Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 150: Chapter 139: 1999 Yuan? If You Don’t Want to Make Money, Don’t Cut Off Everyone’s Livelihood

The middle few rows were for media personnel, while the rows behind them were for fans of the Aurora System, including Weibo lottery winners and Diamond-level FoxTao users.

As soon as it struck 10 o’clock, the host turned the stage over to Chen Yansen.

Although the Sky Garden was the most luxurious hotel in the city, it couldn’t quite compare to a professional conference hall. It could barely fit just over 500 seats.

Some print and independent media outlets that hadn’t received invitations could only stand in the side aisles, their eyes fixed on the center of the stage.

Chen Yansen took the microphone and walked onto the stage with calm confidence.

This was his first time experiencing a product launch, but he had attended countless events like financing negotiations, staff meetings, and company annual parties.

For someone like him, stage fright wasn’t an issue.

After stepping onto the stage, Chen Yansen didn’t speak immediately. Instead, with a calm expression, he scanned the crowd from left to right, then said with a light smile, ”Thank you to all our friendly competitors, our partners, our friends from the media, and the users of the Aurora System. Thank you all for coming to the Orange Mobile Phone launch event.”

”Today’s theme is: Let technology change lives! Before the launch, I’d first like to talk a little about the original reason for starting Orange Mobile Phone.”

Chen Yansen stood on the stage, his enunciation crisp and clear. He spoke as if chatting with a friend, his tone full of warmth and approachability.

”A 16GB Apple 4 phone sells for 4,999 yuan, and the 32GB version for 5,999 yuan. Back then, I thought to myself, for a young person like me who came from a small town, how long would I have to work to afford a smartphone?”

”One month? Two months? Or three? It was too expensive, and it took too long! I felt that phones shouldn’t be so expensive!”

”Bring the prices down! Let technology serve the masses, so that everyone can enjoy the fruits of technological progress, not just a select few.”

With just a few sentences, Chen Yansen had fired up the crowd.

Not everyone in the audience, especially the media and the fans, could afford an Apple phone. Many of them earned less than five thousand a month.

Besides, living expenses weren’t just about phones. There was food, clothing, housing, and transportation—what didn’t cost money?

After speaking, Chen Yansen didn’t rush to announce the Orange Mobile Phone’s price. Instead, he pressed the remote, changing the presentation screen.

Three different-colored Orange Mobile Phones appeared on the big screen: black, white, and silver.

”First, let’s look at the ’brain’ of the Orange Mobile Phone—the processor. We’ve chosen the Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8260 dual-core processor, with a Cortex-A9 architecture and a clock speed of up to 1.5 GHz.”

”Simply put, this means stronger processing performance. You can run multiple apps at the same time without lag. Even mobile games with extremely high demands on graphics processing and computational speed, like *Black Pegasus* and *Automotive Academy*, will run smoothly.”

When Chen Yansen introduced the processor, Lei Yijun’s heart tightened, but he quickly relaxed again.

In 2011, the Snapdragon MSM8260 processor was a best-selling product from the S3 series. Many domestic phone models used this processor.

The difference was the price point, which varied from high to low—some were 2,999 yuan, others 3,699 yuan. Lei Yijun’s own pricing, however, was 1,999 yuan.

”Next, the memory. It has 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, with support for up to a 32GB expansion card.”

By the standards of a decade later, this configuration would be e-waste, but in 2011, it was a memory level only seen in mainstream flagship phones.

Many people began to guess the price of the Orange Mobile Phone.

Even though Chen Yansen’s earlier words had been so noble-sounding, what businessman doesn’t make a profit?

Based on the processor and memory, most people judged that the Orange Mobile Phone’s price should be between 2,999 and 3,299 yuan.

”The screen is a 4.5-inch TFT display that supports multi-touch, with a main screen resolution of 960×640. The image display is sharper and more detailed, providing users with an excellent experience for watching videos and browsing photos...”

Chen Yansen introduced each feature one by one, in the style of future phone launches.

Next, he introduced the 8-megapixel camera, the LED fill light, the 2200 mAh battery, as well as core parameters like the gravity sensor, light sensor, and proximity sensor.

Lei Yijun’s brow furrowed deeper and deeper, his mind filled with doubt.

Judging by the battery capacity, Chen Yansen hadn’t cut corners on the specs, but where could the screen’s driver circuitry and ribbon cable go?

At this thought, Lei Yijun looked toward Li Wanqiang.

Li Wanqiang shook his head. A few solutions flashed through his mind, but he felt they were all too risky or too expensive.

As if he could read minds, Chen Yansen finished talking about the hardware and steered the topic to the software.

He went from the technical difficulties of achieving a narrow bezel to the solutions.

For the media and fans, this part of the presentation was a bit dry, but for the R&D personnel, it undoubtedly opened up new lines of thinking.

Aside from the optimization details of Aurora OS, he shared everything else, such as the COF packaging technology and the change in back cover material.

Only after hearing this did Lei Yijun have a moment of epiphany.

”Because of this, the material cost for the Orange Mobile Phone increased by 200 yuan over the original plan, but I believe it was worth it. Abandoning touch keys and adopting global gesture controls is the future trend for smartphones.”

Chen Yansen stood on stage, swiping his finger left and right on the screen, the pages scrolling smoothly.

And to exit an application, all it took was a single upward swipe.

Fewer operational steps meant an improved user experience.

”So, what do you think a phone like this should sell for?”

Chen Yansen looked around. Seeing that everyone was waiting for him to announce the price, he just smiled and threw the question to the audience.

Many people raised their hands, wanting to participate in the interaction.

Seeing this, the host handed the microphone to one of the fans.

Of course, to ensure the desired effect and avoid any accidents, this young man who looked like a white-collar professional was actually an engineer from Orange Technology.

”I think 2,999 yuan would be a reasonable price,” the designated ’plant’ said with a straight face.

The Meizu M9 released at the beginning of the year was priced at 2,499 yuan for the 8GB version, but in terms of its screen, processor, RAM, and camera, it was far inferior to the Orange Mobile Phone.

Therefore, the marketing department had prepared a line for the ’plant’ suggesting 2,999 yuan, 500 yuan more expensive than the Meizu M9.

”2,999 yuan. Do you all think that’s acceptable? Can everyone afford that?” Chen Yansen asked with a smile.

It was the first time many of the reporters had seen such a down-to-earth product launch, and they couldn’t help but laugh.

”I think that’s still expensive! Knock another 1,000 yuan off, and then it might be barely reasonable!”

After the crowd’s laughter died down a bit, Chen Yansen declared with a serious expression.

1,999 yuan?

Lei Yijun’s mind was buzzing.

It felt like Chen Yansen was saying everything he himself had prepared to say at the Xiaomi launch event. The date for the Xiaomi launch was already set, and the price had long been decided internally.

Compared to the Orange Mobile Phone, the Xiaomi phone was clearly at a disadvantage in its OS and storage, yet the price would be exactly the same. It would be very easy for users to draw comparisons.

When that time came, Xiaomi might very well end up as a ’stepping stone’ for the Orange Mobile Phone.

’Should we drop the price by another 10 or 20 yuan?’

Lei Yijun calculated silently.

The moment Chen Yansen’s words fell, the bosses from companies like Meizu, OPPO, and Coolpad instantly frowned.

The Orange Mobile Phone, with these specs, is only selling for 1,999 yuan?

Who would buy their phones after this? How was anyone supposed to make easy money anymore?

”But personally, I still think 1,999 yuan is a bit expensive.”

Chen Yansen paused for a moment before adding lightly.

’Fuck!’

’What the hell is this kid trying to do?’

The smile was completely gone from Lei Yijun’s face. ’If the price drops any further, there’ll be no profit for anyone. How is anyone supposed to compete?’

He had originally planned to be the one to flip the table, but he never expected Chen Yansen to flip his table right over!

The representatives from the mobile phone manufacturers in the front row now had ashen faces.

Chen Yansen’s pricing strategy had undoubtedly offended all the first and second-tier brands in the country. Everyone had material costs of 700 to 800 yuan, not even counting R&D and production costs.

’Wouldn’t it be better to just boast a little at the launch event and sell it for 2,999 or 3,999 yuan?’

’If you don’t want to make money, fine, but don’t ruin it for the rest of us!’