Xiaomi Heavy Industry, its first entrepreneurial venture!

Chapter 496 799? (First Update!)

At this moment, the hall, which held thousands of people, fell into a deathly silence.

Everyone stared at the big screen, at a single number on it, not daring to utter a sound.

Hundreds of people simultaneously raised their hands and rubbed their eyes vigorously. After rubbing, they looked at the large screen in front of them again.

But it turned out to be the same number.

The number 799 was prominently displayed on the large screen in front of them. Moreover, the person who created this display page had clearly bolded and enlarged the number 799, and added a bright color to make it stand out.

Once they were sure they weren't seeing things or dreaming, the people in the audience turned to look at Lei Jun, each wanting to speak, but unable to utter a single word.

This matter is so outrageous that I don't know how to even begin to ask questions.

On stage, after displaying the prices, Lei Jun simply walked to the display case, plopped down on the edge of the stage, and dangled his legs over the edge, looking very relaxed and casual.

His gaze swept over the people below the stage, his smile growing wider and wider. When it landed on Lin Yi, he gave him a thumbs up without hesitation.

Lin Yi, sitting in the audience, naturally gave a thumbs up.

After the two finished their exchange, Lei Jun turned his attention back to the people present, especially his colleagues.

Those who were able to attend the event were, to varying degrees, practitioners in the mobile phone industry or beneficiaries of the industry.

Before the press conference, they could be considered friends.

After the press conference, it was as if Lei Jun had stabbed them in the back.

This stab went straight to their major artery.

Don't they like to sell low-end configurations at high prices?
keep going!
As Lei Jun watched these people laugh, the image on the big screen subtly changed, transforming into a mobile phone drawing.

On the drawings, each part was marked with a unique number.

This image was only shown for about a minute before being switched to another screen.

The new screen shows a table.

The serial numbers in the table correspond to the serial numbers of the drawings shown not long ago, and each serial number is followed by a company, its address, and its business.

Lei Juncai propped himself up on the edge of the stage, walked to the side, leaned to one side, pointed at the big screen, and said:
"I know that when the price of 799 was announced, everyone here was probably very surprised. Surprised that we would release this product at this time, and also surprised that we were able to reduce the cost of smartphones to such a low level."

"Now I'll tell you the answer to this mystery!"

“Initially, when I founded Xiaomi Group, I planned to learn from Apple and adopt a light-asset model, taking charge of the design myself and finding contract manufacturers to process the products.”

"Doing this will maximize profits."

"But just as we were making the decision, I met Mr. Lin Yi, the general manager of Xiaomi Heavy Industry."

"Our first meeting was quite dramatic."

“When I came back from dinner with my people, he was sitting at the entrance of our company building. When he saw me, he walked right over and asked me to borrow 5 million yuan.”

"When I heard that, I was completely stunned."

"After all, what kind of good person would ask a stranger for 5 million?"

The self-deprecating words were picked up by the microphone, converted into electrical signals, transmitted to the loudspeaker, and then from the loudspeaker to the ears of the people present.

After a brief silence, a burst of laughter erupted from the audience.

Amidst the laughter, several spotlights shone, finally landing on Lin Yi.

Under the spotlight, Lin Yi couldn't help but roll his eyes, then raised his left hand and gave the middle finger to the people on stage.

On stage, Lei Jun received a signal, waved to the lighting technician, and the spotlight disappeared. As the spotlight faded, everyone's attention turned to him.

“I talked to him for a bit, and he said that we still have a lot of people who need to work.”

"A responsible company should make some contributions to society."

"He mentioned at the time that I should prepare a more downmarket sub-brand, and release this sub-brand after the new brand is defined."

"At the time, it was just a vague idea. After all, as everyone knows, I used to work in software, which is the lightest of the lightest assets. Asking me to do heavy assets and run a factory was completely a mystery to me. I knew nothing about it."

"What Mr. Lin's Xiaomi Heavy Industry did later is well known to everyone."

"Unique satellite navigation systems, high-performance batteries, home appliances, all sorts of things."

“Each one has brought a large number of jobs to the local area.”

"It has also driven industrial upgrading."

"At this time, the leaders from Yanjing came to the company, toured the company inside and out, and then pulled me aside to a small room and asked me, since we are making mobile phones, can our mobile phones use our own parts?"

"Let's boost our own industries."

"After listening to what the leader said, I took out the document that General Manager Lin had given me and read it carefully from beginning to end several times."

"Finally, I convinced our company's investors."

"Since we're starting a business, we have to take risks. If we're going to take risks, we have to take big risks. Even if we cause trouble, we have to cause the biggest trouble."

"So, we brought out this sub-brand that was originally supposed to debut a few years later."

"While preparing for the Xiaomi brand, we are also preparing the components for this brand."

At this point, Lei Jun slowly turned around, pointing his right hand at the large screen and the table on it:
"The most valuable part of our Redmi 1 is the Snapdragon S2 chip."

"Thanks to Mr. Lin's connections, we got the best price from Qualcomm."

"We also achieved the best possible quantity."

"Secondly, there's the storage unit. Because there's no relevant industrial chain in China, the things we manufacture can't be used."

"The remaining parts that can be replaced domestically are all listed in this table."

"The manufacturers on the table and we complement each other."

"They provide qualified, performance-compliant products, and we, in turn, place orders with them."

"We complement each other and grow together."

"In the future, we may all become a manufacturing giant together, or we may all disappear into the grass."

"Our current strict requirements, along with our aspirations for the future, are the source of our confidence in calling out the number 799."

"After saying so much, now I'll show you the application scenarios of this 799 smartphone."

The spotlight came on again, but this time the light was softer. Several lights shone on Lei Jun, moving with him to the display case. After he picked up his phone, a camera hanging from the ceiling moved forward, capturing every move Lei Jun made, and then broadcasting it to the large screen in the center.

Lei Jun picked up the phone and waved it, then put it down and quickly ran to the stage entrance to grab a Xiaomi 1 and a Xiaomi 1s.

He returned to the display case with the two phones and disassembled all three phones without hesitation, showing their internal structure to the camera.

After the obvious differences between the Redmi 1, Xiaomi 1, and Xiaomi 1s were clearly seen, another gasp of surprise rang out in the audience.

After the hissing sound subsided, Lei Jun leisurely reassembled the phone, installed the battery, and turned it on.

He went to the desktop, set up his phone, clicked on the software, used the software, and after displaying all the software, he clicked on a small game and started playing it like crazy.

The Redmi 1 launch event was supposed to last 20 minutes, but Lei Jun only spoke for 5 minutes, and then played a game for 15 minutes.

The screen text looks terrible under the lens, and the game graphics are also terrible, but this phone only costs 799.

It's not 999, not 1999, not 2999, not 3999, and certainly not 4999.

It's only 799!

After watching the demonstration, Guo Song turned to the refined-looking man beside him and asked, "Old Su, would you like to say a few words?"

"You just said that Apple's product launch event was very innovative. Do you think this event was innovative or not?"

Beside Guo Song, Su Bangding slowly withdrew his gaze from the stage, past Guo Song, and landed on Lin Yi.

He sighed softly, stood up from his seat, bowed deeply to Lin Yishen, and then said with a complicated expression, "Mr. Lin, please allow me to apologize for what I just said."

"Your press conference this time was revolutionary."

"A bold, courageous, and responsible disruption is not only a beginning, but also a model for the future."

"I hereby formally apologize for what I just said!"

After saying this, Su Bangding bent down abruptly and bowed deeply.

Lin Yi felt secretly pleased that such a high-ranking person had apologized to him, but he didn't show it on his face. He stood up with a serious expression and helped the man, who was about the same age as Guo Song, to his feet.

"That's a serious matter, that's a very serious statement!"

“Every generation has its own responsibilities, and we are simply bravely taking on the responsibilities of our generation.”

With Lin Yi's help, Su Bangding slowly straightened up, then sat back down in his chair. He gently patted Lin Yi's arm and pointed at Lei Jun: "After this press conference, have Lei Jun prepare a report, give it to Director Guo, and then have Director Guo pass it on to me."

"We'll give you some subsidies!"

Are there subsidies?
Lin Yi's eyes lit up immediately, but he wasn't quite sure who the person in front of him was. He looked to Guo Song for help, and Guo Song casually pointed at Su Bangding:
"The industry and information sector is specifically responsible for formulating various policies and subsidies to support such projects."

"So, what do you think? Isn't the person I found great?"

"With the old man on the case, one is worth two!" Lin Yi didn't hold back his praise; at this moment, it was all about giving people plenty of emotional value.

Once you've provided enough emotional value, everything else will be much easier.

Just as he was about to step forward and continue chatting with Su Bangding, Su Bangding suddenly spoke:
“A few days ago, several provincial telecom operators in Yue Province submitted a report to the Ministry together.”

"They said Lin'an City is going to conduct a pilot program to reduce communication costs, improve network speed, and add a number of new base stations."

"They also mentioned you, and they mentioned the bet they made with you, in which they said you had a trump card up your sleeve."

"It will enable them to gain over 100,000 users within six months."

"Is this the trump card mentioned in the information?"

"Yes!" Knowing the other party's identity and that the other party was aware of the bet with Lin'an, Lin Yi was not surprised at all and nodded naturally in response.

Upon receiving his answer, Su Bangding gently shook his head and sighed, saying:
"It looks like Lin'an is going to lose!"

After sighing, he leaned back in his chair and calmly said to Lin Yi:
"Once Lei Jun's report arrives, I will bring it along with today's events and the report from Lin'an to the meeting for discussion."

"Besides the Lin'an issue, we will also discuss the communication infrastructure development in the Yangtze River Delta region."

"However, don't set your expectations too high."

"This is a bit troublesome."

"However, a long march must eventually begin with taking the first step. Only after taking the first step can there be the subsequent steps."

"If you don't even dare to take the first step, then there's no going back."

At this point, Su Bangding gently patted Lin Yi's arm to reassure him.

On stage, Lei Jun had finished demonstrating the phone and was now moving on to the final sales guide segment.

"If any of you students want to buy our mobile phones, there are two channels."

"The first channel is online direct purchase. You can log in and register on our official website, fill in the relevant information, and then you can make a purchase directly."

"The second channel is offline stores."

"Xiaomi Group does not currently have its own stores; we use the stores of our partners, namely Xiaomi Heavy Industry."

"Xiaomi Heavy Industry's stores are now located in more than 280 cities across the country. You can find Xiaomi Heavy Industry's stores by searching on an electronic map on your computer."

"You can call ahead to make a reservation, or you can come to the store to see the products before you buy them."

"Here, I need to remind all students that we do not have any distributors or middlemen, and we will not hand over our products to scalpers or intermediaries for sale."

"Therefore, if you see phones with inflated prices, don't buy them, don't even look at them, ignore them, let them die!"

"Finally, there's the shipping time."

"If you buy it in the store, you can take it away immediately. If it is not in stock, you can pre-order it through the store. The price is the same as on the official website."

"For online purchases, we will use different delivery methods for different regions."

"For example, in the Yangtze River Delta region, we will use regular express delivery, while in other regions, we will use postal express delivery, which is safer."

"Furthermore, please note that online purchases are shipped directly from the manufacturer, specifically from Xiaomi Heavy Industry Factory, with the shipping address located in Hanshan Subdistrict, Hanshan Temple District, Suzhou."

"If it's not this address, then it's a fake. Be careful."

After explaining all the necessary points, Lei Jun walked back to the center of the stage, faced the audience, and slowly bent down:
"I am Lei Jun, and I welcome everyone to Xiaomi Group's first mobile phone launch event."

"This concludes today's press conference. All students who attended the press conference will receive a small gift from us."

"This little gift is a pair of headphones!"

(End of this chapter)