#12 - Section: Meeting with Mr. Lei

Even though Lei Jun hadn't founded Xiaomi Corporation yet, his connections and status in the internet industry placed him in the second tier, just behind Ma Huateng, Ma Yun, and Robin Li.

Such a figure might not mean much to the general public outside the industry, but within the industry, it represented a symbol of strength and recognition.

The arrival of such a figure at Huaxing inevitably brought smiles of admiration from the employees, both high and low, while also giving each Huaxing employee a clearer understanding of their company's strength.

After Lu Haifeng showed Lei Jun around the company, he took him to the reception room. Li Gang, Zhang Yu, and other senior executives had already met Lei Jun when he first arrived. Now, Lu Haifeng's conversation with Lei Jun was more like a private meeting and casual chat.

Upon entering the reception room, Lu Haifeng invited Lei Jun to sit down and poured him a glass of water.

Lei Jun said, "President Lu, the reason I came to your company today is twofold. First, I wanted to chat with you about smartphones, and second, to see if you need any money."

A look of surprise appeared on Lu Haifeng's face. He came all this way just to talk about this? Not to invest? Could it be that he wants to make phones?

Lu Haifeng was right. Lei Jun did want to make phones.

A few days ago, Lei Jun stepped back from the internet industry, re-examining the industry from an outsider's perspective. Gradually, he gained a new understanding of the industry. There were countless companies in the internet industry, but only BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) were household names. In Lei Jun's view, these three companies represented the general trend of the internet industry in this era!

Now, he was gradually realizing that the tide of the internet industry was coming, and the entire industry was ushering in a turning point. And the turning point was actually smartphones. He hadn't seen Lu Haifeng last week, so he came today to ask for his opinion on the industry. After all, it was difficult for new internet startups to break through in the domains of the BAT companies. The only possible breakthrough was smartphones.

The mobile internet also relied on the development of smartphones. The extent of smartphone development determined the height of the mobile internet. Therefore, as long as one became a leading smartphone manufacturer in the market, they could have a certain position in the industry, whether in terms of profit or influence. He had missed many opportunities, but he vaguely felt in his heart that the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

Seeing Lu Haifeng's puzzled expression, he said, "I'm already 40 years old, considered half an old guy. Both smartphones and the mobile internet are emerging things. Young people's ideas and thinking are definitely different from ours."

Lu Haifeng said in surprise, "I thought you were here to invest. President Lei, you wouldn't be thinking of making smartphones, would you?"

"I want to start one last business. After all, I've already missed many things, as you know."

"Yes, after all, you've done the businesses that the BAT companies do."

"That's why I came to ask you about the development of the domestic smartphone industry. After all, you've already made smartphones and understand them better than I do."

"What do you think is the reason that makes young people buy smartphones and abandon feature phones?" Lei Jun asked.

"I think the reason why young people switch to smartphones is very simple. It's because smartphones have many services that feature phones don't have. It's also the trend of the times."

… …

I chatted with President Lei about smartphones for a whole morning. President Lei left in a hurry without even eating. He really is a workaholic!

Meeting!

The difference was that at this meeting, all the senior executives of Huaxing showed joy on their faces. Their mental state was no longer the dejected one of before. Everyone was radiant and full of confidence in the future, and even more confident in Huaxing's smartphones.

"I have two things to say now," Lu Haifeng said.

"First, Huaxing's direct-sale smartphone stores must be in place within one year."

Direct-sale stores were a plan previously proposed by Lu Haifeng, requiring at least one direct-sale store to be established in all provincial capitals. Franchise stores should also be established in first, second, and third-tier cities, including towns. If that was really not possible, they could cooperate with some merchants. Anyway, there was only one requirement: there must be sufficient offline presence.

This proposal was initially met with strong opposition. After all, this would require setting up thirty or forty official direct-sale stores across the country, and the price was not a small amount. However, Lu Haifeng insisted on his own way, and everyone had no choice.

Now, however, no one said anything anymore. They had absolute trust in Lu Haifeng.

The person specifically in charge of this task even stood up and guaranteed the completion of the task.

"The second thing is about the production line. I have already instructed the research institutions abroad to design intelligent production lines for us. Five large-scale intelligent production lines have already been designed and manufactured, and they will arrive in a few days."

The production lines were bought by Lu Haifeng from the system, but they were too expensive to buy more, at 100 million points per line. Therefore, he could only buy five for now.

"President Lu, how many phones can one production line produce in a day?" Zhang Yu asked.

"One phone every ten seconds. How many do you think it can produce in a day?"

"Then how many people do we need on President Lu's production line? I need to arrange recruitment."

"I'm talking about intelligent production lines. No one is needed on the production line," Lu Haifeng replied.

"Wow, that's so advanced! One every ten seconds, 360 per hour, 8640 per day. Five production lines is 43200 units!" Zhang Yu exclaimed in shock.