Stronger by Paying Salaries and I Have 1 Billion Employees

Chapter 152: Chapter 141: 1.2 Million Pre-orders! You Think I’d Turn on You if 360 Made Phones?

”327,000 units?”

The next morning, Chen Yansen sat in his office, nodding in satisfaction after listening to the report from the Market Department.

’It seems that launching the pre-sale before Xiaomi was a wise move.’

’Not only did we snatch the ’King of Cost-Effectiveness’ title from the Xiaomi Mobile Phone, but we also stepped on High Technology Corporation and Mountain Star to ride a huge wave of traffic.’

”Yesterday, we pre-sold a total of 203,000 units in twelve hours. Today, as of 9:10 a.m., we’ve sold another 124,000,” the employee from the Market Department added.

”Alright, I got it.” Chen Yansen waved his hand, gesturing for the employee to leave.

Right after, Wang Teng walked in, holding his laptop. ”Brother Sen, you were looking for me?”

He thought Chen Yansen wanted to know about the development progress, so he asked with a smile.

”How’s the feedback on Aurora 1.2?”

Chen Yansen asked once Wang Teng sat down.

”Based on the user experience feedback we’ve collected, the cleanup efficiency is over three times that of the 1.0 algorithm. Even on phones with just 512MB of RAM, as long as you flash the system to Aurora OS, the smoothness increases dramatically.”

Wang Teng replied with a smile.

”I want to transfer you to the Market Department. What are your thoughts?”

Chen Yansen acknowledged his report, then cut straight to the chase.

”Uh... Brother Sen, I’m a product manager...” Wang Teng instinctively refused. In his view, he was a tech guy and wasn’t cut out for a functional department role.

”You’re only twenty-four. Don’t set limits for yourself. Your background and original position aren’t important; what matters is what you’re suited for.”

Chen Yansen ignored Wang Teng’s refusal and insisted.

’But I’ve never done any marketing work. I have zero experience.’

Wang Teng complained internally, a helpless look on his face.

”The main thing is, I don’t have anyone I trust managing the Market Department, and that makes me uneasy. Understand?”

Seeing Wang Teng’s resistance, Chen Yansen explained with a smile.

”Can I still handle the product development work at the same time?” Wang Teng asked tentatively.

”As long as you can manage it, I don’t mind,” Chen Yansen said with a shrug, unconcerned.

”Brother Sen, what about the salary?” Wang Teng asked with a sly grin, rubbing his fingers together.

”You’ll get the salary of a Market Department director. Don’t even think about getting two salaries,” Chen Yansen said irritably.

”I’ll get right on it, then.” Wang Teng knew when to quit while he was ahead and walked out happily.

He was puzzled. He didn’t know why Chen Yansen had suddenly transferred him to the Market Department. If it was because he was dissatisfied with him, that didn’t make sense—a Market Department director’s monthly salary was at least 50,000, much better than his current 30,000.

But if Chen Yansen was satisfied, why insist on moving him when he was doing so well in his product role? Now he was juggling two jobs, which would definitely keep him busy.

Chen Yansen wasn’t concerned with Wang Teng’s thoughts.

In his opinion, the fact that Rebus would appoint Wang Teng as the General Manager of Xiaomi’s Market Department and the General Manager of the Redmi brand a decade later proved that Wang Teng had the ability.

The Wang Teng of 2011 was certainly lacking in experience and skill, but he at least had the potential.

If Lei Yijun could cultivate such talent, so could he, Chen Yansen!

The next day, Orange Mobile Phone pre-sales reached 234,000 units!

On the third day, a Monday, white-collar workers were back in their offices, and pre-sales bucked the trend, surging past 273,000 units!

Meanwhile.

Cao Dahua and Zuo Hongyu were still waiting for news at the Orange Phone Factory.

With pre-sales reaching 710,000 units, the shipping dates on the Orange Mall were already scheduled for a month later.

”Brother Hua, has the flaw in the back cover assembly process been resolved?”

In the office, Zuo Hongyu took a sip from a cup of black tea and asked Cao Dahua.

”The R&D center sent over the latest back cover design yesterday. I had the workshop test it, and the problem with the uneven gaps is fixed. We’re just waiting for Boss Chen to give the production order.”

Cao Dahua said listlessly, also drinking tea.

The few contract manufacturing orders the factory had were nearly complete. With over 600 employees about to be sent on leave, the two of them were naturally anxious.

But Chen Yansen was cautious. He insisted on waiting for user feedback from the three hundred-plus engineering models, refusing to start mass production until he was sure there were no problems.

”I don’t know how President Chen’s brain works. He makes business look as easy as drinking water. We’ve been in this industry for a decade, and he’s just casually running circles around us. Now even the bosses in Huaqiang North want to switch to making smartphones.”

Zuo Hongyu said with a sigh and a smile.

A 19-year-old college student, a newcomer to the mobile phone industry, achieved terrifying sales of 710,000 units in just three days after launch.

It was easy to get the wrong impression, to think that making smartphones was simple. ’I could do that too!’

Driven by this trend, phones with names like Xiaolajiao, Banana, Little Guava, and Lychee were all being registered, intending to get a slice of the ’fruit’ smartphone market pie.

Little did they know, this rash transition would become the last straw that broke the camel’s back for them.

Smartphones seemed simple—just slap on an Android system, assemble a supply chain, and you’re good to go. But the pitfalls in system optimization and hardware design were far more numerous than with knockoff phones.

DRING-DRING-DRING—!

The landline on the desk suddenly rang!

The two men exchanged a look. Zuo Hongyu said, ”Brother Hua, you get it!”

”Hello! Yes, we’ll start production right away!”

Cao Dahua picked up the phone and answered. After a few ”uh-huhs,” his grin stretched wider and wider, nearly reaching his ears.

”We can start production?” Zuo Hongyu asked excitedly.

”Tell the production manager to follow the established production plan. Delegate it down the line, from the production supervisors to the team leaders!”

Cao Dahua hung up the phone and announced, full of energy.

He had failed at making phones back in the day and left Shencheng City in disgrace. It was because he’d had a wild idea to make a smartphone in 2005. Going against the tide of the times was bound to end badly.

In the end, before his company went bankrupt, he had only managed to sell a little over 1,000 units. He not only lost all his savings but also the confidence to make a comeback.

Later, he pulled some strings and got into Xucheng Academy, becoming an entrepreneurship instructor who spent his days drinking tea and slacking off.

”Great, things are finally on the right track!” Zuo Hongyu’s face lit up, and he ran out, full of excitement.

Before long, the entire A3 Orange Factory had received its production orders.

First batch: one million units!

For the workers, more factory orders meant more overtime, which in turn meant higher pay.

”I only made 3,500 yuan last month. Good thing I didn’t quit. I gritted my teeth and stuck it out.”

Li Yunzhu grinned, thankful he had made the right choice.

His forty-plus days at the Orange Phone Factory had been the most comfortable of his working life. Room and board were covered, and the food in the cafeteria wasn’t bad either.

Overtime was calculated by the minute, and the pay for weekday and weekend overtime was actually based on the labor laws.

He thought the boss was crazy. How could he possibly make money giving assembly line workers such good benefits?

However, he personally loved this kind of ”foolish” boss. The work was easy, the pay was high—who wouldn’t be happy?

After receiving the directive, the Orange Phone Factory immediately started production.

After communicating with Zhang Jing, Cao Dahua decided to initiate the second round of recruitment, hiring another 600 people to max out the production line’s capacity.

In no time, long lines for interviews formed once again at the entrance of the Zhongsha Science and Technology Park.

At the same time.

Users who received the first batch of engineering models began posting pictures and sharing their experiences on the Orange community forums and on Weibo.

After all, with its flagship-level specs and powerful performance, it could run all the mainstream mobile games on the market smoothly.

Plus, Aurora OS’s personalized themes, icons, and ringtone settings kept users happily entertained.

To be able to buy a smartphone with a 4.5-inch screen, 1GB of RAM plus 8GB of storage, an 8-megapixel camera, and a Snapdragon S3 processor for 1,999 yuan was simply unthinkable!

Any other brand would sell it for at least 3,999 yuan!

The system-wide gesture controls were a little hard to get used to at first, but after getting past the initial learning curve, users discovered that their operational efficiency increased significantly.

Additionally, many people also noticed that the latest Aurora OS 1.1 was even more efficient at memory management and junk file cleanup.

Phones with similar specs would start to lag and experience screen delay after opening multiple apps, but the Orange Mobile Phone didn’t have this problem at all.

It automatically cleaned up background applications and junk files every fifteen minutes, based on the user’s usage order.

After a full day of use, the phone not only didn’t lag, but even overheating issues were minimal.

This was because the Orange Mobile Phone’s back cover was made of an aluminum alloy. Paired with a vapor chamber, it could quickly conduct internal heat to a stainless steel plate, which was then dissipated into the air through the back cover.

This greatly improved its heat dissipation efficiency!

Of course, the Orange Mobile Phone had its flaws. The 8-megapixel camera’s performance was underwhelming, with poor imaging quality and slow focus.

But considering the 1,999 yuan price tag, this small flaw was well within the users’ acceptable range.

Some phone enthusiasts and tech bloggers started offering extra money on the Orange community forums to buy the engineering models.

Pre-sale orders had a waiting period of at least a week, and sometimes even a month.

The Orange Mobile Phone was a hot topic, and if you wanted to ride the wave of traffic, you had to spend some capital.

When Chen Yansen heard about this, he just gave a helpless smile. For the sake of making money and for the Human Dao Fire, his preparations had been far more thorough than Lei Yijun’s.

The funds he had on hand alone were enough to cover the material costs for 500,000 phones. Plus, since many suppliers settled their accounts quarterly, he wasn’t under much financial pressure.

That’s why he didn’t learn from Rebus and engage in ’hunger marketing’; he just sold them openly.

With the Orange Phone Factory’s annual production capacity of over five million units, there was no need to worry about supply issues in the initial phase.

But the appearance of scalpers was something he hadn’t expected.

By the time he set off for Yanjing to attend the Xiaomi new product launch, the pre-sales for the Orange Mobile Phone had broken the 1.2 million mark, making it the first hit model of the second half of 2011.

FoxTao seized this opportunity, and its sales volume for August broke 3 billion, making it the undisputed leader of the domestic shopping guide e-commerce industry.

Even Apple, from across the ocean, was evaluating whether to give up a few percentage points of profit to use FoxTao’s channel to sell their new product in Hua Country before the release of the iPhone 4S.

An e-commerce site that could sell high-priced goods was proof of an extremely high user value.

FoxTao’s external valuation was also constantly climbing. Although everyone knew this was riding on the coattails of the Orange Mobile Phone’s popularity, every single completed order was real and couldn’t be faked.

”Vancl sold 6 million worth of products on FoxTao last month. I thought their pricing was too high, but Vancl’s business development guy said I didn’t understand the product. No wonder they’ve only hit 2 billion of their 10 billion sales target. They may understand products, but they clearly don’t understand users.”

On the plane, Song Yuncheng complained softly.

”Chen Nian probably just isn’t suited for sales,” Chen Yansen commented lightly.

Vancl’s success was due to three things: first, it caught the e-commerce wave; second, there was little competition; and third, it had the support of ’big brother’ Lei Yijun.

But in an era where Taobao and Jingdong were aggressively conquering the market, it was soon going to fail.

Gao Weilin sat to the side, his attention completely focused on a reply email from Lotte.

After learning that FoxTao’s monthly sales had exceeded 3 billion, Lotte responded with the utmost sincerity, preparing for an on-site inspection.

After reading it, Gao Weilin glanced at his boss, then put on his headphones and started watching a movie.

’Work is important, but keeping the boss comfortable is more important.’

He wasn’t someone who lacked tact. Besides, he’d been in contact with Lotte for months; the report could wait a little while.

When Lei Yijun learned that the Orange Mobile Phone’s sales had broken 1.2 million units, he couldn’t help but suck in a sharp breath.

He understood that Xiaomi would either have to ride this tailwind and soar, or become Orange’s sacrificial lamb, reduced to a mere foil.

”That kid is ruthless. Right after leaving the Xiaomi R&D center, he went and founded Orange Technology. Tsk, tsk, tsk.”

Zhou Hongyi, who was sitting opposite Lei Yijun, commented with a shake of his head.

”The market is huge, and I can’t stop others from making phones. Fortunately, Chen Yansen seems like a good person. It’s better to have one more friend than one more enemy. If 360 decided to make a phone, would I turn against you?”

Lei Yijun said magnanimously.

”Really?”

Zhou Hongyi asked subconsciously. Seeing Chen Yansen’s great success, he too was starting to entertain the idea of entering the mobile phone industry.

’A 19-year-old college student, whose previous business was in the completely unrelated e-commerce industry, managed to succeed. Why can’t I, Lao Zhou, do the same?’

”...”

Lei Yijun stared at Zhou Hongyi, as if trying to determine whether he was being serious.

”Lao Zhou, you...”

After a long moment, Lei Yijun asked.

”Just kidding, you didn’t actually take me seriously, did you?” Zhou Hongyi laughed it off, brushing the comment aside.