Chapter 217: A New Gold Mine

"He wants to cooperate with Dongling High-Tech in the field of SMS business and launch an SMS system platform. That person named Li Yan said that this idea was inspired by the advertisements for Little Smart mobile phones, which is how he came up with this creative concept."

"He wants to use this SMS platform to help some companies conduct mass SMS advertising and marketing, sending advertisements to mobile phone users via text message!"

Ren Yuefeng said. When mentioning Li Yan, his words carried a sense of appreciation for the man. Ren Yuefeng felt that this creative idea had great potential.

Chinese SMS had only just begun; it was only because Little Smart mobile phones supported Chinese SMS editing functions that the country had its first taste of Chinese text messaging. Li Yan's ability to spot the business opportunity within it showed truly excellent insight.

However, what made Ren Yuefeng appreciate Li Yan was not the SMS advertising marketing scheme he proposed, but rather his suggestion.

If this SMS advertising scheme were to be implemented, the commercial scope of Little Smart mobile phones would expand several times over. From then on, Little Smart would not just be for individual users; it would become one of the platforms that countless companies would need to rely on. Little Smart mobile phones would become a new advertising platform.

The user base, scope, and commercial value of Little Smart mobile phones would all increase several times over, and naturally, the demand would also surge.

Li Dongling was slightly dazed upon hearing Ren Yuefeng's words. He hadn't expected that someone would set their sights on the value of SMS so quickly.

And after SMS, mobile phones would give birth to another "money-printing artifact"—the globally popular color ringback tone—followed by emerging industries like mobile software and mobile gaming. These new industries were all white-collar sectors based in offices, and the compensation was quite good.

Li Dongling did not want Dongling High-Tech to repeat the same mistakes in the future. He definitely had to lay the groundwork in advance, especially for some general-purpose apps with huge user bases. If they kicked Dongling High-Tech out, other mobile phone brands shouldn't expect an easy time either!

"I..."

Chen Zuhan and the crowd in the reception room couldn't help but curiously look toward Li Yan and his companion. In the current market, it wasn't easy to get into the Dongling High-Tech reception room.

Originally, Chen Zuhan had wanted to buy those courtyards behind the Dongling High-Tech headquarters office building to be neighbors with Li Dongling and other Dongling High-Tech executives, but those courtyards had long since been snapped up. He had only been able to buy a courtyard on a nearby street.

The market for electronic pet machines had completely bottomed out. In places like Guangdong Province, where knock-off machines were everywhere, the price of a knock-off machine had been driven down to under fifteen yuan. Bandai's genuine machines simply wouldn't sell, and Chen Zuhan didn't really sell that stuff anymore.

"Let him in!"

It was just that at this stage, wanting to go any further wasn't that easy. Chen Zuhan had also tried entering other industries and had earned some money, but the profits from those businesses were not even in the same league as the lucrative electronic pet machines, or the hot-selling Shenzhou digital cordless phones and mini radios.

This industry would even give birth to specialized SMS software, SMS writers, SMS editors, SMS books, SMS websites, and so on. An industry based on ten-cent charges could also support countless people.

When phones from the "Chrysanthemum Factory" (Huawei) began to threaten Apple, they were kicked out of the Android camp. Even after several years of development, the number of applications for their self-developed HarmonyOS was far inferior to that of Apple or Android.

Otherwise, after smartphones emerged in later generations, the number of software applications would be calculated in the millions. The number of apps in Apple's system reached 1.78 million, while Android's apps reached over 2.8 million.

Using an Apple phone, whether it was hailing a ride, ordering takeout, booking a hotel, topping up games, or tipping hosts, as long as a transaction occurred, one had to pay "tax" to Apple. This was also why using an Apple phone was more expensive than an Android phone; Apple took a cut from it. You really couldn't blame those third-party platforms. Of course, it didn't exclude the situation where some third-party platforms took the opportunity to secretly "take a slice" along with Apple...

Although users only really relied on twenty or thirty common mobile apps, the number of apps opened daily generally wouldn't exceed ten, and might even be just three or five.

But on a mobile system, "users not wanting to use" and "not being able to use" were two completely different concepts!

For Dongling Gao Ke, it is impossible to develop these two or three million application functions all by themselves; that is unrealistic. They definitely need the support of other software development companies. Now, taking precautions and starting to build their own mobile software camp in advance is better than being caught without a mobile system when a situation arises in the future.

"Not here to be a Little Smart agent?"

Don't look at how everyone was getting along harmoniously, acting like brothers, but Chen Zuhan knew that when the day came to fight for Little Smart distributorships, this bunch of people would definitely turn their backs on each other!

Mobile phones weren't just for making calls; every time a new function was added, it could give birth to a gold mine worth tens or hundreds of billions!

The reception room at Dongling High-Tech headquarters was packed at this moment; there were no seats left on the sofas, and several people were sitting on stools.

Li Yan and Feng Jun, who was beside him, listened to these Dongling High-Tech agents in the reception room casually mentioning agency fees of millions or tens of millions, and even boasting about wanting to package the general agency rights for Little Smart in certain provinces with huge agency fees. Both of them were left dumbfounded.

However, they also needed to build their own camp and developer community in the mobile software industry. This seemed like just earning a bit more money now, but it could have great use in the future.

"I don't know, two brothers, which agents are you from?!"

104.233.243.184

Microsoft dominated the computer system industry; its computer system indeed had its unique aspects, but those competitors who wanted to challenge it didn't all fail because of technology, but because of the countless software applications.

Like Apple phones, the money earned from software was already about to exceed hardware. Even if the phones really stopped selling one day, relying on a user base of hundreds of millions, the money earned from the App Store, mobile advertising, and software cuts could exceed a hundred billion US dollars in annual turnover.

Li Yan and Feng Jun weren't people who hadn't seen big talkers, but daring to boast about million-dollar businesses was already a big deal. Yet, listening to this bunch of people in the reception room, that agent named Chen Zuhan from Guangzhou actually wanted to unite with several other companies and spend a massive sum of no less than thirty million to become the general agent for Little Smart mobile phones in Guangdong Province!

Those who could enter the reception room, like Chen Zuhan and the others, were agents who had previously cooperated with Dongling High-Tech. Although the Little Smart agency rights hadn't been given to them yet, it didn't reach the point where Chen Zuhan and the others couldn't even get through the front gate like those agents from out of town; they were still allowed to sit in the reception room.

Hearing a "big shot" figure like Chen Zuhan ask them a question, Li Yan waved his hands repeatedly.

Apple phones were able to rely on their own strength to stand against Symbian, Android, Windows Phone, and the later HarmonyOS, all thanks to a large group of software development companies that could support Apple's iOS system empire, and even make iOS software optimization and experience exceed other platforms. Conversely, because the Apple system was a closed loop, it could also prevent knock-offs, allowing these software development companies to earn more.

"We are not here to be Little Smart agents!"

The Microsoft camp had countless software development companies and individual independent developers who were already tied to Microsoft. They all needed to rely on the Microsoft system to make a living, and regardless of whether they were willing or not, they could only stand in the Microsoft camp.

After boasting some more and claiming they would spend thirty million to take down the general agency for Little Smart in Guangdong, Chen Zuhan, whose mouth was dry from all the talking, picked up his teacup for a sip and glanced at the group of peers in the reception room.

Li Yan was whispering to Feng Jun about their plan when he suddenly heard Chen Zuhan ask them with a smile.

At the peak of SMS, during one Spring Festival, China Mobile could send 6 billion text messages, and China Unicom could have 1 billion. Adding China Telecom, the domestic SMS volume during a single Spring Festival could reach 8 or 9 billion, or even as many as 10 billion. Calculated out, just for one Spring Festival, domestic SMS fees exceeded 1 billion RMB!

Where there is demand, practitioners naturally emerge. For example, publishing houses would specifically publish books teaching users how to write text messages, so that users wouldn't have to rack their brains, allowing them to write culturally rich and meaningful text messages by following the content in the books. Things that later generations felt had no technical content, but in the era when SMS was most active, selling tens of thousands or even over a hundred thousand copies of such a book was no problem at all.

One text message cost ten cents, but it was precisely this ten-cent text message that allowed two people to stay in touch, and could also be used for sending holiday greetings, subscribing to weather reports, news, and so on.

Originally, Chen Zuhan hadn't held out much hope, but he encountered the launch of Little Smart. On the day Little Smart was launched in Hanxi, before the sales figures were even announced, Chen Zuhan took a flight to Hanxi and had been waiting until today.

Like the SMS function, now with the sale of Little Smart, Chinese SMS had just emerged, and there weren't all kinds of advertising text messages, or even spam text messages.

In the future, whether Dongling High-Tech joins the Symbian or Android camps in terms of mobile systems, or sets up its own, it must have support from development companies in its own camp.

Chen Zuhan had previously obtained the agency rights for electronic pet machines in Guangzhou. Relying on this agency, in less than two years, his net worth had skyrocketed from one million to the threshold of ten million, almost increasing tenfold.

He had now also become the general agent for Shenzhou phones and Feiyan mini radios in Guangzhou, still earning quite a bit. Over these past few years, his net worth had been soaring.

In this era before the rise of the internet, the ways for two people living in different places to stay in touch were limited to writing letters, telegrams, and making phone calls. Now, there was one more way: sending text messages.

Although he hadn't obtained the Little Smart agency rights yet, Chen Zuhan wasn't anxious at all. He still waited here every day as if he were clocking in for work, chatting with fellow agents, reading newspapers, and eating a boxed lunch from the Dongling High-Tech logistics department before going home to rest. That's right, Chen Zuhan, this Guangdong native, had actually bought a courtyard in Pingyang for the sake of the Dongling High-Tech agency rights.

Li Dongling glanced at the time and said to Ren Yuefeng that Dongling High-Tech wasn't prepared to play as ruthlessly as Apple, which seemed to want to pluck a few hairs from every passing dog as a toll fee.

Although in later generations, many people were annoyed by various spam text messages, in reality, these advertising text messages were also a part of modern marketing promotion, and they were precise marketing at that!

"Mr. Li, Mr. Feng, Mr. Li and Manager Ren invite you in!"

An assistant came over and said to Li Yan and his companion. ===== CHAPTER 218 =====