Gionee, a long-established Old Firm, plans to rely on the millet model

At the end of October, Gionee, a local manufacturer, suddenly announced a high-profile investment in a new company, and intended to use the Internet model to create a brand new mobile phone, exactly as Lei and Millet did 3 years ago. As of press, Gionee has not yet released the name of the new brand, but said the first product will be released within 3 months.

As an established manufacturer, Gionee has mighty in the era of the function machine, but after entering the era of the intelligent machine, but the scenery no longer, gradually fade out of sight. So far in the minds of most consumers, the image of Gionee is still a special business people, especially in small business owners popular.

A veteran manufacturer wants to build an Internet brand, also explicitly proposed that millet as the object of study, such a high-profile immediately aroused many outside questions. In many people's eyes, just like the recent two years of the millet imitators, Gionee only do the appearance, in exchange for marketing gimmicks, not reliable.

What outsiders don't know, though, is that Gionee's move was not a whim, but a 1-year-long plan. Gionee This is not "amateurs", but to the real.

"Life and death" card position

Why does Gionee have to do such a thing at such a point in time?

The most direct reason is that the company's days have been tough in the last 2 years. 2011 is the "Last Glory", with 21 million of the year's shipments, it became the largest domestic open market winners, and overseas ODM market share of the largest domestic manufacturers. However, with the advent of the age of the intelligent machine, the slow gionee quickly into the passive.

In the Gionee was the inventory problem, a force has started a succession of siege, swept the domestic mobile phone market, this is lei and his millet.

Strong contrast let Gionee President Lou Weibing quite shocked, as early as 2011 Millet officially released Millet generation mobile phone, he already knew the Lei action, but at that time he didn't think this layman can really do success. The results turned out to be a big surprise for everyone in the mobile phone industry. "For the Fever and health" of the millet mobile phone quickly at 2000 yuan in the price section of the firm footing. "Millet in the past few years like running on the highway, behind completely no pursuers." "Lou Weibing said.

In the face of the success of Millet, Lou Weibing began to reflect on the next step Gionee how to go. Follow the traditional play obviously not, in fact, in the millet generation, the local manufacturers have launched several times on the suppression of millet, the introduction of the same price, configuration is not inferior to millet products, but each time is a reactive return.

The brutal reality let Lou Weibing begin to understand millet tenacious vitality behind deeper things, that is, millet represents the Internet model is the industry's future trend. In this way, Gionee decided to build an Internet-facing mobile phone brand.

However, to create an internet-oriented mobile phone brand does not mean that there will be a head-on conflict with millet, in Lou Weibing view, "Such an industrial chain, and hardware and brand of the industry, will not appear in the Internet companies such a winner-take-all situation, the future may be a few oligarchy pattern." When it comes to brand attributes, there will be a large number of segments, such as micro-credit products may not exist subdivision needs, but the phone is not the same, the iphone is also someone feel good, some people feel bad. ”

So where is there still room and opportunity for the smartphone market, which is already very competitive? Although Lou Weibing in the interview did not disclose the final brand new product prices, but hinted that the new brand decided to seize more high-end than millet consumers.

Analysis of the current smart phone pattern will find that 4000~5000 yuan has been divided between Apple and Samsung, and their brand in the consumer market position is quite solid, this is not the local manufacturers can be shaken in the short term, at 2000 yuan Price, Millet has become the benchmark price range, Also in this price range of the most brand and market impact of the manufacturers, with millet at this price head-on is not a wise choice.

And in 2000~4000 yuan this price, is 3000 yuan up and down the price range, although there are many well-known manufacturers of products, but there is no similar to Apple and millet in the same price section in the absolute leadership of the existence of the brand, the new generation of the charm, oppo although there is a good sales, But no matter from the sales data or the impact of public opinion than Millet is a magnitude. In other words, there is a brand vacuum in the price space.

For many consumers, 3000 yuan up and down is a very awkward price, because the lack of enough influential brands and products, they would simply bite to buy more expensive apple and Samsung, or will choose more affordable millet. Therefore, the market demand of this price range is only to be diverted to a large extent, if the operation is proper, it is really promising.

In addition, in Lou Weibing view, August millet for the thousand-yuan machine market launched Red Rice is a brand of millet damage. In fact, there have been a lot of relatively high-end millet users began to complain, because of the low income of millet user groups, they began to think that using millet is a "no face" thing. This creates opportunities for other manufacturers.

How do you learn?

Determined to learn millet walk an Internet mobile phone road, then how to operate such a thing?

Lei in many occasions have said that the pattern of millet is not mysterious, but even if the traditional handset manufacturers know the play of millet, and finally learn not to, because the enterprise DNA is fundamentally different.

Lou Weibing also very clear this point, "traditional manufacturers now these trader's experience is mostly in 20 years or so, basically is the background of hardware, everyone's thinking and experience has been cured, there are indeed limitations." "In addition, the Millet Internet model is able to go through, to a large extent, also thanks to Lei in the Internet industry, and these are the deep accumulation of traditional manufacturers do not have, want to change to the Internet model, need to pay a high learning costs, including time and energy."

Another reality is that the original brand of local manufacturers has become entrenched in consumers ' minds, and even though they have tried some new games over the years, consumers are not buying it.

On balance, Gionee finally chose a very radical and complete road to change-to get rid of the baggage and start a business two times.

The new brand, which is affiliated with a wholly independent Yu Jinli company, Gionee merely as an investor, Lou Weibing wants to run the new company in 100% Internet ways.

The new company to Tencent once mobile phone ROM Tita core team, and in order to ensure that the new company's internet gene is pure enough, Lou Wei ice strictly prohibited the new company from the Gionee to dig people, and even the design of the personnel are recruited from outside, rather than the use of Jin Li's own experienced team, This is all for the sake of the Internet, the brand is not influenced by the traditional manufacturers ' thinking, the 100-person new company, only the front desk is "requisition" from the Gionee, even if the Lou Weibing himself is only as chairman of such a sympathizers, the company's specific operations and operation are entirely the new team to take responsibility.

The independence of the new company is also reflected in its own independent office area and management system, all in accordance with the standards of Internet companies to configure. In addition, as the Gionee two start-up projects, the new company's core team has a stake in the company, Lou Weibing said the new company will remain open, willing to accept the participation of resource-oriented investors.

Learn what?

After owning the internet, the mobile phone company that advertised the Internet has already taken shape, but this is only the first step, and the next key is how to operate such a brand. In fact, including Baidu, Ali, 360 of these internet giants have tried mobile phones, but everyone is just holding a amateurs mentality, a taste. Now, the only successful benchmark is only the millet family, which is also the reason Lou Weibing to millet.

With Lou Weibing own words, Gionee investment new brand will "learn millet, anti-millet." He stressed that because the target consumer population there are differences, the so-called anti-millet is not want to direct confrontation with Millet, but refers to the basis of the millet model, in some specific aspects, and millet play the opposite direction.

For example, in his opinion, MIUI, one of the millet trump cards, did "heavy, and all, and big", the reason is because a large part of the users of Millet daily entertainment is around the mobile phone, and the Gionee want to seize the consumer, they more value is not the mobile phone software level interaction details, Gionee wants to give these users a more minimalist interaction experience.

In product function, Gionee also hope to find different with millet, for example, will specifically create some specific functions, such as photography. In industrial design, Jin Li also said it would be higher than the millet level.

In addition, under the impact of the Internet, traditional manufacturers of previous experience is not useless. In Gionee's view, at least manufacturing resources and supply chain resources are still the advantages of traditional enterprises, the new brand will not be as limited as millet, the lack of capacity, and repeatedly been accused of hunger marketing. In addition Gionee now all over the country line dot from the quantity is also millet twice times, this also can provide the Post-sale service guarantee for the new brand product.

But is that enough? The essence of the Millet model is never to sell a mobile phone so simple.

Although Millet's biggest profit and income is the sales of mobile phone, but this is not really the result that Lei want. For Millet, the mobile phone as the hardware is only a user access to the Internet and a gateway, the future of millet is really hope that the MIUI is hosted and built by the software ecosystem. Today, only miui covered by the theme, games and other virtual services can bring millet income of tens of millions of yuan per month, and this number is increasing rapidly.

In addition, Lei once on the "commercial value" of the core concept of millet, that is, the future of mobile phones will replace the PC as the center of Personal computing, Millet's goal is to cell phone as the core, and constantly integrate the users around the other equipment. This is why Millet introduced millet box and millet TV.

Today, most of the manufacturers who want to learn about millet are still figuring out how to "replicate" a cell phone that is as cost-effective as millet, but from the point of view of millet, it does not actually consider itself a mobile phone company, but an internet company. It builds a set of three-dimensional business and business models that traditional manufacturers really need to learn.

From the perspective of the industry as a whole, the current domestic mobile phone market is at a very delicate stage. Although the outside world looks like the entire industry scenery is infinite, but the hidden worry only in the industry person's own heart clear.

When the PC era was also a giant and ants coexist, but with the technical threshold of the decline, the price level of the entire industry is also rapidly falling, which directly led to small manufacturers of the annihilated. In the eyes of many industry insiders, the current mobile phone market is repeating the story of what happened in the PC market.

Although faced with the industry reshuffle, but on the other hand, the smartphone era consumers of the machine cycle than the age of the machine greatly shortened, which means that there is a huge market increase. and want to seize these incremental market, must use new play to impress consumers, millet over the past 3 years of examples have proved the feasibility of the Internet model, which also makes many traditional manufacturers envious unceasingly, but today, but not a really decent imitators appear. Right now, in addition to the Golden State, many domestic manufacturers, including Oppo, are also planning to transform to the Internet model, perhaps in a few months time, the local mobile phone market will set off a "Westernization movement" to learn from the Internet.

However, for the traditional handset manufacturers, to truly complete the transformation, perhaps only to forget their "mobile phone manufacturers" identity can be done. Like today's Apple, no one will label it a "handset maker", but the iphone is arguably the best mobile phone in the world today.