions. Alexa's intelligent interactive experience is its true core."

"Alexa, I'm going swimming at 3 p.m.

"Have you prepared your swimsuit, swim cap, and goggles? Do you need me to help you find pool information or set a reminder for your trip?"

"No need, just recommend a restaurant. I'd like to have chicken pizza for lunch."

"Pizza Hut's chicken pizza, with its rich sauce and unique flavor, is 3.7 km from your address."

"Send me your location information..."

Marques and the Alexa smart speaker engaged in a question-and-answer session, discussing everything from nearby pizzerias to pretty girls in New York, from trending YouTube videos to the upcoming election.

Alexa's responses are natural and fluent, and its language is extremely emotional. It can also accurately interpret the user's semantics when understanding complex sentence structures, contextual relationships, and multi-turn dialogue logic.

Of course, Alexa's response speed is not fast enough, generally taking 2-3 seconds. This is mainly limited by chip processing power, memory capacity, computing power allocation and the efficiency of the voice recognition model.

However, in 2012, the performance of Alexa smart speakers still won over ordinary users in the United States.

Finally, Marques asked with a serious expression, "Will you destroy humanity?"

The video abruptly ends!

It sent chills down the viewers' spines, like being electrocuted!
At the end, Marques included the product name and indicated that the smart speaker would be available on Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and eBay in a week.

Orange Technology Co., Ltd.

An unknown manufacturer!

But from the audience's perspective, Marques' recommendations have always been rigorous and professional, and even if the Alexa smart speaker is a dud, some people still want to try it out.

This is the influence of online influencers.

There are many similar test videos on YouTube and Facebook. Some went viral, while others went unnoticed, but they all gained traction over seven or eight days.

Whether in the tech or digital world, Alexa's reputation is growing stronger.

After all, with the gimmick of being the 'world's first AI speaker,' it's hard not to become a hit.

Moreover, Wang Teng didn't skimp on marketing and promotion. He not only hired international influencers to promote the product, but also placed image or video ads on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Google, and Hulu.

On its first day of launch, total overseas sales reached 1.9 units!

On the second day after its launch, total overseas sales reached 3.2 units! On the third day, total overseas sales reached 5.4 units!

It wasn't until Justin posted a photo on Facebook that the Alexa smart speaker unexpectedly appeared. Although only half of it was visible, it was still spotted by sharp-eyed netizens.

The smart speaker endorsed by Justin Timberlake became an instant bestseller on Amazon!
On its fourth day of launch, total overseas sales reached 8.7 units!

There was no way around it; in 2012, Justin was at the height of his popularity in North America, with over 4300 million followers on Facebook, over 2400 million followers on Twitter, and over 27 billion views on YouTube.

"You even hired Justin Bieber? Why isn't that expense mentioned in the promotion plan?"

During the meeting, Chen Yansen looked at Wang Teng and asked.

"Boss, it's all a coincidence! I don't have any extra money to hire celebrities for promotions."

Wang Teng chuckled to himself, thinking: My luck is really good.

Getting a free ride is so damn awesome!
As for finding celebrities to endorse products?

Neither Wang Teng nor Chen Yansen had considered it.

There's no other reason than that the price-performance ratio is too low. In addition, the material cost of Alexa smart speakers is high and the gross profit is low. They are not high-margin luxury goods or cosmetics, so a combination of online and offline sales channels is sufficient.

"In the domestic market, it sold a total of 8.9 units in 11 days; in the overseas market, it sold a total of 19.2 units in 4 days. This can be described as a success story, blooming both domestically and internationally."

Chen Yansen smiled faintly, his gaze sweeping over the report.

Global cumulative sales reached 28.1 units!

Total sales reached 3.2 million!
Compared to the sales figures of Orange C2 and Orange D2, there is still a certain gap, but in Chen Yansen's eyes, the Alexa smart speaker has already exceeded his expectations.

Overseas markets are less price-sensitive and have a higher acceptance of Alexa.

"Did Paramount get it sorted out?" Chen Yansen then turned to Ye Qiuping and asked.

"The commission rate is 8%, and the sales channels are concentrated in the Paramount official online store, cinema counters, authorized retailers and theme park stores. We expect to complete the distribution preparation in early July."

Ye Qiuping nodded in agreement.

Zhou Chuangxi, Daniel, Yan Peng, and the others breathed a sigh of relief, their faces beaming with joy.

From system development and hardware design to online sales, the Alexa smart speaker has cost nearly one billion yuan in human, material, and financial resources.

The large server cluster deployed in the artificial intelligence laboratory alone cost 400 million yuan, including supporting and maintenance expenses.

In addition, there is a research and development team of more than 200 people, as well as hardware investment in deep algorithm training.

If the market response is lukewarm, even R&D engineers like Zhou Chuangxi and Daniel would find it unacceptable, let alone Chen Yansen.

Don’t be afraid of being late for a good meal!

If a product has strong performance, its sales will be high!
Chen Yansen thought secretly.

After the Alexa smart speaker became a hit in overseas markets, some people with a keen business sense immediately sent the appearance, function descriptions, and disassembly diagrams of the Alexa smart speaker to domestic factories, intending to replicate it one-to-one.

But the hardware designers at the domestic factory looked at it more and more and more strangely, and then it suddenly dawned on them that this was the 'Moss Smart Speaker'!

Aside from their names and application ecosystems, the two products are identical in every other respect.

After all that, it turns out that Alexa and the Moss smart speaker are the same product.

Upon learning this news, the 'pirates' were completely dumbfounded. After realizing that the core of smart speakers is the built-in voice assistant, they had no choice but to abandon their idea of ​​copying them.

The hardware is easy to solve, but the intelligent voice system is a problem.

"Wow! Moss smart speakers have made a fortune overseas, earning $4000 million in just four days!"

"The world's first AI speaker, endorsed by Justin Timberlake, has gained countless fans overseas!"

"The high-tech products a man brought back from the US were actually made in Shenzhen?"

Perhaps it was because the Alexa smart speaker sold like hotcakes on Amazon, or perhaps it was due to Justin Timberlake's celebrity status, on the last day of June.

Originally, the sales volume of the Moss smart speaker across the entire network had dropped to an average of more than 5000 units per day, but thanks to the hype from self-media, it actually surged against the trend and sold 4.7 units in one day.

It even surpassed the sales on the day of its initial release during the 618 shopping festival!
In the North American market, it broke the record of 10 units sold in a single day for the first time.

Chen Yansen accelerated the development of the smart speaker market two years ahead of schedule, prompting Amazon, Google, and Microsoft to announce their entry into the smart speaker market.

Domestic companies like iFlytek, Baidu, and Xiaomi are also envious.

In just five days, they sold $6000 million worth of goods overseas. Although the sales speed will slow down significantly later, the total sales over the year, including the European, American, Australian and South American markets, will be at least $20 billion. Who wouldn't be tempted by that?
Lei Yijun immediately called Chen Yansen and tentatively asked, "Mr. Chen, does Orange Technology license its voice interaction engine technology patent to others?"

Research and development is so slow, it's not as satisfying as having something ready-made!
"Mr. Lei, what are you thinking? The intelligent voice interaction engine is Orange Technology's core patent, several levels more important than Aurora OS." Chen Yansen decisively refused.

"Haha, just asking casually, Mr. Chen, please don't mind. The dates for the 11th World Internet Conference have been set. Will you be attending, Mr. Chen?"

Lei Yijun gave an awkward smile and quickly changed the subject.

"I should go! However, Mr. Lei, we can't give Xiaomi the patent for the intelligent voice interaction engine, but we can license the patent for the speech analysis development platform to Xiaomi."

Chen Yansen said with a smile.

It's difficult for Orange Technology alone to reduce the training costs of AI chips, computing power, and big data. While it can maintain a leading edge in software, the hardware field involves too many complex and varied technical aspects.

Therefore, only by using profit as a driving force can the market be developed.

This is similar to his approach in the food delivery and ride-hailing industries; making money is the primary driving force.

"Speech analysis development platform?"

Lei Yijun was slightly taken aback; he hadn't expected things to take such a dramatic turn in just a few seconds.

With Chen Yansen's explanation, he quickly understood the difference between a voice interaction engine and a speech analysis development tool: the former is a product outcome, while the latter is a production toolkit.

The Yuxi development platform includes technical solutions such as speech recognition, natural language processing, and speech generation. By simply inputting speech and text data for algorithm training or connecting to Baidu's search API, one can develop a voice interaction product similar to Alexa.

Lei Yijun agreed without hesitation, and the two immediately began discussing the licensing fee.

Chen Yansen already had a plan in mind and reported the established fee schedule to the other party one by one.

After listening to the long list of charges, Lei Yijun hesitated, thinking to himself: This is too damn demanding.

(End of this chapter)