109: Li Wanqiang's crisis public relations

However, since both Li Wanqiang and Lin Bing had arrived, something major must have happened.

"Wanqiang, what happened?"

"Mr. Lei, why don't you take a look at our Xiaomi forum and the Social Media Platform first?" Li Wanqiang said cautiously.

Lei Jun opened the Social Media Platform, feeling bewildered, and saw a uniform chorus of "Refund!" below. After scrolling down further, he finally understood what Li Wanqiang was talking about.

This, this, this...

It was only the fifth day since the mi 3 went on sale; how could public opinion form in an instant? Everything had been fine this morning, but by the afternoon, the screen was suddenly flooded with complaints.

"Mr. Lei, quite a few users have discovered that the processor model listed on our mi 3 packaging is different from the model you announced at the press conference and the one listed on our official website."

"Two days ago, customer service reported that some users were calling to ask about the difference between these two models, but because it was only a very small number of people asking, the staff didn't take it seriously."

"It wasn't until this afternoon, when a tech blogger named Old Fish posted a video specifically explaining the difference between the two models, that things spiraled out of control. Now our customer service lines are almost being jammed, and I rushed over the moment I received the news."

After Li Wanqiang finished speaking, Lei Jun's face was livid.

"Lin Bing, Wanqiang, the situation is very unfavorable for our company. This is a major test, one that could even be described as a matter of life and death."

"Let's set aside the issue of responsibility for now and conduct a thorough investigation after this is over. Wanqiang, go issue a statement immediately to explain the situation and try to stop the public opinion from spreading further."

"Lin Bing, contact Qualcomm China immediately and have them issue a statement as well. We need to be consistent in our messaging. Xiaomi is Qualcomm's largest client in China, and their newly appointed Vice President of China will agree to it."

"Go do it immediately. If users want a refund, we will give it to them; absolutely do not shirk responsibility! I believe there will be some users who won't choose to return it."

The more critical the moment, the calmer Lei Jun became, and he decisively issued the order for refunds.

Shortly after, a joint statement from the CEO of Dami Company, Mi Phone, Qualcomm, and Qualcomm Vice President Shen Jin appeared on the Social Media Platform.

The gist of the statement was: During communication between Dami Company and Qualcomm, Qualcomm's Engineer collectively referred to the 8974AB series of chip products as 8974AB, which misled Dami Company, leading to the use of this term at the press conference and in the official phone details.

This was caused by the lack of rigor from both Xiaomi and Qualcomm. Dami Company apologized to all users and provided a detailed list of the parameters for this series of chips. The performance was exactly the same, with the only difference being the network standard. Furthermore, due to the limitations of the radio frequency and signal amplifier, 8974AB could not be unlocked or flashed into a full Netcom version.

If users were willing to return the product, Dami Company would provide unconditional refunds and returns.

Qualcomm's response was that because Qualcomm uses chip models like 8274, 8674, 8974, 8274AB, and 8974AB, it is not easy to communicate with consumers. For consumers, they use categories like 200 / 400 / 600 / 800 mobile processors. It is indeed true that Qualcomm's Engineer used 8974 to collectively refer to 8x74 when communicating with the manufacturer's Engineer.

This was a disguised admission of the content in Xiaomi's statement, which was why Lei Jun wanted to align his messaging with Qualcomm.

After these statements were issued, most users felt it didn't have much of an impact and let it be, while some users felt that Xiaomi was deceiving consumers and chose to return the product directly.

After handling these matters, Lei Jun sat on the sofa, feeling somewhat exhausted.

A full 110,000 units!

110,000 users chose to return the product!

This made Lei Jun's heart ache uncontrollably. It wasn't that these hundred-thousand-plus returned machines were a total loss; they could still be used in the after-sales process.

If worst came to worst, they could just make them into official refurbished units, which would be relatively easy to sell.

In reality, money was a minor issue; Xiaomi wasn't short on money, and neither was Lei Jun. But once this crack in trust was buried, it would have a long-lasting impact on Xiaomi's user retention and brand.

Meanwhile, Chen Chen was sitting quietly in his office, watching Xiaomi quell this crisis of trust.

At the same time, he was reflecting on his own release strategy for the red star 3rd generation.

Because Yangtze River Battery had to supply the kunpeng phone 2nd generation first, almost all the initial production capacity was consumed by the kunpeng phone 2, forcing him to delay the release of the red star 3.

Another reason was that Chen Chen didn't want to release a "PPT phone" (vaporware). This was the mindset of a consumer from his previous life at work, but now that he was a boss, he should look at problems from the perspective of a manufacturer. Even if they only sold a small amount in each batch after the red star 3 was released, it would still be better than watching Xiaomi 3 users return their phones while having no way to buy the red star 3.

Chen Chen admitted that this was a major strategic mistake on his part. It seemed that in the future, he should focus on the big picture and listen more to the opinions of Lu Weiqi and the others on other matters.

At the same time, he had been too impatient. Seeing Xiaomi's flaws and not attacking them was truly frustrating; he should have waited until the red star 3 was released before exposing them.

"Knock, knock, knock."

A knock on the door interrupted Chen Chen, who was lost in thought.

"Come in."

Then, Lu Weibing walked into Chen Chen's office.

"Mr. Chen."

"There is news from Liu Qi and the others."

"Liu Qi?"

Chen Chen had an impression of this name, but only just an impression.

"Yes, from our Africa business department. They established a company in Nigeria, and over this past month, they have basically completed the market research."

"Currently, the mobile phone markets in countries like South Africa and Nigeria are basically dominated by Samsung, along with companies like Fruit and Nokia, and Motorola. There are no local brands."

"Furthermore, the carriers in those countries are not large-scale operators; they can't cover the whole country like we do in China. There are one or several carriers in each region, and the signal is very unstable. This means that users there have to prepare several SIM cards from different carriers to use their phones normally."

"Liu Qi and the others sent a message asking if the company could specifically develop a triple-SIM, triple-standby phone. He feels this is a major pain point for the locals."

After speaking, Lu Weibing looked at Chen Chen, feeling that he had truly changed into a different person. Putting aside the domestic market, his few products and internet sales had directly sent Red Star soaring.

When he first told him that for the Africa market, the phone must have many SIM slots, a large battery, and very loud speakers, he had been skeptical. He hadn't expected that Liu Qi's market research would match exactly what Mr. Chen had said.

"Triple-SIM, triple-standby is still too conservative. Since we want to break into the market in one fell swoop, let's play it a bit more extreme: quad-SIM, quad-standby, or even 5-SIM, 5-standby!"

"I'll have the development department design a plan. Once the matters regarding the red star 3rd generation are finished, I will re-brief everyone on the Africa market affairs."