Chen Zifan was also shocked when he got the news. Is this the speed of domestic manufacturers? He remembered that Liu Lilong had only contacted him half a month ago and was now preparing to launch a replacement model?
"No, doesn't it take time for your product design, mold opening, and supplier integration?"
But considering that Gionee specializes in push-button function phones, this speed is not surprising. The previous Xinghua Electronics Factory could produce a copycat functional phone in a month, which is much faster than Gionee's new phone.
After all, Gionee is considered a domestic brand and has cooperated with some local operators. In addition, after the release of Stardust 1, suppliers have imitated everything from accessories to appearance design, and have already produced a batch of new accessories.
Moreover, Chen Zifan also provided a batch of chips obtained from MediaTek for free. The most important thing is that in addition to the appearance and touch screen of a smartphone, Gionee's new phone is still the original functional phone.
Originally, Chen Zifan thought that the design of Gionee's new mobile phone would be inferior, but after looking at the documents Zhao Wushang handed him, he found that he seemed to underestimate Gionee. They really had something different.
The first is the screen. Although the screen licensed by Stardust Technology is also a touch screen, its pixel density is very low and it is not fully laminated.
When using this kind of screen, you have to use a lot of force or press your fingernails to achieve a less precise touch screen. The gap between it and the top-level screen on Stardust 1 is very big, and it seems like a product of two eras.
But this kind of screen also has an advantage, that is, the cost is very low. The touch screen is just a promotional selling point. It doesn’t matter if it is not easy to use, because Gionee is also equipped with a stylus and sliding physical buttons.
"Isn't this a large-screen slider?"
"Damn, this promotional poster..."
Chen Zifan had a vague premonition. The scene in front of him seemed a bit familiar. He could guess that all major mobile phone manufacturers would launch their own new models and use unified advertising slogans:
"A new generation of smartphones..."
Regardless of whether the product is good or not, the advertising must be good, coupled with a price that is affordable enough for the people, and a product that looks extremely high-end and attractive...
I am afraid that a wave of "smartphones" will form in a short period of time. In fact, most of them are functional phones with new casings. Look at them, they have large screens, keyboards, and stylus pens. They are full of business models~
Moreover, the price is still cheap, and most consumers are blind and follow the trend. It is normal for them to choose.
"Perfect Nietzschean behavior!"
In Chen Zifan’s memory, Liu Lilong, the founder of Gionee, made a huge gamble in 1999 in an attempt to save Gionee, which was on the verge of destruction. As a result, he went bankrupt, and the users of Gionee mobile phones also suffered.
In order to repay debts, all Gionee mobile phone businesses were taken over by competitors. Overnight, Gionee users found that their phones were filled with various junk advertisements, Trojan viruses, etc.
But during the period of time that Chen Zifan had been in contact with Liu Lilong, he believed that Liu Lilong might be more radical in choosing company strategies, but he was definitely not a person who lost his mind and was impulsive.
So in the end why Gionee ended up like that, he guessed that there might be some hidden secrets.
Of course, Gionee's final development will have little impact on Stardust Technology. Chen Zifan doesn't care about one more competitor or one less partner. After all, their product positioning is completely different.
With Stardust 1, in the price range above 3999, Stardust Technology has no rival at all. This is true for Stardust 1, and the same will be true for Stardust 2, 3 and some other models in the future! The best at the same price!
He is not afraid of those "pseudo-smartphones" being sold as smart phones. During the peak period of Nietzsche's mobile phone, you could see their advertisements on the telephone poles at the entrance of the village. However, it has become less popular since then.
Why?
The product does not match the publicity. No matter how good the advertising is in the early stage and how popular the sales are, consumers will definitely notice the difference after they get the product.
You have to compare things. If one day these pseudo-smartphone users see what a real smartphone looks like, what will they think?
In Chen Zifan's view, Gionee's operation may destroy its own brand, but if the product sales are high enough, it will not matter if it loses a little reputation, and it can be made up for through subsequent marketing methods.
Facts have proved that his guess was right. Just after July, copycat phones similar in appearance to Stardust 1 appeared in some digital markets.
Employees of the marketing department discovered some such mobile phones while visiting Haicheng Digital Market, and brought a few back and placed them on Chen Zifan's desk.
To be honest, without lighting up the screen, if you look at it from a distance, it looks a lot like Stardust 1.
But if you light up the screen... Congratulations, you won the aircraft carrier frame + large light leakage blinding screen package. Moreover, a functional phone without a physical keyboard is very difficult to use. It is just a look-alike product and it loses power very quickly.
Chen Zifan watched helplessly as the power of the knock-off Stardust 1 in front of him suddenly jumped from 38% to 27%. It may not be that it loses power quickly, but that it is not accurate at all.
"Holy crap! What a shining screen! Holy crap! Who stole my electricity? What the hell is this?"
The most annoying thing is that the price of the copycat Stardust 1 is still very high. One unit costs 999, and the large memory version costs an additional 500 yuan for the 32GB super large memory. In fact, there is no difference between the two versions.
After changing the system data, I made an extra 500 yuan by changing hands... Chen Zifan couldn't help but cursed:
"Damn! You really know how to deceive people!"
It’s a completely unfair machine, and I don’t know how many people will fall for it. Faced with this kind of thing, although Chen Zifan was very angry, there was nothing he could do. After all, the rampant copycat machines did not happen in a day or two.
This is true now and it will be true in the future.
The predecessor of Xinghua Electronics Factory was a copycat workshop. He knew that even if one or two workshops were found, it would be difficult to completely eliminate copycat machines. From another perspective, the copycat Stardust 1 was equivalent to a disguised advertisement.
"If there is no reputation, no sales, and the product is not good, who would want to copy Stardust 1..."
There is nothing that consumers can do if they are cheated. Everyone is cheated sometimes. The next time you buy a mobile phone, you will know the importance of Stardust Direct Store~.
Some people say that it was Redmi that killed the copycat phones. Redmi’s price/performance ratio was so bad that even the copycat phones couldn’t survive. Others said that it was MediaTek that killed the copycat phones because they couldn’t come up with smart phone chips...
Chen Zifan feels that in fact, knock-off phones have never really failed. Who would have thought that Gionee, Tianyu, and Duowei, which were once popular, would one day transform into knock-off phones?
Stardust 1 is right there, they can copy it, they can copy it, it doesn’t matter even if it’s a pixel-level imitation, whether it’s a copycat workshop or a serious brand, one by one, Stardust Technology will follow them all.
As soon as Chen Zifan threw the fake Stardust 1 into the trash can, Zhao Wushang called:
"Director Chen! There is something important. The three major operators have begun to take the initiative to promote f..."
"Okay, I get it."
A good thing indeed.
This shows that the three major operators have unified their development strategies and have launched their own packages. In order to promote cooperation, they have chosen shopping malls and restaurants in various places, and have made great progress from the beginning.
The profit of f was also deliberately given up by Chen Zifan. Every mobile phone manufacturer cannot avoid cooperation with operators, and the same is true for Stardust Technology. Otherwise, he would not have chosen to invest in a milk tea shop in the first place.
Facts have proved that his choice was right. After providing operators with a large number of patents and products through BALD, operators also began to actively cooperate with Stardust Technology, such as launching some contract phones~
This is what Chen Zifan was waiting for. Before the era of China Cool Alliance, the main promotion channel for domestic mobile phone manufacturers was the local business halls. When people thought of buying mobile phones, they would go to the local business halls.
Even in the era of China Cool Alliance, the main shipping channels of these four domestic manufacturers were to cooperate with operators for promotion. Stardust Technology also made efforts in this aspect at the beginning, but as the saying goes -
"When you come out to hang out, you need to talk about your background..."
When the "Hai" and "Box" feature phones were selling like hotcakes, they couldn't catch up with the operators. If it weren't for the huge influence brought by Stardust 1,
Now that I am older, I have made great contributions in promoting f, maybe...
However, let’s not mention this kind of thing. Stardust Technology has now achieved serious and equal cooperation with the three major operators, and will also produce a batch of *** versions of contract phones~
"200,000 mobile phones, 350,000 communications, 150,000 letters, a total of 700,000..."
"The demand for Stardust 1 has been a bit high recently, and the production capacity is a bit insufficient. It needs to be improved..."
"I'm afraid communication technology has to be put on the agenda. It's best to cooperate with the government, as the risk is small..."
"You can't participate in 3G, so you can only join the 4G plan. No wonder 3G disappeared so quickly..."
The advantage of holding more 4G or even 5G patents is that you will have more say in the future. If in the 5G era, one day Stardust Technology's products can only use 4G, Chen Zifan may choose another path ~
"I hope it's best not to mess around. If it doesn't make things easier for us, we might as well just stop..."
There are many domestic manufacturers currently investing in the research and development of communication technology, mainly ZTE and Huawei. It may be a little troublesome for Stardust Technology to join.
Regarding the cooperation, Chen Zifan sent people to start preparations, and Mo Shaokun was also preparing. Compared to Stardust Technology, Xinghan Zhixing was miserable and had nothing but a planning document.
Chen Zifan is not in a hurry. The development of new energy vehicles is destined to take a long time. It is more important to continue to build a Stardust ecological chain around electronic products, because some international brands have already reacted.
For example, Nokia has been very high-profile recently, and even publicly declared in an interview with foreign media: "Stardust Technology's products are not as good as you think, it just has a little first-mover advantage.
Nokia established the development direction of smartphones five years ago. At the technical level, we have deeper accumulation. Nokia’s first smartphone will be available to you soon..."
Chen Zifan was speechless at that time. Oh my god, do you really dare to say that if Nokia really started developing smart phones five years ago, what would happen to Apple?
