However, the mobile phones of most companies were filled with dark secrets. No one had ever conducted reviews like this before, nor had they done such a violent thing as disassembling phones to examine their internal components. Naturally, everyone was caught off guard.
Everyone knew that no matter whose phone was disassembled, it would undoubtedly be a mess.
“Everyone, besides this, don't forget that the Tianxing phone is also backed by Atari Games. This is a crucial point, even more important than disparaging us. Don't forget, ever since Atari announced that its games would be available on the Tianxing phone, the Tianxing phone’s sales have skyrocketed!”
“Tsk tsk, in just one week, all 100,000 units of the Tianxing 5 phone were sold out, and they were sold at a price of nearly $2800.”
“Everyone, this is not 1990 anymore. Any phone could be sold for four to five thousand dollars. Now, our most top-tier flagship models are selling for around $1000 at most. Yet, they can sell for three times our price, and what’s more, they sell out within a week. Why do you think this is? Is it just because Tianxing phones are slandering us?”
“Of course not. This is all thanks to Atari. To be honest, I was an Atari player myself back in the day, and I have a lot of emotional attachment to Atari games. When I saw in the news that all Atari games would be available for free on the Tianxing phone, I felt an irresistible urge to buy one.”
“There’s also this. For the past few days, I’ve deliberately avoided driving to work and taken the subway instead. Then I noticed that there are always a few people on the subway looking down at their phones, not even looking at their newspapers.
“This made me very curious. What do you think someone is thinking when they’re on the subway, not reading a newspaper, but playing on their phone? What’s so good about phones?”
“So I secretly leaned over to take a look. Good heavens, they were playing Tank War, and it was the classic Atari version from my childhood memories! It made me want to take more than a few glances, wishing I had a phone in my hand to play it!”
“When I returned to the company, I felt that this situation was very wrong and very dangerous. So I invited all our professional marketing personnel to a meeting. After thorough discussions, we unanimously agreed that while Atari games from the 70s and 80s might be outdated in the current console market, they are a perfect fit for mobile phones.
“Because the pixel screens of ordinary mobile phones at the time simply couldn't run these console-level games, not even handheld games. But for pixel games from the 70s and 80s, they would be perfect. And with the current computing power of mobile phone chips, running a few pixel games wouldn't be a problem at all!”
“What’s even more terrifying is the usage scenarios for these mobile games. Our company also conducted an internal survey and found that even the busiest employee wastes more than 1/3 of their time each day unproductively!”
“What I mean is, this 1/3 of the time is not used for work, nor for eating or sleeping, nor for any form of entertainment. It’s consumed on commute buses, between tasks, and every moment… any time you feel you have nothing to do is wasted time.”
“At that time, the purpose of our research was to figure out how to better utilize this wasted time, to increase the work efficiency of our employees by more than 20%, and to create more profit for us.”
“However, the more we researched, the more we found it difficult to utilize this wasted time because people are inherently lazy. They will always find ways to rest and slack off. Yet, during these times, they are always idle!”
“This small amount of time is not enough to do anything significant or for proper entertainment. Perhaps one could read a book or newspaper, but who carries books and newspapers with them at all times? So, this part of the time truly makes people feel bored.”
“But if you had a mobile phone that you could play games on anytime, anywhere, it would be different. Many of Atari’s games are short, with a single game lasting less than a minute. Games can be started and stopped at any time.
“It’s like a cup filled with stones. The gaps are like time. If you add sand to it, you can fill more time. And if you add water to this sand, you can fill even more time. Mobile games are the best thing to fill these time gaps. They are like water, like sand, and no one can resist pulling out their phone for impromptu entertainment when they are bored. And this is actually the biggest advantage of Tianxing!”
“They hold Atari games, the games best suited for killing time, and they offer them to all players for free.
“Is there such a good thing in the world? Did Jiangnan Group spend tens of millions of dollars to acquire the games just to provide them to all users for free? Of course not. Their goal is to use these games to attract more users to their phones, thereby completely crushing us. This is the most dangerous aspect of the entire Tianxing phone!”
Edward Zamp's speech was quite long, but everyone present clearly listened. They fell into deep thought, and the words Edward Zamp had just spoken began to repeat endlessly in their minds.
Then, the more they thought about it, the more fearful they became, and the more they felt that all of this would come true. Mobile games would become a huge means of encroaching on market share in the future. This Tianxing phone and the Jiangnan Group behind it had indeed planned very astutely.
“However, the production and pricing of the Tianxing phone are issues. With the current price and production volume, it’s impossible for them to truly take over much market share!” someone said. He wasn’t trying to defend Jiangnan Group but simply wanted to ease his own tension and tell himself that the Tianxing phone wasn't that terrible; it was essentially a form of self-comfort.
“The price of mobile phones can be lowered at any time, and production can be increased as time goes by. The most crucial point is that Tianxing will definitely launch cheaper versions of their phones in the future.”
“The prices of these phones might be even lower than our current mainstream models, but they will have the killer app of Atari games. What do you think customers will choose? Our high-priced phones, or phones that are cheaper and filled with free Atari games?” Edward Zamp immediately retorted, leaving the man speechless.
“We can develop games ourselves. Aren't pixel games very easy to develop!” someone else suggested.
“Heh, developing games, even just a pixel game, isn't that simple. If we want to develop them ourselves, we have to start from scratch. Just setting up such a studio would take at least a month and cost millions of dollars!”
“Even if we achieved all of this, what then? Pixel games are generally not very addictive. Users will quickly play another pixel game and then need new pixel games to fill the void! They might need dozens of pixel games a month to satisfy their needs.
“No matter how fast we develop, can we develop dozens of pixel games a month? Can we have a reserve of over a thousand games like Atari? These are all impossible. Therefore, for the next three years, we will be completely at the mercy of Atari games, with no ability to resist!”
“So, dear sirs, ladies, brothers, and sisters, we must reach a consensus and unite to control and restrain the Tianxing phone. Otherwise, once the Tianxing phone begins mass sales, it will be the time of our profit collapse!” Edward Zamp concluded.
“Edward, what do you need us to do?” Finally, someone couldn’t help but ask.
“Yes, blocking the Tianxing phone is very difficult. After all, blocking a phone can only be approached from three angles. One is from the mobile communication network, but you have already failed there!”
“Another is from the public opinion and policy perspective, but you have also failed there!”
“The last angle is from the production end. But the problem is that Jiangnan Group itself is a major player in the electronics industry and also controls the Electronic Technology Development Alliance, accounting for over 60% of the global mobile phone component production. Instead, they hold our production orders, making it impossible for us to cripple the production of the Tianxing phone from the production end. This is an impossible task!” a representative analyzed.
Hearing his analysis, everyone had to nod. Indeed, even if they truly decided to join forces to block it, they couldn't find any effective means.
However, since he had taken the initiative to propose the idea of a joint blockade, how could Edward Zamp not have a plan to counter it? So he immediately said, “Gentlemen, you just said that Jiangnan Group holds a large number of our orders!”
“Then you've said it wrong. It's not that they hold our orders; it's that we hold their sales market. When did suppliers have the right to dictate terms to us buyers? As long as we unite and use our orders worth over tens of billions of dollars as a threat, we can force Jiangnan Group to abandon their plan to produce mobile phones. Otherwise, we will give our orders to other companies. In one night, the Chinese will lose over ten billion dollars in huge orders. Do you think Jiangnan Group will have a good time then?
“I'm afraid those Chinese companies themselves will strangle Jiangnan Group to death. So, everyone, as long as we unite, victory will belong to us!”
Edward Zamp said this with immense excitement, and at last, revealed his true intentions.