225: Chapter 225 Lay's Recruitment. Steve Jobs' Probing

"Once the first batch of users gets their hands on it, they'll realize within a few months that 128MB of RAM can't even run QQ."

"When that time comes, we won't even need to lift a finger; their reputation will be finished."

"So we don't need to fight back, just wait?"

Liu Jiangfeng thought for a moment and eventually nodded in silence.

"Then, should we move up the launch of the enjoy 2?"

"No need," Big Mouth Yu shook his head, "Follow the original plan for a release in early December."

"Let Redmi jump around for a month. Once they've had enough, we'll trickle down the K3v1 to the enjoy 2, and then..."

Big Mouth Yu smiled: "Then, there will be a real bloodbath."

...

Returning to his office, Liu Jiangfeng did not start working.

He was pondering a major matter, one that had little impact on Huawei but was crucial to him.

He opened a compartment in his desk; inside was a letter.

To be precise, it was an invitation for a position sent by Boss Jia.

The other party wanted to invite him for an offline meeting. They called it a meeting, but as adults, everyone knew what it was really about.

After all, not long ago, Boss Jia had just proposed the LeEco ecosystem plan.

Building a LeEco technology empire—this was a massive project.

The mobile terminal company would be a vital component. According to his communication with headhunters, if he was willing to go, the position of head of the mobile business would definitely be his.

Now... this was a choice that required careful consideration.

After all, his ceiling at Huawei was already quite apparent; being the head of the Honor business was his peak. Furthermore, there had recently been a voice from within.

Namely, that Old Yu was very dissatisfied with his work and wanted to transfer Zhao Ming over to replace him.

He hesitated for a long time before finally dialing that number.

...

Meanwhile, at Xiaomi Company in Kyoto.

Lei Jun was also choosing to work overtime in his office. He looked at the 1 million orders on his computer, plus the 780,000 pre-sale orders.

His mood was quite complex.

Did he win?

No.

He knew that after the downgrades, the Redmi's specs were indeed pathetic. The configuration was practically the same as a Feature phone; it wouldn't be long before it started lagging.

Maybe the first batch of users would curse him as soon as they got it.

But he had no choice.

Supply chain costs remained high; pushing it down to 749 was already the limit. If he had followed the original specs, the cost would have exceeded 1,000 yuan, and he'd lose money on every unit sold.

What he was betting on was...

That although users would feel the phone was laggy after getting it, they would choose to endure it because it was cheap.

Then, once supply chain prices dropped and the Redmi 2 was released with better specs at the same price, users would feel that Xiaomi was progressing and doing real work for the common people.

This was a long-term bet.

But control over the supply chain was not in his hands, so he wasn't sure if he could hold out until that day.

Unless...

While Lei Jun was thinking, the phone rang.

It was a call from the marketing department: "Mr. Lei, good news."

"The first batch of 200,000 units has been successfully shipped, and the total order volume has now surpassed 2 million."

As expected, there is always a way out. At this moment, Lin Bin also knocked and walked in.

He entered with a beaming smile on his face; clearly, there was good news.

Lei Jun said a few words to the marketing department and then hung up the phone.

"Mr. Lei, good news."

"MediaTek called to congratulate us. Zhang Song said that if Redmi can sell 5 million units this week, the price of the Mtk6574 can drop by another 5%. If not, it'll drop by 3%, as a way of congratulating us."

Lei Jun closed his eyes. Sure enough, he was still the child of destiny... Heaven would not mistreat him.

If they could sell 5 million units, costs would drop, and now there was this new extra surprise.

Perhaps the first generation of Redmi could even turn a loss into a profit. Although they wouldn't make much per unit, being able to make a profit was the best news possible.

When the time came, Redmi would surely turn the entire hundred-yuan market into a bloodbath.

The question was... would the Mi Fans give him this chance?

"Quick! Forget the pre-sales, release everything as in-stock sales."

"Sell as many as we can!"

Lin Bin also nodded. After all, the other side had given a target, and that 5% represented several yuan in cost savings.

...

When Shen Fei received Cook's invitation, he was looking at Redmi's reports.

4.8 million units in 6 days.

This number surprised him a bit. Although he looked down on Redmi's specs, Lei Jun's marketing ability and user insight were indeed impressive.

The price of 749 had once again broken through many people's psychological defenses.

It seemed it was time for the enjoy 2 series to launch an SE version.

"Xiao Fei, Cook sent another email." Zhang Mingzhu sat beside him, opening an email with a somewhat hesitant expression.

Shen Fei picked up the tablet and scanned it...

"Mr. Shen, Apple attaches great importance to its relationship with Transsion. I hope to have the opportunity to communicate with you in person; you set the time."

"If possible, I hope you can visit Apple Inc. next week."

"Tim Cook?"

The attitude was very sincere, but the location chosen wasn't quite right.

Apple headquarters in the United States.

That was not a good place for Transsion executives right now.

After all... they had poached quite a lot, and of course, they would continue to do so.

But Zhang Mingzhu stood beside him, looking at him with a serious face.

"Xiao Fei, I think there's a risk."

"Cook has just taken over Apple, and his foundation is unstable. Inviting you over at this time definitely has a purpose."

"What if he wants to... use the emperor to command the nobles?"

Shen Fei put down the tablet and smiled, then gently pulled her into his arms.

"Silly girl? What are you afraid of?"

"I'm afraid... I'm afraid..." Zhang Mingzhu looked at Shen Fei shyly, then touched her belly, "I'm afraid you'll be detained by them, aren't I?"

"After all, you told me that those people will do anything for profit."

As she spoke, Zhang Mingzhu's eyes remained fixed on Shen Fei.

Shen Fei also nodded, then rubbed her belly.

Little Shen was already in place.

At that time, Zhang Mingzhu suddenly felt a bit unwell, and Shen Fei immediately took her to the hospital. The check-up showed she was very healthy, except...

So they told their families immediately. Both Old Zhang and Old Shen dropped their work and rushed to the hospital.

After all, this was the first seedling of the third generation.

...

Seeing the atmosphere was a bit too tense, Shen Fei rubbed her head again.

"Don't worry, there's no way I'm going to the United States. Right now, they are the ones asking us for help."

"When asking for a favor, one must have the right attitude."

"You think I'd go rushing to their place? How could that be?"

"If they really want to cooperate, Cook has to come here..."

"Cook come here?" Zhang Mingzhu looked toward Shen Fei in confusion.

After all, she also knew that Apple's founder, Steve Jobs, had never visited the Chinese market. How could this new successor come to China for an inspection as soon as he took office...

"Yeah, definitely."

"Think about it, what does Apple lack most right now?"

"Market?"

"The market is one aspect, but what they lack most now is a communication baseband."

Zhang Mingzhu suddenly realized. She remembered a post on the internet.

"The iphone 4 is really good. After half an hour in the underground garage, my family thought I was lost..."