This past April, Ma Liyun had wised up. He understood that with Ah Li's influence, a thousand-yuan phone was their absolute limit.
360's Haier W910 was a cautionary tale.
Therefore, the new generation Aliyun Phone—the Hornet W806—not only featured an upgraded 4.3-inch screen but also had its RAM increased to 1GB, all for a launch price of just 1,499 yuan.
In just one month, it sold 600,000 units.
But in May, the new 360 Mobile Phone launched at only 1,299 yuan, stealing away seventy to eighty percent of the Aliyun Phone's customers and causing its sales for the month to plummet to 100,000 units.
Then, the Shanda phone launched in June. On the strength of its 4.3-inch QHD capacitive screen, 1GB of RAM, and a starting price of 1,299 yuan, it sold 200,000 units in a single week without even running any ads.
So, to sell these special-supply phones in 2012, value for money was the only viable path. Chen Yansen's words were truly spoken from the heart.
