In addition to LeTV, which other video websites are making mobile phones?

As a video website for mobile phones, LeTV is by no means the first one. Let's take a look at which companies have been, are, or are preparing to wade into this muddy water.

Since September 2013, LeEco has been recruiting people and accumulating strength for its mobile phone business. Now that the 414 press conference is approaching, in addition to Jia Yueting's post "denouncing" Apple, LeEco has also brought in a number of celebrities to conduct Weibo marketing. Before the eggs are hatched, it is difficult for us to judge whether the chicken is durable or delicious. However, as a video website for mobile phones, LeEco is by no means the first one. Let's take a look at which companies have, are, or are about to wade into this muddy water.

1. iQIYI: The most tragic thing in the mobile phone industry is that the mobile phones are still being made, but the ROM team is gone.

Baidu once invested in a Shenzhen smartphone manufacturer called 100+ for its "Baidu inside" strategy. In April 2014, iQiyi and 100+ jointly launched a mobile phone called 100+V6. This is a mobile phone full of Baidu elements. It has Baidu's cloud ROM built in and various iQiyi apps pre-installed.

At the launch event, 100+ also gave the media a hardcover book titled "The Beauty of Wabi-Sabi", highlighting the phone's exquisite design and workmanship. 100+ imitated Mi fans on its official website and launched the concept of "adding friends", which is like "if you buy my phone, you are my VIP customer". According to the official press release, more than 1 million units were booked on the first day of opening, and more than 3 million were booked on JD.com within a week. 100+ Chairman Xu Guoxiang even made an "apology statement" in a serious manner.

The good times didn’t last long. In March 2015, the Baidu Cloud ROM team suddenly announced its disbandment, which embarrassed 100+, which was backed by Baidu and iQiyi. There was once a rumor in the industry that 100+ CEO Xu Guoxiang had absconded with the money, but it was not confirmed. As of now, the mobile phones on 100+’s official website are still selling as usual.

2. Potatoes: high price, poor quality, no news

Tudou and DOOV jointly launched a mobile phone called "DOOV" at the "Tudou Image Festival" in August 2014. Huxiujun once complained about it, but the amazing thing is that at the second press conference held in Beijing in November, Tudou announced the configuration of this "Ni Ke": 13 million rotating camera, pre-installed Tudou app for video production, and priced at 1999 yuan. Sales channels are DOOV official website and JD.com.

Perhaps they were too confident about the sales of the phone, or they didn't pay enough attention to the promotion, so there is no further news about the sales of this phone.

3. Youku: So you are an IP seller

Tudou is making mobile phones, so Youku must not fall behind. On April 1 this year, Youku announced that it would jointly release a mobile phone called Miss Puff IUNI i1 with ZTE IUNI. Its name comes from Youku's self-made animation IP "Miss Puff", which is aimed at female consumers. The sales channels are IUNI official website and JD.com, and the price is 1999-2399 yuan.

Unlike Tudou's "Ni Ke" which has its own Tudou logo, Miss Puff's phone does not even have any Youku elements at all, but only uses Miss Puff as its brand image. Therefore, Youku just authorized the animation and took advantage of it to do some publicity. Youku is used to doing this kind of publicity. The recent news of its cooperation with DJI is exactly the same as the marketing idea of ​​Miss Puff's phone: clinging to thighs and doing marketing, which is meaningless.

4. PPTV mobile phone: If you learn bad things from others, you will learn bad things from LeTV.

After Suning and Hony Capital made a strategic investment in PPTV in 2013, there was constant turmoil in the top management. At the beginning of the year, PPTV announced that it would make smart hardware at its first appearance after a major change in the top management, and the sales volume of TVs and mobile phones was expected to be 800,000 to 1 million units.

Last Friday (10th), many media outlets leaked spy photos of PPTV mobile phones, but no hardware parameters or configurations were disclosed. Although the product has not yet been released, PPTV has already stated that it will sell the product through Suning's own channels. Perhaps it has learned from LeTV's "PPT products" and "UI products" that PPTV officially announced that it will release PPOS on April 22nd. With so many OS in China, are you sure there is no blue pill?

After the revolving door of senior management such as Tao Chuang and Lu Yan, the rift between the investors has become an open secret. Hony Capital wants to withdraw its investment, while PPTV, which is in urgent need of a transfusion, can only be supported by Suning alone. As this drags down the latter with huge losses, the story of making mobile phones is not a pretty one.

Smartphones and video sites can never complete the story

At first, people just wanted to be a player quietly; later, everyone wanted to be an omnipotent platform; later, under the pressure of capital, market and even survival, the belief of "building an ecosystem will lead to eternal life" has penetrated into people's hearts. After a long battle of burning money, video websites can only keep telling stories if they want to continue to attract the attention of capital and the market - any lively field may become the material for their stories.

Unfortunately, the mobile phone story is too difficult: once a mobile phone is made, whether it is OEM or not, its original "media" nature will change; and in this new field, there are too many excellent players, the ecosystem is mature, and the vicious circle of high configuration and low price is difficult to solve. Even the so-called vertical "video phone" concept that video websites want to create is difficult to establish: the user loyalty of video websites has not been solved, and the performance of a video app in the same mobile operating system is no different, and the human and material costs of increasing the number of video app users by tens of millions per year are much smaller than selling tens of millions of pre-installed video app phones. In general, video websites are destined to become players in the mobile Internet era, not ecosystem creators.

But they still have to continue telling the story, because in this video circle where the ecological model is immature, telling stories can still survive, but if they don’t tell stories, they will die immediately.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.