Meizu MX had a significant advantage over the Xiaomi 1st generation in terms of appearance design, materials, and configuration.
In its previous life, the MX's starting price of 2999 was a thousand more expensive than Xiaomi, so it naturally didn't sell as well as Xiaomi.
But now, impacted by xphone 1, the MX's launch price was set at 2299, only three hundred more expensive than Xiaomi, which gave it a huge advantage, and sales were naturally good.
In addition, the Xiaomi 1st generation processor ran out of stock a while ago, leaving no phones to sell.
The Meizu MX, using Samsung processors, had ample supply and was unaffected.
Therefore, users with strong purchasing power went directly for the xphone 1 starting at 3299.
Users with limited budget and old Meizu fans chose the 2299 Meizu MX.
Consequently, after more than two months on sale, Meizu MX sales were unexpectedly good, with total sales exceeding 600,000 units, slightly more than the Xiaomi 1st generation which had supply issues.
If this trend continued, Meizu selling three to four hundred thousand units a month, or three to four million units a year, would be very good.
But who would have thought that the chip-deficient Xiaomi 1st generation would make a comeback, and even drop its price to 1799!
This was practically a direct blow to Meizu's core!
Could Meizu tolerate this?
Lao Huang made a decision without any hesitation:
"Follow suit!"
And it was an immediate price drop, with full stock price reductions across online channels and offline physical stores.
That's right, Meizu in those days, as the pioneer of domestic smartphones, already had its own physical stores.
If it weren't for other senior executives stopping him, Lao Huang would have wanted to drop the price to 2099 last time to compete with the Xiaomi 1st generation!
After all, new grudges and old scores all needed to be settled!
Now that Xiaomi had made the first move, Lao Huang naturally wouldn't hesitate.
This time, other senior executives didn't stop him; Meizu's shipments exceeded 600,000 units, and it had already achieved profitability.
It was also normal to cut prices to seize market share and closely target Xiaomi 1.
But the pressure instantly shifted to Lei Bus.
Lei Bus was furious: "Meizu is coming for me, coming for Xiaomi!"
"Damn it!"
"Xiaomi 1T drops 200 to 1799, but it won't be available until the morning of February 21st."
"Whereas Meizu MX, at 2099, has a full-line price reduction today, and is available for immediate sale!"
"They are two full days ahead of us, also have offline after-sales service, which offers more assurance, and stronger product capabilities. What should we do?"
Lei Bus was troubled, and felt a pang of fear in his heart.
Fortunately, BYD's antifreeze battery was out of stock; if it had been available, adding the antifreeze battery would have made the Xiaomi 1st generation even more expensive and harder to sell!
A vice president also had a grave expression:
"The MX sells for 2299, and we sell for 1799, giving us an advantage, and it would definitely sell like hotcakes. Now there's only a 300 difference, which makes it difficult. Unless we continue to cut prices, down to 1599!"
"No, if we drop to 1599, the profit margin will be too small. Earning 200 per unit, is it worth the effort?"
Lao Li decisively objected:
"More importantly, once we drop the price to 1599, Meizu will follow suit, dropping to 1899, and the result will be the same."
Lei Bus nodded:
"Lao Li is right, we can't engage in a vicious price war. If we truly cut to 1599 and Meizu follows to 1899, we still won't sell well and will earn even less. Both sides would lose out, and only consumers would benefit, which isn't cost-effective. Let's stick to 1799, sell as many as we can!"
"We'll just have to do that. Let's try selling them first. If they sell smoothly, that would be great. We don't need a huge hit, just sell all our 500,000 sets of components."
"Right, earning a little is better than earning nothing."
Lao Li sighed:
"Now I'm just afraid of xphone 1 dropping its price. If it falls to 2999, both Xiaomi and Meizu will suffer. If it drops to 2799, then we're finished!"
Lei Bus, however, waved his hand:
"xphone 1 won't cut its price. They're selling so well; their overseas grey market shipments alone are higher than our national sales. There's absolutely no need for a price cut."
"True, with Little Li Zi's endorsement, xphone 1's sales have soared, and even the grey market units abroad are selling very well. We can't compare, can't be envious, sigh!"
"Overseas..."
Lei Bus's eyes suddenly lit up:
"Lao Li, what about A San, as you mentioned?"
"I did conduct a survey in A San. They are quite backward, but have great potential. Most A San people find the 5,000 iPhone, Samsung, and HTC too expensive; even the middle-class segment in A San cannot afford them, only a small number of wealthy people can."
Lao Li elaborated:
"If our Xiaomi 1st generation goes there, at a price of 1799, I estimate that the A San middle class would be able to afford it, and the market is enormous."
Lei Bus beamed:
"Since it's so difficult domestically, why not go to A San? Domestically, high-end is dominated by xphone 1's dimensionality reduction strike, and mid-to-low end has Meizu engaging in close combat. Damn it, it's practically hell difficulty. Xiaomi doesn't need to fight them to the death domestically; we can go directly overseas and focus on the A San market!"
"Good idea, this is a very good way out, I fully support it."
"I also agree, the A San market has unlimited potential."
"Not just unlimited potential, but crucially, no competitors!"
"That's right, if Xiaomi can't succeed domestically, we can go to A San and become the Xingyi Tech of A San country!"
"This is a broad highway!"
Seeing all senior executives agree, Lei Bus immediately made the decision:
"Then it's settled. The domestic market will continue to sell, starting at 1799, whatever sells, sells. Immediately develop the A San market!"
"Lao Li, you and a few others go to A San country together to negotiate and finalize agreements as soon as possible. All Xiaomi 1T will be produced subsequently. Whatever sells domestically out of these 500,000 units, sells; the rest will all be sent to A San!"
"Okay!"
"No problem!"
Lao Li and the others nodded in agreement; this was Xiaomi's way out, and their future!
As co-founders and core senior executives of Xiaomi Tech, their interests were deeply tied to Xiaomi from the very beginning, inextricably linked.
"By the way, Chairman Lei, should the domestic sales of Xiaomi 1T be brought forward? To tonight!"
Lei Bus thought for a moment:
"Bring it forward! If we wait two days, Meizu will snatch all the users! Announce it immediately, and start selling tonight!"
"Okay, I'll arrange for another trending topic."
"Hmm!"
Soon, a piece of news once again topped the trending list:
[Xiaomi 1T drops 200, priced at 1799, now on sale!]
For a time, Xiaomi and Meizu fought tooth and nail in the 2000 price segment, engaging in close combat.
But unfortunately, the effect was not very obvious.
After spending 2000, many people didn't mind adding another 1000 or so to get an xphone 1.
After all, xphone 1 had an antifreeze battery, 720p high resolution, a 4.3-inch large screen, extremely high aesthetic appeal, dual memberships, a Xiao Ai AI voice assistant that surpassed Siri... and an endorsement from Little Li Zi!
So many advantages far exceeded the value of a thousand.
Of course, some users were strapped for cash and chose Meizu MX or Xiaomi 1st generation.
But there weren't many such people.
With Little Li Zi's endorsement and the impact of the antifreeze battery controversy, xphone 1's domestic sales breaking four million in February was no problem.
Coupled with grey market units shipped overseas, total sales for February breaking five million also presented no pressure.
Wang Yi was not concerned about xphone 1's subsequent sales; his attention was focused on Gaode Taxi!
He specially came to Gaode headquarters the next morning.
Tian Guanghan, the head of Gaode Taxi, was very excited:
"Chairman, Gaode Taxi's user count has exceeded ten million, and the number of registered drivers has also surpassed 200,000!"
Originally, Gaode Taxi developed slowly, but ever since Wang Yi made a major announcement about Gaode Taxi at the last press conference, its user base soared rapidly.
After all, Little Li Zi was present at that press conference!
So much so that many of Little Li Zi's fans also learned about Gaode Taxi and downloaded and used it.
Female fans, especially, had the most need for it.
Wang Yi was very satisfied with this.
Gaode Taxi achieving such results in just over a month since its launch was already very good.
After all, there weren't many competitors in the current ride-hailing market, and it benefited from traffic from channels like Chatly, Gaode Maps, and it was pre-installed in Xingyi Phones!
If this continued, Gaode Taxi would have a boundless future, and its revenue and profits would be considerable.
In its previous life, ride-hailing platforms lost money because major platforms spent heavily on subsidies.
Didi Taxi, invested by Tencent, and Kuaidi Taxi, invested by Ali, engaged in fierce competition, burning money madly, which led to severe losses.
But currently, capital was engaged in a money-burning war in the group-buying market, and no one was involved in the ride-hailing sector.
The few existing players were merely small companies like eHi Car Services, posing no threat and not counting as competitors.
Therefore, Gaode Taxi didn't need to burn money on subsidies at all; on the contrary, it earned a commission on every order, making it a completely profitable industry.
As for BAT following suit and entering ride-hailing later?
Wang Yi didn't mind at all; ride-hailing needed underlying map data as support.
The current Baidu Maps was useless, lacking underlying map data.
Goose Factory invested in NavInfo, which had underlying map data, but Tencent Maps hadn't taken off.
Not to mention other companies, if they wanted to do ride-hailing, they would still have to rely on Gaode Maps and Gaode Navigation.
But using Gaode Maps and Gaode Navigation to compete with Gaode Taxi was simply asking for trouble.
The difficulty was too great!
Moreover, Gaode Taxi was backed by Xingyi Tech, Chatly, Meiyou, two national games "Happy Match" and "Defend the Pomelos," and the incredibly popular xphone 1 was directly pre-installed!
They simply couldn't compete with Gaode!
Furthermore, if Gaode stopped subsequent authorization, they would face the problem of having no maps available, which would be the end of them.
Therefore, the current ride-hailing market was very calm, and Gaode had virtually no competitors.
Using Gaode Navigation for ride-hailing and Chatly for social payments had become an increasingly common part of people's daily lives.
Wang Yi's diversified strategic layout was being realized step by step.
Wang Yi was pleased with this and decisively said:
"Well done, but don't be careless. Continue to advance rapidly and make great strides!"
"I will, Chairman!"
Tian Guanghan said with a smile.
Wang Yi reminded him:
"Having no competitors now doesn't mean there won't be any in the future. If I'm not mistaken, Tencent is rapidly developing its own Tencent Maps, and will later consider launching ride-hailing services, or investing in ride-hailing companies to compete directly with Gaode!"
"This..."
Tian Guanghan's expression changed slightly, then he realized:
"Right, Tencent invested in NavInfo and has underlying map data. It would be unreasonable not to seize this opportunity to expand."
Wang Yi nodded:
"Exactly, these good days without competitors won't last much longer. In as little as half a year, Tencent might launch an upgraded Tencent Navigation, and possibly launch ride-hailing services next year!"
"Thank you for the reminder, Chairman. I understand. Gaode Taxi will now enter a state of readiness and advance rapidly."
"Very good!"
Wang Yi nodded, speaking earnestly:
"As long as Gaode captures the national market and gains hundreds of millions of users before Tencent launches its ride-hailing services, Gaode will monopolize the ride-hailing sector. At that point, Tencent and other capital entering the ride-hailing market will be powerless to turn the tide!"
"I understand, Chairman."
Tian Guanghan firmly noted:
"The period while Tencent is perfecting its maps is our opportunity!"
"Yes, keep up the good work!"
Wang Yi said with a smile.
Based on Wang Yi's understanding, Goose Factory would absolutely not give up on its map business and O2O local life services!
It was like this in his previous life, and it is the same in this life.
Even Baidu and Ali would not give up!
The operating style of domestic internet giants has always been to enter every industry.
Whether there are dates or not, they'll try to knock some down first!
For any industry with a bit of potential, BAT would lay out a plan, advancing dozens of projects a year.
Those that succeeded would receive increased investment.
Those that failed would be cut, reviewed, completely abandoned, or restarted!
Some were even more aggressive, directly launching multiple platforms in one area, developing them in a "raising gu" style (a competitive, survival-of-the-fittest approach).
Similarly, BAT would not let go of crucial areas like navigation and O2O.
It was just Wang Yi's clever moves that put them at a disadvantage in basic map services, making them a step slower.
But eventually, they would catch up!
Indeed, as Wang Yi expected.
Chairman Ma looked at Gaode Taxi's performance report, his expression extremely complex:
"Wang Yi is truly remarkable. While other giants are fighting to the death in the group-buying sector, he found another path to do ride-hailing. Remarkable, truly remarkable!"
"The prospects for the ride-hailing sector are probably no less promising than group buying! And the barrier to entry is high!"
"In group buying, anyone with money can do it, and those without money can raise capital to do it."
"But ride-hailing not only requires funds, it's also closely tied to underlying map data, navigation services, user scale, and so on. The barrier to entry is unusually high; many companies simply cannot do it!"
The vice president nodded:
"Yes, Chairman, the group-buying business is a red ocean precisely because of its low barrier to entry. But the ride-hailing business has a high barrier, hence fewer competitors. We can make a move, but we need to first perfect our maps and navigation. Or cooperate with Baidu!"
Chairman Ma waved his hand:
"This kind of strategic layout won't be reliable, and cooperation with Baidu is meaningless. We should still strengthen our own map business!"
"Change SOSO Maps to Tencent Maps, elevate its strategic status to S-rank, integrate NavInfo's underlying map data, and expand and strengthen our map and navigation services!"
"Yes!"
The vice president quickly replied, knowing that Chairman Ma was serious about this.
"In one year, develop Tencent Maps to rival Gaode. Then launch ride-hailing services!"
"Yes!"
The vice president responded:
"Once Tencent Maps is established, WeChat can also launch nearby food, nearby travel, and nearby group buying. Thus fully catching up with Chatly!"
"WeChat..."
Chairman Ma's mouth twitched:
"After Tencent Maps is established next year, it's hard to say if WeChat will still be around!"
"..."
The vice president's expression changed dramatically, but he was helpless.
Currently, Chatly was developing too fast; whether it was features, user experience, or user growth rate, it far surpassed WeChat.
By the end of last month, Chatly's monthly active user count had surpassed the 70 million mark, not far from WeChat.
This month, with Little Li Zi's endorsement, Chatly's user count soared rapidly, with monthly active users reaching 90 million, already far surpassing WeChat, which was terrifying.
Before the end of the month, reaching over a hundred million users would be normal!
Even Chairman Ma felt WeChat's future was uncertain, so it was no wonder that Zhang Long, WeChat's president, often slammed the table.
Facing Chatly's rapid development, WeChat was repeatedly defeated and completely unable to resist!
Chairman Ma sighed:
"Fortunately, we still have QQ, QQ is our foundation. And the gaming business, that's also something Xingyi Tech will find difficult to catch up with in the short term!"
But when the gaming business was mentioned, Chairman Ma became somewhat wistful again:
"Xingyi Tech is also amazing; they only made two small games, and both became hugely popular. Millions in investment, earning billions! Damn it, it's like stealing money!"
"The previous 'Defend the Pomelos' was already profitable enough, and 'Happy Match' is even more profitable now!"
The vice president nodded:
"With Little Li Zi's endorsement, 'Happy Match' also exploded, and it's the kind that's a global hit! Especially overseas, Little Li Zi's influence is too high, and 'Happy Match' is expected to exceed 2 billion RMB in overseas monthly revenue. Adding domestic revenue, it's heading towards 3 billion a month, earning more than our large-scale PC games which we invested hundreds of millions in!"
"What good luck, how come all the good, profitable games were made by them?"
"Can't figure it out! Truly can't figure it out!"
Regarding Xingyi Tech's revenue and development, Chairman Ma could only feel envious.
On the other side, Baidu's old Chairman Li Yan had an ashen face:
"What's going on? Our Baidu search engine's market share actually dropped by 13% in February? And Sogou Search Engine's market share actually increased by 14%?"
"Who can tell me what exactly is happening?"
Some data you don't know until you see it, and once you do, it's startling.
Search engines, as Baidu's core business, had always held an absolute dominant position in the search engine field.
Initially, Baidu Search monopolized 76% of the national market share, which was later reduced to about 70% by Wang Yi, and then further dropped to 64% after the "human blood steamed bun" incident!
Now, Baidu Search Engine's market share has dropped by another 13%, leaving only 51%!
Such a massive decline made Li Yan's heart tremble with fear.
In contrast, Sogou Search Engine's market share soared rapidly, increasing from a few percentage points initially to over ten points, and now reaching 30%!
Essentially, the market share lost by Baidu was absorbed by Sogou Search, acquired by Wang Yi.
"How could this happen?"
"Even if Sogou Search is built into Xingyi Phones, it shouldn't have such a high growth rate; this is unreasonable!"
Li Yan was furious and couldn't figure it out.
Qu Xin looked at the data, also startled, and only realized after careful analysis:
"Chairman, I know what's going on, it's 360!"
"360? What do they have to do with it?"
Li Yan frowned slightly, then realized:
"No, are you talking about Wang Yi's previous cooperation with 360?"
"Exactly!"
Qu Xin took a deep breath:
"At the Xingyi Tech press conference earlier this month, Wang Yi officially announced that Xingyi Phone's Security Center used 360's scan-and-kill technology and virus database, meaning Xingyi Phones had 360 Antivirus built-in, which caused 360 Antivirus's market share to soar."
"At the time, we found it strange; Xingyi Tech had no reason to help 360 so much! It turns out it was a resource exchange. Xingyi xphone 1 has 360 Antivirus built-in, and 360 Browser has Sogou Search Engine built-in!"
Saying that, Qu Xin opened the 360 Browser and tried a search:
"Indeed, the 360 Browser has Sogou Search built-in!"
Li Yan's face darkened:
"So that's how it is. 360 Browser didn't have a search engine before, and 360 users all used Baidu Search Engine. Now, it has Sogou built-in. No wonder Baidu Search Engine's market share suddenly dropped by 13%; it turns out 360 Browser collectively defected!"
"Damn it, neither the one surnamed Zhou nor the one surnamed Wang are good people!"
"With one wave of resource exchange, each getting benefits, they sacrificed Baidu!"
"Unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable!"
"I can't swallow this, truly can't swallow it; we must retaliate!"
Qu Xin nodded:
"So where do we strike?"
Li Yan took a deep breath:
"iQiyi... iQiyi is finished. It simply can't beat Xingyi Video and is no match. Now Xingyi Video has hit dramas every month, iQiyi can't compare at all. No matter how much more we invest, it will only bring humiliation."
"Other than Baidu Maps... forget it, the underlying map data issue can't be resolved, no future there. So, we can only continue to invest in Nuomi.com!"
"Didn't Wang Yi invest in Meituan? Then we will increase investment in Nuomi. We'll invest another 300 million in Nuomi, and use Baidu search resources to heavily promote Nuomi, overturn Meituan, and make Wang Yi suffer heavy losses!"
"Understood, Chairman!"
Qu Xin replied and quickly went to make arrangements.
Although he wanted to say that the group-buying market was already a bloodbath, there was no choice.
Baidu had already invested a lot, and if they didn't continue to invest, giving up halfway would mean losing everything.
Sometimes, once something begins, it's hard to end.
Such was the current situation for Baidu.
Equally tragic was Ali.
In retaliation for Meituan introducing Wang Yi's investment, Ali spun off Koubei from Taobao.com to create Koubei Group Buy, also investing huge sums.
But the group-buying market was a bloodbath, and Ali was starting to get cold feet.
However, there was no choice but to bite the bullet and continue to add investment, continuing to burn money.
Wang Yi couldn't be bothered with this, leaving it to Guangtouqiang Wang Xing to handle.
He believed in Wang Xing's combat power!
What Wang Yi needed to do, at most, was to make additional investments when necessary and acquire more Meituan shares.
Wang Yi's money would not be given away for free; it had to be exchanged for Meituan shares.
Faced with Ali and Baidu's frantic additional investments, Meituan's pressure instantly increased.
Even Wang Xing was somewhat speechless:
"Are they crazy? Are they all crazy?"
"Baidu adds 300 million in investment to Nuomi, and Ali adds 500 million to Koubei!"
"Is money picked off trees? They're truly mad dogs!"
"Especially Baidu, you were crushed by Chairman Wang, go seek revenge on Xingyi Tech. What's with hammering Meituan?"
"Truly shameless!"
"Damn you!"
Helpless, Wang Xing could only call Wang Yi:
"Chairman Wang, you know about Baidu and Ali's moves, right? I'm under a bit of pressure here!"
Wang Yi smiled:
"Calm down, I believe in your strength!"
Wang Xing's mouth twitched: "..."
I don't even believe myself!
Wang Yi smiled faintly:
"Don't worry, Chatly has given Meituan a primary entry point, and Chatly users will soon exceed 100 million, which will definitely bring Meituan immense traffic. You just need to play it steady! If you really can't hold on, I will step in!"
(End of Chapter)