Rebirth 08: Equipment God

Chapter 363 Prepare for a rainy day
"Congratulations, Mr. Zhai, your name and Hongtu OS are being discussed all over the country now."

August 9th, the morning after the press conference, in northern Beijing.

In the lobby tea break area of ​​a five-star hotel, Lu Qinjian and Zhai Da from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology sat together, with neither tea nor coffee in front of them.

Zhai Da smiled and said, "Minister Lu, you flatter me. This is just the beginning."

"It's just the beginning. How many mobile phone manufacturers are planning to integrate with Hongtu OS now?"

Zhai Da reported a number: "There are 18 companies of varying sizes, including seven mainstream manufacturers and 11 white-label manufacturers."

With a "ding," a message popped up on his phone. Zhai Da glanced at it and corrected himself, "It should be 19 now."

"You value the white-label phone market a lot?"

"To be precise, I value any smartphone market. The open-source ecosystem model makes its value determined by its coverage. Besides, who knows, the next Meizu might emerge from among these white-label manufacturers and counterfeit phone companies?"

Moreover, Wu Yue was incredibly capable, not only efficiently securing contracts with many miscellaneous manufacturers in the eastern province, but also successfully establishing a foothold for the research institute in Shenzhen. After a few days of rest, the research institute would send people there to assist various manufacturers in connecting to the system.

Lu Qinjian smiled and nodded: "That's a very insightful idea."

The industry leader remarked, "Things are going much more smoothly than we expected. The response from this launch event will be more effective than any push from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Your operating system will soon gain traction and bring vitality to the mobile phone industry."

First, the hard requirement for Hongtu OS is a touchscreen phone, preferably a capacitive screen. In addition, there are requirements for processors and other aspects, which will significantly promote "product upgrades".

"Product upgrades" will bring higher added value, a larger market size, and affect the entire supply chain.

Currently, the domestic self-sufficiency rate of the hardware needed for mobile phones, especially high-end hardware, is not high. However, as the market size and opportunities grow, it will stimulate local companies to invest in research and development and pursue independent development in this area, and they will try to carve out a piece of the market from foreign brands.

Finally, this will promote the upgrading of the entire industry chain, creating more high-value enterprises and more high-paying jobs.

The principle is actually that simple; anyone who has observed the market for a long time can grasp this simple logical chain.

But the difficulty lies in where to take the first step, where to make a technological breakthrough, and where to find the key.

This is precisely why the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology attaches so much importance to "Hongtu OS"—if Zhai Da can earn 1 billion yuan, the entire market could grow to tens of billions.

This only considers the domestic market. If products can be successfully exported, it will have a much greater impact.

The halo of "technology" will fall upon this land and country, washing away its reputation for cheapness and shoddy workmanship.

While not as advanced as nuclear fusion or as cutting-edge as supercomputing, mobile communication is still widely recognized globally as a purely high-tech field.

If we only look at the civilian sector, it could even be said to be the highest level.

"Mr. Zhai, the road ahead may not be more difficult, but it will certainly be longer. I hope you and your team will continue your efforts."

Zhai Da nodded sincerely: "Don't worry, I will try my best."

Lu Qinjian smiled and said, "Let's work together."

The bigwig glanced at his watch; he had an important meeting later that day about 3G networks.

"Hongtu OS" and "Universal 3G Networks" will become two wings, respectively, to help the domestic Internet economy, mobile phone manufacturing industry, and communications industry take off.

Perhaps many years from now, people will call 09 the "first year of mobile internet".

Finally, Lu Qinjian raised a topic that surprised Zhai Da.

"Mr. Zhai, do you know where I'm from?"

Zhai Da honestly shook his head.

“I’m from Guizhou Province, a small, poor place. I came of age during the early stages of reform and opening up. Back then, everyone’s dream was to get out of the province and go out into the world.”

“I love my hometown very much, but I have to admit that the geographical location has a great limitation on people and businesses. Over the years, no noteworthy companies have emerged in my hometown. No matter how many talents you have, you can’t give full play to them.”

Lu Qinjian's gaze was somewhat vacant, as if he were recalling that small mountain gully where there was not three feet of flat land and the sky was never sunny for three days in a row.

"For someone from a small county, Harbin is already a big enough stage, but for you, it is far from enough. I believe you have already felt it: a lack of talent, difficulty in hiring, and no supporting industries in the local area. Any negotiations and inspections have to be done by plane."

"A small suggestion: you could consider moving the 'Core Mechanical Research Institute' to a larger stage, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, or Guangzhou. At the very least, other cities in the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta would be good options."

"Tell us your preferred location, and we can help you find a better place to develop your career."

Zhai Da: "But I haven't graduated yet."

"It's good to be prepared. I'm sure the school won't be too demanding of exceptional talents."

After saying that, Boss Lu stood up and prepared to leave.

After regaining his senses, Zhai Da took a black box out of his backpack and handed it to Lu Qinjian.

"Minister Lu, please try this out."

This is the Meizu P9, and also the first phone to be perfectly adapted and optimized for the Hongtu platform. Theoretically, it only went on sale this morning, and sales figures are still unknown, but they should be quite good.

Lu Qinjian glanced down at the box but didn't accept it. He shook his head and said, "The ministry might make the purchase, or I might buy it myself, but I won't accept this."

"Ah? Why?"

Lu Qinqian waved the mineral water bottle in his hand: "If I don't take it, I can give it to you more confidently in the future, right? The magic show was good, very impressive." After saying that, Lu Qinqian waved and left.

Looking at the other person's back, Zhai Da thought to himself that the other person was a remarkable person.

While he was lost in thought, someone patted Zhai Da on the shoulder from behind. When he turned around, he saw Principal Wang Chunguo.

"Xiao Zhai? Where's Commander Lu? Has he left?"

Zhai Da snapped out of his daze, nodded, and said, "They just left."

"We were just saying we'd chat for a bit, but never mind, we're both so busy. I'm heading to the airport soon. When are you leaving?"

Zhai Da did some calculations: "It's hard to say. After dealing with the aftermath, we might stay a little longer."

There are so many things going on here, like the dozens of people still staying in the hotel.
Principal Wang patted Zhai Da on the arm: "You've really made a name for yourself this time. The city is very happy. They even called me this morning to say that Harbin has finally produced a high-tech enterprise."

"When you get back, there will probably be some recognition and policy encouragement and support."

Zhai Da could only smile:
"That's very good."

------

When you've achieved great success through long-term preparation, good news keeps coming.

The day after the press conference, Zhai Da used the time to handle the aftermath, such as celebrating with his own employees and inviting members of Utopia and "π" to join him.

We were supposed to celebrate last night, but it was past 1 a.m. by the time we finished cleaning up all the mess.

Zhai Da quietly worked alongside everyone. Even though a professional event company dismantled the stage, the "research institute's" own stuff was enough to give them a hard time, since the entire team only had about thirty people.

Even someone as physically fit as Zhai Da was suffering from back pain after working until the early hours of the morning, so he changed the date to August 9th.

I can't help but think that it's no wonder my boss always had the energy to celebrate with his employees.

That's because the boss didn't do any work from start to finish! Of course he has the energy to celebrate!
Such a resounding victory deserves a holiday for everyone. Three days of paid leave, a high-class tour group can take you to northern Beijing, including the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, and Wangfujing. If anyone doesn't want to travel, they can have free time or return to Harbin early.

So, over the past few days in northern Beijing, dozens of simple and honest programmers could be seen traveling around the country, laughing and joking. However, no one has yet connected them with the globally renowned "Hongtu OS" team.

Zhai Da himself was unable to fully celebrate, even as more and more good news came his way.

After confirming the number of activations in the backend and receiving feedback from Meizu, sales reached 4 units on the first day of release.

This was already a pretty impressive figure in 2009, considering that the Nokia N97 was launched in China two months earlier and only sold a little over 5000 units in its first week, while the Meizu P9 sold 40,000 units on its first day.

But Zhai Da just wants to say it's still too few. Is Meizu even capable? They dare claim they have enough stock with only 50,000 units prepared?
Apart from a small amount still en route, the rest are in the production line.

Sigh. I gave you a chance, but you didn't use it.

Hongtu mobile phones have been forced into a state of scarcity sales, and scalpers are probably going to make a fortune again, but there's nothing Zhai Da can do about it.

Until other brands catch up, we'll just have to be patient with everyone for now.

The app store began to be activated, and many system services also began to experience load. Cheng Mo, being very responsible, did not go on the trip with them. Instead, he took a small group of key personnel back to the research institute to ensure overall stability.

In short, we'll gradually start making money!

Another thing was that Zhai Da made a special trip to Xinglang for a wrap-up meeting to hear the complete statistics. As a teammate, Xinglang had undoubtedly performed well in this battle and deserved to show their appreciation.

In the conference room of Xinglang's headquarters building, Li Tiantian's assistant, Monica, gave a passionate summary: "President Zhai, we extracted all the relevant comments and compiled statistics. Among them, 'magic master,' 'tech genius,' and 'young tycoon' have become the most frequently used tags."

Zhai Da coughed lightly: "Let's skip this part. We can't take online titles seriously."

He wouldn't let this cloud his judgment. After all, just a few months ago, people online were calling him "Captain" and "King of Twin Flowers." Did he take it seriously? It was just a nickname given to him by netizens.

However, Li Tiantian suddenly interjected, "That's not quite right, President Zhai. Actually, there's a small matter related to this that I wanted to discuss with you today."

"Would you be reluctant to appear as a simple magician?"

Zhai Da was confused: "What do you mean?"

Li Tiantian said somewhat nervously, "For example, participating in a magic-themed program? You know we have cooperated with many TV stations and production companies. Recently, in addition to Hongtu OS, your magic performance has also received a great response from all over the world, making you one of the world's most famous magicians. Many people are trying to crack your magic secrets."

Zhai Da thought to himself, "Let's try to crack it," but everyone remained silent.

At most, a magician can guess some of the general design based on their own experience.

Li Tiantian's words became increasingly smooth: "You yourself are already deeply bound to Hongtu OS. If there is a 'derivative content', the topic can be continued and a long-tail effect can be generated. It's a win-win situation."

"Even if it's shorter and the format is simpler, I'm just not sure if you'd be interested?"

It depends on the individual's attitude. If it's something they're interested in, then it's not impossible. But if they're purely business people, they wouldn't have the time to film any "derivative content," and might even feel slighted.

Zhai Da pondered for a moment, his expression grave, and Li Tiantian couldn't help but feel a little flustered.

Until this newly crowned magician, tech upstart, and business genius leaned forward slightly and said in a deep voice:
"Tell me more specifically?"

(End of this chapter)