Billion-dollar gambling debt default: Dong Mingzhu "marketed" Lei Jun

At the end of 2013, at the CCTV Economic Person of the Year Awards, Gree Electric Appliances Chairman and President Dong Mingzhu made a 1 billion yuan bet with Xiaomi Chairman and CEO Lei Jun. The bet was whether Xiaomi's sales could exceed Gree Electric Appliances within five years.

After that, the war of words between the two appeared from time to time in major media. With the cooperation between Xiaomi and Gree's main competitor Midea, the war of words reached a climax, and Dong Mingzhu's "liar theory" attracted the attention of the Internet.

By 2015, Dong Mingzhu had been constantly talking about making mobile phones, saying that Gree could make a mobile phone in minutes, that Gree could make a mobile phone that could be used for three years, and so on.

Yesterday, the protagonist finally appeared. Dong Mingzhu suddenly announced at the "Breakthrough and Growth of Traditional Enterprises" lecture at the Boxue Lecture Hall of Sun Yat-sen University: "Gree mobile phone is out! I am using a Gree mobile phone now." And she took out a real Gree mobile phone.

It takes a certain period of time to make a mobile phone. Did Dong Mingzhu have a premeditated plan to make the mobile phone, or was it just a matter of pride?

What is a Gree mobile phone?

Judging from the current information, Gree mobile phone is a 5.5-inch mobile 4G mobile phone. Its appearance design has curved and angular top, similar to the shape of IUNI U2. The bottom is an ordinary rounded rectangle, and the side frames are not rounded.

The body looks like it should be made of plastic, but the Gree logo is specially processed. The back of the body has a curve that fits the shape of the hand, and the camera does not protrude. Overall, it is quite satisfactory.

The configuration information is still unclear, but Dong Mingzhu said at a press event on March 17, "This was developed after a comprehensive analysis and research for a year and a half. The functions are much more advanced than the general ones. According to preliminary estimates, if 50 million sets of mobile phones are produced, it means sales of 40 billion yuan."

50 million sets, 40 billion yuan, means the sales of a single machine is 800 yuan, and the estimated price to consumers is around 1,000 yuan, which is still a low-end machine. From the perspective of the R&D cycle, the most predictable processor a year and a half ago was Qualcomm or MTK's A53 processor, which is still a low-end mobile phone.

So far, we can conclude that Gree mobile phone is a thousand-yuan large-screen mobile phone positioned in the same price range as Redmi NOTE and Meizu NOTE, and may have some control functions for Gree home appliances. That's all.

Is the bet between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun a marketing event?

Analyzing from the timing, if what Dong Mingzhu said is true, Gree mobile phone was developed for one and a half years (developing its first mobile phone by itself, this event cycle is also normal), and the bet between Dong Mingzhu and Lei Jun took place in December 2013.

In other words, before Dong Mingzhu made the bet, Gree's mobile phone development plan actually became a marketing event.

Although the cause may be a gimmick deliberately created by CCTV for ratings and to create topics, Dong Mingzhu deliberately used this gimmick to create a marketing event.

Moreover, Dong Mingzhu, who has a marketing background, made comments from time to time throughout 2014 to attract attention. Originally, Gree and Dong Mingzhu, as representatives of the traditional manufacturing and home appliance industries, had little to do with the IT industry, technology, and the Internet. However, through this 1 billion bet, Dong Mingzhu preheated Gree's mobile phone for a whole year.

From this perspective, Dong Mingzhu has done a successful marketing. In fact, there are many home appliance companies that make mobile phones. Hisense actually made several decent mobile phones in 2014, but the publicity was not good and there was no sound.

From a marketing perspective, Dong Mingzhu's gamble of defaulting on debts was successful, and Lei Jun and Xiaomi were successfully used as a background.

Can Gree mobile phones be sold?

Although Gree’s slogan is “Mastering core technology”, the core technology of smartphones is far beyond Gree’s reach. Gree cannot manufacture CPUs, baseband chips, LCD panels, or CMOS.

Although Gree claims to have 6 research institutes when it comes to making mobile phones, it can only be an integrator and has no technical advantages.

Moreover, because it is a new entrant in the industry, Gree cannot be said to have caught up with Xiaomi and Meizu in terms of user experience in supply chain management. It would be a great achievement if it could catch up with them.

By 2015, the development of smartphones was no longer a simple product competition. Media publicity, product quality, channel construction, and after-sales service all became a science. Xiaomi has integrated hardware, software, cloud services, content, etc. into a system. Meizu also has Alibaba's help, Coolpad has 360 boxes, and Huawei's strength is beyond words.

Gree just entered the mobile phone industry in 2015, and the gap is too big to catch up with the forerunners.

As for what Gree calls the Internet of Things and home appliance portals, all of this is empty talk without sales. Added value is attached to sales. If the skin is gone, where will the hair be attached?

Therefore, although Gree successfully used Lei Jun and Xiaomi as a background to make mobile phones, a successful marketing event does not equal success. Dong Mingzhu's road to mobile phones will not be smooth.

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.