Huang He swore to the heavens that if the Tianxing mobile phone exhibited "European Emperor" attributes, it wasn't his fault. He didn't intend to make the Tianxing phone so difficult to purchase, but rather the various materials and components needed for its production were extremely hard to come by. Huang He could only acquire some parts through various channels, naturally leading to limited production.
For instance, the fourth-generation LED screen currently used in the Tianxing phone was just starting to be mass-produced by Samsung, and it was only being equipped in their top-tier flagship phones. Huang He managed to get his hands on some of these, and they were all integrated into the Tianxing phones.
The situation was similar for chips and other various components.
Although China at this time was handling the production of the vast majority of electronic goods worldwide, and one could buy all the parts needed in Huaqiangbei and assemble a phone in a single day, it was impossible to obtain the kind of top-tier components used in the Tianxing phone. It was only later, through the Jiangnan Group's extensive network, that they managed to procure small batches of products from around the world, which then became the grand prizes in their lucky bags.
Of course, Boss Huang had no intention of continuing this strategy of small-batch, high-quality phone production indefinitely, as it was a losing business.
Even though the market price for a Tianxing phone had already been driven up to 10,000 yuan, the average cost per unit had actually reached around 20,000 yuan. Boss Huang was essentially losing money to gain recognition.
The more they sold, the more they lost. It was tragic!
So, where did this lost money go? Was it all used to purchase those cutting-edge equipment and components?
Not exactly. All the lost money had been poured into this massive production base before them.
Under the salute of the security guards at the entrance, Huang He brought Hu Jing into the Tianxing phone production base. Soon, Liu Nian, along with his team, came to welcome the unexpected visit from Huang He and then led him on a tour of the facility.
Huang He and Liu Nian had first met in 2001, and two years had passed since then. The land, which was bought for 600,000 yuan per mu, had already seen its price increase to 2 million yuan per mu.
However, the various equipment on this land was even more expensive. For example, in the central factory building, there was a six-axis linkage machining center capable of micron-level precision.
In addition to this, there were R&D departments essential for every stage of mobile phone production. It could be said that the entire Tianxing phone was less of a manufacturing plant and more of a mobile phone research and development center, constantly working under Liu Nian's direction to break through relevant mobile phone technologies.
It's worth noting that the breakthroughs Liu Nian was directing were specifically related to smartphone technology.
As for the Tianxing phones currently sold on the market, they were mostly traditional analog phones. For Tianxing, these phones presented no technical challenges. They simply needed to continuously replace them with better and more powerful components to achieve performance dominance. Liu Nian now disdained fiddling with these, leaving them to the newly recruited university graduates to gain practical experience and build a solid foundation for their research.
These phones were essentially byproducts of the R&D center working in their spare time. After all, Liu Nian felt that his R&D center needed to find ways to generate revenue; otherwise, it felt a bit awkward to just burn through money.
"Boss, this is the sample we've managed to produce to the best of our ability according to your requirements!" Upon reaching the core of the R&D base, Liu Nian placed a phone in front of Huang He.
This phone's design was a clear departure from the era's style, featuring a large screen on the front with a ho below it.
Well, it essentially looked like the most classic iPhone 4 from his previous life. Huang He had shamelessly adopted Apple's classic design.
However, it was merely a design. Upon actually holding and playing with it, Huang He discovered that the phone still used a traditional system and couldn't intelligently install various apps. Furthermore, the screen's touch sensitivity had serious issues; sometimes, repeated forceful presses were required for touch input.
Other times, a light swipe would trigger a multitude of actions. In short, it was a phone with a fancy appearance but was actually light-years away from the iPhone 4.
"What are the biggest problems in your current research?" Huang He asked.
"There are many problems: chips, system, algorithms, screen – all of them are problematic. Who knows when I'll see the true form of this phone!" Liu Nian said with a sigh.
"The chips are being handled by Cao County, the system by an American company, and for algorithms, you can hire people yourself to solve it. As for the screen, forget about it. Wait until those major screen manufacturers release their products. I can't possibly set up another screen production line just for this phone, can I?" Huang He asked with a smile.
"Mm," Liu Nian nodded, and then the iPhone 4 replica, which only had the appearance, was put back into the drawer. Afterward, Huang He toured the Tianxing phone production line within the base, watching individuals who had all graduated from top-tier universities like Project 985 and 211, working like ordinary assembly line workers to produce Tianxing phones.
Looking at it this way, the Tianxing phone selling for 10,000 yuan was truly not expensive, considering that these students gaining practical experience on the production line might very well become industry leaders in the future.
"Liu Nian, do you know that from today onwards, China's mobile phone market will enter a period of explosive growth? Chinese citizens have money in their hands, and the prices of counterfeit phones are estimated to drop below a thousand yuan. At this point, no one can stop the development of China's entire mobile phone industry. We need to be prepared!" Huang He said.
"Do you mean we should mass-sell lower-priced models?" Liu Nian asked with a frown. "But Boss, our current focus is on R&D, and our production capacity is pitifully small. Furthermore, using the Tianxing phone's production line to produce those cheap phones is a complete waste. Unless you give me more investment, we'll need to build a few more phone production lines."
"No, when did I ever say I wanted to venture into the low-end phone market?" Huang He chuckled. "This market is actually difficult to penetrate. The high-end and mid-range mobile phone markets are completely dominated by companies like Nokia, Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson. It's very difficult for our own companies to enter this market."
"Even if we manage to enter, in a few years, when our smartphones are released, all the market positions we've gained will be completely wiped out, rendering everything meaningless."
"As for low-end, cheap phones, how much profit can they generate? If Jiangnan Group were still the Jiangnan Group of 2001, trying to earn enough to survive, entering the low-end phone market wouldn't be shameful. But now that Jiangnan Group has become so enormous, entering the low-end phone market not only looks bad but also lowers Jiangnan Group's image in the eyes of the public!"
"It is predicted that once a mobile phone manufacturer establishes a relationship with counterfeit and low-end products, unless they completely abandon their previous brand, they will be associated with counterfeit and low-end characteristics for life!" Huang He said.
"Then Boss, what exactly do you want me to do?" Liu Nian asked, confused.
"Old Liu, over these past two years, you've accumulated quite a few patents and technologies, haven't you!" Huang He said.
"Of course! I have a lot of various technical patents!" Liu Nian's eyes lit up at this. Liu Nian's main job for the past two years had been researching smartphone technology.
However, these technologies weren't achieved overnight; they required a step-by-step approach. Thus, Liu Nian and his team had gradually explored thousands upon thousands of approaches.
Since Liu Nian was directly aiming for smartphone technology and paid no attention to traditional mobile phone technology, while all the major mobile phone manufacturers worldwide were still competing in the realm of traditional mobile phone technology, developing various technologies and patents based on it, this allowed Liu Nian to seize many smartphone technology patents.
By the time traditional mobile phone giants like Motorola and Nokia reacted, Tianxing phones would likely have erected a patent barrier in front of them.
"I want you to establish a technology alliance!" Huang He said calmly. "I know you have extensive connections in the entire electronics industry. I will take the lead, and you will be responsible for bringing all the companies in China's electronics and communications industry together to form an electronics and communications industry alliance!"
"We don't need to look for them for this alliance; just us and Huawei is enough!" Liu Nian said disdainfully. "I understand our domestic communication companies too well. They are all living on technology licenses from foreign countries and are too lazy to develop any technology themselves!"
"If you convene this alliance, I'm afraid that apart from us and Huawei, all the technologies put forth by others combined wouldn't be as thick as my little finger!" Liu Nian said casually, with confidence in his words.
"Boss, gathering them into this industry alliance is completely meaningless. They can't provide us with any technology at all. It would be better if we just allied with Huawei," Liu Nian said.
"When did I ever say that I'm forming this industry alliance to get their technology!" Huang He chuckled. "On the contrary, my goal is to license our technology to them."
"After all, your current technical patents are gathering dust in the warehouse. It's better to license them out. This way, not only can we earn licensing fees, but we can also support various domestic electronics factories by providing them with technology, equipment, and parts, letting them all make phones!"
"Let them all make phones!" Liu Nian was completely stunned by this statement.