Rebirth 08: Rise from copycat phones

Chapter 109 Flagship Model Finalized

Overseas, a group of operators are competing with each other, which has inexplicably put Zhiyun and Fruit, two newcomers in the mobile phone industry, in opposition.

And the current domestic market is facing a similar situation!

China Unicom obtained the exclusive contract sales rights for Apple phones, but China Mobile and China Telecom would not sit idly by... Instead, they turned around and found Zhiyun Technology, and kept praising Xu Shenxue to quickly launch the flagship phone and C2 phone.

Although the current C1 is also quite good, it may not be able to compete with the 3GS... When China Unicom introduced it, it made it clear that it would introduce the 3GS.

When it comes to fighting against fruits, Zhiyun Technology has never fought alone, but has a group of natural allies!

Even these allies were not recruited by Zhiyun Technology itself, but they came to us on their own...

Xu Shenxue paid attention to the press conference held by Apple to launch the new 3GS mobile phone... but to be honest, his attention was limited.

After all, in his opinion, the Fruit 3GS does not have much innovation. It is nothing more than a slight hardware upgrade, which is essentially no different from upgrading from C1 to C2.

If Fruit released Fruit 4 a year in advance, Xu Shenxue would have to be really worried.

As for the current 3GS, Xu Shenxue thinks it is not a big problem and can still withstand...

Under such circumstances, Xu Shenxue remained calm and even flew to see Lin Yaxian and attend her graduation ceremony.

Then I accompanied him to see a so-called international art exhibition!

However, Xu Shenxue was a rather vulgar person. He had little interest in these paintings and did not find them very interesting... so after looking at them for a short while, he dragged Lin Yaxian back to the hotel and started doing some unspeakable things.

After staying outside for two days, Xu Shenxue and Lin Yaxian returned to Shenzhen together.

After returning to Shenzhen to work, Xu Shenxue received good news that the higher authorities had officially approved mobile phone manufacturers to use the WIFI function if they supported the WAPI mode.

This is great news for Zhiyun Mobile, other mobile phone manufacturers, and even operators...

Before this, the three major operators have already started to rush forward and promote their own WIFI plans... Of course, they must all be compatible with and support WAPI.

As a mobile phone manufacturer, Zhiyun Mobile can only support WAPI alone...but in fact, the hardware module is already compatible with WFIFI, forcing Zhiyun Technology's C1 mobile phone sold in China to block the WIFI function through system software.

However, Zhiyun phones sold abroad support WIFI.

With the continuous development of 3G networks, coupled with the lobbying of operators and the industry, and the negotiation with Apple, Apple is unwilling to replace WIFI with WAPI.

Eventually, the restrictions were lifted indirectly, allowing WIFI compatibility on the premise of supporting WAPI.

As soon as the news came out, Zhiyun Technology immediately reapplied for the network access license for C1, and after filing it, it quickly pushed the long-prepared update to users through system updates... After the update, users will be able to support the WIFI protocol.

At the same time, the restrictions on the Blue 1 and Blue M1 series smartphones from WeCool Electronics, which are in the process of launching mass production, have also been lifted and they are applying for network access licenses.

The timing is quite clever. If it were a little later, the two mobile phones produced by Weiku Electronics would have started mass production and stocking, which would have been quite troublesome, as users would have to upgrade their phones after buying them to use the WIFI function.

This news is good news for Zhiyun Technology, other mobile phone manufacturers, and even users...

Against this backdrop, Weiku Electronics' smartphones have also entered trial production mode.

Various component suppliers began to supply in small batches, and the OEM factory found by Weiku Electronics also began to set up production lines and conduct small-batch trial production.

The initial production is all experimental trial production, and the real large-scale mass production is expected to have to wait until July.

The funds required for mass production of Wecoo Electronics are also huge. Wecoo Electronics simply cannot come up with so much money on its own. In the end, Wecoo Trading and Wecoo Industrial each borrowed part of the money, and the bulk of the money came from the loan provided by Zhiyun Technology.

About 300 million yuan of funds were raised, plus part of Weiku Electronics’ own funds, to meet the initial mass production, stocking and marketing funds.

After finalizing the mass production plan of WeCool Electronics' mid- and low-end mobile phones, Xu Shenxue stopped caring about it...it wouldn't be put on the market so soon anyway.

However, Zhiyun Technology’s future flagship phone plan has reached a critical moment!
On July 6, Xu Shenxue once again went to the Zhiyun Technology laboratory downstairs, and this time he finally saw the prototype he had been looking forward to for a long time!
"Boss Xu, this is the prototype we made. It perfectly meets all the requirements you put forward before!"

Xie Jianyong was excited when he said, "Since we assembled this batch of prototypes last night, we have been conducting various tests all night long, and all the test results have met the design specifications!"

"Mr. Xu, on behalf of my colleagues in the R&D department, I am happy to tell you that we have lived up to our mission and finally produced this flagship phone!"

While Xie Jianyong was talking excitedly, Xu Shenxue's attention was not on him. Instead, he was looking at the test bench in front of him, at a silver-gray and a black engineering prototype placed on a velvet tray.

This is a phone that is highly similar to the Apple 5/5S in our memory from the front, except that the circular button on the chin is replaced by three capacitive touch buttons.

Xu Shenxue picked up the phone. His first feeling was that it was a little cold, and the touch was smooth and delicate... This was the unique feel brought by the aluminum alloy body, which was not found in a plastic body.

I first looked at the front, and then at the back. The back is a three-section body. The large middle piece is a silver-gray paint surface formed by an anodizing process. The upper middle part is made of stainless steel. It looks very smooth and eye-catching with a silver cloud icon, which is the Zhiyun logo.

The upper and lower parts are glass covers. This design is mainly to solve the signal problem... After using an aluminum alloy body, it is not easy for the signal to pass through the aluminum alloy body, so the designers adopted a three-section body, leaving a part of the glass cover area in the upper and lower parts for the layout of the signal antenna.

According to Xu Shenxue's initial concept design drawing and combined with the specific design of the engineering designers, the final appearance of this future flagship phone was created.

Overall, it looks like a fruit 5/5S with a different chin...

However, they are only similar on the outside, while the inside is actually very different. At the same time, the thickness is not as extreme as the later Fruit 5.

At this time, Xie Jianyong had already started to give a brief introduction: "According to the requirement you put forward at the beginning, Mr. Xu, we hope to make the thickness of the mobile phone less than ten millimeters. But in fact, when we designed it, because we used an aluminum alloy body, we also optimized the internal design structure, so the thickness of the body is even thinner than the ten millimeters you proposed!"

"It's only 8.7 millimeters thick, enough to shock a bunch of people!"

"This thickness is even thinner than the prototype we tried to make with a double-sided glass cover before. The thickness of the previous prototype made of glass cover reached 9.5 mm, but our aluminum alloy body using exclusive materials and processes has allowed us to achieve a thickness of 8.7 mm!"

"It is not only thinner and lighter, but also stronger than glass solutions. In various drop tests, the results are more than three times that of glass cover solutions. This means that the return rate of this phone with an aluminum alloy body will be controlled at a very considerable level!"

"After long-term use, the metal paint surface will inevitably have paint peeling and scratches. This problem exists on any material body that uses paint, such as plastic body."

"In terms of hardware configuration, we still continue the solution we have demonstrated before, using 1GHZ Qualcomm 8250/8650, and the mobile version uses Texas Instruments' OMAP3640."

“The RAM is 512MB, and the storage space is 16GB and 32GB.”

"The front camera is 4 million pixels, and the rear main camera is 960 million pixels!" "The screen is LG's 540-inch 275* resolution screen with a pixel density of PPI, which is the top LCD screen at present."

“The hardware also supports multi-touch, but the system currently only supports two-point touch. It will need to wait for a future system upgrade to support multi-touch!”

While listening to the call, Xu Shenxue pressed the switch on the upper right corner of his phone.

The phone responded very quickly and soon a rotating white cloud icon appeared on the screen. This is the classic startup screen of Zhiyun phone.

After a while, the phone skipped over the settings interface and went directly to the main interface!

This four-inch screen looks much better than the original C1 phone... Not only is the screen larger, but the pixel density is also higher, making it more comfortable to look at.

Xie Jianyong continued, "We selected a light sensor from a better supplier and designed a better algorithm. The automatic brightness adjustment function is more sensitive and more comfortable for people to watch!"

"It also has a gravity sensor, infrared sensor, GPS and magnetic sensor, an integrated electronic gyroscope, and a temperature sensor that monitors the internal temperature of the fuselage!"

"Basically, we have integrated all the sensors that we can think of and that we can make into it..."

At this time, Xu Shenxue also started to open the browser APP for detailed testing. The moment he opened the browser APP, he felt that it was significantly faster than the C1 Pro he had used before, and it started directly with almost no pause.

Then, because it was directly connected to the experimental dedicated WIFI, the Internet speed was very fast, so the content of the default web page was displayed the moment the browser was opened!

Seeing this, Xu Shenxue finally said, "This is the smartphone I want. It should be this smooth!"

"The body feels great and the screen looks great!"

As he spoke, Xu Shenxue looked up at everyone and said, "Your work has completely met my expectations, and is even better than I thought!"

Holding this phone in his hand, Xu Shenxue can't wait to hold the press conference!

With this thing, the Apple 3GS is nothing to worry about... and what's more interesting is that Xu Shenxue can already imagine the desperate expressions of a large number of international mobile phone manufacturers after seeing this thing!
That scene must be very interesting!
Then Xu Shenxue continued to try it out, and the more he used it, the more comfortable he felt... This is a smart phone, the previous C1 was just a piece of junk...

Even though the C1 phone was a product of his own company, it didn't stop Xu Shenxue from disliking it...

Even though the C1 mobile phone has achieved huge commercial success, Xu Shenxue still dislikes it...

Because the C1 phone was not the smart phone he wanted to make in the beginning. It was just a transitional emergency product that he hastily made due to the reality.

The purpose is to grab the market!
But Xu Shenxue himself didn't expect that such a half-finished product with low health could be sold so well...

What could he say? He could only say that people in this era were really simple and honest... He didn't even swing the sickle, but the leeks just plopped right into the sickle in his hand...

Can't stop it!
Oh, he even felt a little embarrassed!
So this time when he made the flagship phone, he was full of sincerity and put in everything he could. The configuration is absolutely top-notch today, and the design is absolutely ahead of its time!

Even if Apple's 3GS comes out, it will have to surrender!
After the trial, Xu Shenxue encouraged the technical backbones in the flagship machine project team and told the most core technical backbones of Zhiyun Technology on the spot that options are indispensable, and the human resources department will come to you to confirm the option plan to ensure that everyone is satisfied.

Afterwards, Xu Shenxue called Ji Chenghe, Gu Zhiming and other senior executives one after another, preparing to hold a meeting to discuss the mass production and subsequent launch plans of this future flagship phone.

You know, this model doesn’t even have a name yet!
----

At two o'clock in the afternoon, in the large conference room of Zhiyun Technology, senior managers involved in the preliminary trial production and marketing plan of the flagship phone project arrived. There were Xie Jianyong and Song Haichang, two senior R&D directors, Ji Chenghe, the vice president in charge of marketing, Gu Zhiming, the vice president in charge of supply chain, Li Bowen, the general manager of Weiku Trading, which has its own channels, and An Dayu, the general manager of Weiku Industrial, the company's own factory that will be responsible for the preliminary trial production of the flagship phone.

After everyone arrived, Xu Shenxue sat down and asked an assistant from Manager Dong to distribute several prototypes of the flagship phone. "Everyone, our flagship phone project has made a huge breakthrough. The engineering prototype has been produced. After preliminary testing, it has fully met the design requirements and even exceeded some of them!"

"So the next step is to discuss how to finalize the preliminary trial production and subsequent large-scale mass production plan, and at the same time start to formulate a marketing promotion and sales plan!"

"You are all old colleagues. You can speak freely about your ideas. Today we will brainstorm and strive to make solid preparations for the launch of the flagship phone!"

"The first problem is that our flagship phone doesn't have a model name yet. We can't call it a flagship phone when it's launched. It has to have a code name."

“There are also market positioning, promotional strategies, and most importantly, pricing issues!”

“What’s your opinion on these market sectors?”

Xu Shenxue first threw the question to Ji Chenghe. Ji Chenghe was in charge of matters in this area, so it was naturally most appropriate to ask him.

Ji Chenghe was playing with his phone at this time, and said: "Although the flagship phone has not been produced yet, our marketing department has conducted long-term, multi-batch market research on the high-end mobile phone market, and has formed a preliminary plan for the market positioning and pricing of the flagship phone, as well as the specific promotional strategy."

"Please give me your comments, Mr. Xu, and all my colleagues!"
As he spoke, Ji Chenghe opened the notebook in front of him, and began to play the PPT and started explaining!
As the projector showed the first PPT, Ji Chenghe said: "The first question is what model name should be used for our flagship phone. We have thought of many options, but in the end, no matter how the flagship phone performs, our marketing department has decided to continue the C series' single letter plus number format to further deepen consumers' understanding of the Zhiyun mobile phone single letter series."

“It should be as simple as possible, easy to pronounce, and avoid complexity, while also having certain high-end attributes!”

"So, our marketing department decided to use 'S' as the flagship series code. 'S', the first letter of super, is widely recognized by people in the overseas market and has the meaning of 'super'."

"In some domestic literature or gaming fields, 'S' also appears as a higher-level code, which is more advanced than ABCD!"

“At the same time, in order to avoid using model names like S1 and S2 that seem too simple and retro, we decided to skip the early numbers and go directly to number 9.”

"9 is an extreme number, symbolizing the most advanced and technologically advanced mobile phone. At the same time, 9 also represents the year 09, which has a certain commemorative significance!"

"At the same time, in overseas markets, the number 9 has the characteristics of good luck in European and American culture, and in most cultures, the number 9 has the meaning of completeness and perfection."

"So, based on the above, our flagship phone is codenamed 'S9'"

When Ji Chenghe said this, Xie Jianyong was dumbfounded. Why didn't he realize before that this code with letters and numbers could allow those who play in the market to come up with so many names...

Xie Jianyong actually didn’t know that the C1 mobile phone actually stands for China, and 1 stands for the first mobile phone.

The meaning of C1, as defined by the people in the marketing department, is actually "China's first smartphone."

It's a pity that such a good thing was wasted, and until now no one can figure out the thoughts of those people in the marketing department... All the code names that the marketing department worked so hard to come up with were wasted!

This time, Ji Chenghe had no control over outsiders, but when facing General Manager Xu and other senior executives, he had to explain the deeper meaning of this code name, otherwise they would think that their marketing department did nothing and just made up a random name to get by.

Work needs to be seen by others!
(End of this chapter)