But at the mention of making a phone in the 8,000 yuan range, it was Chang You’s turn to hesitate.

“Mr. Pei, the 8,000 yuan price point is certainly a high-end position, but even Apple hasn’t reached this level yet…”

“To set the price at this level, there are only two ways:”

“Either forcibly raise the price through the brand’s high added value, but this requires the market to highly recognize our brand.”

“Or, through stacking materials, bundling services, and so on, make the phone’s actual value and added value roughly reach this level.”

“The former is impossible, and the latter… also has some difficulties.”

“I think making high-end phones in the 4,000 to 5,000 yuan range would be a choice with a higher chance of success.”

Chang You hadn’t expected these words to come from his mouth.

At Hongcheng Technology, Chang You had argued daily with the boss and other management, insisting they make high-end models instead of always focusing on thousand-yuan low-end phones and two-thousand-yuan mid-range models, urging them to try reaching the four to five thousand yuan range.

But no one listened to him, all addicted to making quick money with low-end phones.

Now, everything was reversed.

The boss was eagerly pushing to go straight for the 8,000 yuan range, making the usually aggressive Chang You seem conservative…

This role reversal made Chang You feel somewhat uncomfortable.

He had never imagined he would one day label himself as “conservative”…

Pei Qian was prepared for this.

Do you think I want to make high-end phones without considering these issues beforehand?

Even if I wanted to collect an intelligence tax, the system wouldn’t allow it!

If Pei Qian made a 3,000 yuan phone and forcibly raised the price to 8,000, the system wouldn’t approve it, because this pricing would exceed the phone’s actual value by too much.

The system allowed prices to fluctuate within a certain range, but they couldn’t exceed a specific price interval.

Some international manufacturers with high brand premiums might achieve an overall profit margin of 30%, while domestic manufacturers might only have about 10%.

And when Pei Qian made phones, no matter how high the premium, it definitely couldn’t exceed 30%.

Pei Qian even wanted to push this number lower.

Because the high-end market completely targeted the wealthy, and with the precedent of Fire Kylin, Pei Qian already understood that for the wealthy, once they’ve spent 8,000 yuan, they wouldn’t care about spending an extra 500 or 1,000.

In other words:

If the phone couldn’t sell, whatever price was set would be the same—Mr. Pei would lose money refreshingly;

If a few phones could be sold, the higher the price Mr. Pei set the price, the less money he would lose.

So, setting the price slightly lower and the profit margin lower meant that even if a few units were sold, they wouldn’t make much money, and overall, there would still be a huge loss.

At that point, after investing a large sum, hundreds of phones would pile up in the warehouse, and if they couldn’t sell, they would have to continuously reduce the price…

Wouldn’t that be a happy loss?

Pei Qian displayed a confident smile and said to Chang You, “Forcibly raising the price through high added value is collecting an intelligence tax. How could we do such a thing? That’s degrading!”

“We’ll directly stack materials and drive up the cost!”

“As for the comprehensive net profit margin, I think about 5% is enough—low margins but high volume, you know.”

Chang You fell into deep thought.

Many of his views on the mobile phone industry were being overturned at this moment.

Stack materials to drive up costs? Only 5% comprehensive net profit margin?

It didn’t sound completely impossible to succeed.

But why did it sound so unreliable?

Seeing Chang You’s troubled expression, Pei Qian asked with great concern: “What’s wrong? Is it difficult to stack materials to reach this price point?”

Chang You hesitated for a moment, then said: “It’s not completely impossible to force it to this level.”

“But there will be two problems.”

“First, we definitely can’t mass-produce too many of these phones. With small orders from the supply chain, prices will naturally be higher—that’s one aspect.”

“The other aspect is that if we stack materials, some new technologies aren’t mature yet and can easily cause various small problems, making it impossible to guarantee the phone’s yield rate.”

“The former is manageable—it just means spending more money. But the latter can be a fatal blow to a high-end phone brand.”

“What will consumers think if an 8,000 yuan phone breaks down every few days?”

“Of course, it won’t be as extreme as eight out of ten phones being unusable, but if eight or nine out of a hundred phones malfunction, it would still be a huge blow to our reputation.”

“The more new technologies we use, the more serious this problem could become.”

Low yield rate?

Pei Qian smiled: “That’s easy to solve. We’ll create a data transfer feature. If a customer’s phone breaks down, we’ll directly replace it with a new one delivered to their door. As a high-end phone brand, we’ll only replace, never repair.”

Pei Qian figured that since few people would buy the phone anyway, with so many phones piling up in inventory, if someone was unfortunate enough to encounter a faulty phone, they could simply replace it unconditionally.

Speaking of this, Pei Qian thought of another issue and decided to address it as well: “Also, let’s try to provide more exclusive additional services for the phone.”

“For example, free door-to-door service. If a customer’s phone breaks down in Jingzhou, our staff will bring a new phone directly to their door, transfer the data on the spot, take back the old phone, bring a small gift, and apologize in person.”

“For those outside the city, we’ll cooperate with other courier companies. We’ll cover the shipping, and the courier will deliver the new phone, transfer the data, and then ship the old phone back to us.”

“Or perhaps owning this phone could give you a few hours of free internet at Slackin’ Internet Café each month, things like that.”

“In short, add some additional services to make it worth the price.”

Pei Qian figured that since the system had fixed requirements, the phone had to be worth its price. So he would use some expensive technologies from the supply chain and add a bunch of useless additional services. At least this would slip past the system without problems.

Chang You looked at Mr. Pei, his eyes showing not only confusion and bewilderment but also a hint of admiration.

So many problems had been solved easily?

Of course, it was hard to say whether these solutions would work or be effective, but at least there were corresponding solutions.

As Chang You pondered, he suddenly felt alarmed and thought to himself: “Chang You, how did you unknowingly become the type of person you despise the most?”

He recalled the scenes at Hongcheng Technology.

Back then, he was always trying to convince the boss of Hongcheng Technology to adopt new technologies, push phone prices higher, and not be obsessed with the low-end market.

But the boss and other executives at Hongcheng Technology always brushed him off with various problems.

He heard statements like “we can’t make a high-end brand,” “customers won’t accept it,” “the yield rate can’t be guaranteed,” and “this approach isn’t prudent” every day.

He was very angry at the time. These problems did exist, but they shouldn’t stop them from doing these things—they should strive to solve the problems!

And now, facing Mr. Pei, Chang You suddenly found that the roles had reversed.

He had been constantly raising problems.

While Mr. Pei kept solving them!

“Chang You, if you continue to avoid problems and shirk responsibility like this, do you deserve Mr. Pei’s trust?”

After this self-questioning, Chang You made up his mind: “Alright, Mr. Pei! I think this plan is feasible!”

“I will do my utmost to do a good job!”

“However… Mr. Pei, I have a presumptuous request.”

Pei Qian nodded: “Feel free to ask.”

Chang You said, “When I was at Hongcheng Technology, I had a group of brothers. After the company went bankrupt, some stayed at home unemployed, some switched to other companies, and we still keep in touch occasionally.”

“If you don’t mind, could I poach all of them? Don’t worry, Mr. Pei, their salaries aren’t very high!”

Oh?

Pei Qian’s eyes lit up when he heard this.

Isn’t this the dream team that brought down Hongcheng Technology?

Perfect, it saves me the trouble of recruiting again!

Pei Qian was well aware that Chang You was currently quite unwelcome in the industry.

But this newly established tech company was, after all, a subsidiary of Tenda, bearing Tenda’s name.

With Chang You recruiting under Tenda’s name, even if various industry experts didn’t respect him, they might still join out of respect for Tenda.

If there were a few truly impressive individuals among them who could forcefully make this business successful, what then?

Now, seeing Chang You planning to reassemble the dream team that had brought down Hongcheng Technology, Pei Qian was even more delighted.

“No problem!”

“Whoever you want to recruit is up to you. I won’t interfere.”

“But I must clarify one point: your brothers coming to work in Jingzhou must be well-treated in all aspects. Each must be given sufficient moving expenses and housing allowances!”

“In terms of salary, we can’t let our brothers feel disheartened. Pay them at least 30% above their original salaries!”

“Once the product is made, regardless of sales, bonuses and benefits will be on par with the Tenda parent company. Not a penny less!”

Chang You’s hand trembled slightly, both excited and moved.

What was this?

This was the boss’s absolute trust in him!

Such a major power as personnel appointment authority, and the boss just handed it over—if this wasn’t completely recognizing his talent, how could he be so confident?

Chang You had originally felt that the development pressure was immense. With so many immature new technologies, even just assembling them together presented numerous difficulties.

But now, with his former brothers who had worked hard together, many half-finished plans that had been forcibly abandoned could be taken out and continued.

Moreover, with Mr. Pei’s trust, even if these difficulties required sacrificing everything, they had to be overcome!

Pei Qian thought of another issue and felt it should be clarified in advance.

“Mr. Chang, there’s one more thing.”

“For this new company, although you’re responsible for all business, Tenda will have a director. From the actual structure, she is half a level higher than you.”

“But you must have your own opinions. If there are differences of opinion between you and her, you can report to me, and I’ll mediate, understand?”

Pei Qian hadn’t forgotten the second most important goal of this mobile phone business.

That was to get Lin Wan to return to inherit her family business as much as possible.

If Lin Wan didn’t manage the mobile phone business at all, when it truly failed, it wouldn’t strike a blow to her confidence.

So, Lin Wan needed to be the nominal head of the mobile phone business.

The ultimate goal was to have Lin Wan manage the mobile phone business somewhat, but not let her get too involved. Ideally, after the business failed, Lin Wan would still feel she should take the blame—that would be the perfect scenario.

Therefore, Pei Qian still needed to help Chang You behind the scenes.

Chang You nodded: “Don’t worry, Mr. Pei. I’ll get along well with the director.”

Chang You hadn’t recognized the seriousness of this issue.

But Pei Qian couldn’t explain too much, so he could only wait until problems arose to address them.

At this point, Chang You remembered the most crucial question.

“Mr. Pei, we haven’t decided on our company’s name yet.”

With Chang You’s reminder, Pei Qian also remembered this issue.

Indeed, they had already figured out the development strategy, but the company name hadn’t been decided yet.

Pei Qian thought, what would be a good name?

What name should a high-end phone company have?

It should have a name that looks lowbrow!

The name directly determines the user’s first impression.

Many brands fail to gain acceptance for their high-end models because the first impression given by their name is “low-end” or “rustic.”

So, it needed to be as unsophisticated as possible.

But they couldn’t use names like “Dog Egg Phones” or “Cuihua Phones,” or Chang You wouldn’t approve.

Pei Qian thought for a moment: “To enter the international market in the future and become an international brand, let’s use a pure letter name that’s easy to remember.”

“Then, based on its pronunciation, we’ll give it a Chinese name with good meaning.”

Chang You strongly agreed: “Yes, that’s the approach.”

Pei Qian thought for a moment: “Then let’s call it Otto Technology, which translates to ‘Outu Technology’ in Chinese.”

“‘Ou’ is from ‘seagull.’ Seagulls are found worldwide, flying between sea and sky. This symbolizes that our business will soar throughout the world like seagulls, and the company’s future is as vast as the blue sky and as majestic as the ocean.”

“‘Tu’ is from ‘grand plan,’ symbolizing that our business can unfold a magnificent vision!”

The actual meaning was hoping that this company would become a high-level paraplegic company that could be sent off to Joy with trumpets blaring as soon as possible.

Chang You fell into contemplation.

The name had good meaning and sounded quite pleasant.

Why did he vaguely feel a kind of indescribable discord?