"Screen, battery, workmanship... Let's improve the hardware level to the extreme first. After the release of 'Hai', we can almost upgrade [Stardust Technology] to lv.10. Before that, we first set up a company..."
"Stardust Network!"
"Specially used to develop operating systems, and then release information to recruit engineers with majors in mobile phones and computers. With [Analysis of Shanzhai], only 100 to 200 people are needed in the early stage."
The transition from the era of functional phones to the era of smart phones did not happen overnight. It changed overnight. During the period in between, transitional products such as "pseudo-smart phones" appeared.
With the "sea" function on the front, it opens up opportunities for Stardust Technology. From the back, Chen Zifan can bring out the advantages of Stardust Technology and directly apply it to the "full touch phone".
In fact, Nokia also tested the Symbian touch-screen product 7710 this year. Nokia even launched a touch-screen phone four years ago, but one was expensive and the other was not yet mature.
Coupled with the fact that the top management was unable to form a unified decision-making, Nokia collapsed the tailwind situation. Therefore, although Stardust Technology is still small, Chen Zifan always keeps in mind the failures of major manufacturers.
Since the first-generation Apple did not enter the Chinese market and the first-generation Apple OS was too crude, it was not a big threat. The real threat was to cooperate with operators and put the Apple 3GS on the Apple Store.
"Based on this calculation, Stardust Technology still has about three years to go, but I must avoid confronting big companies like Nokia and Apple, so as to break the relationship. Steady development is the way to go..."
Also, three years is too long, and Chen Zifan can’t wait any longer. If Stardust Technology wants to win, it must come up with some products in advance. Apple has multi-touch screens, and Stardust Technology is the one that makes screens~
Maintain the hardware advantages, develop the software ecosystem based on the hardware advantages, and finally integrate the hardware and software into the products. Chen Zifan quickly settled on the specific products...
——
After the Stardust directly-operated store opened for business, the first Stardust authorized store in Huaya Building also officially started operations on October 7. The overall style is the same as the directly-operated store, but the entire store is much smaller.
Since it was inside the Huaya Building, Chen Zifan had to consider the surrounding shops when designing the decoration plan. He chose several places but was not satisfied with it. In the end, Li Qiufeng compromised.
He gave up a store where he originally wanted to sell branded jewelry. On the surface, Li Qiumanfeng didn't care, but in fact he was very distressed: "Oh my god, if the mobile phones don't sell well, we will lose money!"
With the promotion of the large LED LCD screen on the Huaya Building, the scene of the Stardust authorized store on the first day of business was even more lively than that of the Stardust directly-operated store. People were crowded from inside to outside the store, almost blocking the road.
Most of the customers in the store are in the age group of 25 to 35. They have jobs, stable incomes, strong spending power, and are easy to accept new things. Some people don't even know that Stardust Technology is a new brand.
After following the popular publicity and seeing the high quality of the product, many people booked one on the spot, left their phone numbers, and said they would come to pick up the phone on October 31st.
In just one day, the number of reservations for Stardust authorized stores reached 759. Including the number of reservations for Stardust directly-operated stores during the seven-day National Day holiday, the total number of reservations has reached 13,569.
At this time, there are still 23 days left before the launch of "Hai". According to this trend, even if the number of subsequent reservations does not increase as fast as the National Day seven days, it will soon exceed the 30,000 units expected by Chen Zifan.
"Isn't there a shortage of inventory?"
"No way…"
Chen Zifan was a little worried, but then he thought that the number of reservations and the final number of buyers were not the same thing, so he felt relieved a little, but still arranged for the Stardust Factory to give up part of its production capacity.
I'll put aside the orders that are not urgent first. To be on the safe side, I will first bring the inventory of "Hai" to about 50,000 units, and then slowly produce them later. It's not like two stores can sell out 50,000 units in a short time, right?
October 8th has already passed the National Day holiday, but because there is still a press conference registration event, the number of reservations has increased a lot, and Chen Zifan has also printed a batch of "Hai" reservation cards.
However, what he didn't expect was that within a few days, someone had faked the reservation card. If Chen Zifan hadn't done anti-counterfeiting in advance, it would have been difficult to confirm. After finding out, he was a little speechless.
"Holy crap! If you don't copy my mobile phone in the store, why are you copying such a card?"
It’s not that other manufacturers don’t want to copycat, but that they can’t copycat if they want to. The best they can do is copy the gourd and make something similar, but what about the built-in Bluetooth headset? Also make a fake one?
They can copy it however they want, as long as it doesn't affect Stardust Technology. In the remaining time, Zhao Wushang rehearsed just four press conferences, and he also had to take care of some work at Stardust Technology.
Many employees have already called him a model worker of Stardust Technology. Chen Zifan's opinion on this matter is: "What a model worker, as long as you can go to work on time and get off work on time."
You can also take the initiative to work overtime if you want. The normal salary is calculated as 1.5 times, and overtime work on holidays is doubled. Therefore, you can often see this scene in Stardust Factory: it is already time to get off work, and not many people are leaving.
Sometimes the security department has to step in to prevent some people from voluntarily working overtime for too long. What if something goes wrong? They are all middle-aged honest people who have given up on themselves just to make money.
So Chen Zifan had to introduce new regulations. Normal working hours + overtime hours should not exceed 12 hours a day. Normal working hours are 8 hours and overtime work is 4 hours. This overtime work is still voluntary.
He even doubted whether [Stardust Technology] had given these employees a diligence buff, but this was not bad. Stardust Technology's work efficiency was very high and the atmosphere was very harmonious.
The Human Resources Department often receives a variety of resumes, but there is no way. Stardust Technology is temporarily full and can only wait for the next batch of recruitment expansion.
In addition to preparing for the press conference, Chen Zifan is also preparing to open a second Stardust directly-operated store in Haicheng. According to his plan, a city will have 10 to 20 directly operated stores and 30 to 50 after-sales centers.
These are directly under the official management. The remaining officially authorized stores adopt a cooperative model and give up some management rights. In addition, he has to build an online shopping platform.
Since the Stardust official website is outsourced, its functions are still very imperfect until now. Chen Zifan is planning to build his own server and official website after the Stardust Network is established.
The "Sea" press conference will be held at 10 o'clock in the morning on October 31, which happens to be a Sunday, so basically all the 200 viewers who have signed up and been screened can come, and there are still employees who didn't come.
200 general audiences, 80 staff responsible for pacing, an unconventional newspaper, a temporarily rented but clean and tidy conference center, a somewhat nervous CEO and a calm chairman...
The fact is as Chen Zifan expected. From October 1st to 31st, the number of reservations for "Hai" has exceeded 40,000 people. Therefore, it is conservatively estimated that the sales volume of "Hai" will not be less than 20,000 units.
After all preparations were completed, the press conference titled "Hearing the Sound of the Sea" officially began. The lights dimmed suddenly and when the spotlight came on again, Zhao Wushang was already standing in the center of the stage.
Behind him is a large LED LCD screen produced by Stardust Technology. On it is a complete poster of "Sea", a brief introduction and the theme of the conference: "Hear the Sound of the Sea"!
“Good morning everyone, welcome to our Stardust Technology’s ‘Hear the Voice of the Sea’ theme conference. I am Zhao Wushang, CEO of Stardust Technology. As you all know, Stardust Technology is an emerging brand.
And it is an emerging technology brand that originated in Haicheng. This is one of the reasons why we named our first product "Hai". Haicheng is our starting point.
But it will definitely not be our end! In the past and now, when people mentioned domestic brands, especially domestic mobile phone brands, the first word that came to mind was either copycat, or poor quality and not durable...
There are many, many negative comments like this. When I heard it for the first time, I was dissatisfied. I said, "How can you say that?" It was the second time, the third time... I don't know how many times until now.
They told me that the quality of domestic mobile phones is not as good as imported ones. Your domestic brand makes me lose face. I am embarrassed to show it to you. Your domestic mobile phone even looks like a copycat of someone else’s...
I am not talking about these things to compete with anyone. Which brand is being promoted today and said that our screen is bigger than yours? Which brand will be promoted tomorrow and said that our pricing is cheaper than yours...
But because I'm thinking, have we worked hard? Can we really make a good product? Can we focus on the product instead of blindly bombarding it with advertising?
In fact, we could have entered the Haicheng mobile phone market directly a long time ago. We only need to lower the standards a little bit, but we are unwilling! This is not the result we want!
This is not the result Stardust Technology wants! We obviously have the opportunity and the ability to do better, so why not do it? So today, the ‘sea’, which is a month late, is here!
No matter where you come from or which city you come from, in Haicheng, how can you not listen to the sound of the sea and feel the heart of the sea!"
Before Zhao Wushang finished speaking, the lights at the scene had dimmed, and then a turbulent wave appeared on the large LED LCD screen. With the speakers surrounding it, it made people feel like they were immersed in it.
The audience immediately cheered, but Chen Zifan was the only one who looked confused. What's going on? That's not what his script said! Also, why didn't he know about the promotional video above?
Then he understood that it was Zhao Wushang who added some new sea elements into the second promotional video he shot, transitioning from the deep sea to the beach, and then concentrated it on the mobile phone.
The light blue "sea" has been integrated with the surrounding ocean. With the brisk background music, a promotional video with a stronger sense of experience appeared in front of everyone, and the atmosphere was directly filled.
Many audience members in the audience had already taken out their mobile phones and started taking pictures. Zhou Youdong, who was among them, also reacted. Unfortunately, the imaging effect was too rubbish...
After the one-minute promotional video ended, the lights went out again. When Zhao Wushang returned to the stage, a light blue "Hai" appeared on his right hand: "About 'Hai', I want to briefly say