HLnovel Chapter 404 MP3 Launch
Chapter 404 MP3 Launch
Time flies, and three months have passed. January 15, 2003, was the first day of the coldest period of winter in Jinan.
The sky outside the window was overcast and the clouds hung low. Although it hadn't snowed yet, the weather was exceptionally cold.
The conference room at Xinghuo Group was well-heated, and it was a bit warm; some people had taken off their coats and draped them over the backs of their chairs. The long table was full of people. Ling Yun sat at the head of the table, looked around, and said, "Let's begin."
Li Mo stood up first. He projected his laptop onto the large screen, which displayed a product rendering. The product was white, rectangular, smaller than a playing card, and less than a centimeter thick. The front featured a small screen with several buttons arranged in a row below. The back was silver metal, matte and non-reflective. A small hole in the upper right corner held a white headphone cable.
"This is our MP3 player, named 'Spark M1'," Li Mo's voice was soft but clear. "The main control chip uses the ARM7 architecture, which we designed ourselves. It has 512MB of flash memory, enough to store about 200 MP3s at a bitrate of 128K. The screen is an OLED, monochrome, with a resolution of 128x32. It has a 12-hour battery life for continuous playback and takes two hours to fully charge. The casing is made of aluminum alloy, CNC machined, with a sandblasted and anodized finish. It weighs 42 grams."
He took a white demo unit out of his pocket and placed it on the table. Then he took out several other MP3 players and arranged them side by side. One was black, a Samsung. One was silver, a Creative. One was white, an Apple iPod. And one was gray, from a small brand in Huaqiangbei.
"These are some of the main comparable products on the market." Li Mo pointed to the Samsung one, "128MB, plastic casing, eight-hour battery life, priced at 1600 yuan." He pointed to the Creative one, "6GB hard drive, large size, ten-hour battery life, priced at 2200 yuan." He pointed to the Apple one, "5GB hard drive, scroll wheel operation, ten-hour battery life, priced at 3300 yuan." He pointed to the one from Huaqiangbei, "128MB, plastic casing, six-hour battery life, priced at 1200 yuan."
He picked up the Spark M1 and held it up. "Our model has 512MB of memory, a metal casing, and a 12-hour battery life, priced at 1499 yuan. It's 100 yuan cheaper than Samsung, and has four times the capacity. It's 700 yuan cheaper than Creative, and half the size. It's 1800 yuan cheaper than Apple. It's 100 yuan more expensive than Huaqiangbei, but the quality is much better. Users aren't stupid; they can do the math."
Ling Yun picked up the Starfire M1 and flipped it over to examine it. The silver back was engraved with "Starfire M1" and "StarFire". He pressed the play button, and the screen lit up with white text on a black background, displaying "Playing". Music came through the headphones, the sound clear. He put the MP3 player down, looked at Li Mo, and said, "The sound is very clear, the effect is good."
Li Mo said, "The headphones have a good effect. The headphones we provide are custom-made, with the frequency response curve adjusted so that the bass is not overwhelming and the treble is not harsh. The cost is fifteen yuan, while headphones of the same level on the market sell for fifty yuan."
Ling Yun nodded. He picked up the Samsung one, weighed it in his hand, and put it down. Then he picked up the one from Huaqiangbei, weighed it in his hand, and put it down. Then he picked up the Xinghuo M1 and weighed it in his hand again. "The weight control is also quite good."
Li Mo said, "It weighs 42 grams, Samsung's weighs 65 grams, and Huaqiangbei's weighs 70 grams. Users can hardly feel the weight when they put it in their pockets."
Ling Yun looked at Zhao Weiguo and asked, "What about the sales channels? How are the preparations going?"
Zhao Weiguo stood up, opened the folder in front of him, and wrote, "Twelve cities across the country: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shenyang, Xi'an, and Jinan. One brand store in each city, all located in the city center or computer mall. The stores have a uniform decor: white tones, glass doors, and the Xinghuo logo. Demo units are displayed so customers can touch and try them out. The sales staff have been trained, and each person received a demo unit to use for two weeks to familiarize themselves with its operation and how to present it."
Lingyun asked him, "Online?"
Zhao Weiguo said, "The official website is already up and running. On the homepage of Xinghuo Technology, the M1 logo is at the very top. Clicking on it leads to the product page, which includes photos, specifications, prices, and a purchase link. The first batch of stock consists of 5,000 units, with 2,000 units distributed online."
Ling Yun nodded and looked at Ma Baoguo.
Ma Baoguo stood up and said, "The first batch of goods is 50,000 units. 30,000 units from the Jinan factory and 20,000 units from the Shenzhen factory. The production line is running smoothly and can produce 2,000 units a day. We have enough spare parts in stock for three months. Flash memory, main controller, screen, battery, and casing are all domestically produced, so there are no supply chain issues."
Lingyun asked him, "What about the yield rate?"
Ma Baoguo said, "Ninety-seven percent of the substandard parts are disassembled and reassembled, and those that cannot be repaired are scrapped. The cost of spare parts is controlled within six hundred yuan."
Ling Yun didn't speak. He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, and picked up a marker. He wrote a few words on the whiteboard: "Spark M1 Launch Countdown." Then he turned around and looked at everyone.
"Today is the 15th. On the 16th, media reviews will begin. On the 17th, online pre-sales will start. On the 18th, official sales will begin. At 10:00 AM on the 18th, twelve stores nationwide will open simultaneously, and online sales will begin at the same time."
He walked back to his seat and sat down. He looked around. "Any more questions?"
No one spoke. He nodded. "Meeting adjourned."
January 18, 2002, 9:50 AM. Jinan, Quancheng Road.
The Xinghuo brand store is located in the middle section of Quancheng Road. It has two storefronts with a white signboard displaying Xinghuo's five-pointed star logo. Several white display cases are shown in the glass window, reflecting the light. A queue has already formed outside, with about twenty people, men and women, mostly young people, holding wallets or mobile phones. Some are peering into the store, some are looking down at their phones, and some are chatting with the people next to them.
The store was closed. Through the glass door, you could see several employees in white T-shirts tidying up the shelves. The shelves were filled with small, white Xinghuo M1 packaging boxes, neatly arranged in rows. The cash register was at the far end of the store, with two computers on it.
Zhao Weiguo stood at the store entrance, wearing a dark blue jacket. He glanced at his watch; it was 9:58. He picked up the phone and said, "All stores, prepare. We'll open at 10:00 sharp. Maintain order; don't cause chaos."
A few "Received"s came through the phone.
10 o'clock sharp.
The store opened, and the line of people poured into the store.
The first person to go in was a boy in his early twenties, wearing a gray hoodie and with somewhat long hair. He walked to the counter and said, "I want two. One black and one white."
The shop assistant said, "We only have white ones. The black ones haven't come out yet."
The boy said, "Then let's have two white ones."
The shop assistant took two boxes from the shelf, placed them on the counter, and scanned the barcodes. The prices appeared on the screen: one for 1499, two for 2998. The boy took out his wallet, pulled out a wad of cash, counted it, and handed it over. The shop assistant counted it again, put it in the cash drawer, and handed him the boxes and receipts. The boy took the boxes, hugged them to his chest, and turned to leave. As he went out, he glanced down at the boxes, a slight smile playing on his lips.
The second person was a girl, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, wearing a white down jacket and a red scarf. She walked to the counter, picked up the demo unit, touched the casing, and listened to it for a while with headphones on. She took off the headphones and said, "I want one."
The shop assistant took the box, scanned the barcode, collected the money, and handed over the invoice. The girl took the box, didn't leave, and stood to the side, unpacking it. She took out a white MP3 player, turned it over to look at the back, pressed the play button again, and the screen lit up. She smiled, stuffed the MP3 player into her pocket, and left with the empty box.
The line outside was growing longer and longer. Some people came out of the store, carrying bags and smiling. Others had just arrived, saw the line, hesitated for a moment, and then joined the end of the queue. Someone was on the phone, saying, "Where are you? I'm here. It's crowded, hurry up!"
Zhao Weiguo stood at the door, watching the line grow longer and longer. He picked up the phone and said, "Report the situation from each store."
"At the Wangfujing store in Beijing, there are fifty people in line. Thirty units have already been sold."
"Shanghai, Nanjing Road store, 60 people in line. 40 units sold."
"In Guangzhou, at the Tianhe store, there are forty people in line. Twenty-five units have already been sold."
"Shenzhen, Huaqiangbei store, 80 people in line. 50 units sold."
After listening, Zhao Weiguo said, "Good, that's a good momentum. Keep it up, everyone."
He hung up the phone and went into the store. Five or six people were lined up at the checkout counter, and the staff were busy. A row of boxes was missing from the shelf; the empty space hadn't been filled yet. He went behind the counter and asked the staff, "How much stock do we have left?"
The clerk glanced at the computer screen and said, "There are 120 units left in the warehouse and 80 on the shelves. That's 200 units in total. At this rate, we should sell out before 3 p.m.
Zhao Weiguo said, "We'll get 500 units from the Jinan warehouse first, and they'll be delivered tonight."
The shop assistant said, "Okay."
He turned and walked out of the store. The line outside had already turned a corner and stretched out of sight. Someone in the line called out, "Are there any more in stock?" Zhao Weiguo replied, "Yes, plenty." The person smiled and continued to wait in line.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Zhao Weiguo's phone rang. He glanced at it; it was Ling Yun.
"Weiguo, are the data out?"
Zhao Weiguo said, "We're out. Twelve stores, online and offline combined, sold 48000 units today. 2000 units left, we'll continue tomorrow."
Lingyun asked, "How much online?"
Zhao Weiguo said, "The 5,000 units online were sold out by 10:03 AM. The server lagged a bit, and the order system almost crashed. The tech department said the traffic was too high and their estimates were insufficient; they will expand capacity tomorrow."
Ling Yun didn't speak. After a few seconds, he said, "What about production? Can Ma Baoguo's side increase production?"
Zhao Weiguo said, "Factory Director Ma said that starting tomorrow, we'll operate on two shifts, producing 6000 units a day, and reaching 10000 units by the end of the month. If that's not enough, we can operate on three shifts. We have enough people, enough equipment, and enough raw materials."
Lingyun said, "Okay, production capacity is sufficient, and marketing needs to keep up as well."