41: Chapter 41: Waveguide's Confident Launch, Sales...

Dar es Salaam, the largest commercial street in Tanzania.

A massive billboard for Bird had just been hung up, with Swahili text written on it: "Bird Mobile, the true god-tier phone of Africa. Priced at only $98."

Inside the store, the first shipment of 50,000 mobile phones was piled up like a small mountain. Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming, responsible for developing the Africa market, stood at the entrance, watching the crowd with full confidence.

To avoid Transsion's foundation in Africa, Bird chose Tanzania as their first stop.

He had heard that Transsion and this country had some slight misunderstandings.

So, through an intermediary, they contacted Minister Mohammed, promising that as long as sales reached 500,000 units, they would invest in building a factory in Tanzania.

They also guaranteed that the investment amount would be no less than $50 million, and they would provide a more sincere proposal, including but not limited to upstream industries such as assembly lines, casing processing lines, and battery production lines.

Minister Mohammed was currently angry, and coupled with the fact that Bird was indeed more sincere, he readily granted them various conveniences: fast customs clearance, tax-free warehousing, and even allowed them to hold promotional activities in the government building, while also guaranteeing a certain amount of government procurement plans.

"General Manager Zhou, the foot traffic is quite good," a local distributor said with a smile.

A member of Bird's development team said confidently: "Transsion sells for $99, we sell for $98, and we even throw in an extra memory card. Our sincerity is right here; it's bound to be a hit. Mr. Kofi, let's confirm it now; deciding to distribute our brand will definitely be a great move."

"The results do look good. Transsion doesn't share the meat with us; they are destined not to go far."

Mr. Kofi observed carefully for a while longer, watching the bustling store, and finally nodded seriously.

"Sign it. Let's open 10 stores first to test the waters. If it goes well, I'll take on the agency for the Zanzibar region."

"Mr. Kofi, that is a wise choice."

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming shook his hand with a smile. Another one secured. What could Transsion possibly use to fight him? Building distribution channels in Africa was an idiotic move.

Bird would definitely be able to crush them very quickly; after all, this African version of the phone completely mimicked the design of the Transsion T1.

But the configuration was slightly higher, the battery was increased by 100mAh, the camera pixels were better, though the algorithm was slightly inferior.

Both cost and selling price had advantages over Transsion. Taking down the Africa market would be simple.

But five hours after opening, something felt wrong.

There were many people in the store, but very few actually paid to buy. Many customers picked up the Bird Mobile to look, put it down, and then turned and headed to the Transsion store next door.

"What's going on?" Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming grabbed a salesperson. "Did you not introduce it properly, leaving the consumers dissatisfied with our product? Our configuration is better; how could the conversion rate be so low?"

The salesperson said with a bitter face: "General Manager Zhou, the customers all say... the photo quality is bad. They say the faces come out black, and they can't see anything clearly."

"How is that possible? Their 500,000-pixel lens can take good photos; how could our 1-million-pixel one be worse?"

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming picked up the phone and took a test photo of a local employee nearby.

As it turned out, it really was...

There was indeed a problem with the photo. In indoor lighting, the black employee's facial details were blurry, and the complexion was dull.

Refusing to believe it, he picked up a Transsion T1 and took a shot; the one they took was very bright and clear.

"Also... customers asked if it could take four SIM cards, and we said it could only take two. They wouldn't buy it then," another salesperson added. "And when asked about battery life, we said it could last about 7 days. They said the Transsion T1 could last 10 days, and the Power max could last at least 14 days..."

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming's expression gradually changed; things didn't seem so simple.

Refusing to believe it, he instructed his assistant to buy a Transsion T1 and a Power max to conduct a more detailed comparison.

He always felt that this phone had some unique magic added to it in the Africa market.

But after taking it apart, he found the results were the same as the domestic teardown. It was a slightly modified public design with no heat dissipation, and the battery capacity was 100mAh smaller than theirs.

However, the battery life could indeed crush the Bird T1.

As for the photo quality, it was indeed worlds apart, especially when facing black employees.

"What the hell..." Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming cursed: "We're clearly using the same chip as Transsion, so why? And this photo algorithm..."

Just then, a commotion came from across the street. The already scarce consumers instantly vanished, and even the number of customers walking into the store decreased significantly.

After the Bird promotion team walked out of the store, they discovered that the Transsion store had also hung up a new banner: "Due to certain factors, Transsion is temporarily withdrawing from the Tanzania market. Transsion T1 and T80 phones are on clearance sale: T80 for only $28, T80A for only $32, and T1 for only $90."

What was worse was that some "gray market merchants" had also set up stalls in front of the Transsion store, selling Transsion T1Pro phones smuggled from over there, also priced at only $99.

And they had also hung up the same banner: 12-day battery life, photo quality upgraded again...

Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming saw this scene and instantly understood Transsion's backup plan. No wonder their progress had been so smooth; it turned out they were waiting for him here...

Their hearts were truly dark. Gritting his teeth, he dialed General Manager Li Xiangdong's number.

"General Manager Li, the situation is bad... Transsion has released a new model and also lowered prices. Although we used connections to block their approval, they entered this market through unofficial channels. Um, our sales here... are less than one-tenth of what we expected."

After finishing, Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming felt a sense of guilt; after all, this wasn't even one-tenth; reaching one-thousandth was hard enough.

There was silence on the other end of the line for a while, and then General Manager Li Xiangdong's voice, suppressing anger, came through: "Lower the price, drop it to $80. I don't believe that being $20 cheaper won't be enough to beat..."

"But General Manager Li, at $80, our gross profit will only be..."

"Open up the market first," General Manager Li Xiangdong roared. "Once sales go up, costs can be spread thin. Possessing pricing power means possessing everything. Do as I say."

After hanging up the phone, Supply Chain Director Zhou Ming looked at the mountain of phones in the store, and an ominous premonition welled up in his heart.

This battle was likely not as simple as they had imagined.

...

China, Yangcheng, Transsion Building.

Shen Fei looked at the latest intelligence sent over by Mr. Adebayo and laughed out loud.

Bird really couldn't hold on and started a price war.

But Transsion wasn't afraid of a price war. After all, it had a recycling and teardown center, and its costs were much more advantageous than theirs. Plus, it had the support of unique black technology.

$80.

Then let them see what true cost control is.

He dialed Chen Hai's number: "How is the mass production progress of the T1 Pro?"

"Boss, the second batch will roll off the line in one day."

"Give them all to the gray market merchants and have them send them to Tanzania. Also, notify Mr. Adebayo that purchasing a T1 Pro in other markets comes with 20 free charges. Limited time of one week."

"Understood."

Putting down the phone, Shen Fei walked to the world map. The red dots representing the shift in the Africa sector were already spread across more than 20 countries. If Bird wanted to tear a hole from there, then he would play with them for a while.