121: Chapter 121 MIUI Internal Beta Testing: Creating a Model Worker Persona

"Shen Zong, our plan has succeeded just like that. Will they really be that stupid?"

"They will. But we still need to add more fuel to the fire. Keep studying, and we'll pay another visit next week..."

A mischievous smirk appeared on both of their faces.

That evening, Huang Tianya sent a message to Manager Zheng.

"Manager Zheng, thank you for your hospitality. We are currently studying the materials. Transsion Auto has a great interest in photovoltaic technology, and there is a high probability of cooperation in the future."

The reply came quickly: "Understood. Let's stay in touch."

No follow-up questions, no sales pitch.

Huang Tianya put down his phone, suddenly finding this person interesting. He remembered what Manager Zheng had said when seeing him out: "Production capacity is limited. It's best to finalize the plan first; the selling points are decent."

At the time, he thought it was a nudge to place an order, but now, thinking back, perhaps it was a reminder from a marketer.

Unfortunately, Transsion only had ideas about the technical direction; they had no interest in their specific proposal.

Thanks to the efforts of the grapevine, on January 9th, Chang'an Auto officially announced a strategic partnership with Yingli to jointly develop a solar car roof project.

Chang'an Auto's official Weibo account specifically praised Yingli's technology: "Yingli is an important partner for us all. Many of their ideas are at the forefront of the era."

"Yes, just like this photovoltaic power generation—it is truly clean and pollution-free. Chang'an's next-generation new energy vehicles will integrate photovoltaic power generation systems, which is expected to increase range by 5–10%, saving users a significant amount of money while contributing to global climate change efforts."

At the same time, rumors emerged from within Geely: "The photovoltaic car roof project team has been established and is currently negotiating with three photovoltaic factories. Geely is preparing to develop it in-house..."

In Yangcheng, Shen Fei just smiled faintly upon seeing these messages. The fish had indeed taken the bait.

Photovoltaic range extension mainly depends on the solar panels. Acting out of spite is useless, but he couldn't let them give up after just one test. He still needed to add more fuel to the fire.

On the other side, in Kyoto, at Yingu Mansion, Dami Company held an internal review meeting.

Lei Jun stared at the numbers on the screen, a hint of excitement in his eyes. The spark had been ignited.

Time to go back two days: on January 13th, Dami Company officially released the first beta version of MIUI.

Over these two days, thanks to the promotion in the "Spark" groups, downloads exceeded 2,521, with 2,321 successful installations and activations. Among them, 53 bug reports were submitted.

Lin Bin stood to the side, unsure of what to say: "Old Lei, should we post on the forum to promote it, just like Huawei does?"

Lei Jun shook his head: "No promotion."

Lin Bin was stunned for a moment.

"Over 2,000 users is enough." Lei Jun looked up. "The effect is different when they promote it versus when we do."

"If we go and say, 'There's a new system, come download it, it's quite good,' and then get scolded for posting spam, get our posts deleted, and get banned, it will damage our reputation."

He looked at Lin Bin. "Old Lin, this group of people wasn't pushed here; they came looking for it. And it's not a case of 'the more, the better.'"

He pointed to the 53 user IDs on the screen that had submitted bug reports. "These 53 people are the ones truly interested in the system. They will test the features one by one, clicking every single button, and when they find a bug, they write it down and send it to me."

He smiled as he looked at these bug reports: "These 53 people are more valuable than 5,000 onlookers."

That same evening, Lei Jun once again activated his marketing magic. He logged into the MIUI forum with his own account and replied to each of the 53 bug reports one by one.

User "Mi Rabbit 005" reported: "The input method switch key is too small; I often click it by mistake."

Lei Jun replied: "Received. We will enlarge the switch key and add vibration feedback in next week's release."

User "Android Enthusiast" reported: "Desktop scrolling occasionally stutters, it seems to happen when loading icons."

Lei Jun replied: "Received. We are optimizing the icon caching mechanism, which will be improved in the next version."

User "Fish Drifting in Beijing" reported: "Can you add a feature, a night mode? It's too glaring when browsing the forum at night."

Lei Jun: "Great idea. It has been added to the 2.0 development roadmap."

Lei Jun read them very carefully, making it a point to reply to every single one.

It was 1:00 AM, and he was still working.

Lin Bin pushed the door open and saw him still at the computer. He probably hadn't processed it yet—surely building a persona didn't require working this hard?

He said jokingly: "Old Lei, it's 1:00 AM. Your wife just called me. If you don't go home now, she's going to kick you out."

Lei Jun didn't turn around: "Still five more to go."

Lin Bin walked over and looked at the dense posts on his screen. The words he had intended to say suddenly died in his throat; he didn't know what to say.

"You... how many can you reply to?"

He pointed to the IDs on the screen: "When these people downloaded MIUI, no one told them it was a good product. Except for the students in the groups, most of them found the forum themselves, downloaded it themselves, flashed it themselves, and tested it themselves."

"They trust me, and I must live up to that trust."

Lin Bin saw the monitor on the side and nodded, sitting down to start working alongside him.

To break out of this cutthroat mobile phone market, one still has to work hard.

The two of them worked together until 4:00 AM, recording the final bug report.

Just then, a message popped up on the screen—a private message from Mi Rabbit 001: "Manager Lei, you really replied to every single one."

Seeing that it had an effect, Lei Jun replied with one word: "Yes."

"Holy crap... I thought it was an alt account."

Seeing this shocked reply, Lei Jun also smiled: "It's late, get some sleep."

"Manager Lei, you get some sleep too."

Lei Jun locked the screen, put his phone on the table, and began planning future layouts with Lin Bin.

Lei Jun's model worker effect once again played a crucial role. Two days later, the number of applications for the beta testing groups began to explode.

On January 17th, the single-day application volume exceeded 5,000.

On January 18th, the single-day application volume exceeded 10,000.

There were new messages in the group every day. Every suggestion was discussed by other users, and every time a bug was discovered, someone would @Lei Jun.

Lei Jun just watched, no longer replying personally. After all, there were too many people to keep up with, and there were still many staff members using the Lei Jun account to reply there.

But he would read them and discuss them in meetings, having engineers optimize them in the next version.

On the afternoon of January 18th, Mi Rabbit 001 posted a new thread.

"The input method suggestion I made, Manager Lei actually changed it."

Attached was a screenshot of the input method from the new version of MIUI, with the switch key noticeably larger.

It was also accompanied by update notes, which resolved 78 bugs at once.

The comments section below the post instantly became lively.

"Holy crap, is this for real?"

"The night mode I suggested a few days ago—Manager Lei said at the time it would be planned for 2.0, and now it's already in the development stage."

"What kind of god-tier company is this? They respect the consumers' wishes so much."