Chapter 439 - This News Conference is so Interesting (1/2)
After the video finished playing, the atmosphere became livelier and more formal.
People who had not entered yet walked in briskly. Soon, all the seats were filled up.
A gentle female voice reminded everyone of a couple of things, such as keeping their cell phones on silent mode, not to leave halfway through the one-hour long news conference, and to claim the small gifts on their way out after the event.
At the same time, the lady informed everyone that the news conference would be livestreamed on the Waiwai streaming platform and that everyone could head there to watch it.
At 3 PM, all the lights were switched off. Chang You walked up onto the stage while everyone applauded loudly.
“Hello, everyone! I am Chang You.
“Thank you all for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend Otto Ei’s news conference. On behalf of all the staff at Otto Technologies, I warmly welcome all of you!”
The applause was as loud as thunder.
Pei Qian took out his cell phone, logged onto the Waiwai streaming platform, and found the livestream of Otto Technologies’ news conference.
Livestreaming had developed very quickly over the past year. At this time last year, less than two hundred thousand people used livestreaming platforms. Yet, now, there were tens of thousands of viewers on one channel alone.
There weren’t many people watching the livestream of Otto Technologies’ news conference-just twenty- to thirty-thousand people. Most of them were fans of digital products.
“Eh, isn’t that Vice President Chang? Which pathetic manufacturer is he preparing to attack after causing the collapse of Hongcheng Technologies?” “Otto Technologies? I’ve never heard of this name before.”
“It’s under Tengda Corporation, and it’s listed on TPDb. Have you seen Tomorrow is Beautiful?”
“That’s an inferior brand, too. I’ll admit that Tengda is awesome at creating games, but it’s still considered a young student when it comes to manufacturing cell phones. I’ll wait and see who the king of extortion, Vice President Chang, is going to extort today. A blind guess is that it’ll either be Pineapple or Shenhua!”
“What are you talking about? Which cell phone manufacturer in the country wouldn’t try and extort Pineapple and Shenhua? Pineapple cell phones are being hung up and beaten daily; I’m already used to it.”
Bullet screen comments were not yet supported on livestreaming platforms now. However, there was a chatting window on the right side of the screen. Thus, Pei Qian could read netizens’ comments in real-time.
Obviously, many digital hobbyists had formed a deep impression of Chang You after what happened at Hongcheng Technologies. Everyone was focusing not on the cell phones, but on Chang You. Pei Qian was very satisfied with this. He felt like he had a keen eye for people.
On stage, Chang You briefly introduced Otto Technologies’ history.
There was a lot that he could have included in the story. For example, he could have talked about Otto Technologies being a subsidiary of Tengda, or about the close relationship the company had with Tomorrow is Beautiful.
However, Chang You did not elaborate on any of that. Instead, he spoke briefly. That was because Boss Pei had emphasized to him to control the duration of the news conference.
Thus, Chang You decided to cut to the chase. He hit a button on his remote control, causing one big word to appear on the screen:
‘Pricing!!
Once the word appeared, everyone immediately quieted down. Many netizens typed strings of question marks.
“Wait, hasn’t this news conference just started? Did I miss something?”
“Did I miss out on the first two hours?”
“Did they mess up the slideshow?”
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Ordinarily, the cell phone’s pricing would be left to the last! Other cell phone manufacturers would have elaborated on the cell phone’s functions and merits from the beginning, in ascending order of importance. Once the audience’s expectations for the cell phone reached their peak and the host hinted to everyone that the cell phone was high-tech and good-quality, he would ask everyone to guess its price.
Finally, he would reveal that the cell phone was priced slightly lower than everyone had guessed. At once, they would all clap and think highly of the cell phone.
Of course, some manufacturers would mess this up. They would reveal the price, only for the audience to curse and grimace. The atmosphere would then turn awkward.
Regardless, the order would still be the same!
The audience had not even seen the cell phone, and yet its price was staring them in the face. What was going on? Wasn’t that taking away the fun of guessing the cell phone’s price?
Chang You was already prepared for this. Without another word, he hit his remote control again, and a huge number appeared on the screen.
8,199! Everyone remained silent. Again, the comments section of the livestream window was filled with question marks.
“Is Vice President Chang high on alcohol?”
“A multi-thousand-yuan cell phone… just what I wanted!”
“Even Shenhua and Pineapple don’t sell their flagship models at such a high price. Who gave you the courage?!”
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The live audience was not as direct as netizens on the livestream, but their confused expressions were telling of their thoughts.
Are you kidding me?!
Vice President Chang, you may have caused Hongcheng Technologies to collapse, but this terrible mistake is ridiculous, right?
Chang You remained unperturbed. He continued, “We will not run promotions or reduce the price of our Otto E1 cell phones in the future. Once the next model is released, E1 will be taken off the shelves. Until then, it would be sold for 8,199 yuan, and the price would not change. Of course, we don’t accept payment by installments either.
“Alright, everyone can start dissing now.” The crowd remained quiet. Comments kept being posted rapidly on the livestream.
Seeing that everyone was mocking and dissing the cell phone in the comments, Pei Qian felt excited and overwhelmed.
Finally, this is going well. This is the right feeling! This is the effect I wanted!
Pei Qian had to suppress the urge to give Chang You a thumbs-up from off-stage.
Chang You’s expression remained the same. Since the news conference had a limited duration, he could not afford to talk too much about the price. Instead, he moved to the next segment.
“Next, I’ll talk about our stocks.