However, troubles never come singly.
Just as Wang Hong was still hesitating whether to abandon the HTC One x and issue full refunds, even worse news arrived!
The marketing director's face turned pale as he looked at the information on his phone.
"What happened now?"
Wang Hong frowned deeply.
Fang Jin sighed,
"Chairman, one of our HTC flagship stores in the Empire has been robbed!"
"What? The flagship store was robbed?"
Wang Hong was stunned, and everyone else was dumbfounded.
"How could this happen?" Wang Hong was speechless. "It's the twenty-first century, how can there still be such barbarians? What a joke!"
Fang Jin was very speechless:
"It's said that consumers who fully pre-ordered the HTC One x wanted their money back, and the store stated that since it was a full pre-order, refunds were not possible. Consumers then began to protest and make a scene, and more and more people gathered. As the commotion escalated, no one knows who led them, but a group of people rushed into the store and stole all our display units and new phones!"
Wang Hong's mouth twitched: "..."
The other executives also looked grim: "..."
This was a huge loss.
A large flagship store being robbed meant terrifying losses.
"Did you call the police? What did they say?"
Wang Hong couldn't help but ask.
Fang Jin was very helpless:
"We called the police, but the police couldn't do anything. First, there were too many people, and second, we were partly to blame for this."
"This..."
Wang Hong fell silent, not knowing what to say.
Fang Jin continued,
"Such incidents are relatively common in the Empire. Calling the police is useless; the FBI can't manage this or that. We can only accept our losses."
Wang Hong: "..."
"More critically, I'm worried that others will follow suit, doing the same thing, and if they rob a few more of our stores, we're finished."
"Yes, you're right, this is the most serious issue."
Wang Hong took a deep breath:
"We absolutely cannot let them continue to cause trouble. Fine, send out the notice: all 1.5 million fully pre-ordered HTC One x units will be fully refunded! Sigh!"
A single sigh, full of helplessness.
The feeling of having meat in your mouth and then spitting it out is truly unbearable.
Someone couldn't help but say,
"1.5 million units, over three billion in profit, we can't refund, Chairman!"
Wang Hong sneered,
"Not refunding? So we just let them keep robbing?"
"This..."
The person was speechless.
"Alright, let's do this. Refund first, and absolutely don't let this matter escalate."
"Yes!"
"Chairman, what about our HTC One x production and procurement..."
Wang Hong let out a long sigh, her expression utterly despondent:
"There's no other way. Companies like Apple, Samsung, and Nokia have all initiated patent lawsuits against us. In the future, the HTC One x will be banned from sale in Europe, America, Japan, and Korea."
"It can be said that from now on, the HTC One x can only continue to be sold in regions where it hasn't been banned. Sales will be greatly reduced, perhaps even less than one-tenth. Forget 50 million units, selling 5 million would be good."
"As for components? Cancel all orders that can be canceled to control costs. For production, reduce production lines and produce as we sell to prevent excessive inventory."
"Meeting adjourned!"
"Yes!"
Everyone dispersed, leaving Wang Hong alone in the vast conference room, her face extremely grim:
"Before, I was still dreaming of the HTC One x being a global bestseller, crushing the xphone 1pro, and becoming number one worldwide!"
"But now we face lawsuits, sales bans, large-scale refunds... how ironic!"
"It's practically a joke, sigh!"
With a sigh, Wang Hong's expression became utterly despondent.
What was more fatal was that the problem wasn't just with the HTC One x; it also affected other popular HTC phones and future new models.
It can be said that any phone must have communication capabilities, which involves a large number of communication patents.
Other patents are easy to circumvent; simply switch to a different solution.
But communication patents are very difficult to circumvent, and it's even impossible to circumvent all of them!
This will lead to lawsuits and sales bans.
In this way, HTC's future is truly uncertain.
Last year, HTC sold a whopping 43 million units.
This year, let alone making further progress, it would be hard not to see sales cut in half.
For a moment, Wang Hong's expression was grim.
She felt that HTC was besieged on all sides, and its momentum was gone.
But as a strong woman, she remained resilient and quickly stabilized her mindset to research new counter-strategies.
As the lamps first lit up.
Wang Yi returned to Lin Shu's home, and as soon as he entered, a rich aroma of meat wafted towards him.
Lin Shu walked out of the kitchen, carrying the rice cooker:
"Wang Yi, I braised pig trotters and pig ears, come and try some!"
Wang Yi was quite surprised:
"Xiao Shu, you can braise these?"
"I couldn't before. You said you liked eating them when you were little, so I learned during the winter break. I even got some secret braising recipes. How does it taste?"
As she spoke, Lin Shu picked up a large pig trotter and placed it in Wang Yi's bowl.
After washing his hands, Wang Yi looked at the pig trotter in his bowl and smiled,
"The color is excellent, almost as good as what Luweizhai sells."
He then tasted it:
"Mmm, delicious! Xiao Shu, your skill level is good enough to set up a stall!"
"Really?" Lin Shu was in high spirits, her beautiful eyes like water, "As long as you like it. It's a pity I couldn't get Luweizhai's secret recipe; they keep their secrets very strict."
"It's fine, it's already delicious. Remember to make some pig tails next time."
"Pig tails? You like eating those? Alright!"
Wang Yi nodded, lost in thought:
"I loved eating them when I was little. Back then, in my hometown village, there was an uncle who rode a motorcycle carrying cooked meat, selling it around the village."
"My grandma knew I liked them, and she'd always ask him to save a pig tail for me."
"Even though there wasn't much meat, the taste was great. I haven't had it in years."
Wang Yi was filled with emotion.
Perhaps he didn't truly like pig tails now; he just missed that feeling from childhood.
Carefree, without worries, a single pig tail could make him happy for most of the day.
That period was Wang Yi's happiest time, and a time he could never return to.
Even now, with more material wealth and stronger financial resources, he no longer had the same state of mind.
Wanting to buy osmanthus and carry wine, but in the end, it's not like the youthful wanderings.
Lin Shu held Wang Yi's hand and said gently,
"Okay, next time I'll braise pig tails. If they're good, we'll make more and take some back for Grandma, Grandpa, and Grandma!"
"Great!" Wang Yi was in a good mood, "Xiao Shu, it's really good to have you."
"Hehe, having you is even better."
Lin Shu said, leaning in for a gentle kiss.
After dinner, Lin Shu snuggled against Wang Yi, swinging her long legs, and browsing on her phone:
"HTC announced that all fully pre-ordered HTC One x units are eligible for unconditional refunds!"
"Xiao Yi, all the HTC One x have been refunded."
"As expected."
Wang Yi said calmly, understanding in his heart that the HTC One x was finished and would no longer have any impact on the xphone 1pro.
HTC in his previous life was just like this: it launched many hit models, but they all died out for various reasons.
For example, the HTC G7 sold too well, overshadowing Samsung's flagships.
Samsung directly cut off the G7's screen supply under the pretext of insufficient production capacity.
Without screens, the G7 was finished.
No matter how popular it was, there were no phones to buy.
The current HTC One x is the same, being sued by major giants and facing widespread sales bans.
Lin Shu finished reading the report and understood the process:
"I see, so it was sued and banned from sale due to patent issues! Patents really are a big problem. Is that why our xphone 1 and xphone 1pro are only sold domestically?"
Wang Yi nodded:
"Exactly. Without enough patents, if we go abroad, we'll be sued and banned. We'd also have to apologize and pay compensation, essentially making money for Apple, Samsung, and Nokia. It's meaningless."
Lin Shu suddenly understood, but became even more curious:
"Because of insufficient patents and fear of being sued, Xingyi phones are only sold domestically. But doesn't HTC understand this? Why, despite clearly having insufficient patents, do they not sell domestically and insist on going abroad? Insist on being sued?"
Isn't that insane?
Wang Yi smiled; Lin Shu's words were actually what many people secretly thought:
"Xiao Shu, you need to know that many corporate decision-makers have limitations. Misguided positioning and mistaken decisions can personally bury a company."
"Take HTC, for instance. From Chairman Wang Hong down to the marketing director, they all favored the European, American, Japanese, and Korean markets, believing the domestic market was poor and lacked potential. Therefore, they ignored the excellent domestic market, chose to invest heavily, and took enormous risks to develop the European, American, Japanese, and Korean markets. So..."
"I see."
Lin Shu understood:
"If this continues, HTC is probably doomed. Banned in Europe, America, Japan, and Korea, they'll lose those markets. Forced to, they'll think about returning to develop in the domestic market, but the domestic market has already been taken by Xingyi phones, and Apple and Samsung are also not backing down. Where would HTC find an opportunity?"
Wang Yi nodded:
"Exactly. Wang Hong's arrogance and disdain for the mainland market sealed HTC's future."
HTC in his previous life was like this; even after being banned from sale, they still looked down on the mainland market.
In the end, only when things became impossible overseas did they start to pay attention to the mainland market and want to return.
But the mainland already had Zhonghua, Kujian, Meizu, Xiaomi, OV... there was simply no room left for HTC to survive.
If HTC had lowered its stance and, with its international brand positioning, cut prices to two or three thousand to wage a price war, it could still have won steadily.
But unfortunately, HTC not only didn't lower its position and cut prices for promotions, but instead created a low-spec, China-exclusive version to disgust people.
The high-spec version sold for 5000 abroad, and the low-spec, China-exclusive version also sold for 5000!
They completely treated domestic users as fools to be swindled, so naturally, no one bought it.
Consequently, HTC, which was still the world's third-largest smartphone brand in 2011, declined within a few years.
So much so that those born in the 2000s, and even many born in the late 1990s, don't even know such a brand existed!
It can only be said that those who court death will surely die.
To dare to ignore the mainland market, Wang Yi was curious who gave them such courage!
It's conceivable that HTC's fate in this life is no different from its previous life.
It's just that with the emergence of Xingyi Technology, the phone industry gained another giant crocodile, and HTC will only die faster!
However, Wang Yi no longer had time to worry about these things; Xingyi Technology's own affairs kept him too busy.
Nothing else, by stepping on Apple and HTC, Xingyi Technology became famous in one battle, and its products sold globally.
Not only did Xbuds Bluetooth headset sales skyrocket, but even the parallel imports of xphone 1 sold out.
Similarly, the globally released Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro completely sold out!
Considering global sales, the sales of Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro would be much higher than selling only domestically.
After all, competitors' products were too poor; even the iPad 2, regardless of design or configuration, was trash.
Once the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro were released, they were bound to sell out.
Therefore, Wang Yi directly prepared 2 million units of Xingyi Tablet X1 in stock and 3 million units of Xingyi Tablet X1pro in stock.
Even with global sales, they could sell well for a while.
Unexpectedly, the sales of Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro were so incredibly popular that in just four days, very few were left.
With the xphone 1 and xphone 1pro available domestically, the sales of Xingyi Tablets in China were not particularly high, accounting for only about a quarter of global sales.
Since the xphone 1 and xphone 1pro hadn't been launched overseas, people could only buy the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro, resulting in overseas tablet sales being three times that of domestic sales!
Such terrifying overseas sales far exceeded expectations, catching Wang Yi completely off guard.
The two to three million units prepared were nowhere near enough, and they were about to run out of stock.
Even though BYD had greatly increased orders and supplied quickly, they still ran out of stock.
In desperation, Wang Yi had no choice but to call Manager Wang again:
"Director Wang, the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro are about to run out of stock again. Please expedite and continue to increase production lines as quickly as possible. Produce the Xingyi Tablet X1 at a monthly rate of four million, and the Xingyi Tablet X1pro at a monthly rate of five million."
"Don't worry, Director Wang, leave it all to me. Our BYD has multiple foundries, and they will all suspend accepting orders from other companies to prioritize the production of Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro. Once off the line, we will immediately arrange shipment to Europe and America to ensure maximum efficiency!"
"That's excellent!"
Wang Yi was in a great mood.
BYD's reputation as an OEM isn't as good as Foxconn's or Flextronics', but it has great potential.
Manager Wang had courage; as long as he received orders, he dared to frantically increase production lines and factories.
In his previous life, BYD became the world's second-largest foundry this way, almost even knocking Foxconn off its pedestal!
And the DM-i technology, with less than three liters of fuel consumption per 100 kilometers on low battery, and a single tank of fuel + electricity allowing it to travel over 2000 kilometers, was simply insane.
It made Wang Yi's Xiao Ben, which consumed 9 liters of fuel, question its existence.
It was precisely for this reason that Wang Yi directly abandoned Foxconn and Flextronics, choosing BYD as his partner.
Nothing else, Foxconn and Flextronics were unreliable; once sanctions hit, both would flee.
The only reliable one was still BYD!
Of course, he couldn't abandon his own factories either.
The phone factory Jizhou provided for Wang Yi, with an annual capacity of 50 million units, could be delivered by the end of the year, so phone production capacity wouldn't be a big problem next year.
But if they started producing budget phones (around a thousand yuan), that wouldn't be enough either.
After all, budget phones alone could sell over 50 million units, and with flagship phones, they'd still need to find an OEM.
At that time, the Xingyi phone factory would produce flagship products, making it easier to control quality and secrecy.
And budget phones would be outsourced to BYD for manufacturing.
However, the tablet factory built by Jizhou was too small, with only a ten-million-unit capacity.
Wasn't that a pitfall?
The annual sales of the Xingyi Tablet X1 alone were more than ten million.
There was no other way; let alone Jizhou, Wang Yi himself hadn't expected Xingyi Tablets to sell so well.
In that case, he would have to find time to go back to Jizhou, find Director Hong again, and expand the tablet factory, at least to an annual production capacity of thirty million, or even forty million!
As for the TV factory, that wasn't a big problem; a ten-million-unit capacity was sufficient.
After all, TVs aren't like phones, which everyone needs and replaces every one or two years.
On the contrary, a family of three or four can use one TV for several years.
The next day, Wang Yi arrived at Xingyi Technology Park.
Jian Ziyan immediately approached him:
"Chairman, last night, both the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro ran out of stock. The marketing department has started full prepayment pre-sales."
Last night in the Xia Kingdom was daytime in Europe and America.
Therefore, last night, the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro sold out again, running out of stock once more!
Wang Yi nodded:
"Good, then proceed with full prepayment pre-sales, and ship according to payment order. I've already asked BYD to increase orders, and supply will be available soon."
"Mm-hmm!" Jian Ziyan took out a document, "Chairman, these are the first week's sales figures. Since we've already sold out, should we still announce them?"
"Announce them, we must announce them!"
Wang Yi said decisively,
"If we don't announce them, they'll think we lack strength!"
Jian Ziyan was a bit confused:
"But we're already out of stock. If we announce sales, it will attract more buyers, wouldn't that create even greater pressure?"
Wang Yi waved his hand:
"That's no problem. Don't forget that Apple is about to release the third-generation iPad, with greatly upgraded configurations. Although it still won't be as good as the Xingyi Tablet X1 and X1pro, it's a significant improvement over the iPad 2 and will have a certain impact on us. We must flex our muscles and deal a blow to the iPad!"
"I see, the Chairman still thinks far ahead."
"That's right, learn more."
As he spoke, Wang Yi flicked Jian Ziyan's forehead.
"Ouch!" Jian Ziyan rolled her eyes, "I'm not smart enough as it is; if you flick me dumb, you won't take responsibility."
"Don't worry, the more I flick, the smarter you'll get!"
Wang Yi joked.
That evening, news headlines surged onto trending topics:
[Witness an Era! Xingyi Tablet X1 first-week sales break 3 million units, Xingyi Tablet X1pro first-week sales break 4 million units, both smashing historical records set by iPad and becoming the new tablet overlords!]
[Xingyi Tablets globally popular, Xingyi Tablet X1 / Xingyi Tablet X1pro all sold out, forced to open full prepayment pre-orders!]
[Xingyi Tablets sell millions in first week, BYD foundry frantically increases orders, iPad's momentum is gone!]
...
Instantly, the world was in an uproar, and public opinion exploded:
"Tablets can sell this much? Insane, truly insane!"
"What's the big deal? Don't forget, Xingyi Tablets are sold globally and are globally popular."
"That's right, the domestic Xingyi Tablet X1pro only sold one million units in its first week, while three million were sold overseas. The overseas market is huge."
"It's still the powerful product strength. Its aesthetics, configuration, split-screen experience, battery life, and so on completely outperform the iPad. There's no reason not to buy a Xingyi Tablet."
"Exactly, consumers vote with their money. Xingyi Technology completely won this round; Apple is getting worse and worse."
"That might not be true. Apple is also releasing a new tablet soon, the iPad 3rd generation, there might be a surprise."
"What surprise? Can they also have a quad-core processor like the Xingyi Tablet X1pro? 2GB RAM? Dual 8-megapixel cameras front and back? A 10,000mAh anti-freeze large battery? Or beauty algorithms? Split-screen functionality?"
"This..."
Apple fans were all silent.
The Xingyi Tablet X1pro had too many breakthroughs; selling four million units in its first week was only natural.
Seeing this news, Apple headquarters was filled with gloom.
Cook sighed repeatedly, his expression extremely grim:
"Last year, the iPad 2nd generation only sold 1 million units in its first week, while the Xingyi Tablet X1 sold 3 million units in its first week, which is three times ours. The Xingyi Tablet X1pro sold 4 million units in its first week, which is four times ours!"
"Such terrifying sales not only completely crushed our iPad 2nd generation, but also dealt a severe blow to our iPad 3rd generation!"
"At the very least, the iPad 3rd generation won't have such good sales. Let alone comparing it to the Xingyi Tablet X1pro, it won't even measure up to the Xingyi Tablet X1!"
Everyone sighed repeatedly, very reluctant to admit it, yet having no choice but to.
In reality, the tablet market exploded in 2012.
In his previous life, the iPad 3rd generation's first-day sales reached one million, and first-week sales reached three million units!
Unfortunately, this time, the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro took the lead, capturing 7 million potential users, making the iPad's sales look much worse.
In any industry, the first one to try something new reaps the greatest rewards.
Wang Yi deeply understood this principle, which is why he chose to release and launch before Apple.
The xphone 1 launched a month and a half earlier than the iPhone 4s in China, directly capturing eight million users.
The Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro then launched 20 days earlier than the iPad 3rd generation, directly snatching away a large number of customers!
Moreover, the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro were too excellent and would continue to attract a large number of customers later on.
Cook frowned deeply:
"Everyone, think about what to do? We only announced on the 8th and will launch on the 16th. Our product capabilities are already inferior to the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro, and we're at a disadvantage in terms of release time. The future is unpredictable! Everyone, think about how to turn the tide!"
After a brief silence, the head of the marketing department spoke first:
"Chairman, I suggest launching earlier. It would be best to launch immediately after the announcement, just like Xingyi Technology. By launching a week earlier, we could close the gap with the Xingyi Tablet."
Hearing this, other executives also spoke up:
"Yes, we must sell earlier. Another week later, the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro will have sold several million more, and our iPad 3rd generation won't even get a taste of the hot meat."
"I also support launching on the 8th immediately after the announcement."
"We must launch on the 8th."
But Woods, the head of production, shook his head:
"Launch on the 8th? It's easy for you to say. We originally set the launch for the 16th, and the day after tomorrow is the 8th. The goods are still in transit, how can we launch?"
Everyone fell silent: "..."
The launch was set for the 16th.
By the 8th, many iPads were still in transit and hadn't reached terminals, so launching was impossible.
Cook nodded:
"Woods is absolutely right. We can't even launch early on the 8th; the goods are still en route. The launch date cannot be changed, we can only proceed according to the original plan. What we should be considering now is how to take down the Xingyi Tablet before our launch, preferably by ruining its reputation!"
"Like the previous HTC One x, a wave of patent lawsuits and sales bans caused the HTC One x's reputation to collapse, bringing its previously global popularity to an abrupt halt. If we can similarly ruin the Xingyi Tablet's reputation, that would work. Everyone, think about it."
Hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up.
This was a good idea.
What can kill a competitor, besides crushing their product strength, are ruthless business warfare tactics!
The former is an overwhelming power, the latter is impossible to guard against!
The success of the Xingyi Tablet X1 and Xingyi Tablet X1pro, for example, comes from their groundbreaking product strength, directly crushing the iPad!
And the HTC One x was precisely eliminated by competitors using business warfare tactics!
After a long pause, Manager Jesse sneered,
"The best-selling product right now is the Xingyi Tablet X1pro, and we can make a move against the Xingyi Tablet X1pro!"
(End of Chapter)