88: What is Chen Chen called?

Lei Jun was genuinely interested. It wasn't that he hadn't experienced Fruit's Siri, but its performance... let's just say it left much to be desired.

Furthermore, Red Star's classmate xiao xing showed him another direction for the smart ecosystem and the Internet of Everything.

While he was still working on control via smartphones, Red Star had already begun using voice commands to control household devices. For the first time, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

Perhaps others hadn't realized it, but from the moment Lei Jun saw classmate xiao xing control the TV, he knew this smart speaker was definitely not as simple as a voice assistant.

Chen Chen's ecosystem seemed to be completing its closed loop through this speaker.

If it could control a TV, could it control other devices? Recalling what Chen Chen said when he released the phone-controlled fan—that they would see even more interesting control methods at the next press conference—Lei Jun felt a bit apprehensive.

This young man has immense ambition.

He didn't even know when Chen Chen had started laying out this strategy.

Snatching companies and products Xiaomi intended to invest in, creating phone-controlled devices ahead of time—every step indicated he was planning something huge.

One step behind means being behind at every step; he wondered if his Mijia still had a chance to launch.

On stage, Chen Chen looked at the audience members scrambling to come up and specifically picked a member of the 'Atmosphere Group' (shill).

He did this simply because he was afraid other audience members might ask all sorts of messy questions.

"Thank you very much to this student for supporting Red Star. First, you can demonstrate our Xiao Xing speaker for everyone."

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"Um... what's the weather like tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow in the Beijing, it will be sunny, 19 to 28 degrees Celsius, with a level two north wind. Air quality is poor, so please take precautions."

Seeing Xiao Xing answer a weather question so fluently, Chen Chen said to the Atmosphere Group member:

"You can ask something else, like stating your current status."

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"I'm very happy right now. Can you play a song for me?"

"Okay, now playing 'Today is a Good Day' for you."

"Hey, the happy gongs and drums strike out the year's festivities..."

"classmate xiao xing!"

"I'm here."

"Stop playing."

The festive music in the venue finally stopped. If one didn't know better, they would have thought someone was getting married in the hall.

"Alright, are there any other students who want to come up and experience it?"

As the Atmosphere Group member walked off the stage, someone Chen Chen hadn't expected stepped up quickly.

Lei Jun had been sitting in the guest seats in the front row. Seeing such a fun device, he couldn't help himself and walked straight onto the stage.

"President Lei!"

"Why did Lei Jun go up? Was it pre-arranged?"

"I don't know. Judging by Chen Chen's expression, he probably didn't know either."

"Haha, this is going to be good. Let's see what interesting things President Lei can ask."

Seeing that Lei Jun was already up, Chen Chen had no choice but to hand him a microphone and step forward to shake his hand.

"Let's welcome President Lei with a round of applause to experience our smart speaker. With President Lei's net worth of hundreds of billions, he's not someone I could bribe. Now everyone can rest assured that this is definitely not scripted."

Lei Jun greeted the audience with his signature smile, then turned to Chen Chen and said:

"Seeing President Chen's Xiao Xing, I really couldn't itch the scratch. I hope President Chen can understand."

Chen Chen smiled and said to Lei Jun, "It's an honor for Red Star to have President Lei come up and experience it. Everyone knows President Lei is a tech enthusiast; I can't thank you enough."

After a few pleasantries, Lei Jun called out to the speaker, "classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"May I ask who you are?"

"I am Xiao Xing, your voice assistant. You can use me to check the weather and control devices. I'm very happy to meet you this time, and I will always accompany you."

It seemed the audience wasn't satisfied with Lei Jun's question, as they started shouting for him to ask something more interesting.

"President Chen, then I won't be polite."

"Please, President Lei."

"classmate xiao xing."

"I'm here."

"May I ask, what does Chen Chen say?"

"Far ahead, we are far ahead! Far ahead, we are far ahead!"

Xiao Xing's answer left Chen Chen feeling helpless. He had thought other users might ask this after buying it, but he didn't expect Lei Jun to ask it right here on the spot.

Xiao Xing's voice echoed through the venue's sound system, and the entire hall immediately erupted in laughter, filled with a joyful atmosphere.

"It's... quite interesting. President Chen, you must notify me when it goes on sale."

Lei Jun laughed as well. He had intended to make a joke and didn't expect Xiao Xing to come out with that line.

"Haha, thank you President Lei for your support of Red Star. I'll definitely send you one after the press conference is over."

As Lei Jun walked off the stage, he inadvertently saw Yu Chengbei sitting in the front row with a dark face. 'I just went up to try it out, is that expression really necessary?'

"Currently, the first version of our Xiao Xing does not yet support voiceprint recognition. We will push an update shortly, which everyone can update through the Xiao Xing Speaker App."

"After recording your voiceprint, each Xiao Xing will belong only to you. Of course, other family members can also record theirs for recognition."

"To experience Fruit's Siri, you have to spend over 5,000 yuan to buy a Apple phone. So, how much does our classmate xiao xing cost?"

"I'm sure everyone is very concerned about this, and I won't keep you in suspense—599!"

"For only 599, you can own this classmate xiao xing. Even an ordinary 4-unit speaker costs more than this."

"This price was set after careful consideration. Some students might still find it a bit expensive, but in reality, even if we sell millions of units, we won't be able to cover our R&D costs. As I always say, making everyone enjoy the fun of technology is Red Star's mission."

"It goes on sale next Friday at 10:00 AM on the Red Star Mall and Red Star official website simultaneously. No pre-sales, no flash sales!"

What Chen Chen said was indeed true; the price of 599 was set after careful deliberation. He couldn't possibly release this voice assistant early and sell it at a bargain-bin price like 299.

R&D did cost a lot of money, but in fact, excluding the 30-million-plus R&D cost, the cost of the speaker itself wasn't that high. As for 'world-class sound units,' that was just marketing talk.

Production wasn't difficult either. Not counting R&D costs, Chen Chen could 'tearfully' make a profit of several hundred yuan per unit.

Chen Chen had thought it through clearly. He could imitate the path Xiaomi took in his previous life, but he absolutely couldn't rely entirely on low prices. He had to be able to make the low end low enough, but the high end high enough too.

Only then would there be enough profit to research products and technology. Otherwise, he would be nothing more than a slightly impressive assembly plant for his entire life.

The price of 599 was far cheaper than the Amazon Echo that would be released next year.

Chen Chen didn't know the exact price of Amazon's smart speaker, but he guessed it might be $599.

So, the 599 Xiao Xing wasn't too expensive; it was too cheap!

However, Red Star would soon iterate on this product, using truly top-tier sound units and professionally designed casings to drive up the price.

"At the Internet Conference this August, Red Star was an invited guest, and I also attended the meeting."

"What impressed me most about that meeting was what Jack Ma said: 'If you find that the air around you is no good, your water is no good, and your food is unsafe, what's the use of having the best mobile phone?'"

"What Jack Ma said isn't wrong. Look at the air in our Beijing now; there's smog every day, and PM2.5 levels are seriously exceeding standards."