"Who made this PPT? The structure needs to be adjusted, it's too petty."
"Competitor data must also be included, otherwise, what am I comparing?"
"Invitations for important figures must all be sent out today."
"..."
The conference time was getting closer, and Chen Pingjiang's office was abuzz with activity.
Whether a press conference is good depends on whether it can tell a story; if it can't tell a story, then tell a sentiment.
If it can't do either... then don't sell phones.
The second element of a press conference is attire, one must have the swagger of a tech mogul, not dress like an insurance salesman.
The third element of a press conference is that there must be an e-commerce website that sells out in a few minutes.
Everyone can imagine the scene: at the press conference, the big shot says,
"We will start selling today at 10 PM!"
Then, at 10:09 PM, a Weibo post announces:
"XX smartphone sold out in 9 minutes."
How stylish is that scene to imagine?
Other elements include all live-streaming platforms must be utilized, and the PPT must be aesthetically pleasing and grand.
The most, most, most, most important thing is to learn Lei's comparison method: use your strengths to contrast competitors' weaknesses, use advantages to attack their disadvantages.
You must learn to DISS opponents!
Who did Chen Pingjiang want to DISS?
Naturally, HTC and Samsung.
Meizu was on the decline now, Apple hadn't yet become hugely popular, and China Coolpad wasn't worth bothering with.
"Boss, are you sure you want to write it like this? Won't they sue us?"
Chen Pingjiang smiled and said,
"Sue for what? Am I not stating facts? Putting facts aside, big companies like them wouldn't be so petty."
This press conference was grand, held at the Dongjiang Exhibition Center, inviting numerous media bigwigs, celebrities, business leaders, and government officials.
Orange Phone, Chen Pingjiang's personal Weibo, and Renren.com accounts simultaneously released news:
[This spring we have a date, March 5th, we'll see you there.]
Chen Pingjiang's combined followers on these two platforms had long exceeded 40 million, while Orange Phone's was rather dismal, less than 5 million.
"Huh? What's the conference for?"
"You haven't heard at all? Chen Pingjiang's Orange S1 phone is about to be released."
"Haven't various financial news reports been overwhelmingly covering it recently?"
"This guy really knows how to stir things up, finished with the internet, now he's making phones."
"Husband, I'll always support you!"
"I might not buy phones made by others, but I'll support Chen Pingjiang even if he makes a brick."
"..."
Chen Pingjiang specifically scheduled the press conference for 3 PM, so after it concluded, a buffet could be held.
......
On the afternoon of March 5th, at the Dongjiang Exhibition Center, a red carpet stretched directly from the main entrance to the roadside.
Many traffic police and civil police were assisting in maintaining order by the road.
The Dongjiang government attached great importance to this phone launch, fearing that any mishap would cause international embarrassment.
Entry was orderly, and after signing in at the entrance, all attendees received a commemorative gift with special significance.
The entire press conference was live-streamed on Renren.com, Renren Weibo, YY Live, and several other portal websites.
Backstage.
Yan Yan carefully helped Chen Pingjiang straighten his shirt, then observed for a long time to ensure everything was perfect before nodding:
"Are you nervous?"
"Joke, I don't even know how to write the word 'nervous'."
At this moment, the host had already walked onto the stage, and Chen Pingjiang also walked to the side of the aisle, waiting.
"Distinguished guests, good afternoon, and welcome everyone to support our press conference."
"Next, let's welcome the keynote speaker of this press conference, Chairman of Renren.com, CEO of Orange Phone, Chairman of Renren Gou - Mr. Chen Pingjiang."
A round of applause erupted below the stage.
The lights gradually dimmed, the host exited, and after about twenty seconds, a spotlight shone on the stage, where Chen Pingjiang stood.
"The host just stole my lines. I must say it again, thank you all for coming to support us today."
"Actually, there's more than one organizer for today's conference; it should be Orange Phone and Renren.com jointly hosting it, because both companies have new products launching today."
"After our dedicated staff's tireless day and night research and development, we finally successfully launched the amazing Orange S1 product a while ago. When I held it, I was deeply moved by its beauty and technological charm. I believe today's press conference will bring everyone a different experience."
Speaking pretty words is most important at a press conference; this is storytelling, simply piling on flowery language and various technical specifications.
At this moment, Chen Pingjiang, under everyone's gaze, pulled out a phone from his jeans pocket and held it up to display.
Simultaneously, a larger photo of the phone appeared on the large screen behind him.
The Orange S1 was entirely silver, displayed at a 45-degree angle to the audience.
Viewers in the live stream went wild:
"This phone looks good, it feels different from previous phones, quite nice."
"I have to say Chen Pingjiang's aesthetics are something, just wondering about the performance?"
"No matter how good the performance, can it beat Samsung, Apple, and HTC?"
"Domestically, it's all OEM assembly, not much technical content."
"I'm here for the show, but for buying phones, I still trust big brands. It's hard to believe how good the quality of Chen Pingjiang's first phone will be."
"..."
Chen Pingjiang raised the microphone and waited for the exclamations from the audience to subside slightly before saying,
"I just heard someone in the front row exclaim, 'Why is this phone screen so big?'"
"Yes, we use a 4.3-inch large-screen smartphone. The resolution reaches 1280*720, providing clear and delicate display effects."
"Some might ask, 'Do you have to make the phone a brick? Won't that be inconvenient?'"
"To this, my answer is, this will most likely become a trend. With the advent of the 3G era, we already have many mobile apps, mobile games, and video websites. In the future, we can use our phones to play 3A blockbusters and binge-watch shows."
"In this scenario, the immersive experience brought by a large-screen phone is far beyond what 3.5 or even 3.7-inch small-screen phones can offer. We can even read novels with fewer page turns than on small-screen phones. The HTC HD2, which was quite popular on the market before, also had a 4.3-inch screen, but its screen was too blurry, with a much lower resolution than ours."
A male fan in the audience shouted,
"Awesome!"
At this moment, Meizu and other domestic manufacturers watching the live broadcast shook their heads:
"The cost for just the screen is exploding, how much does he plan to sell his first phone for? 5000? Is he crazy?"
The head of HTC in China was so angry he almost coughed up blood.
Damn, what do you mean, you just started and you're already DISSing us?
Chen Pingjiang continued,
"Have you noticed? Our bezel is very narrow. Personally, I believe large bezels are outdated technology that will eventually be eliminated, entirely due to insufficient packaging technology.
And while some manufacturers have made extremely narrow bezels, they use engineering plastic. Such bezels provide very poor protection for the screen; a slight drop, and you might have to replace the screen. But we are different. The Orange S1 uses a CNC unibody metal design, offering better texture and security."
The media attending the conference were suddenly excited.
They never expected today's Chen Pingjiang to be so bold, which was quite different from his usual gentle and refined demeanor.
It's decided, today they will rush to create front-page headlines!
They'll also go interview the DISSed manufacturers to see their frustrated expressions and attract public attention.
Chen Pingjiang's AOE almost affected all other competitors in the industry.
Someone grumbled,
"When comparing with us, they compare screen size. Damn, they even say our technology is backward, only good for fooling laymen. Any insider knows that wide bezels are because screens are small, components are many, so the screen-to-body ratio isn't high. Your screen is so big, your phone is naturally larger than ours, so the bezel naturally shrinks. Can this even be boasted about?"
Lei's comparison method still had some merit; no matter how you compare, it's my advantage.
The audience loved it, the media was excited, only competitors were in pain.
Such a comparison directly pitted the Orange S1 against HTC's flagship HD2, subtly leading the audience to believe both were phones of the same caliber.
The bullet comments in the live stream were also engaged in a war of words.
"Is CEO Chen so arrogant now? The conference hasn't even been ten minutes and he's already offended all competitors. He doesn't understand 'biding one's time' at all!"
"'Biding one's time' is for old people. How old is our CEO Chen? He's in his prime."
"The person upstairs doesn't know what they're so excited about. The quality of the Orange S1 is right here, why 'bide one's time'? On the contrary, I think competition is best; good money drives out bad money. CEO Chen is awesome!"
"..."
Immediately following, two comparison images were displayed on the large screen.
The first was Orange S1 versus HTC HD2.
The lights highlighted the Orange S1's metal frame, while the HD2's frame appeared quite dull in comparison.
The second image was Orange S1 versus Samsung Galaxy S, which was just released two days ago.
The damage was even more apparent; the left and right sides of the Samsung Galaxy S were acceptable, but the top and bottom were truly ugly.
In contrast, the Orange S1 looked much grander.
Lin Bin and Zhou Guangping, seated in the first row, couldn't help but wipe cold sweat. Chairman Chen was too bold.
At this moment, Chen Pingjiang pressed the remote control in his hand, and the PPT switched to the next page, which was a solo front view of the Orange S1.
Someone immediately noticed something was off.
"Hey, the Orange S1 only has one circle button, not the menu and back buttons like the Samsung Galaxy S."
"Yes, compared to my HTC HD2, it also lacks the answer and hang-up buttons."
"It looks quite nice though, without the clutter of the previous two, simplifying things. But how do you operate the phone like this?"
"Isn't this just Apple's Home button? What's so special?"
"That's where you're wrong. Android phones rarely have only one button, otherwise, do you think HTC and Samsung wouldn't copy Apple?"
The scene was noisy, and Chen Pingjiang had to smile and gesture with his hand, signaling everyone to quiet down.
Afterward, he said,
"Our Orange S1's design philosophy is simple and grand, inspired by the 'O' in Orange. We internally call it the O-button. Coupled with our independent UI developed based on Android 2.3, we've achieved a control method different from other Android phones."
"Look, you just need to press the O-button to return to the main menu."
"Someone asked, 'How do I close unwanted applications?'"
As he spoke, Chen Pingjiang swiped upwards on the O-button, and all applications appeared as thumbnails on the phone screen.
"Did everyone see? Swipe up on the O-button, and you can see all applications currently running in the phone's background. Then you can selectively close them, or close all of them. If you want to choose another application, just find the corresponding application and tap it."
"This is an innovation in our operating method. Everyone no longer needs to repeatedly go back to find the application they just opened."
With just a small change, the audience was incredibly excited.
"Still have to look at CEO Chen, their software is already very strong, I didn't expect them to develop their own UI system."
"One button can operate the phone, even more convenient than Apple."
(End of chapter)