The original plan was for the entire WeChat business unit to forgo holidays for the New Year, with all staff working overtime!
Pushing hard, they could probably get the Moments feature done by the beginning of next month.
Then, they would slowly develop local tours and local food features to catch up with Changliao.
But now, with Changliao's update, all WeChat's plans were thrown into disarray.
They simply couldn't keep up!
Zhang Long was extremely stressed, feeling completely overwhelmed:
"We haven't even launched Moments yet, local food and local tours aren't done, and Wang Yi's Changliao has a new feature, video calls!"
"Damn it, are they not letting us live?"
All the employees fell silent: "..."
The deputy manager's expression was even more complex:
"What should we do?"
"What else can we do? Keep developing, one step at a time."
Zhang Long sighed, knowing full well that in such situations, it was crucial to stabilize morale:
"Let's not rush, let's proceed steadily and surely. Let's get Moments done first, aiming for an update by early next month—no, by the end of the month!"
"Then we'll work on the video call feature, taking our time."
"As for local food, local tours, and group buying features, let's put those aside for now. If Chairman Ma asks, we'll say the map service isn't ready, and we're waiting for the map department to complete their map services!"
The vice president nodded:
"That's also a solution; we can shift the blame for the local features to the map department."
"Sigh, what a troubled time, so much trouble!"
"Changliao keeps releasing features one after another; we're just replicating them, and that takes time!"
Zhang Long's expression was complex:
"Changliao is updating too fast; WeChat can't keep up. I'm afraid that just as we launch video calls next month, Changliao will release another new feature!"
"No way? Are they that crazy?"
"What do you think?"
"This..."
For a moment, everyone in the department fell silent.
But they understood in their hearts that this was very likely.
Even if WeChat constantly followed up and replicated, Changliao could still maintain a lead of two eras and two core features over WeChat.
In this situation, WeChat had no chance of winning.
Big trouble!
Zhang Long's face turned ashen.
He instructed everyone to keep grinding, then returned to his office alone, waiting quietly.
Waiting for the chairman's call.
If the call came, that would be good, even if he got scolded.
But he was afraid of not getting the call!
Once Chairman Ma couldn't even be bothered to get angry with him or scold him, then it would truly be over.
It would mean Chairman Ma no longer had confidence in the WeChat business, and might even be preparing to abandon it.
For BAT, launching dozens of businesses and abandoning dozens of businesses in a year was normal.
WeChat was just one of them.
If it succeeded, WeChat could become a pillar industry like QQ, and the entire WeChat department would be showered with bonuses.
His own status, Zhang Long, would also rise, with a promising future.
But if it failed, his future would be ruined, not to mention the loss of bonuses, and even the entire department would be quickly cut!
Zhang Long's future would also become bleak.
"It's really hard to be rivals with Wang Yi!"
Zhang Long sighed, puffing on a cigarette.
He glanced at his phone screen on the desk from time to time, waiting for Chairman Ma's call.
But unfortunately, he waited and waited, until seven in the evening, but the call never came.
"Sigh! Big trouble, Chairman Ma probably doesn't think highly of WeChat anymore."
Zhang Long let out a long sigh, then turned and walked out of the room.
He looked at his subordinates, who were still working tirelessly, with an incredibly complex expression.
They were all program developers, but this year, colleagues from the QQ business unit had received several months' worth of year-end bonuses.
However, the employees of his WeChat business unit had received nothing.
WeChat had been continuously overwhelmed and thrashed by Changliao; they were too far behind, so naturally, there were no year-end bonuses.
What was worse, if WeChat failed and the entire WeChat business was cut, his future would be uncertain, and these employees would likely face mass layoffs.
Only those with good luck would be transferred to other departments.
Zhang Long felt a mix of sympathy and guilt about this.
After a long while, he finally opened his mouth:
"Alright, it's Chinese New Year's Eve today. Everyone, go home early, you've worked hard. Happy New Year's Eve!"
"Happy New Year's Eve, President Zhang!"
"Happy New Year, Manager!"
Everyone spoke up, then left with complex expressions.
The current WeChat department didn't even have year-end bonuses; few people could smile.
After watching everyone leave, Zhang Long remained alone in the office, filled with emotion:
"Video New Year greetings, genius marketing. With this wave alone, how many users will Changliao gain? And how many users will WeChat lose?"
"Damn it, this New Year is going to be terrible!"
As Zhang Long expected, Changliao's situation was excellent!
Leveraging the new feature and gimmick of video New Year greetings for the Spring Festival, as well as the power of trending searches, Changliao's user base surged rapidly.
In less than a day, Changliao's new users exceeded five million, and its total user base broke through 57 million!
And it was still skyrocketing.
People who couldn't go home used Changliao to celebrate the New Year with their parents.
Those who went home also used Changliao to video call their long-distance partners to ring in the New Year.
It could only be said that Wang Yi's marketing for Chinese New Year's Eve video greetings was very successful!
However, it wasn't just WeChat President Zhang Long who was having a terrible New Year; iQiyi Acting President Ma Yuanming was too!
In the morning's video platform drama-grabbing war, iQiyi made the first move, igniting the copyright acquisition battle.
As a result, before the major platforms could determine a winner, Xingyi Video, holding dozens of exclusive dramas, won overwhelmingly!
While other companies were still buying dramas via PPT proposals, Xingyi Video had already acquired over 20 exclusive dramas and 15 sub-licensed dramas.
With such a comparison, the superiority and inferiority were clear at a glance.
Was there any need to ask how users would choose?
Ma Yuanming was so angry his liver hurt:
"With this wave, how many members will Xingyi Video gain? Probably over a million!"
It could only be said that Ma Yuanming's guess was very accurate.
In less than a day, Xingyi Video's new members exceeded one million!
Currently, Xingyi Video's total number of paid members had surpassed 15 million.
Adding the more than eight million members gifted with the xphone 1, the total number of members was nearly 24 million.
Seeing this data, iQiyi was jealous, Sohu was envious, and Youku's eyes burned with desire!
15 million paid members a month, calculated at 15 yuan for a regular member, would be 225 million yuan a month, and 2.7 billion yuan a year!
Not to mention that the number of paid members would continue to increase!
Once monthly paid members reached 30 million, that would be 5.4 billion yuan in revenue annually!
Adding sponsorship and advertising revenue, breaking 10 billion yuan would not be a problem.
This didn't even include the members gifted with the xphone 1; each xphone 1 sold included an additional 100 yuan for a Xingyi Video membership.
8.5 million xphone 1 units meant 850 million yuan in membership fees!
And the future sales of xphone 1 were expected to exceed 20 million units without pressure, meaning another billion yuan in membership revenue!
It could be said that Xingyi Video had, as Wang Yi expected, gradually developed into a new cash cow!
While other platforms were experiencing significant losses, Xingyi Video had already started to profit, even making huge profits!
This made iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video, and other competitors envious, jealous, and hateful.
Also feeling depressed was Rebus:
"I always feel like the guy named Wang is targeting me!"
"I make Xiaomi phones, he makes Xingyi phones. Making phones is one thing, but he's practically killed my Xiaomi phones."
"I made MiTalk, he made Changliao. Making Changliao is one thing, but he's also practically killed my MiTalk!"
In fact, the earliest was not WeChat, but MiTalk.
Both had similar functions, but their development was different.
As a pioneer, MiTalk originally had a lot of potential.
But WeChat emerged out of nowhere, severely impacting MiTalk and killing off a quarter of its user base.
Now Changliao has also emerged out of nowhere, rapidly growing stronger, and killing off another half of MiTalk!
Currently, at least ten million users flowing into Changliao came from MiTalk, and 15 million came from WeChat.
The remaining 25 million were natural users.
MiTalk had been critically hit by WeChat and Changliao together, experiencing severe user loss, a bleak future, and was now in a stage of barely surviving.
How long it could last was a question, but its future was gone!
"Chairman Wang, oh Chairman Wang, you are my nemesis!"
"If Jun was born, why must Yi also be born!"
Looking at the dismal backend data of MiTalk, Rebus was filled with emotions, feeling that even the Xiaomi porridge next to him no longer tasted good:
"When did starting a business become so hard?"
"This isn't scientific!"
"Sigh!"
Rebus sighed repeatedly, but he wasn't someone easily defeated and quickly recovered:
"But it's fine, the cooperation with NVIDIA is progressing smoothly. They are already supplying Xiaomi with dual-core processors. It's estimated that next month, the Xiaomi 1T, equipped with the NVIDIA Tegra-2 dual-core chip, will be launched."
"Although limited by baseband issues and unable to support all networks, at least we'll have products to sell!"
"I hope this time, the Xiaomi 1T will have sufficient supply and sell extremely well!"
"This Chinese New Year's Eve, truly an eventful period."
"In the morning, the video platform war saw Xingyi Video make a fortune. In the afternoon, the social media war saw Changliao deliver a decisive blow to MiTalk and a critical hit to WeChat!"
"Impressive!"
"During the New Year, making such big moves, disregarding martial ethics."
"But it's already evening; the Spring Festival Gala is about to start. Shouldn't things quiet down a bit?"
"Xingyi Technology shouldn't have any more big moves, right?"
Rebus muttered to himself, took out a bottle of red wine, sat in front of the TV, and started watching the Spring Festival Gala.
Unexpectedly, as soon as he sat down, his face turned green!
Spring Festival Gala commercial sponsor:
[Xingyi xphone 1, AI voice assistant, anti-freeze large capacity battery, high-resolution large screen experience, invites you to watch the Dragon Year Spring Festival Gala!]
Rebus's mouth twitched: "..."
"Damn it, they're even at the Spring Festival Gala, directly sponsoring CCTV's Spring Festival Gala!"
"With this wave alone, how many more xphone 1 units will be sold?"
"One million? Or three million? Five million?"
Rebus fell silent, feeling completely overwhelmed.
The xphone 1 had better specs, a more stylish appearance, superior performance, and even better marketing than the Xiaomi Gen 1!
How could Xiaomi Gen 1 compare?
It couldn't!
"Damn it, they're really not leaving anyone a way to survive!"
On the other side.
Meizu Chairman Huang also frowned slightly:
"It's over. If the xphone 1 didn't advertise, our Meizu MX could still sell a bit better. Once they advertise, even selling at 2299 won't be good!"
"Are we going to keep lowering the price? Drop it to 1999 to compete with Xiaomi?"
"Tricky!"
Also somewhat surprised was Wang Qingzhi:
"Xiao Yi, your company sponsored the Spring Festival Gala!"
Wang Yi nodded:
"Yes, just one of the sponsors. The competition for this year's Spring Festival Gala was fierce, and we also got involved."
The 2012 Spring Festival Gala still had very high viewership ratings, and advertising sponsorships were the most expensive.
As the xphone 1's production capacity ramped up, BYD's monthly capacity alone reached 3 million units, and the Xingyi phone factory also had a capacity of 2.5 million units.
Combined, they could produce 5.5 million xphone 1 units in January.
Without massive advertising, they wouldn't be able to sell so many units!
Although sponsoring Happy Camp had already boosted sales significantly, the Spring Festival Gala had an even better effect, reaching the entire nation!
Simply put, after the Spring Festival Gala, Xingyi phone's popularity would increase by hundreds of millions, and the sales it brought would also be terrifying.
After all, whether in terms of configuration or aesthetics, the xphone 1 was in the top tier, without rivals!
As expected, many older generations, who originally didn't know about Xingyi phones, started paying attention to the xphone 1 because of the Spring Festival Gala.
In a certain city.
Old Liu, 45, was having a reunion dinner with his university-aged son.
Looking at the xphone 1 advertisement, Old Liu became interested:
"Xingyi xphone 1? AI voice assistant? Similar to Siri?"
His son nodded, beaming with excitement:
"Yes, the xphone 1's AI voice assistant, Xiao Ai, is even more powerful than Siri. My roommate bought one, and it's amazing! You tell Xiao Ai to call someone, and it calls them. Tell it to send a text, and it sends a text. Tell it to play a song, and it plays that song! Tell it to play a show, and it plays that show for you."
"That powerful? Can a domestic product achieve this?"
Old Liu was very shocked; the chicken leg he had just picked up froze in mid-air.
It was too incredible!
"Of course, ordinary domestic phones can't do it, but Xingyi phones have no problem; they're too powerful. The xphone 1 has a 720P high-resolution 4.3-inch large screen. The iPhone's low resolution, small screen, is petty. The xphone 1's configuration, aesthetics, and performance in all aspects completely surpass the iPhone 4s."
Old Liu nodded:
"It's very good, but will it be expensive? Five or six thousand, right?"
His son shook his head:
"No, the xphone 1 starts at 3299, and also comes with a Xingyi Video annual membership + Xingyi Music annual membership worth 300 yuan."
"What? Only 3299, and it comes with two annual memberships? That cheap!"
Old Liu got excited:
"Son, by the way, what good are those memberships?"
"Dad, 'The Cliff' that you watch every day recently is exclusively streamed on Xingyi Video. With a Xingyi Video membership, you can watch it anytime, so you don't have to wait in front of the TV every night for the live broadcast!"
"That's great, if I'm delayed drinking with my old buddies, I won't be afraid of missing out!"
Old Liu's face lit up:
"And it's only 3299, so cheap, half the price of the iPhone 4s. Son..."
"Dad, do you like it? I'll place an order for you right away. No, tomorrow we'll go to the store to buy it. Meiyou stores and Xingyi flagship stores all have them in stock!"
"That's excellent."
"Dad, um, my Nokia isn't working anymore, how about you get me a new one too?"
Old Liu: "..."
No wonder you're so enthusiastic, you little rascal, you were waiting for me here, weren't you?
Old Liu sighed:
"Buy, buy three directly! You, me, and your mom, one for each of us."
His wife came out with freshly fried fish, in a great mood:
"At least you have some conscience!"
"Hahaha!"
Similar scenes unfolded across the country.
If it were like the iPhone 4s, starting at five thousand, most people would only look but be reluctant to buy.
But the xphone 1, half the price and coming with two years of membership, had no such pressure.
After all, smartphones were expensive these days; even the Xiaomi Gen 1 without a front camera cost 1999, and the newly released Meizu MX cost 2299.
The xphone 1, which crushed its competitors in all aspects, only sold for 3299, and also came with two annual memberships worth 300 yuan, effectively making it 2999, which was truly not expensive.
Whether in terms of product strength or cost-effectiveness, it was unbeatable.
Coupled with the AI voice assistant and soft powers like Xingyi Video and Xingyi Music, it stood out from a host of domestic phone brands.
Without any surprise, as soon as the Spring Festival Gala advertisement aired, the xphone 1 became popular again.
Many people were ordering the xphone 1 while watching the Spring Festival Gala.
And many didn't just order one unit, but two or even three at once.
In an instant, xphone 1 sales surged immediately.
In just four hours, online sales alone increased by over one million units!
The influence of the Spring Festival Gala was undeniably immense.
And many more chose to buy offline tomorrow.
Looking at the backend data, Wang Yi chuckled:
"With this wave alone, the Spring Festival Gala sponsorship not only broke even but made a huge profit."
"No wonder big companies love to advertise so much; they all get great value for money!"
Of course, the premise was that the product was powerful.
If the product wasn't powerful, crazy advertising would still have some effect, but limited.
Another point was that production capacity needed to be sufficient.
If capacity was insufficient, even with a successful advertisement, they wouldn't be able to handle the demand!
A decade or so ago, there was a nationally famous winery in the province called Qinchi Wine.
Qinchi Wine originally had an annual output of only ten thousand tons of wine, specifically 9,200 tons.
However, the new factory director was a marketing genius.
In 1995, he spent 66.66 million yuan lavishly to win the CCTV Bid King title!
The power of the CCTV Bid King was unimaginable!
In an instant, Qinchi famous wine became popular across the country, selling out completely, with orders pouring in.
But unfortunately, Qinchi's winery was only so big, with limited production capacity, and simply couldn't produce that much wine.
What to do then?
Blend!
They bought wine from other regions, then blended it, labeled it, and sold it.
Throughout 1995, Qinchi Wine's revenue surpassed 950 million yuan, which was terrifying.
Having tasted the sweetness of the CCTV Bid King, Qinchi made another move in 1996.
This time, however, with Qinchi's great success, other companies also made their moves, vying for the CCTV Bid King.
So, the 1996 CCTV Bid King was directly bid up to 220 million yuan.
Qinchi's factory director, in a moment of impulse, bid 320 million yuan and won the CCTV Bid King title again.
But unfortunately, Qinchi's annual profit at the time was only a little over 100 million yuan.
To recoup the investment, Qinchi could only scale up, but its own production capacity was very limited and simply couldn't produce that much wine.
They could only continue to frantically acquire bulk wine from other regions for blending and private labeling.
But he who often walks by the river is bound to get his shoes wet.
Soon, bad news arrived.
The head of Central People's Broadcasting Station exposed that much of the bulk wine Qinchi acquired was produced by crude workshops, with product quality issues, mostly inferior products...
As soon as this news broke, Qinchi Wine's reputation collapsed overnight...
The wine stopped selling, advertising fees couldn't be paid, they became heavily indebted, and eventually, even the trademark was auctioned off, leading to complete bankruptcy...
Qinchi's failure was a classic case of excessive advertising and marketing without adequate production capacity.
Purchasing bulk wine from other regions for blending and substituting inferior goods for good ones naturally led to various problems.
Wang Yi would not make such a mistake.
Therefore, in the first month the xphone 1 was launched, due to insufficient production capacity, Wang Yi did not arrange a single advertisement.
Advertising without stock was a pure waste of resources and courting disaster.
Only in the second month, when production capacity was abundant, reaching 5.5 million units per month, did Wang Yi consider advertising.
Not only did it sponsor Happy Camp, but now it also had CCTV Spring Festival Gala advertisements!
The goal was to aggressively sell the dual-core xphone 1 before the quad-core version was launched.
Of course, it was also to deliver a critical hit to the iPhone 4s!
Thanks to Xiao Ai's excellent performance and the Happy Camp sponsorship, the iPhone 4s did not cause much impact on the xphone 1 after its domestic launch.
It still sold very well!
Soon, the news of xphone 1 sponsoring the Spring Festival Gala became a trending search, and the comments below became very interesting:
"Fortunately, the xphone 1 sponsored the Spring Festival Gala. Our whole family is switching from Nokia to xphone 1."
"Me too, I was originally planning to buy an iPhone 4s, but now I'm directly switching to two xphone 1s, one for me, one for my wife. Everyone's happy."
"My friends, buying the xphone 1 is definitely the right choice, especially in this corner of Northeast China. The iPhone 4s isn't good; it shuts down in the cold outdoors. The xphone 1 is powerful; it has no problems at all!"
"Exactly, the iPhone 4s really does shut down in the cold! Southern friends can do whatever they want, but Northerners should prioritize the xphone 1. The anti-freeze battery is truly amazing."
"Anti-freeze, high resolution, large screen, smarter Xiao Ai voice assistant, and over two thousand cheaper... I can't think of a reason to buy an iPhone 4s instead of an xphone 1!"
"I just bought an iPhone 4s, and it shut down in the cold today. Damn it, tomorrow I'm returning it for a refund with the seven-day no-questions-asked policy, then buying an xphone 1."
"The xphone 1's Xiao Ai, Xingyi Video, and Xingyi Music work together perfectly. Want to listen to a song or watch a show? Just say the word!"
"The xphone 1 is much better than the iPhone 4s. If you don't believe it, everyone can go to the store to experience it, compare it, and then place an order."
...
Seeing these public opinions, Wang Yi felt greatly reassured.
In this decisive battle between the xphone 1 and the iPhone 4s, the xphone 1 had essentially won!
If it had been launched in summer, the outcome would have been hard to say.
But launched in winter, the single issue of shutting down due to cold was enough to put the iPhone 4s in a tough spot.
Especially in northern winters, iPhones, even up to the 6S, would experience cold shutdowns.
Of course, the same was true for Samsung and other Android phones.
This was a common problem at the time.
In his previous life, this problem wasn't solved until years later, with improvements in battery technology.
But this time, Wang Yi had BYD develop anti-freeze battery technology in advance, solving the cold shutdown problem ahead of time.
Throughout the winter, the xphone 1 was invincible.
Even the iPhone 4s couldn't compete with the xphone 1.
It didn't take much; just one cold shutdown, causing inconvenience, would make people want to give up.
Many users who bought the iPhone 4s chose to return it for a refund within seven days after experiencing cold shutdowns and then bought an xphone 1.
Others saw news of the 4S shutting down due to cold and directly gave up on the 4S, turning to purchase the xphone 1.
Thus, an interesting scene unfolded: the xphone 1 saw a surge in orders, while the iPhone 4s saw a surge in returns and cancellations!
As one rose, the other fell, and xphone 1 sales skyrocketed again!
However, iPhone 4s sales were not optimistic.
In previous years, for the first one or two months after the iPhone 4s's domestic launch, there was a severe shortage.
Many users would place full-payment orders and wait one or two months to receive their new iPhone.
But this time, many people directly gave up waiting for the iPhone 4s and opted for the xphone 1.
Others who had bought the iPhone 4s decided to return it and cancel their orders due to reasons like cold shutdowns and the lack of a high-resolution screen.
This directly led to a significant drop in iPhone 4s orders just half a month after its domestic launch.
Some 4S stores even had stock available at one point!
Even Apple's official website saw a 25% decline in order volume compared to the same period last year!
Yet, the number of returns was a staggering 30% higher than the same period last year!
Such a bizarre situation caused Apple's senior management in the domestic region to be burning with anxiety, and even Apple's headquarters paid close attention!
(End of chapter)