Would you buy LeTV phone?

The situation of the domestic mobile phone industry has been intensifying, and all the actors and actresses have come to perform magnificently on this stage. Although there are many passing actors, there are always new roles emerging to take turns singing, reciting, acting and fighting. However, the performance is not only about how hard you work, but also about basic skills and talent. Recently, the news that LeTV wants to make mobile phones has been rampant. Recently, there is even more explosive news - the LeTV mobile phone team has been established, and it is coordinated by Feng Xing, the former vice president of Lenovo Group and general manager of MID H China Business Department.

It seems that LeEco is set to launch a mobile phone, and it has made such a big fanfare - the phone has not even been seen, but they have already started to hype up "rumors". Of course, this is also the usual routine of Internet companies. But why is LeEco in such a hurry to launch the mobile phone business? If LeEco mobile phones are really launched, will you buy them?

The ecosystem's thirst

While foreign giants have drastically cut down their loss-making and redundant businesses, domestic Internet giants are still rushing on the road of continuous expansion. The core business is no longer its only trump card. Whether it can penetrate into more fields is the standard to measure whether an Internet company has strong comprehensive strength. LeTV is not willing to lag behind. It has long since broken away from the single video website model and entered multiple fields, learning from Steve Jobs to build a software and hardware ecosystem. Previously, Jia Yueting proposed the LeTV ecosystem with vertical integration of the "platform + terminal + content + application" industry chain.

In this ecosystem, LeTV's "soft power" has reached a certain level and it is difficult to make further progress. However, its "hard power" is still its shortcoming. Although it has hardware products such as super TVs to enter the home large-screen Internet market, the number of people covered is still pitifully small, and the box products were "banned" by radio and television, which made it confused. Under such circumstances, LeTV must launch mobile phones to improve its ecological system, which has become a key link in the terminal layout.

In addition, LeTV has already made efforts in offline stores. Its "LePar Super Partner Program" has been laid out and will be rolled out soon. LePar stores want to become LeTV's comprehensive product service platform, demonstrating LeTV's hardware, content, and services. If there is no smartphone, it will be a big shortcoming. Super TV and other hardware alone are not enough to attract a large number of customers.

Slowing TV revenue forces it to consider mobile

LeEco seems ambitious, but it is actually suffering. The ecosystem it wants to build is too large, but the current capital stock does not allow it to make full use of its strength. Last year, LeEco's stock price rose 6.5 times, because the super TV had just been launched and was recognized by the capital market. But this year, LeEco's stock price fell from 55.5 yuan in December last year to 40 yuan, which is indeed due to the lack of new growth points.

Moreover, as the cost-effectiveness of the immature TVs launched by other manufacturers has become higher and higher, LeTV has been unable to resist relying solely on super TVs. Its revenue has begun to slow down, and it must find new growth points. Under such circumstances, mobile phones have become the best way to stimulate the capital market and increase receivables. Last year, Xiaomi's revenue reached 31 billion, while LeTV's revenue was 2.361 billion, a difference of more than 10 times. Such a large gap makes LeTV salivate for the mobile phone market. After all, LeTV still has a certain influence in the hearts of users. According to its YY, even if it cannot reach the popularity of Xiaomi mobile phones, as long as it has half or even a quarter of the sales, it can occupy a place in the mobile phone market, thus giving itself a better living space in the cruel mobile Internet era.

In addition, although the domestic mobile phone market is already a red ocean, the competition among major manufacturers is still going on, and the market position ranking has not really stabilized, and there are still opportunities for sudden emergence. This gives LeTV a chance to take advantage of, and LeTV must be very optimistic about the prospects of its mobile phone business.

The success rate of following Xiaomi’s model is unclear

It is foreseeable that LeTV will adopt a model similar to Xiaomi mobile phones - high cost performance is still the main theme. And a system similar to MIUI will also appear, creating its own platform on the mobile side and establishing its own stable fan base. But will consumers who are already tired of playing still pay for it?

It is understood that in terms of cost control, Jia Yueting set a maximum limit of 1,300 yuan for the R&D team, and the appearance and process design must be at the mid-range level of 2,000 yuan in the market, targeting products such as Xiaomi 4 and Meizu MX 4. The screen is larger than 5.0 inches and uses a Samsung processor, which means that LeTV phones will not support 4G. Such products are obviously not very competitive in the current market, and even the LeTV phone R&D team believes that it is "very pessimistic."

As mentioned in the introduction, the person in charge of LeTV's mobile phone business is Feng Xing, the former vice president of Lenovo Group. He also brought with him many of the original team members, most of whom were sales personnel in operator-related businesses. This may change LeTV's previous habit of focusing on online marketing and make efforts in operator channels. However, now that operators have withdrawn the contract phone policy from the stage of history and instead launched a model of buying a phone and giving away phone bills, the attractiveness of LeTV phones to operators remains to be discussed.

LeEco originally planned to cover different terminal markets with its Xiaomi Sharp and Redmi series, just like Xiaomi. However, as of now, the first batch of LeEco phones launched is still a single model, which cannot have much impact on the market. Even the originally expected launch time in November cannot be guaranteed, and the first batch of models has not been determined until now. Will you wait for such a LeEco phone and buy it after a long time?

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.