pjbooks Chapter 172 Xiaomi Phone Launch
Chapter 172 Xiaomi Phone Launch
Chapter 172 Xiaomi Phone Launch
Immediately, Lu Qi became wary.
There's a saying in the investment world: "Believe half of what the company secretary says, and don't believe a single punctuation mark from the boss." This humorous anecdote has even spread to the film and television industry. Businessmen like Lin Mu are masters of persuasion.
Lu Qi maintained an awkward yet polite smile and asked, "What kind of wealth is it?"
Lin Mu rattled off, "Director Lu, the popular variety shows in China right now are all indoor shows. Would you be interested in making an outdoor variety show? Something like the Korean show 'Running Man'?"
Lu Qi seemed to be deep in thought. "Running Man" is very popular in South Korea, and he had certainly watched that variety show, but he had never thought of making a program like it in China.
Lin Mu continued, "I can give you 30 million in production costs, and I can also sign a performance-based agreement with you to determine the exclusive sponsorship fee based on the overall online popularity, with the highest tier being 100 million per quarter."
Lu Qi's breathing instantly became heavy.
Lin Mu, like a devil, continued to add fuel to the fire: "Moreover, I will talk to Tencent about this variety show and try to get it on Tencent Video. I will ask Tencent Video to promote it with S+ level resources and strive for success both online and offline."
Finally, Lin Mu made the final decision: "Director Lu, Hunan TV has always been considered a second-tier television station. Don't you want Hunan TV to dominate the outdoor variety show genre and become a pioneer?"
Lu Qi's eyes reddened, and he blushed as he asked, "President Lin, are you really not lying to me?"
Lin Mu took the contract out of his briefcase, pushed it in front of Lu Qi, and said, "Director Lu, you can take this contract back and take a look. Call your legal team, and we'll go over it clause by clause. If you're not satisfied with any of them, we can discuss and revise them. In short, signing this contract will be entirely beneficial to you."
Lin Mu was so optimistic about Lu Qi because he was the producer of the later "Running Man" show, which is why he offered such favorable terms. Lu Qi also sensed Lin Mu's sincerity and thought to himself: "That joke circulating in the investment circle seems unreliable. Isn't President Lin being very sincere?"
He accepted the contract and said, "Mr. Lin, I'll take this contract with me first. Let me think about it."
Three days later, Lu Qi decided to take on the production of "Running Man". A week later, the two checked all the details on the contract, and Lin Mu paid the 3000 million yuan production budget as agreed. He also sent a colleague from the finance department to supervise the use of the funds.
Soon, more than a month passed, and the date was June 18th. Lin Mu looked at Pinduoduo's statistical report and smiled: Pinduoduo's monthly active users had successfully reached 6 million, monthly turnover was 12 billion yuan, and revenue was 15 million yuan.
June 18th was the launch day of the first Xiaomi phone. The entrance to the 798 Art District was packed with people. Sheng Mingyue arrived dressed elegantly: a beige women's blazer and a beige leather long skirt. She took Lin Mu's hand, looked at the scene, and exclaimed in surprise, "There are so many people! These people can't be shills, right?"
Sheng Mingyue looked suspicious. Ever since Lin Mu took her to Paris to do queue marketing, this young woman had become skeptical of any scene with long queues.
Lin Mu said with a smile, "This really isn't a shill; Xiaomi really does have a lot of fans. Quick, let's squeeze in before it gets too crowded."
Lin Mu led Sheng Mingyue forward, and with the help of the driver and assistant, they successfully squeezed into the crowd, entered the venue, and after their tickets were checked, sat in the VIP seats in the front row.
The VIP seats were occupied by many industry leaders, including Huang Zhang, founder of Meizu, heads of OPPO and vivo, and Chen Nian of Vancl. Everyone there was there for the Xiaomi initial product launch, and upon seeing more people in the VIP seats, they all turned to look.
When Chen Nian, the founder of Vancl, met Lin Mu, he excitedly shook his hand and said, "Hello, hello! You must be Lin Mu, the founder of Pinduoduo! I've heard so much about you! You've really done a fantastic job building Pinduoduo, carving your way out of a completely red ocean market."
Lin Mu shook his hand in return, smiling as he said, "You're too kind, Mr. Chen is also a young and talented man."
After sitting down, Lin Mu chatted warmly with the group of bigwigs. Now, he had entered the inner circle of the capital game, becoming a usable pawn for these powerful figures. Lin Mu wasn't dissatisfied; first he had to be a pawn before he could become a player, and his future was long.
During the conversation, Huang Zhang, the founder of Meizu, said, "Mr. Lin, I heard that you've discussed pre-installation partnerships with OPPO, vivo, and Xiaomi. Would you be interested in collaborating with Meizu as well?"
Lin Mu smiled and replied, "Sure, that's fine. We can talk about it privately after the press conference."
When the topic of the press conference came up, Huang Zhang's face instantly darkened. He gritted his teeth and said, "Damn it, if I hadn't taught Lei Jun, he wouldn't know how to make a decent phone!"
Hearing this, everyone's expressions turned somewhat amused, and Lin Mu smiled inwardly as well. This brings us to an interesting anecdote from the martial arts world:
It is said that when Lei Jun first started making mobile phones, he knew nothing about it. He pretended to want to become the CEO of Meizu and had a very enthusiastic conversation with Huang Zhang, from which he learned a lot.
Ultimately, the two couldn't reach an agreement. Huang Zhang was only willing to offer Lei Jun a senior management position and a small share of the company. As a result, Lei Jun immediately founded Xiaomi, whose target users and customer base completely overlapped with Meizu's. This infuriated Huang Zhang, who directly launched a tirade on a forum, calling Lei Jun disgusting and a petty person.
Although Meizu phones have become a generic brand in 2026, with annual shipments of less than 100 million units, they were quite powerful in 2011. In 2015, they even reached a peak of 2000 million units shipped annually, and were once considered a major player in the mobile phone industry.
Shortly after, a commotion arose outside: "Make way, make way, please make way! I'm Lei Jun, I'm on my way to a press conference, please make way!"
Everyone's eyes turned to the back, where Lei Jun was struggling to move through the sea of people. Good heavens, he, the main figure, was actually blocked outside the venue.
Finally, after much effort and with the help of his entourage, Lei Jun managed to squeeze his way to the front of the stage. He straightened his clothes, walked onto the stage, and began to speak eloquently.
The launch event for the Xiaomi 1 had many memorable moments: for example, halfway through his speech, the screen suddenly went black, and Lei Jun broke out in a cold sweat, but pretended nothing had happened and continued speaking until the screen returned to normal a few minutes later; another example was the overwhelming "1999 yuan" price, which was undeniably ingenious and offered almost the best value for money at the time.
It is said that Lei Jun once considered pricing the Xiaomi 1 at 1499 yuan per unit. According to a later interview, he said that he thought about it for three days and three nights, and his scalp was tingling. If the price was set at 1499 yuan, Xiaomi would lose money on every unit sold. If all 100 million units in stock were sold, Xiaomi's losses would reach 5 million yuan.
Ultimately, just before the launch event, they decided to raise the price to 1999 yuan per unit, aiming to make a meager profit.
Upon hearing the pricing, Meizu's CEO Huang Zhang's face darkened further, and the expressions of other competitors were also unpleasant. After all, Meizu phones were currently selling for 2499 yuan each, while Xiaomi was exactly 500 yuan cheaper, and their customer bases completely overlapped. How could he possibly be happy?
Moreover, something interesting happened after that: at the end of the year, Huawei's Honor phone was also launched, priced at the same price of 1999 yuan per unit, which is hard to say was not influenced by Xiaomi.
Lin Mu was purely observing the various aspects of the mobile phone industry with a detached, theatrical attitude. However, with so many mobile phone manufacturers' representatives present, he could take this opportunity to finalize all the pre-installation cooperation agreements for mobile phones in one go.