Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 176 Wheat Demonstration Effect
Shenzhen, Orange Technology Headquarters, Meeting Room 2.

The June sun scorched the earth, and it was still so hot. Chen Mo had been reborn for a year and had already gone through a cycle!
The difference is that a year ago today, Chen Mo was sweating profusely in a small workshop, personally making a simple logo for Orange Technology, while Zhao Tiezhu was running a cheap screen business in Bao'an. Now...
The air conditioner sent out a cool breeze, and the conference room was full of people, but the atmosphere was heavy with the tension of an impending battle.

Zhao Tiezhu leaned back in his chair with a nonchalant air, his fingers tapping unconsciously on the table.

Gong Yun quietly flipped through the second-quarter financial report in her hand, her fingertips tracing the end of the line graph above.

Jiang Yu stared intently at the engineering prototype in front of him, seemingly checking the last detail.

Lin Junfeng frowned slightly as a document labeled "Yuancheng's May Patent Submission Catalog" was laid out in front of him.

Wang Kai quickly scrolled through his phone, the screen displaying real-time sales data updates from competitors.

With a soft click, the conference room door was pushed open.

Zhou Yumeng stepped aside, and Chen Mo walked in with a smile on his face.

"Everyone's here? Looks like I timed it perfectly!" Chen Mo glanced at everyone and sat down in the main seat with a relaxed tone.

He gestured to Zhou Yumeng: "Xiaomeng, let's begin!"

Zhou Yumeng responded and quickly connected a laptop to the projector.

Taking advantage of this break, Chen Mo said to several core executives, "Before we hold the preparatory meeting for the listing of Orange 2, let's have a 'prep' first. After that, we'll talk!"

As the light dimmed, the projection screen lit up.

The Youku Video interface clearly displays the title of the offline video – “Full Record of the Wheat 1 Mobile Phone Launch Event”.

Yes! Chen Mo specifically asked Lei Jun for it.

Everyone was a little surprised, not quite understanding why President Chen wanted the senior executives to watch the competitor's press conference when we were preparing for the launch of Orange 2.

As Zhou Yumeng turned off the front lights, Chen Mo nodded: "Go ahead!"

As the rousing background music began, the camera focused on the giant screen of the press conference stage.

Eight user messages, each with a distinct style, flashed by in turn:
"I've flashed from MAIUI V1 to V4, and this system is ten times smoother than stock Android! Lei Jun, hurry up and release a phone, I'm already itching to get one!" -- The Little Prince of ROM Flashing (Senior User of MAIUI Forum)

"Strongly support the MAIMU system under Wheat's umbrella! The power of China is truly amazing this time!" --cneplees (North American Geek Forum)
Upon seeing the foreigner's name, Zhao Tiezhu couldn't help but click his tongue and mutter under his breath, "Is this for real? Foreigners would support us? Aren't they enough with iOS and Android?"

Chen Mo smiled, his voice not loud but clearly reaching everyone's ears.

"Lei Jun started his business in the internet industry, and his MAIUI optimization is indeed quite good. Last year, flagship phones like the HYC Desire, Huawei U8800, Coolpad N930, and Fantasy Le 3GT100 commonly used MAIUI."

If Chen Mo hadn't seen it in Wang Kai's report, he wouldn't have believed it. Refreshing MAIUI on a Chrysanthemum? What kind of NTR storyline is this?

"Maybe some of our Orange 1 users have rooted their devices and secretly flashed the firmware!"

He had to admit that Lei Jun had accumulated a deep understanding of the internet industry. MAIUI was iterated four times a year, and its unique interaction logic won over countless fans, paving the way for mobile phones.

As long as Wheat No. 1 doesn't underperform, sales will definitely be good.

In contrast, Orange OS is only updated once a year, and it's only at version 2.0 now.

"Half a million fans worldwide wish Wheat's product launch a great success!"

The last message flashed by, then froze on the video call screen, with Lei Jun's "handsome photo" as the background, showing the president promoting products, giving a glimpse of what was to come.

The lights came on, the background music ended, and the audience erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Lei Jun appeared on stage wearing his signature black T-shirt and jeans, instantly igniting a frenzy among the audience.

He paused slightly, his voice clearly coming through the microphone.

"Yesterday, a giant took his final bow; Norgia officially relinquished Saipan. Today, wheat, like the morning sun, is rising little by little—let us witness together the birth of a new era!"

Accompanied by a series of "dong dong dong" sound effects, the first part of the presentation is titled: "Why is Xiaomai making mobile phones? The obsession of an enthusiast!"
"I've used 53 mobile phones, but I've never been able to find a perfect 'enthusiast phone'."

On July 6th last year, the seven of us "old men" decided to build one ourselves!

He held up three fingers, his tone resolute: "A dual-core processor and a large screen is the bottom line! A single-core processor and a 3.5-inch screen? That's unacceptable! Battery life is a concern, and the signal must be stable! That's what makes a 'smartphone,' not an expensive toy!"

Part Two: Product Unveiling - Performance Parameters!

The hardware parameters were listed one by one on the PPT. Lei Jun was giving a seemingly professional, but somewhat one-sided, popular science presentation on hardware parameters.

Features include a high-performance dual-core 1.5GHz processor (outperforming competing single-core models), a 4-inch Bloom screen, a customized MAIUI system, and a Far Orange 2.0 lithium battery (920mAh).
When the fans at the scene saw the battery capacity, a murmur of doubt arose.

Lei Jun keenly noticed this and immediately switched to the next slide—the classic "Lei Jun's Comparison Method" made its debut!
Wheat 1 vs Pingguo 4
A draw...

Then, its hardware specifications began to ruthlessly crush mid-range competitors from domestic manufacturers last year and this year.

When it comes to batteries, the 920mAh battery of the Wheat 1 is prominently listed ahead of the 2000mAh battery of a certain OPPO X8 phone!
Upon seeing this, Chen Mo's lips curled into a knowing smile: Here it comes! Lacking the halo of being the world's first to launch a high-capacity chip, they'll use the world's first launch of the Far Orange 2.0 lithium battery as a gimmick!

Originally, Chen Mo promised Lei Jun a first-generation battery, but in order to promote gaseous lithium batteries as a super-fast charging solution for mobile phone battery life, he released the first-generation battery and upgraded him to a first-generation battery.

Lei Jun seemed to have read the audience's mind, and laughed self-deprecatingly.

"Don't you all think it's a bit shameless of us to rank first when our battery capacity is the lowest?"

He waved his hand dismissively: "No! You're completely wrong! Because the Yuancheng 2.0 lithium battery isn't an ordinary slow-charging lithium battery; it's a super-fast-charging gaseous lithium battery!"

Lei Jun's tone was highly inflammatory.

"I believe some of you here have experienced the amazing '30-second fast charging' of the Orange 1 and the V1 phone from a certain blue factory, but today, our Wheat 1 not only has a capacity increased to 920mAh, but the charging time has also been shortened to an amazing 20 seconds!"

"Holy crap!" Zhao Tiezhu sat bolt upright, blurting out, "20 seconds! How did they do that? Our tests with the Far Orange 2.0 battery take about 32 seconds!"

Jiang Yu raised a slight brow, calmly offering a low reminder.

“他们用了Micro-USB2.0的充电线，比橙子1用的mini-USB2.0快了60%~70%的充电效率。

The Vivo V1 also used Micro-USB 2.0 when it was released, which is theoretically faster than 20 seconds, but Lei Jun (Xiaomi's CEO) is better at 'promoting' it!

Zhao Tiezhu turned to Chen Mo with a look that said, "Look at Lei Jun."

"Brother Chen! Lei Jun really knows how to generalize from a few examples. This publicity is way exaggerated. It's clearly our company's battery, but he's using it to represent such a huge company!"

Chen Mo waved his hand with a smile: "Marketing always needs a buzz, and besides, he's given our Yuancheng Battery a free advertisement, so keep watching! Keep watching!"

In reality, everyone's battery life is about the same now. Simply put, the more high-end the phone, the larger the screen and the more advanced the chip, the more power it consumes. Under normal use, the overall battery life of a smartphone is only 4 to 6 hours.

In the video, Lei Jun demonstrated the "20-second" fast charging, eliciting gasps of amazement from the audience as a "technological miracle."

Of course, with these performance parameters, the Wheat can only be considered a qualified mid-to-high-end model at best.

Until the very end, Lei Jun threw out the real "combination bomb" of Wheat 1.

On the giant screen, the price of "1999 yuan" exploded!

The whole audience screamed!

Lei Jun raised an eyebrow slightly, a sly smile typical of tech nerds, and retorted, "With the same configuration, our competitors sell it for 4000+, so why should we sell it for 1999? Because Xiaomai doesn't have any offline stores, so we have no channel costs!"

Next, Lei Jun started to elevate the discussion and talk about ideals.

"Some people say that starting a business with only seven people is crazy? But Xiaomai is a combination of 'three companies' (hardware + software + internet)!" His tone turned to pride: "We have 249 brothers, half of whom come from Google and Motorola. The average age is 32, which is in the prime of life!"

Afterwards, Lei Jun made his final declaration on wheat.

"Wheat should act like a catfish, stirring up the industry and making high-spec, low-priced smartphones available to everyone!"

The wheat product launch event has just ended, and the first batch of 30 units sold out within 5 minutes of going on sale!
Lei Jun had to announce that he would adopt an online pre-sale + batch purchase strategy in advance.

The scene shifts to the area outside the press conference venue, where a huge crowd has gathered.

Lei Jun bowed deeply to the camera in apology: "I'm sorry, I really didn't expect so many people. But please believe me, all you fans, your wait will be worthwhile!"

The video of the wheat 1 press conference ended, and the lights came on.

There was silence in the conference room.

After Zhou Yumeng turned on the light, she quietly sat back down in the corner to record the conversation.

Chen Mo cleared his throat and glanced at the various expressions on everyone's faces: "Have you all finished watching? Share your thoughts, Tie Zhu, you go first!"

Zhao Tiezhu immediately perked up and slammed his notebook onto the conference table.

"Brother Chen! Look at Lei Jun, he only brags about his 1GB ROM capacity, but why doesn't he mention that he uses the cheapest MLC NAND flash? The write life is at most 1.3 cycles! Good grief, he's just trying to fool laymen!"

He flipped through his notebook and pointed to the densely packed notes from suppliers.

"What does our Orange 2 use? It's refurbished Intel SLC NAND flash memory sourced from North China. Although the capacity is only 512MB, its write life starts at 10 cycles. Many secondhand disassembled ROMs are more durable than this new machine!"

He got more and more excited as he spoke, a hint of smugness on his lips.

"What's even more amazing is that the batch of Tri-Crystal K9F chips seized by Shenzhen Customs in April, after being re-inserted by the local craftsmen, had a 4K random read/write speed that was 30% faster than the new chips used by Lei Jun!"

I recommended it to Xiaomai, but they looked down on our "strongly refurbished goods from North China" and insisted on using genuine products to save face!

Tsk tsk, if he dared to put a table showing the number of write cycles and lifespan of the ROM chip on his PowerPoint presentation, his phone would be worth at most 1199 yuan. And he still dares to call it "high specs at a low price"?

Zhao Tiezhu chuckled, revealing his bright white teeth.

"But then again, I understand Lei Jun. At least the original products have manufacturer warranty. The market for high-strength refurbished granules in North China is very complex. It's all thanks to my 'eagle eyes' that I can control the quality. It's not something an ordinary person can handle!"

Chen Mo chuckled. "So, you're just like Wang Po praising her melons, aren't you?"
"Alright, stop belittling wheat. Mr. Lei isn't familiar with the refurbished grain market, so of course he'll choose a safer option."

Furthermore, they're targeting the mid-range market with 1GB RAM and 4GB storage, while our Orange 2 is a low-end phone with 512MB RAM and 1GB storage. We're operating in completely different markets, so don't make irrelevant comparisons.

Zhao Tiezhu shrugged, looking completely indifferent.

"Alright, anyway, it's your opinion that I asked you to give, Brother Chen!"

Then, Chen Mo turned to Gong Yun: "Manager Gong, what are your thoughts?"

Gong Yun raised her head, her eyes calm as still water, her voice gentle yet clear and articulate.

“Mr. Chen, the wheat business model is very clear – asset-light operation, start the supply chain only after receiving orders, low upfront risk, low capital occupation, and can maintain market ‘hunger’.”

Then, she changed the subject and looked at Chen Mo.

"In contrast, our Orange is an asset-heavy business model."

Orange 2 is currently still in the production ramp-up phase, and the amount of capital tied up in the supply chain has reached 16 billion yuan.

The initial construction of the Longhua Guanlan Orange Town received an allocation of 2.2 million yuan, while Orange Innovation and Orange Technology plan to allocate a total of 3.5 million yuan to expand production capacity.

The company has 18.3 billion yuan in available funds, of which 12.3 billion yuan is expected to be tied up in related supply chain funds after the Nietzsche 2, which we manufacture, enters mass production!

“Therefore,” she paused, her voice clear, “you currently only have 6 million in cash at your disposal. I strongly advise you not to make any further significant financial moves before Orange 2 successfully goes public and generates revenue!”

Chen Mo nodded solemnly: "Understood! The listing of Orange 2 is the company's only core objective at present. This 6 million is our most precious reserve; I won't touch it!"

Next was Jiang Yu, who spoke concisely.

"The hardware design of the Wheat 1 is highly mature, while all long-term testing projects of our Orange 2 have been completed and met all standards, and it is ready for market!"

Chen Mo added, "Lei Jun has the expertise to 'pay homage' to the M9, and with Lu Shiwa, the R&D director of Jinli, acting as an external helper, it's not surprising that the level of maturity is high. On the contrary, the fact that our Orange 2, starting from scratch, has achieved such a high level of maturity is largely thanks to your technical department!"

When it was Lin Junfeng's turn, he immediately dropped a bombshell: "President Chen, Lei Jun clearly used the Orange 1 phone as a reference during the comparison segment, and mentioned '30-second fast charging' and capacity comparison. Should we initiate legal proceedings?"

Chen Mo waved his hand, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

"Huh? What are you suing for! Lei Jun is still a shareholder of Yuancheng! His mention of it is like giving Orange Phones another wave of publicity for free. Your legal team should focus on the patent application and Fang Chuanzi's mess!"

Finally, it was Wang Kai's turn. He took a deep breath, his voice carrying a hint of shock.

"Mr. Chen, managers, as of 24 hours after the press conference, Xiaomai has set a new record for the Zhonghua smartphone: 30 in stock + 20 locked orders = 50 units."

This number is second only to the 600,000 units sold during the North American launch of the Apple IV, ranking second globally!

A collective gasp filled the conference room.

Even Zhao Tiezhu, who had been so loud and dismissive of wheat just moments before, fell silent, a rare occurrence for him.

Comparing goods will only lead to waste; comparing people will only make you miserable.

At that moment, all the executives at Orange in the conference room understood Chen Mo's true intention in having them watch the Wheat 1 launch event.

去年橙子1首发24小时，是1000台现货+ 7000台订单= 8000台，这个数字在50万面前，显得如此渺小。

The second-best-selling domestic model, the Samsung Galaxy S (i9000), which sold 170,000 units in the first 24 hours after its domestic release last year, is the Samsung Galaxy S (i9000).

Regardless of whether Lei Jun is doing marketing or not, the sales record of Wheat 1 in these 24 hours is a real achievement.

Chen Mo looked around at everyone, his tone calm yet powerful.

"You saw it all?"
50 million!
This is the answer sheet that Lei Jun and Xiao Mai delivered, and it's like a depth charge, waking up the entire industry!
I dare say that from today onwards, the idea that "mobile phone assembly has low barriers to entry and anyone can get a piece of the pie" will spread like wildfire across the country.

Countless outsiders, not from the mobile phone industry or even the manufacturing industry, will rush in with their hot money!
Friends! The second major battle in the domestic smartphone market has officially entered a fiercely competitive red ocean phase, thanks to the demonstrative effect of wheat as a "catfish" (a metaphor for disruptive innovation)!

Chen Mo leaned forward slightly, his gaze sharp.

"Wheat 1 is not our direct competitor, but after a while, we will have countless competitors. So, how should we fight the battle of Orange 2? What preparations should we make? Everyone, you need to think this through!"
After this battle, with the hot money withdrawing, the landscape of the domestic smartphone industry will be basically set. Whether Orange will become a small factory that fades into obscurity or continue to grow and thrive depends on this battle!

After everyone had been thinking for a moment, Chen Mo clapped his hands.

"Meeting adjourned! Get ready! Tomorrow is our Orange product launch!"

(End of this chapter)