Previously, Leng Zhiruo's words were not meant in the way everyone understood. In fact, after Jiangnan Group abandoned the mid-range and low-end markets of Tianzhou terminals, it still earned over two billion yuan annually.
After all, Jiangnan Group never completely gave up on Tianzhou terminals from beginning to end, and still retained the high-end and luxury product lines of Tianzhou terminals.
Taking the Tianzhou 4 released last year as an example, two versions were released in total: Tianzhou 4 and the Zenith Tianzhou 4.
Among them, the Tianzhou 4 adopted the latest and most high-end technology in the entire terminal industry, not to mention its top-notch configuration. The 4GB+128GB configuration was unprecedented, completely overshadowing other terminal products and highlighting its uniqueness.
The Zenith version Tianzhou 4 was even more exaggerated, with an 8GB+256GB configuration, surpassing even the Tianzhou 4. In addition, the Zenith Tianzhou 4 naturally possessed the special privileges of the Supreme version mentioned before, and other aspects were also perfected to the utmost.
Firstly, the casing was still made of ceramic, which could only be fired by the most skilled masters from jdz. Besides that, it also came with a top-tier full-grain leather protective case, diamond inlays for key parts, absolute privacy protection exclusive to the Supreme version, 100% real-time cloud terminal data backup, self-destruction into bricks within 30 meters of human-machine separation, and the support of the super intelligent AI Princess Nan, among other features.
Even more luxurious was the addition of a portable waist bag exclusively designed by Ms. Qu Wei, a world-class top designer who participated in the "Gathering Orchids by the Stream" event.
For every Zenith Tianzhou 4 sold, there was one such waist bag. Globally, there were only as many waist bags as Zenith Tianzhou 4s sold. Later, it was said that the market price of this waist bag alone had been driven up to $400,000 each.
Therefore, when the Zenith Tianzhou 4 was launched globally, although it was still limited to 9,999 units, the release price increased to $200,000.
Furthermore, it wasn't an active public sales model, but an invitation-only sales model.
Jiangnan Group would proactively invite loyal users of Tianzhou terminals, high-spending users, senior partners, representatives of major distributors, world-class billionaires, lucky fans, and official friends, etc.
They would issue a total of 9,999 invitations, with each invitation corresponding to one Zenith Tianzhou 4. Only those who received an invitation were eligible to purchase the Zenith Tianzhou 4 from Jiangnan Group for $200,000. Otherwise, there was no chance to obtain the Zenith version of the Tianzhou 4.
Of course, some readers might wonder if issuing these 9,999 invitations was too rigid. It's impossible that everyone who received an invitation would be willing to buy it; there would always be some people who didn't want to buy it, wouldn't there? Wouldn't that mean some Zenith Tianzhou 5 units couldn't be sold?
Well, that's what you might think, but this is precisely where the group's shrewdness lies.
Therefore, each invitation was bound to a single unit of Zenith Tianzhou 4, but the invitation itself was not bound to the invitee.
As long as someone filled in the buyer's name and address on the invitation and handed it over to Jiangnan Group, Jiangnan Group would deliver the goods to the address on the invitation. They would never ask the recipient to produce their ID card for verification to see if they were the same person as the invitee during delivery.
So, those who were unwilling to purchase the Zenith Tianzhou 4 would most likely transfer their invitations.
Perhaps some readers would wonder again, why would it definitely be transferred? What if someone simply tore it up?
Well, there would certainly be people who tore them up, but they would be a very small minority. After all, when the Zenith Tianzhou 4 began to be sold, an invitation for a Zenith Tianzhou 4 had already been speculated to be as high as $150,000 each.
Even the President of the United States would probably be reluctant to tear up an invitation worth $150,000 into shreds.
Of course, in the end, there would still be about a dozen or so Zenith Tianzhou 4 units that couldn't find corresponding invitations. Jiangnan Group would generally keep them for a year. After a year, these Zenith Tianzhou 4 units would be auctioned off. The proceeds from the auction would be entirely donated to the Red Cross for charity.
This would also help to boost their good reputation.
In short, out of the Zenith Tianzhou 4 units priced at $200,000 each, only three entered the auction, and the rest were sold and found their owners.
Jiangnan Group directly earned $2 billion just from selling the Zenith Tianzhou 4.
However, to be fair, although the Zenith Tianzhou 4 appeared to have extremely impressive configurations, along with various luxury-grade craftsmanship and technology, its actual cost was at most $2,000. Therefore, almost all of the $2 billion was profit. This alone reached the profit of selling Tianzhou 4 for a whole year previously.
At the same time, please don't forget that besides the Zenith Tianzhou 4, there was also the regular version of the Tianzhou 4.
However, calling it the regular version, it was actually equivalent to the luxury version of the previous Tianzhou series. Each unit was priced at $2,999, and the retail price in China was 21,999 yuan per unit.
From this price, it seems that Boss Huang was indeed driven by greed. However, this was actually a performance for other companies.
After all, when Jiangnan Group verbally announced that it was abandoning the low-end and terminal markets, it was still selling so-called high-end phones at $999 each. This still made other companies feel uncomfortable, as if the market had not been completely ceded.
Only by raising the price to $2,999 per unit would other companies be convinced that Jiangnan Group genuinely did not intend to make money from the Tianzhou 4 and compete with them. After all, who would be willing to pay $2,999 for such a device!
Boss Huang initially thought so as well. Therefore, when he introduced this pricing, he himself did not consider making a profit and even proactively viewed the Tianzhou 4 as a loss-making business.
In that case, why was Boss Huang so persistent in selling the Tianzhou 4? Wasn't that just self-inflicted pain?
For this, Huang He naturally had his own reasons.
Firstly, the existence of the Tianzhou 4 could maintain the presence of Tianzhou terminals.
This might sound convoluted, but it was essentially to ensure that all users did not forget that there was actually the Tianzhou terminal brand, and that the entire terminal industry was created by Tianzhou terminal.
Otherwise, over time, users might forget that there was once a brand called Tianzhou terminal, just like in the future not many people will remember Atari, the progenitor of the game console industry.
Therefore, Tianzhou terminals must launch new products every year, and they cannot be just luxury items for the wealthy. Instead, they should be high-end or light luxury goods that ordinary people have the opportunity to buy, so that people do not forget the existence of Tianzhou terminals.
While maintaining its presence, it must also maintain the high-end positioning of the entire Tianzhou terminal.
In business, the most difficult thing is not aggressive sales, but the long-term maintenance of a brand's high-end positioning. This existence and positioning are extremely necessary.
Just like Apple, even if their products have become terrible, there are still a large number of Apple fans mindlessly praising them. The reason?
Of course, it is to consider Apple as a high-end product, and buying Apple makes oneself a high-end person. To maintain this self-perception of being a high-end person, Apple's high-end status must continue to be maintained.
At the same time, any move by Apple can influence the entire market.
In summary, as long as Tianzhou terminals can be maintained at a high-end position, they can forever influence the entire terminal market. Then, Jiangnan Group's voice and status in the terminal market will be as stable as Mount Tai, and it will be difficult for any newcomers to challenge this position.
Finally, there is one more important point: this is an important platform for Jiangnan Group to show off its skills.
This skill refers to the technology of Jiangnan Group.
Although many other companies are helping Tianzhou terminals with technological development, Boss Huang himself has never relaxed in the development of top-tier technology for terminal products. Jiangnan Group's research center has a large number of top technologies still in R&D, and once these technologies mature, they will be incorporated into the latest Tianzhou terminals as soon as possible.
Then, using this dazzling technology that leads other terminal brands globally by several years or even decades, they will flaunt it in front of everyone, proclaiming who the true king of technology is.
Please do not view this behavior as mere showing off. On the contrary, this is a very important matter for Jiangnan Group. In addition to maintaining the high-end positioning of Tianzhou terminals, it also firmly controls the terminal market chain that has been formed with Jiangnan Group as the core supplier.
Why can Jiangnan Group now earn 20 times the profit while lying down?
Of course, it is because Jiangnan Group tightly controls the entire upstream of the supply chain. Just like the United States can spend money by printing dollars with its control over the dollar and oil.
The United States achieves this through force, while Jiangnan Group can only achieve it through technology.
Using those incomparable technologies that other manufacturers cannot reach, they tell everyone that the future and technological development of the entire terminal industry are still firmly in the hands of Jiangnan Group.
You only need to obediently stay within the supply chain controlled by Jiangnan Group to eat and receive the latest technologies from Jiangnan Group.
That's right, these latest technologies installed on terminals are generally integrated into Jiangnan Group's supply chain after their release, and various terminal companies can obtain free technology authorization for these.
However, considering that these technologies might be too advanced, it is difficult to produce corresponding products even if you obtain the technology authorization. Therefore, Jiangnan Group also thoughtfully provides corresponding technical solutions. As long as you are willing to spend money, your terminals can also feature these latest technologies.
The development history of smartphones in another world also proves that the biggest attraction of a smartphone is those flashy new technologies. We are not afraid of your innovation capabilities or your inability to develop new technologies first.
We are afraid that other mobile phone manufacturers have already launched new technologies, and you cannot use them in your products in a timely manner. Then this phone will not be cool at all. Why should I buy your uncool phones?
Therefore, in order to obtain the continuously updated terminal new technologies from Jiangnan Group every year, these companies have to obediently work for Jiangnan Group.