Restart life

Chapter 437 0427 [BYD is here too]

Nokia did not directly sue Chen Guiliang for "damaging business reputation" because doing so would have allowed Chen Guiliang to successfully stage an incident.

These kinds of lawsuits often last for several years, and Nokia usually can't win.

The lengthy legal process only increased Chen Guiliang's exposure.

Even though Nokia pretended to be dead, it still garnered a huge amount of media attention, and the internet was in an uproar. This was because Nokia had a lot of die-hard fans back then.

However, among Nokia's die-hard fans, there are quite a few who are disappointed with Nokia's lack of ambition and drive.

At first, Nokia fans criticized Chen Guiliang for being arrogant, but within two days it turned into Nokia fans arguing with each other.

In a media interview, the Australian president of Nokia China showcased the Nokia 5800: "This full-touchscreen Nokia smartphone has sold over 500 million units globally since its launch a year ago. It's currently the best-selling full-touchscreen smartphone! Who says Nokia doesn't have full-touchscreen phones?"

Chen Guiliang commented on his social media account: "But resistive screens."

A resistive touchscreen means you can only use a stylus or press it firmly with your fingernail. You can't just swipe with your finger.

At this time, Yang Yuanqing of Lenovo stepped forward and held the Lenovo O1 launch event.

Lenovo has finally bought back Lenovo Mobile for $2 million, along with a smartphone.

This phone was something Yang Yuanqing had been working on before he started selling his mobile phone business, and it finally came to fruition after more than a year. He also pulled off various gimmicks, such as claiming the phone's design won the German Red Dot Design Award.

The Lenovo O1 uses China Mobile's OPhone system, which comes pre-installed with a host of mobile applications such as Fetion and 139 Mail. These applications cannot be uninstalled or even removed from the main menu. It is only compatible with Android versions below 1.5.

Priced at 5999 yuan, it claims to be able to beat Apple!
They don't consider Meizu or HarmonyOS as enemies at all, nor do they take Nokia smartphones seriously.

Chen Guiliang didn't take Lenovo seriously, but Zhou Guangping was on high alert and quickly went to buy a Lenovo O1 to experience it.

As a result, he only spent a few minutes in the store before losing his desire to buy anything.

"How are you feeling?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Zhou Guangping laughed and said, "Lenovo sold its mobile phone business at the beginning of last year, which must have delayed the development of smartphones. Moreover, at that time, China Mobile's OPhone was not even finished. I was wondering how they could develop it so quickly; this thing was just something to fool people."

Chen Guiliang said speechlessly, "I asked you how you feel?"

Zhou Guangping explained in detail: "Lenovo claims it's a full-touch capacitive screen, but it doesn't respond at all when you lightly slide your finger. You have to press and drag hard, and the response is very sluggish, with frequent stuttering and frame skipping when sliding."

Zhou Guangping only played around with it casually and hasn't experienced many of the Lenovo O1's shortcomings yet.

For example, it has a short standby time and poor battery life. It overheats easily and crashes frequently. Aside from mobile apps that cannot be uninstalled, there are almost no third-party apps available…

Lenovo actually dares to sell this piece of junk for 5999 yuan!
The Meizu M8 is less than 3000 yuan.

The Lenovo O1 is a joke. They probably rushed production and didn't even do proper mass production testing. Or maybe they did test it, knew it was prone to overheating and crashing, but still went ahead and released it anyway.

The HarmonyOS community is very lively now, with a large number of programmers gathering here, posting and exchanging ideas in their spare time.

Who bought the Lenovo O1?

"Only an idiot would buy this. I went to the store and played around with it for a bit, and this piece of junk is worth at most 1000 yuan."

"Sigh, domestic brands are always so disappointing. To be honest, I was really looking forward to Lenovo's first smartphone, but I didn't expect them to produce something like this."

"Will Chen Laozu's HarmonyOS phone be the same as Lenovo's?"

"Brother, Mr. Chen has demonstrated this publicly several times."

"It's possible that the video being shown on the big screen is actually a recording, and the person invited up on stage to operate the phone is a plant."

"I think you're the one Nokia sent as a shill!"

"Who watches CCTV's 'Dialogue' program? Chen Guiliang is still too arrogant, actually saying that Nokia will soon decline."

"If Nokia doesn't launch a full-touch capacitive screen phone soon, it will definitely decline! This time, I support Chen Laozu."

"By the way, has your company officially started developing HarmonyOS applications?"

"The project was approved last week, but I can't disclose the details. What about your company?"

"Pretty much, haha."

"..."

……

The day after the Lenovo O1 went on sale, BYD announced that it had joined the HarmonyOS Foundation and was willing to give priority to supplying batteries for mobile phones using the HarmonyOS platform.

Like Qualcomm and SK Hynix, BYD is here to sell products.

The basic annual membership fee would be gone in a few days if used for advertising. But joining the HarmonyOS Foundation allows for close contact with manufacturers within the ecosystem, potentially leading to all mobile phone brands in the ecosystem using BYD batteries.

Chen Guiliang personally accompanied Wang Chuanfu on a visit to ByteDance and HarmonyOS, and even made a trip to Game Science.

After the tour, Chen Guiliang treated Wang Chuanfu to dinner: "Nokia didn't put any pressure on you, did they?"

Wang Chuanfu laughed and said, "Of course! Nokia even wanted to lock in BYD Electronics' orders for next month, but I refused. BYD isn't Nokia's dog!"

BYD Battery is Nokia's largest global battery supplier.

BYD Electronics is Nokia's largest contract manufacturer globally. Given such a deep partnership, Nokia can't really order BYD to do anything. If they had to switch manufacturers at the last minute, where would Nokia find another one?

Foxconn is already fully booked with orders from companies like Apple, while Flextronics is also heavily booked due to orders from Motorola and Sony Ericsson.

If Chen Guiliang wants to find a contract manufacturer, only BYD still has production capacity.

Moreover, BYD also produces its own batteries, molds, phone cases, etc., giving it vertical integration capabilities and cost control advantages.

With so many factors combined, BYD Electronics became Chen Guiliang's first choice for contract manufacturer.

Chen Guiliang clinked glasses with him: "The Hurun Rich List is about to be released. I wish Mr. Wang the best of luck in becoming the richest man in China."

Wang Chuanfu waved his hands repeatedly: "No way. That richest man last year is still working on a sewing machine. I don't want to be on the Hurun Pig Slaughter List."

Chen Guiliang laughed and said, "Whether Mr. Wang likes it or not, he will definitely be the richest man in China this year."

Wang Chuanfu is poised to top both the Hurun Rich List and the Forbes China Rich List this year, becoming the undisputed richest man in China.

The main reason is that Buffett invested in BYD last year, and BYD cars have been selling like hotcakes this year. Both the stock price and the company's performance have been soaring.

The wealth of those who topped the list last year has shrunk collectively due to the financial crisis.

With one rise and one fall, Wang Chuanfu rose to first place.

Wang Chuanfu said, "I believe that one day, Mr. Chen may also become the richest man in China."

"Hey, Mr. Wang is flattering me," Chen Guiliang said with a smile.

Wang Chuanfu said seriously, "The Meizu M8 is manufactured by BYD, and I have also experienced the HarmonyOS phone. To be honest, the performance difference between the two phones is not significant, and both are top performers in the Chinese smartphone market. However, Mr. Chen's completely open system and the formation of the HarmonyOS camp is a genius-level bold attempt that Meizu phones cannot compete with."

Wang Chuanfu is very optimistic about HarmonyOS Technology, and he knows all too well how powerful such early planning can be.

Because he himself has always done it!

Therefore, even at the risk of offending Nokia, Wang Chuanfu is determined to cooperate deeply with Chen Guiliang.

BYD Electronics has opened a new production line specifically for HarmonyOS phones. The equipment has been debugged and workers are currently being trained.

Once the workers have completed their training, actual assembly and testing will begin, with a daily production capacity of 2000 mobile phones.

The initial production run of HarmonyOS phones will be 10 units, with material costs alone reaching 1.5 million yuan. Most companies wouldn't dare to do something like that. Whether they have sufficient funds is another matter; if sales are poor, it'll be a complete disaster!
Lenovo manufactured 5 O1 units in its first batch, but now they're stuck with unsold stock.

This piece of junk is deeply tied to China Mobile, enjoying subsidies for China Mobile's 3G promotion and preferential treatment for China Mobile's service packages.

It's priced at 5999 yuan, but if users subscribe to a mobile plan and receive various promotional subsidies, they can actually get it for just over 2000 yuan.

Even at over 2000 yuan, not many people buy it.

Moreover, Chen Guiliang really couldn't understand Lenovo O1's market positioning.

This phone was marketed and priced as a high-end product, directly targeting Apple phones. However, once it's bundled with China Mobile, it can be bought for just over 2000 yuan, instantly lowering its perceived value and making it seem cheap.

So, is it high-end, mid-range, or low-end?
While Lenovo phones can be sold in mobile phone stores, Chen Guiliang had to build his own sales channels.

Because of the great buzz surrounding HarmonyOS phones, mobile phone chain stores such as Zhongfu and D.Phone have proactively contacted Chen Guiliang hoping to become distributors of HarmonyOS.

Chen Guiliang refused them all!
These chain stores mainly sell low-end devices, and sometimes even counterfeit ones. If HarmonyOS were sold in their stores, the brand image would be instantly ruined.

Chen Guiliang has his own methods.

First, online sales. Establish official HarmonyOS mobile phone online stores on major e-commerce platforms and promote them through extensive online advertising.

Secondly, they are opening official directly-operated experience stores in first-tier cities. Currently, they only have stores in four cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, with only one store in each city. The interior design is extremely minimalist and technologically advanced, forming a stark contrast to the traditional counters of Nokia and Samsung.

Third, we cooperate with chain stores such as Suning and Gome, but only enter their core stores. We disdain to enter ordinary stores.

To put it bluntly, the company primarily focuses on online sales, while physical stores are used to enhance its image and prestige.

Of the four directly operated stores in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, two were acquired from Starcom. Actually, Starcom was also leased; they were simply sublet and renovated.

The store sales staff also came from Starcom—Starcom is undergoing massive layoffs and store closures.

After seeing Wang Chuanfu off, Chen Guiliang began personally training the four store managers the next day.

“You all used to be store managers selling PHS phones. I must emphasize repeatedly that HarmonyOS phones and PHS phones are positioned differently…”

"Currently, there are only four official offline stores for HarmonyOS phones. You represent the image of HarmonyOS phones..."

"The four stores are now fully renovated, and I hired top domestic designers to design them. As you've probably noticed, the store design style is different from other 3C stores. It's extremely minimalist, with no unnecessary decorations, and the sense of technology is just like in a science fiction movie..."

"Your primary task is not how many phones you sell, but to showcase the high-end nature, technology, and future of HarmonyOS phones..."

"Therefore, don't push your phones on customers, and don't try to outsmart them. Treat them like friends; when they come in, offer them tea or coffee. No matter how long they're playing on their phones in the store, don't disturb them..."

"When there aren't many customers, I can chat with them and introduce some information about the company..."

"I will send people to visit the stores from time to time to check your service attitude..."

(End of this chapter)