Restart life

Chapter 514 0502 [The old king is past his prime, a new king shall rise]

This year, total mobile phone sales in the Chinese market will approach 3 million units, of which smartphone sales will only be over 7000 million units.

Despite the strong sales of HarmonyOS phones and Nokia's reputation as an industry joke, Nokia's market share still stands at 25% if feature phone sales are included.

One out of every four mobile phones sold in mainland China is a Nokia.

The day Nokia completely falls will inevitably mark the end of the feature phone era.

Mobile Phone Circle magazine brilliantly summarized the mobile phone market landscape in the first three quarters of this year with eight words: "The old king is fading, the new king shall rise!"

Who is the new king?

ready to come out.

However, HarmonyOS is still too immature, and its market share in the total mobile phone market is too low.

Let's look at the total sales ranking (including feature phones): Nokia 25%, Samsung 15%, Lenovo 11%, Huawei 6%, ZTE 5%, HarmonyOS 4%.

It didn't even make it into the top five; the HarmonyOS phone can only be sixth.

Therefore, Chen Guiliang often jokes that he most hopes that everyone can achieve a moderately prosperous life. If all Chinese people have money, everyone can buy smartphones and have a good computer that can run "My Own Swordsman".

"@Chen Laozu, you've been nominated for CCTV's Economic Person of the Year again!"

"Everyone, let's disperse. What's the point of voting? Last year, Chen Laozu got the most online votes, but he only got a ridiculous nomination award."

"Old Master Chen still has a temper; he directly refused to accept last year's nomination award."

"Shh, don't talk nonsense. Mr. Chen didn't refuse to accept it; he was just delayed by something and couldn't be there in person."

"..."

To be nominated for the Annual Economic Person of the Year award, you need to go through a nomination process, which can be divided into three types: institutional nomination, expert nomination, and local nomination.

These three recommendation channels are basically controlled by veterans, and 90% of the winners come from traditional enterprises—especially state-owned enterprises.

For business owners in the IT industry to qualify for the selection, they must network and cultivate connections.

Chen Guiliang has never been involved in the entertainment industry!
He was first nominated last year because an expert recommended him, and that expert was a professor at Peking University.

After the nomination list is announced, there will be a public voting process.

Chen Guiliang received the most votes in last year's online poll. However, public voting is for reference only, and the final result is decided by the judging panel.

As a result, Chen Guiliang received a... nomination award.

Chen Guiliang had no complaints about this, after all, he wasn't part of that circle. There were plenty of people on their side waiting to get a piece of the pie, and they were all indeed powerful entrepreneurs.

But the fact that he didn't complain doesn't mean that Chen Guiliang was willing to put on a brave face and be snubbed.

When CCTV sent him a letter inviting him to accept his nomination award, Chen Guiliang directly claimed that he had something to do and couldn't go. He didn't even bother to send a representative to accept it.

Netizens joked that the top three on the rich list and the one with the most online votes only received a nomination, suggesting that the real winners must be incredibly impressive.

It's really quite impressive. Last year, the CEO of Datang Telecom and Ms. Dong of Gree Electric Appliances only received an innovation award, not the real Economic Person of the Year award.

"Do you think you can win an award this year?" Bian Guanyue asked with genuine concern.

Chen Guiliang glanced at this year's selection theme and speculated, "According to the previous selection criteria, I could only win an innovation award at most. But this year is different; I'm 100% sure I'll be selected as the Person of the Year in Economics."

Bian Guanyue stared at the announcement for a long time: "I don't understand."

Chen Guiliang explained, "This year's selection theme is 'quality of growth' and 'economic transformation,' which I estimate is due to new instructions from higher-ups. You can tell from the wording of the announcement that this year's focus is more on the transformation of the real economy, technological innovation, cultural industries, and international performance, rather than on the seniority of traditional enterprises."

Technological innovation, like Chen Guiliang's work on smartphones and cloud computing centers, falls under that category. Those who can compete with him in this area have already won awards.

The cultural industry goes without saying; it's not about watching movies and TV shows or artistic works, but about Weibo's leading position, the overseas expansion of the gaming industry, and so on.

The significant changes in this year's selection criteria are certainly related to the international situation, economic conditions, and development direction.

Now that the top leaders have set new standards, those old Dengs can no longer continue to play their games behind closed doors.

Chen Guiliang could even guess that the CEO of an environmental protection company would definitely win an award this year, because environmental protection is also an important part of industrial transformation.

"No more half-hearted attempts this time. I'll have a suit made for you!" Bian Guanyue said firmly.

Chen Guiliang smiled and said, "Okay."

As expected, shortly after the public voting ended, the organizers sent an invitation. It clearly stated that Chen Guiliang had been selected as the Economic Person of the Year and asked him to prepare an acceptance speech.

This year's selection criteria have undergone a huge change. In another time and space, even the CEO of HTC won an award, simply because HTC phones sell well in mainland China.

It is clear that the government is intentionally guiding industrial upgrading.

Due to the meteoric rise of HarmonyOS, the sales of ham sausages in mainland China were not as good, and Chen Guiliang took away the position of CEO of HTC this year!

……

On the day of the award ceremony, Chen Guiliang wore a brand-new custom-made suit, and his leather shoes were polished to a high shine before he left home.

Originally, Bian Guanyue took on the shoeshine job, but Aunt Zhang, who was in charge of cooking, couldn't help but say after watching for a while, "I used to run a shoeshine stall."

"Didn't you used to sell boxed lunches at your stall?" Bian Guanyue asked.

Aunt Zhang explained, “The salt factory went out of business more than ten years ago. Although I wasn’t laid off, I often didn’t get paid and had to stop working every few days to rest at home. Since I was idle anyway, I set up a shoe-shining stall. Later, the shoe-shining business became difficult, and fewer and fewer people wore leather shoes, so I started selling boxed lunches at a stall. A few years ago, I took over a shop and opened a small restaurant.”

Bian Guanyue stood up and said, "Then I'll trouble you, Aunt Zhang."

Under Aunt Zhang's skillful hands, Chen Guiliang's leather shoes were polished quickly and became shiny.

"Watch!" Bian Guanyue shouted. Chen Guiliang was speechless: "Shouldn't we just not wear this thing? It's like wearing handcuffs."

He likes the feeling of being unrestrained. He never wears watches, rings, or necklaces either, otherwise he feels like he is being bound by something.

"Handcuff me properly!"

Bian Guanyue seemed to transform into a policewoman, grabbing Chen Guiliang's wrist and handcuffing it.

Then she took out a tie.

Chen Guiliang cried out in terror, "I'd rather die than submit to this thing, it's like hanging myself!"

"Pfft!"

Bian Guanyue was amused by his reaction: "Alright, alright, no tie needed."

As Chen Guiliang was leaving, Bian Guanyue said again, "Ask when the awards ceremony will be broadcast so I can inform my family to watch it on time."

The family members Bian Guanyue mentioned were her own parents and maternal grandparents, as well as Chen Guiliang's extended family from his hometown.

Receiving an award on CCTV is quite an accomplishment; I must tell my family to watch it.

If we don't notify them, they'll definitely complain.

“Okay, I’ll go ask. They’ll definitely remind us even if I don’t ask,” Chen Guiliang said. “Are you really not coming? You can bring your family to the awards ceremony.”

Bian Guanyue said, "I'm too lazy to go. Even if I went, I wouldn't know anyone and would just sit there like an idiot."

The awards ceremony will not be held on CCTV, but at the China World Hotel.

Chen Guiliang arrived quickly by car. After a simple registration in the lobby, he was led to the lounge by staff.

Several people were already sitting inside.

Chairman Gong of Hunan Publishing Group and Chairman Zhang of China Arts and Entertainment Group are award winners in the cultural field.

There's also the boss of a drought-resistant greening company from the grasslands, whose business includes ecological projects such as sand prevention and control, improvement of saline-alkali land, and mine management, as well as landscaping and landscape design.

"Oh, Mr. Chen, it's an honor to meet you! This is my business card."

"So it's Chairman Zhang, nice to meet you."

"Let me introduce you. This is Chairman Gong from Hunan Publishing Group, and this is Chairman Wang from Hexinyuan."

"Hello, Chairman Gong! Hello, Chairman Wang!"

"Seeing Mr. Chen in person made me realize how old I am. This world belongs to the young."

"We young people may be energetic, but we also need older people to steer the ship with composure."

"Haha, Mr. Chen is too modest, not at all like he is online. I am also a ByteDance Weibo user and I follow Mr. Chen."

"Your online image is definitely different. In order to gain traffic and sell products, you have to create a persona for yourself."

"..."

The group sat down and chatted happily, though it was mostly just polite small talk.

Within minutes, the CEOs of ZTE, China Electronics International, and Zoomlion arrived one after another. Some even brought their wives along.

Dongzi also came.

Liu Qiangdong has been extremely busy these past few years and has had no time to network. At the event, he was most familiar with Chen Guiliang.

After greeting the others, Liu Qiangdong plopped down next to Chen Guiliang.

"Do we not need to raise funds again next year?" Chen Guiliang asked.

Liu Qiangdong laughed and said, "We have enough money."

JD.com raised $15 billion this year, the largest funding round in the history of the Chinese internet industry…

Without this funding, no matter how strong JD.com's performance was, Liu Qiangdong would not have won this year's Economic Person of the Year award.

Chen Guiliang asked, "What about what I told you last time? How have you considered it?"

Liu Qiangdong said, "Your hometown is indeed in a good location, right in the geographical center of southern Sichuan. I have already sent people to investigate. The expressway from Chengdu to your hometown should be open to traffic next summer or autumn. However, the expressway connecting other cities in southern Sichuan, and even connecting to Guizhou Province, will take another two or three years to complete."

"We can sign the contract next year, get the land first, but demolition and construction will still take time," Chen Guiliang said.

Liu Qiangdong nodded: "Okay."

Firstly, Chen Guiliang is a shareholder, and he is willing to give shareholders face.

Secondly, Chen Guiliang's hometown is indeed suitable for JD.com's logistics center in southern Sichuan.

Chen Guiliang was naturally very happy to have secured such a large investment for the development of his hometown.

The bigwigs always arrive late. Mr. Liu from Lenovo arrived with an official from the economic department.

Mr. Liu received the Lifetime Achievement Award this year.

There was also a team award given to the team that carried out the rendezvous and docking mission of Tiangong-1 and Shenzhou-8. They seemed a bit reserved and very disciplined, barely saying a word except for greetings.

As for the recipients of public welfare awards and nomination awards, they were arranged in another lounge.

(End of this chapter)