Chapter 223 For Example, For Example, For Example
USB, flash memory, USB drives, MP3 players.
Once these technologies are integrated, they would become a major gift package prepared for Yuanxin's entry into the international market—and the beginning of Yuanxin's dominance in the mobile phone space.
In the previous timeline, MP3 functionality wasn't integrated into phones until after standalone MP3 players had already become popular. As a result, MP3 phones didn't feel revolutionary. They soon became a forgotten gimmick as smartphones emerged.
But in reality, the ability for a phone to play music was a revolution in itself.
MP3's popularity was inseparable from the rise of the internet. But in China, that wasn't even a problem—Su Yuanshan was certain that a single 700MB CD filled with MP3s would solve everything.
The only issue was that all these technologies were still developing, and no matter how anxious he was, things couldn't be rushed.
...
After the meeting, Su Yuanshan returned to his office. Zhou Xiaohui handed him another cup of coffee.
"No more... I've already had four cups this morning. I'm running to the bathroom like a middle-aged man with a bladder problem."
Zhou Xiaohui burst out laughing. "How about some tea then? Or I could brew you some goji berries?"
"…Forget it. I still have a little pride left." Su Yuanshan gestured for her to take the coffee away, then picked up the phone from his desk.
He dialed Wang Chaoxin's number, leaned back in his chair, and said lazily, "Hey, Brother Wang—how's your inventory looking?"
"Sent out about fifty thousand units bit by bit. Just waiting on the May Day surge now," Wang replied with a relaxed chuckle, not sounding anxious at all.
Currently, Yuanxin and Zhongxin shared the same warehouse in the Special Zone. Things had been chaotic at first, until Chen Jing sent their materials director to be stationed there permanently.
"Hmm, do you have any promotions planned?"
"Nope. Mobile's handling that. We're just cooperating with their push, right?"
Su Yuanshan thought for a moment. "Alright, do you have any extra inventory? If so, send some to the commercial department—we can use it for a May Day promotion."
Wang's team had initially focused on channels, meant to drive down the brand value of MOTO, Siemens, and the like, so most of their initial inventory had been directed to distributors.
"Not much, less than 5,000 units. Does your uncle need them?"
"Not all of them. Just send about 1,000 over. It's just for an event."
"What event?"
"A 'buy appliances, get a phone' campaign," Su Yuanshan said, chuckling.
This year, his uncle's electronics mall had started facing competition and was beginning to stock imported high-end products.
And the planned split-up of the business (something discussed since last year) still hadn't happened. Once the business separated, whether his uncle needed Yuanxin to inject capital or wanted to negotiate with suppliers, things would get complicated.
So for now, per his uncle's request, the commercial division still remained nominally under Yuanxin's umbrella.
Internally, however, the two had already separated. His uncle didn't attend company meetings anymore and focused entirely on the business side.
"Interesting… but the appliances bundled with phones can't be cheap, right? Who's gonna buy that stuff?"
"Doesn't matter. The point is to give them away."
"...Alright. Should I ship them directly to Shanghai?"
"Wait. I'll have my uncle contact you."
Su Yuanshan ended the call and immediately dialed his uncle.
...
After arranging everything, Su Yuanshan rubbed his forehead and started calculating costs.
Among current appliance brands, Sony, Panasonic, and Philips were the giants. Thanks to more relaxed import policies this year, their products had poured into the market.
Add in steep tariffs, brand premiums, and global pricing strategies, and the price of a 40-inch rear-projection TV could easily soar into the tens of thousands.
Su Yuanshan's plan was to quietly implement some precise brand positioning through this May Day campaign.
—The most expensive, most cutting-edge products would come bundled with Yuanxin phones. Slightly lower-tier goods would come with either competitor phones or Zhongxin phones.
Sure, it smelled a bit like shameless clout-chasing—but it was undeniably an effective way to carve out brand tiers and pricing structure.
The only downside: it would cost a fortune.
"Ah, whatever. Let's just say I'm doing my uncle a favor," Su Yuanshan muttered, finally letting it go. He chuckled to himself. "Call it charity."
The biggest headache for Zhang Ke this year had been the commercial division's original expansion plan: nationwide chains.
After two years of rapid growth, they'd finally encountered real competition.
Two veteran electronics mall chains—Jiamei in the north and Jiangning in the south—suddenly sprang to life, opening new stores everywhere with uncanny coordination... almost like they had made a secret pact to corner Yuanxin's commercial arm.
When Su Yuanshan heard this news last month, he was stunned—these two had been bitter enemies in his past life!
Even so, Yuanxin Commercial had already developed the aura of a retail giant. Unless those two caught last year's policy-driven "money printer" boom, they wouldn't catch up easily.
Su Yuanshan glanced at his watch. Feeling too lazy to go downstairs, he asked Zhou Xiaohui to bring lunch up to the office, then opened his laptop and launched the email client.
Back when Ding Lei set up the mail server, he had led the team personally. It only took them three days to get everything running. Now all of Yuanxin's computers had the client installed. From the recent user feedback, it was clear the system was mature and ready for market.
In his inbox was a newly received, unread email from this morning. Su Yuanshan skimmed the subject line and opened it casually.
"Dear President Shan,
Originally, I intended to send this feedback to the Internet R&D Center, but since I haven't been able to connect to the network, I'm sending it directly to you instead.
During usage, I found the email system to be very stable. The group messaging feature works well and is very suitable as an internal enterprise mail system. However, I think there are still a few minor areas that could improve the user experience:
For example, the current system doesn't clearly differentiate between internal and external emails. This affects sorting speed and prioritization.
Also, the interface for read/unread emails isn't especially intuitive or user-friendly. Grouping and archiving could be clearer. In my view, as enterprise email, automatic categorization would greatly enhance the experience and reduce unnecessary operations.
And for another example… content search functionality could be added…"
These repeated "for examples" left Su Yuanshan staring at the screen in a daze. For a second, he even wondered: did this guy time-travel from the future after using Foxmail?
Of course he knew about all these features. But his plan had always been to let Ding Lei's team grow organically and discover them for themselves.
He hadn't expected these few "for examples" to hit the mark so precisely that it left him stunned.
He instinctively checked the sender's name.
Xiaolong.zhang
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