88: Chapter 88 The Huge Pitfall of China Unicom!

"Why?"

Wang Jianzhou's voice was somewhat hoarse from roaring, but he had to protect his position, so he threw all the responsibility onto his subordinates.

"Apple is selling like crazy globally, so why is it failing in the China market?

You all conducted market research, so why is the result like this?"

Wang Jianzhou pointed at the crowd while frantically slamming the table.

The teacup on the table had already been replaced twice...

"President Wang, based on discussions online, we have analyzed it carefully," the China Unicom Marketing Director stood up tremblingly.

"This time, Apple lacks a WiFi function, and data costs are too high, so users are more accustomed to using WiFi. This issue has discouraged the majority of consumers.

Additionally, there is a lack of localization; it doesn't come pre-installed with QQ, Baidu, or Alipay.

Of course, the important thing is that the Chinese input method is not easy to use. Furthermore, our price is too high; the unlocked phone is 4,999, and even the cheapest contract phone requires 1,999.

Meanwhile, Huawei's Mate is only 2,599; their battery is larger, and the fluency is not much different.

The market changes may have truly exceeded our imagination."

As for the others, seeing Wang Jianzhou's dark complexion, no one dared to make a sound.

They all recalled the arduous negotiations with Apple.

...

Time returns to the last negotiation.

With the previous foundation, this time Wang Jianzhou and his group arrived at Apple Inc. headquarters.

However, in the meeting room, facing the pressure from Steve Jobs, these professional negotiators felt suffocated.

During the final round of negotiations, Steve Jobs stubbornly held onto the 5 million unit procurement order, refusing to yield at all.

The price for the unlocked phone was set at 3,000 Chinese Yuan.

However, there was one benefit: Apple didn't care how much they sold it for. They only required that sales channels, store standards, staff training, and advertising content be audited by Apple.

The requirements below were fine, but the sales pressure was so heavy it made them breathless. At the time, China Unicom Vice President Liu Jun gritted his teeth and said: "Mr. Jobs, 5 million is too much. The total sales volume of the Chinese Smartphone market this year is only that much... It's very hard for us to digest 5 million."

"That is your problem. I believe that selling 5 million units of Apple in China is absolutely not a problem."

Steve Jobs directly rejected his bargaining.

"Apple must be number one when entering any market.

If China Unicom can't do it, we can find China Mobile or China Telecom... I believe they will agree because they are also very interested in our products."

Steve Jobs had sufficient confidence; after all, Apple sold only 12 million Smartphones in the entire year last year, but this year, only halfway through, sales had already reached 20 million.

Liu Jun, after careful consideration, finally agreed to this condition.

"Fine, 5 million it is, we will take it.

But regarding the revenue share, 20% of the data revenue share—there is no precedent for this in the international market, and it's even more impossible in China..."

"Then Apple will create the precedent."

Steve Jobs slammed the table and stood up abruptly.

"My time is very valuable; I have no time to haggle with you here. You have 3 minutes to consider: either accept the conditions or end the negotiation."

Facing the pressure from Steve Jobs, Liu Jun persisted. He did not immediately agree to this condition.

After the meeting ended, Liu Jun met his nemesis again, the Vice President of China Telecom, Wang Jie.

Originally, he thought the other party was there to mock him, but luckily, the other party suddenly had a change of heart, patted his shoulder, and said: "Those conditions are too outrageous; we won't compete with you.

I wish you success in closing the deal."

Upon learning this news, Liu Jun immediately went full throttle, found Steve Jobs again, and requested to start a new round of negotiations.

After China Telecom withdrew, Steve Jobs indeed didn't have as much confidence as before. In the end, China Unicom and Steve Jobs compromised with each other and signed a relatively harsh agreement.

5 million unit minimum purchase, total payment of 15 billion.

Apple abandoned the data revenue share, and the unlocked price was kept at 3,000 Yuan.

Sales rights belonged to China Unicom.

But the definition of "sales" was that Apple decided how to sell, while China Unicom was responsible for execution and initial advance payments. Furthermore, once policies were liberalized, Apple Inc. had the right to reclaim ownership of these offline flagship stores.

Secondly, because of China's WiFi policy restrictions, they could not sell the WiFi version. Advertising must use materials provided by headquarters and could not be modified without authorization.

If losses were caused by China Unicom modifying them without authorization, China Unicom would bear full responsibility.

At the time, after signing the agreement, Liu Jun returned to the hotel and didn't sleep all night.

He knew this was a high-stakes gamble.

If he won, China Unicom would use the exclusive rights to the iPhone to crush China Telecom and China Mobile in the 3G era.

The greater benefit was that he might be promoted to the head of China Mobile or China Telecom.

But if he lost...

For this negotiation, China Unicom held several major internal meetings before finally making this decision.

...

"President Wang, what do we do now?" The Marketing Director's voice pulled both Wang Jianzhou and Liu Jun back to reality; his voice sounded a bit shaky.

The top leader and the second-in-command looked at the data curve on the screen simultaneously, not knowing what to say.

At this moment, both of them had a thought in their minds: Is China Unicom about to have new leadership parachuted in again?

No, that's impossible!

After thinking for a while, Wang Jianzhou suddenly asked: "How are Huawei's Mate sales doing now? Has it slowed down?"

"Latest data... 2.7 million. And because of Apple, their sales haven't slowed down; instead, they have doubled.

Our channel sales alone have increased by 1.2 times. Daily sales have reached 32,000 units."

32,000 units. If this continues, that's 900,000 units a month, and that's just through China Unicom's single channel.

"President Wang, there is one more piece of bad news. Huawei recently negotiated a new product with us called honor play 1.

The channel price given to us is 1,639 starting, with an expected retail price of 1,999... The profit per product is 260."

The Marketing Director's voice got quieter as he spoke. They knew very well what kind of explosive situation would happen when Huawei Terminal lowered the price to 1,999...

3 million?

It could be achieved in a month at most...

Wang Jianzhou felt a sudden heartache. He hurriedly picked up the teacup on the side, swallowed a quick-acting heart pill, and closed his eyes again.

He remembered a few weeks ago, Big Mouth Yu had asked to meet him, saying that Huawei wanted to cooperate deeply with China Unicom again to restore the previous custom contract phone business.

However, for this share ratio, Huawei wanted the lion's share.

Because Huawei had previously transformed, they had rapidly cut off the Feature phone OEM business.

Although Huawei had conceded many benefits, he actually didn't want to cooperate with Huawei; after all, this person was unreliable, and plus, he was about to secure Apple—the future—so he directly rejected Big Mouth Yu.

"Looking at it now..."

"Contact Huawei Terminal." Wang Jianzhou opened his eyes. The 15-billion hole still needed to be patched... it could still be patched.

"Just say... China Unicom is willing to spend a sum of money to buy the first-launch rights for honor play for one week, and we can return an extra 100 to 200 Yuan to them per phone."