66: I only made a slight move, why are you so alarmed?

"President Huo, it's hard to say. Based on current sales data, Red Star's power strip sales could reach the ten-million level within the next month. However, we can't use their first-day data to extrapolate for the entire month. I estimate it will be around 2 million units. I'm afraid that for some time to come, they will take over our entire youth market."

"Our market share will also be chipped away; I estimate a loss of about 20%."

After Manager Zhang finished speaking, Huo Kuan's face was so dark it looked like it could drip water. Losing 20% of their market share was completely unimaginable. And this was just from a single competitor. One must know that although Company was the big brother of this industry, they hadn't captured the entire market.

If all that market share was taken by Red Star, it would be an incredibly terrifying figure.

"Notify everyone immediately; I want to convene a meeting of the Board of Directors."

"We need to fully discuss the product updates for our Company! Move fast!"

The entire Company company swung into action, convening a top-level board meeting. Regarding a mobile phone company crossing over to make power strips, the board members initially didn't care much.

Instead, they felt Huo Kuan was making a mountain out of a molehill.

Red Star is a mobile phone company; is it even possible for them to cross over into power strips and expect to sell well?

It wasn't until Huo Kuan placed the sales data released by Red Star in front of them that these board members turned serious.

"Could this data be something Red Star is intentionally inflating for publicity?"

One board member found the sales data a bit unbelievable. How could they sell over 300,000 units overnight? His first reaction was that Red Star's data was faked.

"Director Zhang, do you think Red Star needs to fake this kind of data? If you said their phone sales figures were a bit padded, that would be expected, but this isn't even their main business. There's no need. Besides, sales on shopping platforms can be verified."

"Which of these two power strips would you rather put on your desk? Red Star's, or our best-selling Company model?"

Huo Kuan held up two power strips as he spoke. The others didn't say anything, but their eyes betrayed their true thoughts.

Even a director of Company—a company that specialized in power strips—would choose Red Star's high-aesthetic power strip with USB ports, let alone a consumer.

Currently, Red Star's power strips had just gone on sale and hadn't even been shipped yet, but that didn't stop Company from obtaining a few through other channels. Chen Chen had given away over 900 units at the launch event.

Huo Kuan looked at the board members with a serious expression and said, "We must take this seriously. If we can't produce a product with a similar design and our offline competitors launch one first, what do you think will happen to our market?"

His words caused the others' expressions to shift. Even if Company had many offline distributors and high profit margins, they couldn't stop consumers from prioritizing the high-aesthetic model when making a purchase.

Company had been the big brother of the power strip industry for so many years. The manufacturers trailing behind them couldn't even make a splash, yet they were unexpectedly struck a blow by a phone seller.

You phone manufacturers should just compete among yourselves; wasn't it fine for us to just be onlookers?

In the end, the mobile phone world started fighting, and the first one to get hurt was actually us, Company, who sells power strips.

Who could they even complain to?

Chen Chen: I merely made a slight move, why are you acting like you're facing a great enemy?

It was just like when Wang Lao Ji and JDB were in a lawsuit; they competed in every way, and unexpectedly, both were fine while He Qi Zheng died.

Or when Pepsi and Coca-Cola fought, and Future Cola disappeared.

Now, Red Star is fighting with Xiaomi, Huawei, and Meizu, and they start by stabbing my Company twice.

What kind of logic is this? At least the previous cases were within the same industry. A power strip company and a mobile phone company have absolutely nothing to do with each other.

"I've decided to completely innovate our products and align them with Red Star's design. Does anyone have any objections?"

"The days of lying down and making easy money are likely over. Previously, we only focused on channels and ignored product development and upgrades. Now, it's time for us to innovate and change."

Although a few directors felt it wasn't a big deal—since people buying power strips offline are usually in a hurry and won't wait several days for an internet delivery—

Huo Kuan still overrode the dissenting opinions and called for an immediate vote. Ultimately, the proposal was approved with a 7 to 2 vote.

Months later, looking at the sales and reputation of Red Star's power strips, Huo Kuan would pat his chest with lingering fear: Fortunately, Company reacted in time.

The power strip was just a small interlude. On July 30th, this "who is bigger" launch marathon welcomed its fifth contestant—Xiaomi.

Like the Dashen series, Xiaomi did not choose an offline launch event; they released it directly through a live stream.

In terms of configuration, Xiaomi's Hongmi Note 1 wasn't much different from the previously released hongmi 1. The biggest upgrade was the processor, moving from a quad-core to an octa-core processor.

The screen became 5.7 inches, the battery was upgraded to 3000mAh, charging reached 18W, and even the interface was a Type-C interface, just like Red Star.

In terms of price, the hongmi note was actually the lowest; the 2+16GB configuration was only 1099, and the 2+32GB was only 1199.

This competition over who was bigger could finally come to an end. Netizens summarized this July extravaganza through various discussions.

The cheapest octa-core large-screen phone was the hongmi note, the highest configuration was the Shine Note, the one with the most colors was the meizu blue note, the one with the least presence was the Brand X1, and the one with the largest screen was Qiku's Dashen F1.

"By the way, did you guys forget there's still one more contestant?"

"Is there? Haven't these manufacturers already finished their releases?"

"It's already the last day of July. Why hasn't this contestant made a sound?"

"The Letv Super Phone! Did you forget? Boss Jia also posted a poster saying Letv was going to make phones."

"If the person above hadn't mentioned it, I really would have forgotten. @Boss Jia, it's your turn. Hurry up. If you don't release in July, we'll consider you automatically forfeited. You can't just end up releasing a PPT, right?"

"But have you noticed? Why are all these manufacturers making big batteries this time? I see their batteries getting bigger and bigger. Is it because larger screens consume more power?"

"Red Star led the way. Now all these manufacturers are following Red Star's lead in making big batteries."

Chen Chen: Why do you think they're making big batteries?

Boss Jia looked at the netizens' comments with a bitter heart. Finally, someone still remembered that Letv was going to make phones.

As for the phone?

There wasn't one. Not even a design sketch. How could they make a phone?

Release a PPT?

However, the netizens really guessed right. On the afternoon of July 31st, Boss Jia indeed held a launch event.

The content of the launch event was also extremely simple: just two PPT slides.

One was for his Super Car, and the other was for his Super Phone.

As for mass production? Oh, sorry, that might have to wait until 2023.

Boss Jia's online launch event left netizens shouting in satisfaction at the spectacle.

It was the first time they'd ever seen a product launch event that just released two PPT slides.

You couldn't even put it that way; conversely, it was impressive that he dared to hold a launch event with just two PPT slides.

Boss Jia: Did my PPT take your breath away?