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Chapter 1153: Chapter 1011: Operating Profit
Second Uncle and Second Aunt played with it for a while.
Tang’s father tried it out too.
The group was having so much fun, couldn’t put it down; their own son was just that impressive. Although they were a bit unaccustomed to the virtual keyboard, it still seemed more high-end than those phones crammed with tiny buttons.
"Tangtang, can we keep using this for a while?" Tang’s father looked up to ask.
No sooner had he asked,
than Tang Qing got a chance to reply, Second Uncle immediately spoke up seriously, "Brother, you absolutely must not."
"Why not?"
Tang’s father was perplexed.
The others also looked towards Tang Kai. 𝖓𝔬𝔳𝖕𝖚𝖇.𝖈𝔬𝔪
Tang Kai explained, "Brother, sister-in-law, it’s because we are family that Tangtang showed us this business secret. This mobile phone is the crystallization of wisdom and the future of Qingyuan Technology."
"Once leaked, even if it’s just the appearance, the consequences could be severe. What if others copied it?"
"Be it appearance, functionality, or anything else, these are the keys to victory. Before officially mass-producing it, not only can you not use it, you can’t even reveal anything about this phone to others."
Tang Kai’s expression was very serious.
This epoch-making product was the culmination of Tang Qing’s hard work. Although he had never made a mobile phone before, he still knew the vast interests it represented. It was also the Tang Family’s future, which could not afford any mishaps.
Upon hearing about business secrets,
and the word "leak,"
Tang’s father’s face changed, and he quickly said to Tang Qing, "Then I don’t want it anymore, Tangtang; you must take good care of it. Don’t show it to just anyone. Such a great invention must not be stolen."
Tang Qing smiled and nodded.
This engineering prototype indeed was not suitable for early exposure, because the chip of this mobile phone was too advanced; Qualcomm had not mass-produced it, and many parts and programs within it had not yet been "developed."
Mother Tang also chimed in, "Tangtang, you must take good care of it."
"I understand, I’ll be careful," Tang Qing said.
"How’s the company’s confidentiality work going?" Tang’s father suddenly remembered, Tang Qing’s company had so many employees, with more people, you would have all sorts of characters. Could there be those inside who might betray the company’s secrets?
"Don’t worry, all the company’s employees have signed a confidentiality agreement," Tang Qing replied with a smile.
As he smiled,
a subtle coldness flashed through his eyes.
What’s the biggest fear for a technology company?
---Leaking secrets.
One leak,
could render the long-term efforts of the research and development team to ashes.
Being left behind in the market, with so many cases of near-success turning to defeat throughout history. Insiders, they irritate one to the point of itching teeth. At Qingyuan Technology, there had been dozens of such incidents among the employees.
Indeed.
Dozens of cases.
Almost reaching triple digits.
Mainly due to the fact that smartphone development was very "novel" in Huaxia, and researchers inevitably wanted to show off to friends and peers during casual conversations, leading to slips of the tongue.
This,
Tang Qing could forgive.
That was human nature and so far hadn’t caused much harm.
But there were behaviors he just could not overlook.
Copying departmental secret files for themselves and contacting companies like Nokia, Motorola, and Ericsson in an attempt to make a quick buck... Such behavior enraged Tang Qing.
And it wasn’t an isolated incident.
There were already more than ten R&D personnel who had done this.
Without exception,
Tang Qing had fired them all, retrieved the information, reported them to the whole company for criticism, and initiated self-inspection. It was precisely because of these cases that many who had been eager to get rich had abandoned their ideas.
After that,
Tang Qing had reformed the development operations at Qingyuan Technology. All projects and core developments were now managed by intelligence analysts stationed with the company, while regular employees could temporarily only access non-core code and mobile hardware data.
In other words,
Qingyuan Technology’s core.
was temporarily reclaimed by Tang Qing.
Only after the employees became loyal, after the first product sold well, cornered the market, and gained recognition, would he consider loosening control. During this stage of conceptual innovation, it was not appropriate to let regular people get too deeply involved.
...
Tang Kai suddenly remembered something.
"Tangtang, for such a great phone, how much are you planning to sell it for?"
This matter,
Tang Qing had already planned for it.
"This time I plan to launch two models, one priced high and one low."
"This one is the high-end model, and the lower-end model won’t be as powerful. As for price, the low-end one I’ll set at around 2,500 yuan, with versions of 4G and 8G, while this one in your hands will be around 5,000 yuan, available as 8G and 16G versions."
"That’s expensive?" Tang’s father was startled.
"The most advanced things integrated together, you get what you pay for." Tang Qing really wanted to make it cheaper, but the cost wouldn’t come down, and the main sales of the first generation machine were overseas.
If it was sold cheaply, that would be giving a bargain to foreigners.
The first generation.
Tang Qing was using it to establish a "high-end" image.
"Given the performance, that’s really not that high," Tang Kai gave a fair assessment, "How much profit margin?"
"Fifteen," Tang Qing said.
Operating profit margin.
He tentatively set it at fifteen percent.
That was already quite high; if it had been in his previous life, it would be the second highest, the first being Apple with thirty to forty percent, and what about the third? Samsung, at around ten percent.
As for Huawei, OPPO, VIVO, and other companies, outsiders might think their mobile phones make a lot of money, but in fact, their operating profit margins are all in the single digits, almost none higher than five percent.
Most are around two percent.
Only a few high-end models can achieve higher profits.
The overall operating profit margin was so low that outsiders found it hard to believe. But these companies were in the phase of capturing market share; they dared not follow Apple’s lead in relentlessly hiking prices.
"Tangtang, here, put it away quickly."
After playing, Tang’s father returned the phone to Tang Qing.
Pocketing the phone,
"Tangtang, by introducing such a powerful phone all at once, aren’t you moving a bit too fast? We can gradually increase performance, and not all features and programs have to be added at once," Tang Kai still had some doubts.
Milking it.
Through the guise of upgrades, wouldn’t selling new phones make more money?
There was no need to make it perfect all at once.
"Second Uncle, I’ve heard some news. Do you know Apple Inc.?" Tang Qing divulged.
Tang Kai nodded, "I know that, a very famous technology company in the United States with a market value of nearly a hundred billion dollars. I heard their current CEO was ousted from the company once, what about them?"
"Their smartphone is about to launch. I’ve heard it will soon be released to the public. My target is them," Tang Qing declared directly.
Tang Kai suddenly understood why Tang Qing was so eager to include so many features, "I see. Then I’ll have to pay attention and see what’s so impressive about their smartphones that you’re taking such measures against them."
"I suppose you’ll be disappointed," Tang Qing said with a smile.
Qingyuan Technology’s phone far surpassed Apple’s first-generation model; there was really no comparison. Steve Jobs had spent several years developing Apple’s phone, and the closed nature of Apple’s system and app store showed as much.
Apple was too "conservative."
Highly exclusive.
Tang Qing this time "collected the best of the best (himself)."
Quickly bridged the gap.
"Haha, that would be best."
