Chapter 537 - 392: A 1000 Gold Bar Giveaway! A Toast to Huaxia! The High-End Game Is On, the Yaocheng X1 Is Born!

"If the application ecosystem can’t keep up, Aurora Future OS will be like an ’isolated island,’ and the market will eventually reject it."

There were quite a few software professionals in the livestream chat as well. While some defended Orange Technology, they also expressed a lack of optimism.

Wang Teng took in the audience’s reaction, and his heart couldn’t help but tighten.

Promoting a brand-new operating system often presents a "chicken or the egg" problem.

If the user base is small, developers will lack the motivation to create apps for Aurora Future OS. But with few apps, users won’t have any software to use and naturally won’t buy smartphones running Aurora Future OS.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone could never increase its market share for this very reason—it was trapped in a vicious cycle.

"I understand everyone’s concerns. Therefore, starting March 18th, Orange Technology will launch a global application submission rewards program. The first 100,000 apps to go live on the Aurora Future Store will each receive a 200 US Dollar reward.

Second, for apps that make it onto the TOP 100 list, in addition to receiving free promotional resources from the Aurora Future Store, other Senlian Capital products like Toutiao and Lingxi Browser will also provide them with extra exposure and traffic support.

Finally, Aurora Future OS will adopt an open-source strategy, providing all hardware manufacturers and developers with its source code and free licensing."

Wang Teng announced solemnly.

’It boiled down to two points: free, open access, and cash subsidies for Aurora Future OS apps.’

Chen Yansen understood perfectly. ’Free" is the most expensive price of all.’

’Secure the market and the users first; worry about the rest later!’

’He wouldn’t make the same foolish mistake as Microsoft, which wrongly assumed its technological superiority was enough to charge hardware manufacturers for patent licensing fees.’

’Until he had secured a certain market share, any attempt to charge fees would just be shooting himself in the foot.’

"On that note, I must thank Penguin, Ah Li, 360, NetEase, Sina, Sohu, and other companies for their incredible support. It’s thanks to them that the Aurora Future Store has its first batch of apps. Thank you all for your trust and support for the first domestically produced mobile phone OS."

Wang Teng pressed his palms together, faced the audience and the cameras, and gave a deep bow.

"What about Qian Du?"

"That bastard doesn’t want to support a domestic product?"

"Who cares! I only use Lingxi Search anyway. Qian Du Network is nothing but harmful ads. Hell, I just had a cold, but after searching my symptoms on Qian Du, I was so scared I wrote out my will."

"Boycott Qian Du!"

In any era, there was never a shortage of people skilled in moral grandstanding.

A month ago, he had sent people to Qian Du Headquarters to discuss app compatibility. However, considering their cutthroat rivalry in the ride-hailing, Group Buy, food delivery, and navigation sectors, Li Yanhong had refused to cooperate without a moment’s hesitation.

’Of course Chen Yansen was going to cause a little trouble for Qian Du.’

’He knew what he was doing was wrong, but when the target of the moral grandstanding was a competitor, it felt damn good.’

Once the audience’s reaction had died down a bit, Wang Teng clicked the remote, revealing a CG render of the Yaocheng X1.

Unlike the Qingcheng and Orange series, the Yaocheng was positioned for the high-end market.

In other words, Orange Technology was issuing its first direct challenge to Mountain Star and Apple.

"The Yaocheng X1. This new model was painstakingly refined for a full eight months by over a thousand of our colleagues in the R&D department. The body is only 6.9 millimeters thick and weighs 126 grams."

"It runs on the Aurora Future OS 1.0 system, features a 5.7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, and uses a Snapdragon 800 quad-core processor."

Wang Teng spoke slowly, then continued, "The Yaocheng X1 will only be available with Aurora Future OS. It has 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, an 8-megapixel front camera, and a 16-megapixel rear camera. It features intelligent image stabilization for night photography, supports 4K video recording, and is equipped with a 3200 mAh lithium battery."

"Let’s run a benchmark," Wang Teng said with a smile.

He immediately ran the test live on stage. Before the eyes of tens of millions of viewers in the livestream, the Antutu benchmark score reached a stunning 41,769!

For comparison, the HTC Windows Phone 8X, which sold for 3,999 yuan, only scored 11,000. The Mountain Star Galaxy Note 2, priced at 5,199 yuan, scored just 26,901.

The Yaocheng X1 used top-of-the-line components for its processor, screen, camera, and battery.

They had pushed "component stacking" to the absolute limit!

Its only drawback was that the operating system wasn’t optional.

It came in four colors: black, white, gold, and silver.

The standard edition of the Yaocheng X1 would be 3,999 yuan, and the 64GB premium edition would be 4,599 yuan.

Wang Teng didn’t keep the audience in suspense for long, quickly announcing the price.

"3,999 yuan? That’s so damn expensive!"

"Too expensive? Then buy the Qingcheng D2!"

"But the Yaocheng X1 is gorgeous! It looks even better than the phones from Apple or Samsung!"

"That son of a bitch Wang Teng is getting way too cocky. How can he even say a price like 3,999 yuan? 1,999 yuan would be more like it."

"1,999 yuan? Stop daydreaming. Do you have any idea how much a Snapdragon 800 processor costs?"

"The chip is nothing! That 5.7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen is the most expensive component! If Mountain Star or HTC had these specs, they’d dare to charge you five thousand for it!"

"I want to buy it! But I have no money! I hope President Chen can gift me one!"

The viewers in the livestream chat gasped. A price of 3,999 yuan felt far too expensive.

Of course, there was also no shortage of users who weren’t concerned about money.

In their eyes, the premium version selling for only 4,599 yuan was still too cheap.

The base model of the iPhone 5 sold for 5,288 yuan, and the 64GB version went for as high as 6,888 yuan.

"From the first 100,000 customers who purchase a Yaocheng X1, we will randomly select 1,000 people and gift each of them a 10-gram gold bar," Wang Teng said.

A 1% chance of winning!

In 2013, the price of gold was 336.80 yuan per gram. Ten grams were worth over 3,000 yuan, which meant a Yaocheng X1 would only end up costing a few hundred yuan.

Many people were now eager and ready, just waiting for the release time to be announced!

Wang Teng raised his wrist to check the time. It was already 3:30, and there were still several products to introduce. He didn’t have time for any more hype, so he quickly yielded the stage and called Mike Keller and Wu Shengyu up.

As before, one was the main speaker and the other acted as his translator.

"Hello, everyone. I’m Mike Keller, the chief chip designer for Tiangong Technology. This is my partner, Mr. Wu Shengyu. I’m here today to introduce the performance of the Celestial Craft T100."

Mike Keller spoke with ease. He was also wearing a graphic T-shirt, but with a pair of cargo pants.

"Why’d a foreigner come on stage?"

"I can’t understand him! Someone translate!"

"Orange Technology’s product launches are getting more and more impressive!"

Before the audience could even complain, Wu Shengyu translated Mike Keller’s words faithfully.

’The Celestial Craft T100?’

’Orange Technology didn’t just develop its own mobile OS, but now it has its own chip, too?’

The entire internet was in shock!

"Holy shit! I found this guy’s info! He’s a former senior engineer at AMD and a senior staff engineer at Apple! A total legend in the world of chip design!"

"Did Senlian Technology kidnap his family or something?"

"Awesome! I haven’t even gotten a job at a foreign company yet, and here’s a foreigner already working for a Chinese one!"

"So, Orange Technology really made its own chip?"

The comment sections on Weibo, Toutiao, Sina, and other sites exploded. Never mind 2013—even in 2020, any phone manufacturer that successfully developed its own chip would have enough bragging rights to last for weeks.

「Ten minutes later.」

The Huake Science Association’s official Weibo account posted: "Congratulations to Orange Technology on the upcoming launch of the Celestial Craft T100. A toast to a domestic tech enterprise, and a toast to Huaxia!"

The hype instantly increased tenfold!

The Huake Science Association was the highest-level scientific research institution in all of Hua Country!

This post was an undeniable acknowledgment of Orange Technology’s R&D capabilities and the technological significance of the Celestial Craft T100.

"The Celestial Craft T100 may be the first AI chip to use the Orange Z1 instruction set. Although Apple, Huawei, and the Huake Science Association have already purchased the architectural license for the Orange Z1, I’m not sure when they will release their own chip products based on Orange Z1 technology..."

Mike Keller continued.

’What’s an instruction set patent?’

’Why did Apple, Huawei, and the Huake Science Association buy it?’

’It sounds like a pretty big deal!’

「Meanwhile.」

News websites covering the event immediately started making calls and looking up information.

Once they understood the core role that an instruction set plays in chip design, the entire internet erupted.

The bullet Chen Yansen had fired four months ago had finally landed, creating massive waves across the globe!