It took almost an hour, but Chen Pingjiang finally finished introducing the numerous features, presenting the Orange S2 inside and out to consumers.
Inside the exhibition center, after a brief silence, everyone began to whisper.
"Old Lin, you guys aren't going to be price butchers again, are you? I'm telling you, such a good phone really can't be sold too cheaply, otherwise consumers will think the technology isn't worth anything."
Lei Jun, sitting next to Lin Bin, said with a smile, but he was actually panicking internally.
If the Orange S2 is priced high, the future Xiaomi M1 could still have a market.
And if the gap between the two isn't large enough to make consumers feel out of reach, Lei Jun felt that consumers might rather spend a little more to buy the Orange S2.
Lin Bin chuckled, teasing:
"Panicking?"
"Not exactly, it's just that everyone is a domestic phone manufacturer, and based on the idea of 'our own people don't fight our own people,' there's really no need to be so competitive."
"Don't worry, our pricing is alright, it won't be very low. In Chairman Chen's words, we still need to leave some room for other domestic phone manufacturers to make a living."
Hearing this, Lei Jun finally breathed a sigh of relief and secretly wiped away a cold sweat.
If Chen Pingjiang had heard their conversation, he would definitely have asked Lei Jun, when you announce the price of the Xiaomi SU7 on stage in the future, did you ever care what the bosses of Nio, Xpeng, and Li Auto sitting below the stage thought?
A group of people craned their necks, waiting for Chen Pingjiang to announce the price.
However, when everyone saw the big screen, they all had the urge to curse.
"Damn it, Orange S2, Orange S2 Pro, Orange S2 Pro Max, Orange S2 Ultra."
"Damn it, my eyes are blurred, they all look the same, who can tell me the difference?"
"This must be Chen Pingjiang's twisted humor!"
"..."
Seeing everyone staring blankly at each other, Chen Pingjiang explained with a smile:
"Please don't be confused, let me explain. The Orange S2 is the basic 8G version; the Orange S2 Pro comes standard with 16GB RAM and more powerful camera features; the Orange S2 Pro Max not only has powerful camera features, but also has a unified 32G RAM and a 5-inch screen. The final Ultra version is the Founder's Edition, referencing the Orange S1, with 64G RAM."
"It's a good thing it's Chairman Chen; if another person hosted this kind of press conference, they'd get beaten up."
Lei Jun laughed heartily, thinking Chen Pingjiang had truly made phone manufacturing an art form.
Phones with different configurations obviously can greatly boost phone sales, and also provide more room in pricing strategy.
As Lei Jun expected.
The price of the Orange S2 was announced, and the four digits 3299 lit up on the screen.
Upon seeing this number, many people found it hard to believe.
"So many functions have been improved, and hardware configurations are significantly better than the previous generation, how come the price hasn't changed?"
"When it comes to conscience, it has to be Chairman Chen; he never cheats us poor people. My demands aren't high, I'll just buy the basic version and be done with it."
"Brother, add a little money and go straight for the Pro Max, isn't a 5-inch big phone great for gaming?"
Subsequently, the prices for the S2 Pro, S2 Pro Max, and S2 Ultra were announced simultaneously.
They were 3899 yuan, 4899 yuan, and 5899 yuan respectively.
This price had been carefully considered by Chen Pingjiang.
According to memory, rival Apple's iPhone 4S would be priced at 4988 yuan for the 16G version, 5888 yuan for the 32GB version, and 6788 yuan for the 64G version.
It would be almost 1000 yuan cheaper than the iPhone 4S at every tier.
A group of phone manufacturers literally wanted to cry themselves to death.
Across the ocean, Steve Jobs was battling jet lag while watching the live broadcast, already in poor health, and after seeing the price of the Orange S2, he shook his head and gave a bitter smile.
"Our Chinese counterparts' pricing strategy is very clever; the price is exactly the same as our iPhone 4. But the problem is, the iPhone 4 and their S1 are from the same era, while the S2's competitor is our iPhone 4S, which will be released in the middle of the year."
Cook, who was by his side and had already been established as his successor within Apple, said:
"Mr. Jobs, I don't think we need to worry too much. After all, our competitor is Samsung; Orange phones can't even get out of China. He's just taken a lot of advantage of patents, otherwise the price would be consistent with ours. If one day Orange phones enter the global market, I will consider teaming up with Samsung, just as we dealt with HTC back then, to deal with them."
Steve Jobs' health was deteriorating day by day; he would be woken up by pain every night.
If he didn't take painkillers, he felt he would be in agony until death.
He said in a weak voice:
"Cook, I hope you never underestimate any opponent. I must say, they have brought many imaginative features. Remember, R&D is the lifeline of a phone manufacturer; only by continuously introducing better products can you win the hearts of consumers."
Cook nodded subserviently:
"Alright, I understand, Mr. Jobs."
In fact, it wasn't just Steve Jobs; even Samsung, after seeing this press conference, was gnashing its teeth in hatred.
Mainly, other phone manufacturers usually launch new phones between June and October, but Orange phones insisted on holding their press conference in March.
One should know that the price wars in the phone industry are unimaginably fierce.
Each tier of phone has its own tier of competitors.
Currently, Samsung, Apple, and Orange, these three are in the same tier; HTC has already started to fall behind.
The flagship models and basic models of every phone manufacturer would be surprisingly similar in price.
For example, the domestic price of the Samsung Galaxy S is 4999 yuan, and the iPhone 4S is also 4999 yuan.
Everyone belongs to the category of neither wanting to be higher than competitors nor wanting to be much lower than competitors.
If higher than competitors, there would be no price competitiveness.
If priced lower than competitors, it would damage their brand power; for users at the same level, being a few hundred yuan cheaper might create the impression that cheap goods are not good.
But Orange phones completely ignore the usual strategy, each time pricing their products 1000 yuan lower than Samsung and Apple.
Samsung and Apple were reluctant to lower prices, because if they lowered prices in the mainland market, would other global markets have to follow suit?
Furthermore, both companies unanimously believed that whether in brand image or brand power, Orange phones were not their competitors.
But it was this 1000 yuan price difference that created an uncomfortable bind.
As for Chen Pingjiang, he had neither the burden of an idol's image nor any psychological baggage.
He wasn't foolish enough to compare brand images with Samsung and Apple; that was something to be done in the future.
In today's booming smartphone market, how to quickly capture the domestic market was the key focus; everything else could make way.
After all, the more people who use smartphones, the more it would feed back into Renren.com.
"What do you all say? Which one to buy?"
"I want to wait for the iPhone 4S."
"Oh, you're an Apple fan, sorry, this is a place for Orange fans."
"No need to agonize over which one, the basic version is already showing out of stock."
"What? My girlfriend and I were just discussing it, and it's gone?"
"It's gone, other versions are still available. If you want one, you can check out an offline specialty store."
"..."
In less than half an hour after launch, the 8G version was already showing as sold out across multiple channels.
Consumers had no choice but to turn to buying the Pro or higher versions.
"Chairman Chen, this strategy is very effective. We stocked 250,000 units of the 8G version, and they were cleared out immediately. However, there are plenty of other versions."
This was agreed upon beforehand: the larger the memory, the higher the selling price, and the greater the profit.
Only 250,000 units of the 8G version were stocked, 1 million units of the 16G version were stocked, 32G stock reached 2 million units, and 1 million units of the 64G version were stocked.
Chen Pingjiang predicted that for a considerable period in the future, the 8G version would likely remain out of stock.
"Have the total sales across the network been tallied yet?"
Chen Pingjiang asked with a smile.
Lin Bin nodded:
"The online figures are out, but offline statistics will take a while longer. Online alone, we sold 600,000 units in half an hour, almost double the S1's sales in the same period last year."
As a product full of sincerity, Chen Pingjiang was not surprised by this data.
Firstly, smartphones are increasingly gaining widespread consumer attention; secondly, people's living standards and income levels are also rising.
If consumers had a hesitant attitude towards the first-generation Orange phone, then when the S2 was released, as a high-quality product whose quality had already been tested, it was reasonable for sales to rise.
After all, this is the best era for smartphones.
It wasn't the saturated market of several years later.
......
After the press conference, the internet instantly erupted.
Related topics immediately dominated the top 5 trending searches on Weibo.
As the first blockbuster product of the year, it deserved this level of buzz.
Discussions about the Orange S2 phone were everywhere on Tieba, Renren.com, and Weibo.
What was most astonishing was that in the fifty offline Orange phone specialty stores nationwide, almost every store, spanning several hundred square meters, was packed with people.
That wasn't all; the shortest queue outside any store was fifty meters long.
Many people had arrived yesterday afternoon with tents and a few friends to wait at the entrance, hoping to get their phone on the first day.
"Everyone, don't push, don't push! We have a lot of stock in the store, as one group leaves, another comes in!"
"Let me in, I've been standing at the door for twenty minutes and not a single person has come out."
"..."
The pre-arranged security guards firmly blocked the entrance, sweating profusely in their haste.
This terrifying crowd flow, even though the store manager felt optimistic during the meeting yesterday afternoon, the outcome was still conservative.
Wang Dun, beaming with joy, had just walked out of the specialty store with the package in his hand when someone immediately approached him.
"Buddy, are you selling it? If you are, I'll give you an extra 200 yuan."
Wang Dun cautiously glanced at the blue-hatted person in front of him: "Are you a scalper?"
"Ah, I wouldn't say so, I just want to buy a few more. All my relatives and friends at home want one, but they don't have time to come over, and both versions are sold out online."
Wang Dun hesitated, wanting to earn the 200 yuan but also wanting to use the phone.
"Don't think about it, buddy. The purchase limit is only for this month, and after a month, you can buy again; the price might even drop then. Your current phone can last another month or so, right? Wouldn't it be better to use these two hundred yuan to have a hot pot meal?"
"Alright then."
Wang Dun thought it made sense.
So, the two exchanged money for the goods.
But what left Wang Dun dumbfounded was that before the money in his hand even got warm, he heard the blue-hatted person running towards the end of the line, shouting as he ran:
"Just got the Pro from the store, it's out of stock online, anyone who wants it, speak up!"
"How much?"
"4599!"
"Are you crazy? The Pro Max is only 4899. Why would I buy yours when I could just add a little more money online for the Pro Max? You're truly heartless, the original price of the Pro is only 3899!"
The blue-hatted person scoffed:
"The Pro Max is just a bit bigger, other performance is no different from the Pro, and the 4.3-inch is very suitable for girls with small hands. Do you want it or not? If not, stop wasting my time."
On the other side, a delicate girl shook her boyfriend's arm:
"Darling, the line is still so long, I don't want to wait anymore. Can we add some money and buy this one? I really like the Pro."
The boyfriend, delighted by being called 'darling' on one side and 'brother' on the other, immediately nodded:
"Buy it then."
"Oh, thank you, darling, you're the best!"
(End of chapter)