Chapter 653: Orange Air Conditioner's First Customers! Huaguo Beast Fighting Arena, Come If You Dare

Chapter 653: Chapter 467: Orange Air Conditioner’s First Customers! Huaguo Beast Fighting Arena, Come If You Dare

“A site visit? No problem! Of course you’re welcome. Take your pick between the Orange Phone Factory in Luzhou or Shencheng City.”

Chen Yansen leaned back and said casually.

Apple backing down was also within his expectations.

The hot sales of the Yaocheng X1 SE had shown all the global phone manufacturers the advantage of ultra-long battery life brought by high-density batteries.

With September approaching, companies like Huawei, ZTE, Samsung, and Sony were all preparing to feature Deep Blue batteries in their new models. These batteries were smaller in size but larger in capacity.

You don’t have to use it, but you have to have it!

When half the smartphones on the market could last a day or even two under heavy use, the mere seven to eight hours of battery life on an Apple phone had become a complete joke.

Besides, while the Deep Blue Battery was a bit more expensive, it accounted for less than 2% of the phone’s total cost.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, Cook had easily convinced the board of directors.

The only one hurt was Desai Battery. When Chairman Jiang Jie learned that Apple was going to cut its order volume in half, he felt like the sky was falling. After all, over half of the company’s revenue came from Apple.

“Thank you for your understanding and support, President Chen. Once the Orange Phone Factory passes the process capability assessment, Apple will sign an OEM agreement with your company before September,” Ge Yue said with a hint of implication.

Chen Yansen understood the subtext and responded readily, “In that case, the battery supply partnership between Deep Blue and Apple can also move forward at the same time.”

Upon hearing this, a flash of delight appeared in Ge Yue’s eyes.

The iPhone 5S was about to launch. If it only had a low-battery-life version, it would inevitably struggle to compete with Mountain Star and Orange Mobile Phone. Adding a high-battery-life version was the only way to extend the product’s sales cycle.

Afterward, Chen Yansen hung up the phone, gave some simple instructions to Cao Dahua and Cai Jingming on Cloud Ship, then pushed the door open and took the elevator to the underground parking garage.

Huang Boxiang was in the driver’s seat. The rear car door was already open. Only after Chen Yansen got in and was settled did he start driving slowly toward the exit.

“Back to the Delta,” Chen Yansen instructed Lao Huang.

“Yes, Boss.” Huang Boxiang nodded. After driving out of the Science and Technology Park, he sped along Xucheng Avenue.

Chen Yansen took out his phone, opened Toutiao, and scrolled through the day’s trending news.

“Shunfeng Tests the Waters with ‘Heike’ Convenience Stores!”

“Amazon Follows Suit with ‘Bonded Warehouse’ Model, Seeks to Strengthen Cross-Border E-commerce Business!”

“Jingdong Accelerates Investment Attraction for its Open Platform (i.e., Third-Party POP Merchants)!”

“QR Code Payments Become Widespread, Offline Retail Enters the Cashless Era!”

‘Jingdong POP stores?’

Chen Yansen pondered for a moment and understood Handsome Dong’s little scheme. It was nothing more than a way to increase the platform’s transaction volume to attract the favor of overseas investors and thus secure a higher valuation.

‘It’s only human nature. If it were him, he would have made the same decision.’

Chen Yansen continued reading.

“Dianping Sells Itself to Ali Baba for 290 Million US Dollars, Valuation Plummets by Sixty Percent!”

‘Ma Liyun acquired Dianping?’

‘Looks like Lao Ma’s old habits die hard; he’s still coveting the offline traffic resources of the O2O industry.’

‘The portal partnership agreement between Kuai Pao and Ah Li was only for one year. In another six months, the honeymoon period would be over. By then, Ah Li would have either finished preparing for its IPO or already completed it. Flush with cash, they might just decide to make a full-scale entry into the group buy and food delivery markets.’

‘Another bastard jumping in to stir things up!’

Chen Yansen made a very apt observation.

The slogan “Huaguo Beast Fighting Arena, come if you’ve got the guts” was no joke. To achieve final victory in any industry, you had to defeat countless opponents.

‘He knew in his heart that even if Kuai Pao defeated Qian Du Delivery and Qian Du Group Buy, new “enemies” would still appear in the future.’

The car had just entered the villa complex and hadn’t even come to a complete stop when Zhou Jieyun called to inform him that the Haier “Zhizun” air conditioners were expected to launch on online sales channels the following Monday.

The series had three products in total: a 1.5-horsepower wall-mounted air conditioner, a 2-horsepower floor-standing inverter air conditioner, and a 3-horsepower floor-standing inverter air conditioner, priced at 2,899 yuan, 4,599 yuan, and 5,999 yuan, respectively.

Considering Haier’s brand positioning, this pricing wasn’t low.

Each model was equipped with Wi-Fi smart control and smart voice functions, and could be controlled remotely via devices like phones and tablets.

For example, you could turn on the AC to cool or heat before getting home, so you wouldn’t have to wait.

Additionally, they could be operated through the Moss Smart Speaker, handing over functions like turning the AC on/off, setting timers, and adjusting fan speed to the Moss Voice Assistant.

Chen Yansen stood at his garden gate, chatted with Zhou Jieyun for a while, and in the process, finalized a 30-million-yuan marketing contract, which he would have Song Yuncheng follow up on later.

Ten minutes later, he put away his phone, walked into the living room, and sank onto the sofa, his mind pondering the R&D progress of the Orange Air Conditioner.

‘There are still over five thousand people at the factory waiting to be fed. We simply can’t afford to wait to self-develop compressors, condensers, and evaporators.’

‘So, the first Orange Air Conditioner won’t be much different from the old Xinke models. It will just use more solid materials, have more stable quality, and a longer warranty period.’

Thinking of this, Chen Yansen got up and went into the study. He turned on his computer, launched Fluent, set the fluid parameters and boundary conditions, and simulated the gas flow within the compressor to further optimize the internal flow channel design of the previous version.

The core objectives were to reduce fluid resistance, improve compression efficiency, and lower operational noise.

The sky outside gradually darkened. It wasn’t until seven o’clock that he picked up his phone and ordered takeout.

Song Yuncheng was working overtime, Meng Jie was interning in Luzhou, and Ye Qiuping was also busy talking with the telecom company, planning to launch a corporate phone card for the entire Senlian Group.

The minimum monthly fee was 19 yuan, which included 1GB of nationwide general data and 100 minutes of talk time. There was no dedicated app data, but any data usage beyond the plan cost only 1 yuan per extra GB.

After the 4G licenses were issued, and with another directive from above, it wasn’t just Telecom; even Mobile and Unicom started making moves with corporate cards.

Although it was supposed to be a corporate-exclusive card, Zhao Maolin hinted to Ye Qiuping that the company wouldn’t verify the actual identity of the card applicants.

The implication was that as long as Senlian Capital had the ability to sell a hundred million of these corporate cards, the telecom company would gladly turn a blind eye.

In any case, internet cards with dedicated app data were already rampant. A few more corporate cards with even lower rates wouldn’t make much of a difference to the telecom company.

By doing it stealthily, they could also poach a good number of users from Mobile and Unicom.

「Meanwhile.」

Far away in Yanjing, Lu Hongbo sat slumped in his executive chair, his face a picture of dejection, his body limp.

From the beginning of June to the end of August, in less than three months, the number of Orange Mobile Phone’s mini direct stores had rapidly increased from the initial five hundred to over 2,600.

Seventy percent of them were opened right next to Ni Cai Factory Stores.

This caused the sales of Nicai Mobile Phones to plummet across the board. The 599-yuan “Little Qingcheng” and the 799-yuan “Big Qingcheng” were selling like crazy in third- and fourth-tier cities and rural markets.

Meanwhile, of Ni Cai’s more than 6,100 factory stores, over 700 had successively gone out of business, and half of the franchisees had even started secretly selling products from other brands.

The reason was simple: Nicai Mobile Phones weren’t selling anymore!

Selling only seven or eight units a day, the profits couldn’t cover the costs of labor, rent, and utilities. If their contracts hadn’t still been active, they would have quit long ago.

Combined with the impact from the RedMi 1 and the 360 F1, the Nicai Mobile Phone was in imminent danger!

“That son of a bitch Chen Yansen! I curse you to have a son with no asshole!”

Lu Hongbo cursed viciously.

In his eyes, it was all because of Orange Technology that Ni Cai had been pushed to the brink.

That bastard Yang Rui was no good either.

He took the location data for the Ni Cai Factory Stores and turned around and sold it to Chen Yansen.

Otherwise, why else would the Orange Phone Direct Stores just happen to open right next to the Ni Cai Factory Stores?

In fact, ever since the Qingcheng D2 and Qingcheng D2 SE were launched, it wasn’t just Ni Cai; life was getting harder and harder for Newman, Doov, and Cong as well.

To users, Orange was a well-known phone brand that could compete with Mountain Star and Apple. Although Qingcheng was just its low-end series, the design, production, and after-sales staff were not much different from those for the Orange and Yaocheng series.

Trustworthy!

Meanwhile, Xiaomi and 360 used the exact same supply chain and production lines as the Qingcheng Mobile Phone, offering much better quality assurance than the likes of Ni Cai.

Although Ni Cai’s prices were cheaper, starting as low as 399 yuan, the phones would lag after installing just a few apps, overheat when playing games, and the battery life was absolutely abysmal.

As software features increased, the memory space required by apps also grew larger and larger. Ni Cai’s low-price, low-spec phones were slowly being phased out by the market.

Lu Hongbo understood this clearly but was powerless to do anything.

In terms of supply chain management, ten Ni Cais would be no match for Orange Technology. Ni Cai could never negotiate the supply prices that the other party could get.

For example, for the same MediaTek processor, Orange Technology could procure it for just 10 US dollars, while Ni Cai had to pay 13 or even 15 US dollars.

Not enough purchasing volume means less bargaining power.

When it came to system optimization, Ni Cai was even further behind, left in the dust.

Although Lu Hongbo was furious and wanted to strike back, after pondering for half the day, all he could do was seethe for a moment before giving up.

The sun rose as usual the next day. Although it was already the end of August, the intense heat hadn’t diminished in the slightest.

Chen Yansen sat in the car, gazing at the street scene outside the window.

Early this morning, Tang Qingshan had specifically reminded him to return to school in the morning for a ceremony.

The electrical circuit renovations in the Xuyuan student dormitories were complete, and the installation of the 3,000 Orange Air Conditioners donated by Senlian Capital was basically finished.

In addition to these 3,000 wall-mounted air conditioners, Senlian Capital also sponsored 200 million in scientific research funding, as well as 100 million for scholarships and aid for students from low-income families.

Chen Yansen hadn’t even graduated yet, but he had already become an outstanding student of Xuyuan.

Even though this “outstanding student,” “Triple-A Student,” and “National Scholarship winner” had attended a number of professional courses over his three years of university that could be counted on one hand, it didn’t stop Tang Qingshan from hanging his photo in the hallways of the academic buildings and the library.

‘To be honest, President Chen was truly afraid that one day his public image would collapse and Tang Qingshan would take the photo down again.’

The Gusteau bathed in the golden sunlight, reflecting a brilliant luster.

Locals in the know didn’t even need to look at the license plate to know that Chen Yansen, the founder of Senlian Capital, was sitting inside.

Fifteen minutes later, Xiaoli drove the car into the east campus of Xuyuan. As they passed the gate, Chen Yansen lowered the window and tossed a carton of Zhonghua cigarettes to the security guard, Old Zhang.

“Aiyo, I was wondering why the magpies were chirping all day. It’s because President Chen has come home!” Old Zhang thanked him profusely, grinning from ear to ear.

When Chen Yansen used to live in the faculty apartments, he often returned to campus late at night and had woken up a drowsy Old Zhang to lift the gate for him more than a few times.

“Old Zhang, I never thought an honest fellow like you would learn how to flatter people. How have you been lately?”

Chen Yansen glanced into the guardhouse. A brand-new air conditioner was mounted on the wall, blasting cold air out with a WHOOSH.

“Very well! Eating my fill and sleeping soundly. You’re back for the donation ceremony, right? I saw they set it up in the gymnasium. You can just drive straight in,” Old Zhang replied with a smile.

Chen Yansen grunted in acknowledgment and waved his hand.

The car continued south, driving slowly along Xue Lin Road.

‘It’s been about a year since I was last back at school,’ President Chen thought to himself.