"My good son, pick any phone you like from here!" Fan Rui's mother said generously as she brought her son and husband to a mobile phone store.
"What's there to choose from? Just get a Nokia!" said Fan Rui's father beside her, in his opinion, Nokia was the best phone, much better than other flashy ones.
"I heard Samsung phones are also quite good, you can take a closer look and don't make a hasty decision!" Most of the counters in the entire phone store were selling Nokia phones, and Fan Rui's mother took a quick glance, breaking out in a cold sweat.
Because even the cheapest Nokia phone she saw was around 2,000 yuan.
Then she saw Samsung phones, the cheapest being around 3,000 yuan, and her hands went numb.
Fortunately, her son knew his mother's personality well, so he directly asked a security guard, "Master, are there any places selling domestic phones nearby?"
"Yes, but not on the first floor, it's on the basement level. If you want to buy one, just go down from that stairwell!" the security guard directed. Hearing the word "domestic," Fan's mother felt much more relaxed.
After all, at this time, the word "domestic" meant cheap... at least it should be cheaper than these Nokia, Samsung, or Motorola phones!
Following the stairwell into the basement, they found that the basement was even livelier than the first floor.
The shops on the first floor had, on average, not even a single customer. But there were many customers in the basement, with five or six customers gathered around the counters of each shop, selecting phones.
Fan Rui's family looked at the price signs displayed outside the shop. The cheapest phone was only 299 yuan, and the most expensive was around 999 yuan. Such prices immediately relieved Fan's mother.
Fortunately, at this price, she could afford even the 999 yuan one to compensate her son.
So the mother found a counter that looked quite large and formal and walked over, and immediately a shop owner came up and greeted them enthusiastically.
"What brands are these phones? I heard there are many counterfeit phones on the market now, we don't want any counterfeit phones!" Fan's mother said directly.
At this time, counterfeit phones were far from having as many memes as they would later. Therefore, the term "counterfeit phone" still carried a completely negative connotation. Some people might not care, but for people who valued face, like Fan's mother, buying a counterfeit phone was a matter of losing face and absolutely unacceptable.
Even if it was a domestic product, it had to be a domestic brand phone.
If it were a year ago, hearing Fan's mother say this, the shop owner would probably have started cursing. You don't want counterfeit phones, yet you come to the domestic counter, aren't you asking for trouble? Which of these domestic phones isn't a counterfeit?
But now it didn't matter. The owner, who looked much younger than Fan's mother, smiled and said, "Sister, if you came here a year ago, you might still find some counterfeit phones. But if you come now, it's really hard to find many. All the phones we sell now are from major domestic brands!"
"Really!" Fan's mother was overjoyed, but her husband looked puzzled. Unlike his wife, who only managed household chores and was uninterested in phones, only deciding on impulse to buy one, Fan's father had always dreamed of owning his own phone and often studied phones in newspapers and magazines.
In his opinion, domestic phones were counterfeit phones, basically without their own brands. How could they suddenly become all major domestic brand phones?
So he questioned, "What are these major domestic brands you speak of?"
"Look, this is the latest Jinshan Damai phone launched this year, produced by the famous Chinese software brand Jinshan Software. This is a major brand!"
"And this one, JD.com phone. You know JD.com, the largest electronics product distributor in the country, also a major brand."
"Here, these are Huawei phones. Half of the country's communication base stations are from Huawei. They originally manufactured base stations, so what problem could there be in manufacturing phones?"
"And this OPPO phone, a brand from the owner of Subor learning machines and BBK phones."
"Take a look at this, China Mobile phone. This one is amazing, directly launched by China Mobile itself. How can this brand be small?"
"In addition, China Telecom and China Unicom also have their own branded phones. If you want them, we have them, just not on the counter, they are in the warehouse. The sales of these two brands are not good here because we are in the south, and China Unicom has fewer base stations, and China Telecom's base stations have not been deployed yet. But these two brands' phones can only use their respective SIM cards. So unless you are from the north, I don't recommend you buy phones from these two brands!"
"Actually, I don't recommend China Mobile phones either. They are too expensive, and besides the high price, they bind you to a lot of packages that you can't cancel for at least two years. They are really a rip-off!"
"Oh, and there's also a box of China Petrochemical phones, but there's a shortage of stock at the moment. I only have this one box. If you want it, you'll have to add 100 yuan, as the national stock is limited!" the owner said incessantly, leaving the Fan family of three bewildered.
Fan's mother and Fan Rui knew nothing about phones; they had only seen phones. But even Fan's father, who considered himself knowledgeable about phones, was sweating profusely and said, "How did even Petrochemical start making phones? Isn't your brand too fake!"
"Don't say that, Brother. Who would have the guts to impersonate brands like Petrochemical, China Mobile, and China Telecom to make counterfeit phones? Isn't that like a寿星公 (god of longevity) hanging himself, seeking death? These are phones produced by these brands themselves. Who says someone who sells oil can't sell phones? Can't they diversify?" the owner said like a machine gun.
"No, I just think it's unreliable for so many phone brands to pop up at once. Three months ago when I came here, it was still mostly third-generation brands, and I hadn't seen any domestic brands besides Bird."
"Boss, didn't you yourself say that a year ago, it was all counterfeit phones on the streets? How did so many phone brands suddenly emerge?" Fan's father asked confusedly, but he regretted it as soon as he spoke.
As expected, hearing her husband say he had come to browse here three months ago, Fan's mother shot him a death glare, which filled Fan's father with dread.
"I'll deal with you when we get back!" Fan's mother snorted coldly and then said, "If what my husband says is true, then most of your brands have emerged within the last three months. I think these phones have a lot of problems and are probably of questionable quality!"
"Sister, you can't say that. While the counterfeit phones of the past might have had some issues, the branding of our domestic phones now has no problems, and the quality is excellent!" the proprietress quickly said.
"Who can't speak prettily? How do I know if you're telling the truth or not!" Fan's mother said.
"Alright, I'll show you something, and then you'll know!" The owner took out a Damai brand phone from the counter for display, then opened the back cover and removed the battery, revealing the battery compartment.
To their surprise, the battery compartment was densely covered with various labels.
The most conspicuous was an entry permit label, followed by the Damai brand label, and then a shimmering, exquisitely printed anti-counterfeiting label.
In addition to these, there were two labels they couldn't understand, with no text, only a pattern, also printed exquisitely, similar to the anti-counterfeiting label.
"Do you see this label? It's this label with two lightning bolts joined together!" the proprietress pointed to one of the labels with only a pattern and no text. "This label is called the Lightning Mark, and its full name is the China Electronics Technology Industry Development Alliance Mark. Any product with this mark signifies that it has joined the China Electronics Technology Industry Development Alliance and has received substantial technical and component support from the alliance."
"As long as this mark is attached, it means it has the support of China's highest technical strength, and there are no technical issues. It can be directly compared to foreign phones like Nokia and Motorola!"
"Then look at this mark with a seal pattern!" the proprietress pointed to another mark. "Actually, this mark is also a mark of the China Electronics Technology Industry Development Alliance, but it is the alliance's inspection mark. It represents that the phone's design has completely passed the inspection and technical approval of the industry development alliance."
"First, it must undergo extremely rigorous testing to ensure that the product quality is fully qualified before it can receive this alliance certification mark. Secondly, the alliance will conduct a random inspection once a month. That is, they will randomly purchase a phone that has passed the alliance's inspection from the market, and then conduct a technical inspection. Once any quality issues are found, the issuance of the mark will be immediately stopped, and a list of these problematic products will be released to the market!"
"Anyway, let me tell you, these two marks are a guarantee of technology and quality. The China Electronics Technology Industry Development Alliance is responsible for the quality of these products. If you find any problems during use, you can immediately take them to the China Electronics Technology Industry Development Alliance for complaints and reporting. Once confirmed, you will receive three times the purchase price as compensation."
"So, do you believe in the quality of our products now!" the proprietress said with a dry mouth. However, Fan's mother was confused, while Fan's father seemed to understand and said, "This China Electronics Technology Industry Development Alliance you are talking about, is it the alliance initiated by the Jiangnan Group?"
"That's right, it's that alliance!" the proprietress nodded.
"Now I understand. It's been exactly one year since the alliance was established. It turns out that the technology and parts devolved by the alliance have finally incubated these domestic phones. No wonder so many domestic phone brands have emerged in just three months!" Fan's father said with sudden realization.