Meanwhile, at OTTO Tech.

Chang You, Lin Wan, and a group of core members of the company gathered in the company’s conference room, preparing to discuss the general development direction of this mobile phone.

Lin Wan had just come from the Shangyang Games.

The development of “BE QUIET” was currently underway, with Ye Zhizhou, Wang Xiaobin, and several other designers already working on design drafts, while basic work such as art requirements was progressing simultaneously.

Lin Wan didn’t need to be responsible for this kind of work anyway, so she could take time today to visit OTTO Tech and hear about the new phone.

The other employees sat upright with serious expressions, looking very earnest.

From Hongcheng Technology to OTTO Tech, although they were still employees making phones, everyone’s mindset had undergone subtle changes.

At Hongcheng Technology, although Chang You was the Vice President, he didn’t have much say in matters.

There were several other vice presidents at the same level as Chang You, not to mention a CEO above them.

With different perspectives among the leadership, friction and disagreements were inevitable.

If Chang You, as Vice President, had so little freedom, his subordinates had even less.

But now, Chang You had earned Boss Pei’s trust and could completely decide the development direction of this product himself, greatly increasing his autonomy.

Naturally, his team members were no longer as constrained as before.

Moreover, the company had originally gone bankrupt with everyone going their separate ways, but now they were reunited. Most people felt a sense of unexpected hope, which also filled them with gratitude.

Chang You hung up the phone and said to everyone, “Boss Pei says he has other matters to attend to and won’t be coming over. He wants us to make our own decisions.”

“Let’s begin then.”

“Director Lin, as a representative of Tenda, please feel free to voice any opinions you might have.”

Lin Wan nodded, “Alright.”

She didn’t think she would necessarily have any questions, as everyone else in the room was more professional than her.

But since her position was Director, she needed to maintain the appropriate attitude.

Chang You began the meeting according to the established procedure.

“For this phone’s template, let’s use the flagship phone plan we were developing at Hongcheng Technology as a foundation. Everyone should still have some of the plans that were forcibly terminated, and we’ve also discussed procurement plans in detail with some suppliers. We can use those that don’t have legal risks.”

“Our company’s first mobile phone will have to use the ODM model; I don’t think anyone has any doubts about that.”

“Currently, our main tasks are twofold: first, to develop a system unique to our phone brand, and second, to determine the general direction of this product to better communicate with the contract manufacturer.”

“The importance of the system goes without saying…”

Lin Wan listened quietly on the side, occasionally taking notes.

Although she hadn’t deliberately researched the intricacies of the mobile phone industry, through osmosis, she had picked up some basic concepts.

In the mobile phone industry, OEM and ODM are two common business models.

A tech company making phones doesn’t necessarily need to handle every aspect from design to production, branding, sales, and so on. They only need to entrust the corresponding work to the appropriate professional manufacturers.

OEM means the company designs and outsources production, also known as “contract manufacturing,” like Pineapple phones.

ODM, on the other hand, means the company provides specifications and requirements to the manufacturer, who then designs and produces the product, commonly known as “white labeling.”

Of course, phone manufacturers can also make customization requests to ODM manufacturers. As long as they pay enough, everything is negotiable.

OTTO Tech had just been established and couldn’t possibly independently handle all the technologies needed to develop a phone, so taking the ODM route was the better choice.

“White labeling” doesn’t necessarily result in inferior quality, nor is it embarrassing. A large number of domestic and foreign phones use the ODM model, including Shenhua, which has many models completed through ODM.

Many ODM manufacturers have years of experience in phone design and manufacturing, with excellent solutions from product design to hardware combinations, rich experience, mature quality control and supply chains, and reliable quality.

There was once a certain phone manufacturer whose low-end phones produced through ODM white labeling had better quality than their self-designed high-end phones, which was quite a confusing phenomenon for consumers.

Of course, if a company could develop to the size and level of Shenhua or Pineapple, completely self-designing with contract manufacturers producing the flagship phones would be a better choice for maintaining high-end brand value.

But for the current OTTO Tech, this step was still somewhat distant.

ODM is white labeling, but it can also be customized. Of course, depending on the degree of customization, the cost varies.

What everyone was currently discussing was the general plan for this phone—how to integrate various solutions.

Everyone began to speak freely.

“We need to use the latest generation of chips.”

“The screen should also be the best, right?”

“The camera can’t be inferior either. It seems that many flagship phones have recently been using dual-camera solutions. Let’s go with that, too?”

“Let’s make the battery as large as possible. Flagship chips and good screens consume power quite quickly.”

“Let’s increase the RAM, too. Then add a light?”

“Wait a minute, with our small procurement volume, can we even buy flagship chips and good screens?”

“If not, we’ll just add more money. If such an expensive phone doesn’t use a flagship chip, we’d be criticized to death. We must buy them no matter what!”

Everyone chimed in, eager to equip this phone with all the latest and best features.

The prototype of this phone was Hongcheng Technology’s flagship M9, which was originally an attempt by Hongcheng to break into the high-end market.

However, the M9 was priced at just under 4,000 yuan.

Now they needed to raise it to the 8,000 yuan range…

How many good features would they need to add?

Previously, when making phones, they had to be frugal, trying every possible way to reduce costs. Many good solutions looked tempting, but were simply too expensive to use.

They could only secretly save costs on vibration motors, charging ports, NFC, and so on.

But now? They were piling on good features, and it still wasn’t enough!

Moreover, every millimeter in a phone is valuable real estate. It’s not just about throwing in all the latest and best solutions.

For example, the full-screen technology that few people were using yet could make the bezels of the phone very narrow, but this brought problems: the earpiece and some other components would need to be rearranged, inevitably leading to many compromises in other aspects.

Although such phones would be quite attention-grabbing, the sacrifices would be too great, and the practicality might not be good.

They discussed these issues at length, but Chang You ultimately decided to abandon these seemingly attractive solutions and opt for mature, stable, and expensive technologies, honestly piling on quality components.

The hardware discussion wrapped up fairly quickly.

Lin Wan understood some of it and felt that this phone’s hardware configuration wasn’t much different from Shenhua’s flagship phones, but in terms of the system, customized components, and unique selling points, it certainly couldn’t compare to Shenhua’s.

The brand difference was even more stark.

Although their phone also adopted some new supply chain technologies with decent gimmicks, it couldn’t possibly surpass the flagship phones of other major brands just because of these minor selling points.

And Shenhua’s flagship phones sold for less than 6,000 yuan.

Their phone would be difficult to sell even at around 5,500 yuan, so how could it possibly sell for 8,000?

Chang You said, “Everyone, think of other ways. Boss Pei has given a strict order that this phone must sell for 8,000 yuan.”

“When I spoke with Boss Pei earlier, he already gave me some ideas. For example, this phone would only be replaced, not repaired. If the phone breaks, we’d directly send a new one to the customer’s door, transfer the data on the spot, and then reset the old phone.”

“In short… find ways to add some additional services to this phone to make it worthy of the price.”

Chang You started the discussion, and others began to chime in again.

“What about increasing the trade-in value? Whenever we release a new phone, users who want to buy it can trade in their old phones. We’ll increase the standard valuation by an additional 500 yuan, which would help bind users to our brand.”

“I think the packaging box can also be made more exquisite, with the best factory screen protectors, phone cases, and other accessories, which could slightly increase the value.”

“Or we could negotiate partnerships with some app manufacturers, like video websites. The phone would come pre-installed with apps, and users could enjoy membership services when watching videos on the phone.”

Everyone discussed and came up with many ideas, some costly, some less so.

But even with all these additions, it would still be difficult to raise the phone’s price to 8,000 yuan.

After all, Boss Pei had said that the comprehensive net profit margin of the phone should not exceed 5%. If the final value of the phone fell far short, it would be difficult to explain to Boss Pei.

Eventually, everyone fell silent, seemingly at a loss.

This was normal because the mobile phone industry has a very high entry barrier. The flagship phones of those big manufacturers are generally well-rounded models, with no weak points in any aspect.

Even though Chang You’s team could utilize some new technologies from their time at Hongcheng Technology, their research and development capabilities were still far inferior compared to international giants like Shenhua.

So, speaking purely about the product, even with everyone’s best efforts, raising the phone’s price to 6,000 would be good enough. Adding various small benefits might barely push it to 7,000, still falling short of the 8,000 mark.

Chang You looked around at everyone and said, “Let’s think again. Are there any other ways? If we still can’t reach 8,000, then we’ll have to buy some expensive customized components.”

Using these specially expensive customized components could indeed raise the price, but the cost-effectiveness would be too low. For a small manufacturer like OTTO Tech, it would feel like being ripped off.

Seeing everyone at a loss, Lin Wan spoke up.

“If we’re talking about partnerships with other video websites or software apps, at most we’d get membership benefits, and it would be difficult to negotiate deeper cooperation.”

“I can go and talk with Tenda’s other business departments. I should be able to secure better benefits, which would be of higher value.”

“For example…”

“Before each new movie by Fei Huang Studio is released, we could give two premiere tickets to users of this phone.”

“Phone users could enjoy lifetime membership treatment at Slackin’ Internet Café, with discounted internet fees and a free drink daily.”

“After binding their game accounts, they could receive one new Tenda game each year.”

“As lifetime members of Terminus Chinese Web, they would get discounts on subscriptions and additional recommendation tickets and monthly tickets.”

“They would automatically become VIP customers of Headwind Logistics, enjoying priority in sending and receiving packages.”

“They would become distinguished guests of Mingyun Private Kitchen, with a free dish when their consumption reaches a certain amount.”

“That’s all for now. If there are other benefits we can add in the future, we can add them.”

Someone beside her hesitantly raised a hand, “So many benefits, Director Lin, can you secure all of them?”

Lin Wan nodded matter-of-factly, “Of course, I know the heads of all these businesses. I’ll go talk to them, and they might even have better ideas.”

Chang You’s eyes lit up, “That would be best! Then we’ll trouble Director Lin with this matter!”

Lin Wan waved her hand, “No need to thank me.”

“Boss Pei once reminded me that as a director, I am indispensable to OTTO Tech and should not consider myself an outsider.”

“I think Boss Pei was hinting that, as a veteran employee of Tenda, I should act as a bridge between OTTO Tech and other departments of the Tenda Group.”

“Leave the coordination with other departments to me!”