Chapter 235 Universal Charger
Inside Su Yuanshan's office, his uncle, Zhang Ke, looked noticeably thinner but was in excellent spirits.
He pulled a prototype of the Vidoo phone from his briefcase and tossed it to Su Yuanshan, then began rummaging through Su Yuanshan's filing cabinet looking for tea.
"President Zhang, let me make tea for you. You probably can't tell which canister is the good stuff," Zhou Xiaohui said with a sweet smile, teasing, "I'll make sure to pick the most expensive one for you."
"I don't believe you," Zhang Ke said, laughing as he cracked open a canister, sniffed it, and then handed it to Zhou Xiaohui.
"Last time you fooled me with ten-yuan-a-pack jasmine tea."
Zhou Xiaohui chuckled.
"Things are different now. President Shan's got tea worth hundreds of yuan per tael here."
Su Yuanshan preferred coffee, but he kept high-end teas ready for guests.
"Xiaohui, just give him whatever's handy," Su Yuanshan said while fiddling with the new phone.
The Vidoo's design followed the principles Su Yuanshan had laid out:
straight-bar style, compact, lightweight.
The brand name "Vidoo" was subtly hidden beneath a glass front, while the back cover bore a matte Yuanxin logo.
Su Yuanshan tapped a few keys and found the feedback and keyboard layout excellent.
In terms of looks, it was already approaching the feel of the Nokia 8210 of the future.
The only flaw was that the antenna hadn't been eliminated yet, but Zhu Yuanxin's team had cleverly hidden it inside — you could pull it out if needed.
As he played with the phone, Su Yuanshan felt a wave of youthful nostalgia.
"Very good! Has it gone through testing yet? Like drop tests, aging tests, environmental stress tests…?"
"I just brought it back for you — how would I know all that?" Zhang Ke chuckled.
"This is the first batch, hot off the line.
Personally, I think it's going to be a smash hit."
"I have that feeling too," Su Yuanshan said, finally relaxing a bit.
Just then, the phone on his desk rang. It was Duan Yongping.
"Did you get it?" Duan asked.
"Got it. Looks great. How's testing?"
"Still ongoing. No uncontrollable issues so far. Also, we've come up with a new idea," Duan's voice sounded excited.
"Go on."
"One big pain point right now is battery life — especially since the Vidoo has a few mini-games built-in now, which boosts usage time and builds emotional attachment with users."
Su Yuanshan mentally applauded Duan's insight about "building emotional bonds with devices."
But he was curious: without lithium batteries, how would Duan solve the endurance issue? Maybe develop a nickel-cadmium battery pack?
"Currently, people solve it by carrying spare batteries," Duan said, "but swapping them is a hassle.
So, we redesigned the charger.
Besides the usual phone charging, it now has an external slot to charge spare batteries via contact points."
Su Yuanshan's eyes lit up immediately.
"If you design adjustable, movable contact points, it could work with any battery — as long as the positive and negative terminals align."
There was a stunned silence on the line.
After a few seconds, Duan Yongping finally muttered, "Holy shit."
Su Yuanshan laughed.
"If you need help, I can sketch it out and fax it to you."
"No need — I got it!
It's simple — just use spring-loaded clips!" Duan took a deep breath.
"President Shan, seriously, I'm impressed."
"Hehe, and we can market it as a low-cost universal charger — for any phone battery.
We'll call it... Universal Charger."
"Yes, yes! That's it! Universal Charger!"
Duan Yongping laughed heartily.
"I'll start working on it immediately — it'll be our secret weapon."
...
After hanging up, Su Yuanshan noticed his uncle giving him a bemused look.
"You little punk...
You used to be just a tiny kid.
How did you get so damn smart?" Zhang Ke leaned over, pretending to examine Su Yuanshan's head.
"You just invented a new charger, didn't you?"
"More like I gave a little inspiration," Su Yuanshan said with a chuckle.
The Universal Charger —
Honestly, it would become so ubiquitous during the feature phone era that it was sometimes called the greatest invention of the 21st century for Chinese people, albeit half-jokingly.
It truly entered millions of households.
In a way, it extended the life of nickel-cadmium battery manufacturers who would have otherwise gone bankrupt much sooner.
With Yuanxin launching it now, not only would it benefit the public, it would also massively boost Vidoo's phone sales.
Settling onto the sofa, Su Yuanshan said,
"Uncle, you didn't come all this way just to bring me the prototype, right?"
"You're too smart," Zhang Ke said, taking a sip of tea and instantly turning serious.
"As of last month, Jiamei and Anning's chain stores combined have surpassed sixty locations — and they're still expanding rapidly."
"One is pushing south, the other north… They're about to clash in the provincial capital."
Su Yuanshan frowned deeply.
"And you?"
"I've got just under a hundred stores.
But they've clearly gotten new capital injections.
Their May Day promotions were aggressive.
Our analysis suggests they have a three-phase plan:
First May Day, then National Day, then a third push during the Spring Festival."
"Xiaoshan, they're openly gunning for our market."
Su Yuanshan's face darkened.
He had mostly let his uncle manage the commercial division independently — partly because he trusted him, partly because of early warnings about overexpansion risks.
Without these two rivals, Zhang Ke's retail empire would have built an unshakable foundation.
After a few seconds of silence, Su Yuanshan asked,
"What's your plan?"
"Attack or defend.
Or just wait and die," Zhang Ke said bluntly.
"The mall industry in China is just starting out.
Whoever survives will rule it."
"Well... not necessarily," Su Yuanshan said cautiously.
He wasn't about to explain the future horrors of internet-driven e-commerce — that was still more than a decade away.
"But yes — it's either attack or defend."
"So? Attack or defend?" his uncle pressed.
"Attack, of course," Su Yuanshan said immediately.
"Right now, we hold still.
Wait three months until National Day."
Seeing Su Yuanshan narrow his eyes, Zhang Ke whipped out his notebook.
"Tell me."
"Hehe," Su Yuanshan chuckled.
"Ordinary folks care about one thing — getting a bargain."
"Mall wars are won by subsidies."
"When National Day comes, launch a massive ad campaign.
Say you're allocating a billion yuan for subsidies."
"Then post agents at rival malls.
Make sure similar products are always just a bit cheaper than theirs."
"Crush them with money."
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