Chapter 382: Ma Liyun: This Kid Wants to Trap Me

The online feud between Zhou Hongyi and Lei Yi's army had become almost routine; after netizens took a superficial bite of the drama, they cast the matter aside.

To put it plainly, they had seen too much and grown tired of it.

"Don't just talk; if you have the guts, go live-stream a fight."

"To be honest, the quality and system of 360 phones are quite good; I bought a 360n1 for my father last year, and it performs better than the Xiaomi 1s."

"What does that have to do with 360? 360 uses the Sister Chengzi phone supply chain, the manufacturer is the Sister Chengzi phone factory, and even the system is AuroraOS; it's normal that Xiaomi can't beat 360."

"Doesn't the Xiaomi phone supply chain and contract manufacturer use the same system as the 360 phone?"

"To put it plainly, the MIUI system is terrible; even with the same Xiaomi 1s, under the AuroraOS system, the Taobao app's launch speed is two seconds faster."

Lei Yi stared at the online comments, his face as deep and still as water.

Before Sister Chengzi Technology appeared, he hadn't thought making phones was that difficult, but after 360, an outsider, thoroughly crushed Xiaomi, he suddenly realized.

The MIUI system really doesn't work!

Perhaps it is a bit better than Meizu's FlymeOS or Mama Ali's YunOS, but the gap with AuroraOS is too obvious; not only is it slightly inferior in smoothness and response speed, but it also cannot compare in resource scheduling and power consumption control.

No one fears not recognizing quality; they fear comparing goods.

Most users' understanding of electronic component parameters like processors, memory, cameras, screens, and batteries is basically half-understood.

But whether a phone lags, and the pros and cons of its stability and compatibility, they can perceive extremely clearly.

In 2012, the Xiaomi 1s sold a cumulative 3.7 million units, of which 3.1 million were equipped with the AuroraOS system, while the MIUI version of the Xiaomi 1s sold only 600,000 units.

The sales volume differed by more than four times!

"Ali, what stage has the hardware testing process for the Xiaomi 2A and Xiaomi 2S reached?"

Lei Yi withdrew his gaze from the computer screen, looked up, and asked Li Wanqiang.

"Drop, squeeze, interface durability, and water and dust resistance tests are all complete; the testing department is still busy checking screen touch precision and durability, as well as calibrating the gyroscope, accelerometer, and light sensors."

Li Wanqiang, who had just been cursing back and forth with Zhou Hongyi for half an hour, sat opposite and replied.

"Does Sister Chengzi Technology have any new developments recently?" Lei Yi asked next.

Li Wanqiang immediately grasped the boss's intention and then speculated: "Since 360 has launched a new product, with Sister Chengzi Technology's R&D strength, they probably prepared a new product long ago; most likely, the application ecosystem of AuroraFutureOS hasn't yet met the launch standards."

"Promoting a completely new mobile operating system, how easy is that?" Lei Yi shook his head and sighed.

He paused and then said: "First, suspend the development of the next version of the MIUI system; do only maintenance work."

The implication was that he intended to abandon the iteration and upgrade of the MIUI system.

Li Wanqiang nodded silently in agreement.

Boss Lei had given the MIUI system a chance, but it is not hard to see from the Xiaomi 1s shipment volume that switching the entire line to AuroraOS is the wiser choice.

Anyway, observe the market feedback at that time; initially, just release a few thousand units to the market; that counts as giving Chen Yansen face.

Meanwhile.

The deposit refund storm for the Little Yellow Bike continued; within a single day, account funds decreased by nearly one hundred million.

In other words, about 500,000 users chose to refund their deposits, and some users even directly uninstalled the app.

Although the Little Yellow Bike customer service team tried hard to soothe them, the deposit arrival time was indeed delayed by more than ten hours.

Anyone with eyes can see that the Little Yellow Bike's cash flow definitely has problems.

Otherwise, it could have arrived instantly like the Didi Bike.

Moreover, the ofo Bike implements a no-deposit policy, and the Didi Bike has launched a 'Refund Anytime' function; users are not short of alternatives.

Affected by this, the Little Yellow Bike's new user growth had stagnated since the third day of entering the Huadong market.

Only two paths lay before Chang Wei: either emulate the Didi Bike or copy the ofo Bike.

In his view, the former had no advantages, but the latter couldn't be learned, because the Little Yellow Bike lacked both an electronic payment tool and a wealth management product similar to Yu'e Bao to back it.

Unless...

After some thought, Chang Wei narrowed his eyes, ordered the technical department to work overtime to develop the 'Refund Anytime' function, and at the same time used connections and contacts to make a call to Ma Liyun's private mobile phone.

"Shared bikes? You mean, using the joint login mode of Zhifubao, to get Mama Ali to endorse you?"

After Ma Liyun clarified Chang Wei's purpose, he smiled and asked back.

"The Little Yellow Bike has a huge user base in the Huadong and North China regions, which can bring a large number of new users to Zhifubao; additionally, shared bikes have high-frequency usage characteristics, which can increase the frequency and duration of users opening Zhifubao..."

Chang Wei confidently began to persuade.

"Besides the Little Yellow Bike, there are also the ofo Bike and the Didi Bike; why should Mama Ali choose you?" Ma Liyun interrupted Chang Wei and demanded.

He understood the other party's words.

Shared bike usage involves the payment link, which can indeed effectively increase user payment frequency, cultivate payment habits, and thereby improve Zhifubao's daily active users and retention rate.

At the same time, it can also collect user travel time, location, frequency, and other information; these data help Zhifubao better understand user needs and provide more personalized recommendations and marketing services.

But compared to the ofo Bike and the Didi Bike, the Little Yellow Bike falls far short in user scale and market share.

Chang Wei's family background could only make Old Ma answer this call, but it was not enough to sway Old Ma's decision. "The ofo Bike is backed by Senlian Capital and will never actively funnel offline traffic to Zhifubao, and the Didi Bike will not entrust its deposits to Zhifubao; once the operational scope covers the whole country, the total deposit amount will not be less than 3 billion Billion Huayuan; Cheng Wei can't bear to part with that money."

Chang Wei was slightly stunned; although he knew his reasons were untenable, to facilitate cooperation with Zhifubao, he had to bite the bullet and make things up.

3 billion Billion Huayuan?

As far as he knew, domestic shared bike brands were of all kinds, numbering more than twenty, with only the ofo Bike, the Didi Bike, and the Little Yellow Bike having the largest scale.

If their deposits could all be included in Yulibao, the total amount would be at least tens of billions of yuan, and the potential gains could not be underestimated.

After banks set their sights on shared bike deposits, Ma Liyun also stirred with interest.

"Mama Ali wants 20% equity." Ma Liyun thought for a moment and said.

Although cooperation could bring many positive returns to Zhifubao, Zhifubao had more users, and the Little Yellow Bike was also a beneficiary.

Without giving Mama Ali sufficient benefits, Old Ma would not loosen his grip.

20%?

Why don't you just go rob someone!

Chang Wei scolded with a dark face.

After three rounds of financing, his shareholding had dropped below 70%; if he gave Mama Ali another 20%, it would fall below 50%.

"Is President Chang in a difficult position?" Ma Liyun pressed, a sneer hanging on his face.

"Not difficult, President Ma, I have no objection," Chang Wei said helplessly.

Accepting Mama Ali's investment had pros and cons, but overall, the benefits outweighed the drawbacks.

Hearing this, Ma Liyun smiled, made a few perfunctory remarks, hung up the phone, and left the follow-up coordination work to Lu Zhaoxi.

Two days later, Lu Zhaoxi found Ma Liyun and said bluntly, "President Ma, Chang Wei is not honest; I suggest canceling the cooperation with Xiao Huang Bike."

"Can't agree on the valuation?" Ma Liyun gestured for Lu Zhaoxi to sit down and speak slowly.

"Chang Wei has no intention of opening the data interface; his idea is to deposit user security deposits into Yu Li Bao in the name of the Crocodile Company," Lu Zhaoxi explained slowly.

In this way, the water content of this 'security deposit' would be huge.

If Chang Wei misappropriated it privately, Zhi Fu Bao would find it hard to detect.

This was hardly wanting Mama Ali to endorse him; it was clearly looking for a scapegoat!

"Chang Wei refuses to compromise?" Ma Liyun asked, frowning.

If Lu Zhaoxi could see through Chang Wei's little tricks, Ma Liyun naturally could too.

"He has no good intentions at all," Lu Zhaoxi said with a cold snort.

"I remember that Cheng Wei, the founder of DiDi Bike, used to be the general manager of the B2C division of Zhi Fu Bao; let's talk to him," Ma Liyun said, abandoning Xiao Huang Bike without hesitation.

"Good," Lu Zhaoxi nodded in agreement.

On the other side.

Cheng Wei, upon receiving a call from his former employer, immediately agreed to the olive branch extended by Zhi Fu Bao.

The "refund anytime" and "recharge security deposit" functions could offset some user concerns, but they were ultimately less attractive than "no security deposit."

A huge security deposit pool was good, but the prerequisite was to survive first.

The person truly reluctant to part with billions in security deposits was Chang Wei, not Cheng Wei.

On March 8, DiDi Bike officially announced it would adopt a 'no security deposit' strategy; users only needed to purchase 199 Yuan of Yu Li Bao and bind their Zhi Fu Bao account in the personal center to enjoy this benefit.

In an instant, Xiao Huang Bike users in North China rushed to uninstall the app and turn to the embrace of DiDi Bike.

"DiDi finally has the strength to compete with ofo."

After leaning on Mama Ali's thigh, Cheng Wei couldn't help but sigh.

Immediately after, DiDi Bike began large-scale deployment of shared bikes in Huadong, launching direct competition with ofo Bike.

But both Cheng Wei and Hu Weiyi were relatively restrained; on subsidy policies for new and old customers, they tacitly maintained consistency.

No one dared to rashly start a price war!

After all, the battle between DiDi and Kuaidi for ride-hailing was a cautionary tale; without over a billion in funds on the books, who would dare to mess around lightly?

At the same time.

After a week of trial operation in Hucheng, ofo shared e-bikes deployed another 5,000 electric vehicles and expanded their service scope to Jin Ling, Luzhou, and Hangcheng, totaling 50,000 units.

As for the shared bike business, after Hu Weiyi and Wang Zihao deployed more than 300,000 units in Huadong, Central China, and South China, the total number exceeded 500,000.

Combining the shared bike and shared e-bike businesses, daily revenue reached 2 million Billion Huayuan, with a gross margin of 13.7%; estimated annual revenue could reach 1 billion Billion Huayuan.

But with huge upfront investment and high labor costs, based on current business volume, the annual net profit wouldn't even reach 50 million.

With DiDi Bike and Xiao Huang Bike chasing from behind, once a price war started, let alone a 50 million net profit, not losing hundreds of millions by year-end would count as good management.

(End of this chapter)