Tech startup: I really do make mobile phones!

Chapter 243 Friendship is Friendship

Shenzhen, Longhua, 16th floor of Building B, Yuancheng Building.

The general manager's office was quiet, with only the soft hum of the central air conditioning blowing out a gentle breeze.

Chen Mo sank into the large, soft leather chair, his fingertips unconsciously tracing patterns on the smooth office desk.

He had just finished reviewing the cooperation document signed by Gong Yun on his behalf, regarding seeking BTD as the manufacturer for the Orange 3 mobile phone, and his tense nerves finally relaxed a little.

Chen Mo looked up and stared blankly at the plain white ceiling for a while, even the urgent ringing of the internal phone was delayed for a beat before he reacted.

"President Chen, Manager Lin from the Marketing Department has arrived!" Zhou Yumeng's voice came through the receiver, clear and crisp.

"Let her in!"

Chen Mo sat up straight, casually straightened the slightly wrinkled cuffs of his shirt, and composed himself after a moment of absentmindedness.

The office door was gently pushed open, and Lin Xiaxia walked in carrying a neatly bound document, her face showing competence and composure.

She was still quickly reviewing the various possibilities of Mr. Chen's sudden summons in her mind, and she had specially brought a detailed work report from the marketing department in case she needed to ask questions.

Chen Mo waved his hand, indicating that Zhou Yumeng could leave, and then pointed to the sofa in the reception area in the corner of the office.

"Sit down, don't be so formal!"

Lin Xiaxia sat down on the soft sofa as instructed. She noticed that Chen Mo did not go back to his desk directly, but instead turned and walked to the tea table next to him, where he began to slowly arrange the tea set.

Her tense shoulders gradually relaxed a little. Judging from Mr. Chen's posture, it didn't seem like he was dealing with an emergency or assigning blame.

Soon, the fragrant aroma of tea filled the air.

Chen Mo handed a steaming cup of tea to Lin Xiaxia on the coffee table, speaking casually as if they were having a casual chat.

"Is everything going smoothly with the marketing department?"

Has the new broom been cleared of any major problems?
If there are any resources or departments that require my coordination, please feel free to ask.

"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Chen. Everything is going very smoothly so far!"

Lin Xiaxia accepted the warm teacup with both hands. The warmth spread from her fingertips, making her feel more at ease.

"The team has basically gelled together, and the key projects left by General Manager Zhao are progressing steadily according to plan. There is nothing that requires your special attention for the time being."

Chen Mo smiled and nodded, taking a sip of tea himself, his words carrying a hint of wisdom from someone who had been through it all.

"That's good!

Remember, no matter how perfect or advanced a system is, it ultimately depends on people to implement it.

Management is sometimes like simmering soup; when the heat is right, the flavor will naturally emerge. Don't rush things; a steady, methodical approach is more important than anything else.

Lin Xiaxia felt a slight jolt in her heart and immediately understood that Chen Mo was pointing out the importance of managing the pace and understanding people's hearts.

She straightened her expression and replied earnestly, "Don't worry, I understand that principle! I will definitely keep a good pace to ensure the smooth operation and continuous progress of the marketing department, and I will never let you down."

"Hmm!" Chen Mo responded with satisfaction, then, as if remembering something, he naturally changed the subject: "By the way, who is currently in charge of following up on our own small contract manufacturer?"

After a moment's thought, Lin Xiaoxia quickly replied, "Currently, it is being overseen by Chen Xibai, the head of the supply chain management team."

Chen Mo quickly searched his mind for the name, and remembered that the other person was not a core member of the original "54 Orange Granules" startup.

However, considering that the contract manufacturer currently mainly undertakes some basic contract assembly tasks, he did not delve into it further, but simply gave her some instructions.

"The first batch of trial production of Orange 3 will be handled by our own contract manufacturer. You need to keep a close eye on it."

Don't forget, your marketing department started with supply chain management; that's our foundation, and we must never lose it.

"Don't worry!" Lin Xiaoxia's eyes were firm, and her tone left no room for doubt: "As long as I am in the marketing department, I will never forget our 'foundation' and will definitely defend this position well."

Chen Mo nodded again, a relieved look on his face, and waved his hand.

"Okay, then you can go ahead and get busy!"

After Lin Xiaoxia left, Chen Mo spent the entire morning in his office dealing with the backlog of documents.

The afternoon sun streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, casting bright spots of light on the floor.

He suddenly had a whim; since moving into this new office building, he didn't seem to have had a real chance to stroll around leisurely.

Chen Mo got up and walked out of the office, just in time to run into Zhou Yumeng, who immediately stood up upon hearing the noise.

"No need to follow me!" Chen Mo raised his hand and pressed down, his tone relaxed: "I'm just taking a walk around the company to get some fresh air! You go ahead and do your work."

Zhou Yumeng nodded obediently and sat down again to continue her work.

Almost simultaneously, the door to the bodyguard's private office next door opened silently, and Xiao Zheng quietly followed out, keeping a distance of about three steps, so as not to affect Chen Mo, but to be able to deal with any emergencies at any time.

Upon arriving at the elevator lobby, Xiao Zheng habitually pressed the down button, preparing to go to the office area below.

Chen Mo shook his head: "No, let's go upstairs, the 17th floor!"

Xiao Zheng paused for a moment, then quickly canceled the previous command and pressed the button for the 17th floor.

He knew that the 17th floor was the exclusive territory of the technology department. Due to potential security risks in some hardware testing, coupled with the research and development and confidentiality of a large number of core technologies, the company deliberately placed the technology department on the "top floor" during the renovation.

Not only were special physical protection and soundproofing measures implemented, but the security and confidentiality levels are also the highest in the entire company.

The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing a completely different scene on the 17th floor compared to the floors below.

The corridor was unusually quiet, with only the occasional faint sound of keyboard typing coming from under the laboratory door and the low hum of some equipment running continuously.

There was a faint smell in the air, a mixture of electronic components and cleaning agents.

Several engineers wearing white anti-static lab coats hurried by. After recognizing Chen Mo, they stopped to greet him respectfully. After exchanging a few words of pleasantries, they immediately returned to their posts, clearly very busy with their work.

Soon, Jiang Yu, the head of the technical department, received the news and rushed over, his forehead covered in fine beads of sweat and his face showing some nervousness.

"Mr. Chen, why did you come up here in person? Do you have any instructions?"

"Jiang, don't be nervous!" Chen Mo patted his shoulder gently, signaling him to relax: "I just came up to stretch my legs after dealing with documents for a long time, and also to see everyone. There are no special instructions, and you don't need to treat me specially."

Even so, Jiang Yu still maintained the rigor and responsibility typical of a technologist and gave a serious report.

"Mr. Chen, you've come at the perfect time! The first batch of mass-produced Orange 3 models are currently in the final product testing phase!"

As he spoke, he led Chen Mo toward the core testing area.

Pushing open the heavy soundproof door to the testing area, Chen Mo raised an eyebrow at the sight before him.

An entire wall was designed as a special support structure, densely covered with 1800 Orange 3 test machines in operation.

All these mobile phones are simultaneously performing high-frequency, high-intensity scenario simulations under the precise control of computer programs.

One part of the video loops through high-definition videos and makes continuous phone calls, simulating the wear and tear of everyday use.

The other part was placed in a high and low temperature alternating test chamber, where it was subjected to extreme tests of scorching heat and severe cold.

Others are running multiple demanding games and applications simultaneously, pushing the processor to its limits and testing the device's stability and system smoothness under high stress.

"This automated testing system cost over 300 million yuan and can collect more than 30 hours of equivalent usage data within 7 days!"

Jiang Yu pointed to the data monitoring platform on the screen next to him, which was constantly displaying various curves and reports, and introduced it: "It can comprehensively identify potential hardware stability issues, system compatibility problems, software bugs, and durability shortcomings."

"Have any particularly prominent problems been found in the current testing?" Chen Mo asked in a deep voice, his gaze sweeping over the "test wall" made of mobile phones.

Jiang Yu's expression turned serious, and he nodded in reply, "We did discover a problem, but judging from the scope of its impact, it's not particularly serious!"

"It's a minor bug in our Orange OS 3.0 system, which is based on Android 4.0 and is deeply customized."

Specifically, if a user taps the system version number repeatedly and rapidly on the 'About phone' screen, they will unexpectedly be taken directly to the 'Developer mode' of the project.

Instead of requiring special activation as designed.

"Oh?" Chen Mo frowned upon hearing this, trying to search his memory: "This bug sounds familiar, isn't it that Easter egg bug in Android 4.0 natively mentioned on the geek forum?"

"You're right!"

Jiang Yu was somewhat surprised by Chen Mo's attention to technical details and quickly added confirmation.

"Our Orange OS 3.0 is based on Android 4.0. This bug was only discovered by the testing team during stress testing a couple of days ago."

The software team is currently working diligently to analyze the code and attempt to fix it.

"Can it be fixed before the phone is officially released?" Chen Mo pressed, his eyes sharp.

Jiang Yu looked troubled, his tone carrying the caution typical of a technologist.

"Mr. Chen, I'm afraid it will be difficult."

Although Android is an open-source system, fixing this bug requires a deep understanding of the underlying framework.

It involves the logic for handling version number click events in the system settings application, requiring modifications to relevant Java code and resource files in the framework layer. This is a significant undertaking, and testing and verification will take time.

How long is it expected to take?

“It will take at least two months!” Jiang Yu’s answer was firm, based on the conclusion of the team’s capability assessment.

Chen Mo's brows furrowed even more: "So, all Orange 3s produced in the next two months will have this bug coming out of the factory?"

“Yes!” Jiang Yu nodded, but then immediately explained, “But please rest assured, we have already developed a response plan.”

The plan is to silently fix this issue for users by pushing out a system patch online two months later.

Moreover, objectively speaking, this bug has absolutely no impact on the core daily functions of the phone, and it is extremely difficult for ordinary users to trigger. Therefore, it is not considered a high priority issue.

Chen Mo pondered for a moment, then his furrowed brows gradually relaxed.

Since it doesn't affect the core user experience and there are clear backup plans, there's really no need to disrupt the overall product launch strategy.

After all, if it's not launched in June and is delayed until the fall, it will be a direct confrontation with Apple, Samsung, and the Big Four (or Big Three) manufacturers. "Okay, I understand!"
Then proceed according to your technical department's original plan, ensuring the quality of patch development and testing.

Chen Mo patted Jiang Yu on the shoulder, his tone returning to calm, and turned to continue pacing and observing the vast testing area.

At that time, Chen Mo did not realize that this small bug, which he and the technical team considered "insignificant" and "of low priority," would later be "played" in new ways by countless adventurous users after the Orange 3 was launched on the market.

To a certain extent, the combination of software and hardware bugs unexpectedly altered the product positioning of the Orange 3, giving it an unexpected label and bringing about an unforeseen market upheaval.

Shortly after returning to his office, Chen Mo received a private phone call from Lei Jun.

"Mr. Chen, did I disturb you?"

Lei Jun's voice carried a hint of relief.

"Just to give you an update, MaiChat's business has been officially and completely separated from Xiaomai Company, and the relevant legal and financial procedures have been completed."

"Now it's up to you! Help us connect with those terminal manufacturers as soon as possible!"

"Very efficient, Mr. Lei!" Chen Mo smiled and said confidently, "No problem. I have already had a preliminary conversation with Mr. Shen of the Bubu Ointment company, and they are both very enthusiastic."

"Let me arrange it. I'll organize a formal meeting as soon as possible to finalize this!"

After hanging up the phone, Chen Mo walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window and gazed south into the distance.

The gaze seemed to pierce through the city's architectural jungle and land on that equally famous area—Nanshan.

Nanshan, Tencent Building.

2012 was a pivotal year for Tencent's transformation towards mobile internet.

A landmark sign is that, for the first time in history, the number of messages sent on the mobile version of QChat has surpassed that on the PC version.

This change made the management team, led by Pony Ma, realize that the tide of the Internet era had irreversibly shifted to mobile devices.

To this end, Pony Ma overruled objections and carried out the most important organizational restructuring since the founding of Tencent, upgrading it from the previous Business Units (BUs) system to a Business Groups (BGs) system.

Six new business groups have been established, including the Social Networking Group (SNG) and the Mobile Internet Group (MIG), in order to address the challenges and opportunities of the mobile internet more flexibly and with greater focus.

At this moment, Pony Ma is presiding over a high-level meeting, listening to reports from the heads of various business groups.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was serious. He sat in the main seat, listening to the progress and data of various business operations.

Finally, it was Tencent's COO Ren Yuxin's turn to speak, as he was in charge of the Mobile Internet Group (MIG) and primarily responsible for mobile advertising.

Little Ma adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses, his gaze fixed on Ren Yuxin: "Yuxin, how's the mobile advertising business strategy going?"

Ren Yuxin was a little nervous, but he remained calm on the surface and reported: "Mr. Ma, currently, Android accounts for about 80% of the market share of mobile smartphone operating systems, and Apple's iOS accounts for 20%."

Pingguo's ecosystem is closed, making it difficult for us to directly penetrate it.

Google withdrew from the domestic market for some reasons, so our main focus is still on the open Android ecosystem's advertising distribution platform.

He went on to explain in detail: "Internally, through a 'horse race mechanism,' we have developed an advertising distribution platform called 'Guangdiantong.'"

At the same time, in order to rapidly expand our market share, we also made external acquisitions, spending 2.89 million yuan to acquire 95% of the equity of 'Duoguangmeng', which currently ranks third in market share in the mobile advertising distribution platform field.

Upon hearing this, Brother Ma frowned slightly, his gaze behind his glasses sharpened, and he exuded an imposing aura without anger.

"Yuxin, according to the data I have, the size of the entire domestic mobile advertising distribution market was only 5000 million last year because advertisers had doubts about the effectiveness of mobile devices."

But this year, the market has expanded rapidly to 5 million!

Everyone saw the enormous potential here.

We at Tencent have two huge traffic portals, QChat and WeChat, and internally we have 'Guangdiantong', while externally we have acquired 'Duoguangmeng'.

Tell me, what is Tencent's current market share in the entire mobile advertising distribution platform field?

Ren Yuxin glanced hesitantly at Little Ma, a hint of embarrassment on his face, and answered with a forced smile.

"Mr. Ma! According to the latest statistics, our market share has reached approximately 18%, making us the second largest mobile advertising distribution platform in China."

"Second place?" A hint of surprise flashed across Little Ma's face, then his expression darkened: "Could it be... Baidu has snatched the lead again?"

In the PC internet era, Tencent was always overshadowed by Baidu in the advertising distribution platform field, and was always an insignificant second place.

He thought that by making early preparations on the mobile platform, he could redeem himself, but he didn't expect that he was still a step too late.
Ren Yuxin quickly waved his hand and explained, "No, it's not Baidu!"

Little Ma was stunned for a moment. It wasn't Baidu?

Who else?

His face darkened further, and he pressed, "Which company is it? Whoever it is, let's talk about an acquisition!"
This time, we must reclaim the top spot in mobile ad distribution platforms; we absolutely cannot repeat the mistakes made on PCs!

Remembering how advertisers used to have a cut taken by Baidu's advertising alliance when they placed ads on Tencent's platform, Pony Ma felt a surge of resentment.

Now, Baidu is clearly struggling to transition to mobile internet, and he is determined to seize the opportunity to turn things around.

Faced with Mr. Ma's persistent questioning, Ren Yuxin's bitterness deepened. He struggled to speak, "Acquisition...we tried to make contact, but the other party has no intention of selling at all!"

Little Ma frowned deeply, realizing that things might be more complicated than he had imagined.

Besides the other two internet giants, are there any other companies in China that Tencent's financial power can't handle?

Surely it can't be Ahri who gets eliminated, right?

He raised an eyebrow and asked the core question directly: "So, which company currently holds the top position in the domestic mobile advertising distribution platform market?"

Ren Yuxin carefully observed Xiao Ma's expression and, seeing that the other party was expressionless, knew that he could no longer avoid the question and had no choice but to confess honestly.

"It's Orange Baby!"

In their early days, they relied on the absolute advantage of 'App Treasure' in app distribution and the convenience of being among the first to obtain an online payment license, and began to build and integrate the mobile advertising ecosystem very early on.

They have now completed the full deployment of their mobile advertising distribution platform (CPM/CPC model).

The market share has exceeded 53%!

It's extremely difficult for either Baidu or us to catch up in a short period of time.

It's highly likely that the three of us will form a mobile advertising alliance in the future, and it's foreseeable that OrangePay will take the lion's share of the profits.

"Orange Treasure?" Little Ma was stunned. The name made him fall into deep thought.

The image of Chen Mo, his junior from elementary school, appeared in his mind.

Seeing this, Ren Yuxin quickly offered up some information he had heard, attempting to make amends.

"Mr. Ma, I also heard some news from Xiaolong."

It is said that after Chen Mo and Lei Jun met privately in Beijing, Lei Jun spun off "MaiTalk" from the wheat company.

Among the seven basic mobile applications that Chengbao has been publicly claiming, 'instant messaging' is explicitly included.

Mr. Ma, we must be on guard!

Ma was stunned.

Before their own business could expand outwards and establish sufficient territory, the other side was already attempting to "attack" their core base?

What exactly does this junior student mean?
To be fair, Brother Ma has always held Chen Mo, his junior from the same university, in high regard and wanted to mentor him.

But now, the Orange Group's rapid growth is truly astonishing. Before we knew it, it had grown to the point where it could threaten Tencent's core ecosystem!

A mobile advertising distribution platform is just one piece of Tencent's ecosystem puzzle; it's enough to have its own place in the market. Perhaps it can temporarily avoid direct confrontation in this area.

But instant messaging is the foundation upon which Tencent started, and it is its lifeline that absolutely cannot be shaken!
Little Ma would never tolerate anyone, in any form, challenging Tencent's absolute dominance in this field.

To war or to peace?

Ma's expression was a mix of emotions as he ended the meeting early, a meeting that had left him feeling heavy-hearted.

He never dreamed that the young man who had affectionately called him "senior" at a dinner party last year might turn on him in the most crucial business area this year.

For the vast Tencent empire, Orange Treasure, which merely occupies a mobile traffic entry point, is not inherently dangerous.

Its valuation is at most in the billions, and Tencent has countless normal business methods to deal with it.

But Chen Mo was standing behind Cheng Bao.

Behind Chen Mo is not just Orange Treasure, but the entire "Orange System" ecosystem, including Orange, Far Orange, Orange Technology, Orange Home, and Smart Orange!
Moreover, Brother Ma also has some sources in Hong Kong, and he vaguely knows that Chen Mo seems to be behind the recently quiet Lien Sheng Group.

Not only that, but Little Ma also has his own sources of information: Chen Mo will be running for district representative this year!

Even Little Ma is having a headache dealing with all this black and white stuff!
Little Ma took off his glasses and rubbed his temples wearily.

The last time he felt so troubled and conflicted seemed to be when he was desperate and tried to sell QChat to Ding Sanshi for 60 yuan.

He couldn't help but feel a deep sense of helplessness and confusion. Why did it seem that friends he felt were worth getting to know and who he had a good impression of always ended up in a business confrontation?
This is truly a case of making the wrong friends!
A very interesting phenomenon is:
The feud between Chen Mo and Ah Li's teacher, Ma, is basically a result of personal grudges.

However, from a business perspective, Orange Treasure and Ali form a wonderful complement.

Orange Treasure holds a huge mobile traffic entrance, but lacks rich business application scenarios, while Ali has a complete e-commerce ecosystem, but suffers from the difficulty of acquiring mobile traffic.

Therefore, despite the discord between the two bosses, Chengbao and Ali are actually close strategic allies in business.

Chen Mo and Tencent's Little Ma actually have a pretty good relationship in private.

After all, Little Ma had treated Chen Mo to a meal before!
However, because Orange Treasure steadfastly implemented Chen Mo's established strategy of "seven major mobile terminal basic applications", it inevitably stepped into the business scope that Tencent regarded as its core territory.

Now, it remains to be seen whether Pony Ma can truly separate business from personal relationships.

This impending undercurrent of tension between senior and junior students regarding mobile internet gateways and ecosystems has only just begun.

Chen Mo, who was just about to leave work in the office, received a call from Teacher Lin.
(End of this chapter)