Thanks to the previous news generating a wave of hype, the E-brand phone collaboration between the Ye and Ning families attracted a lot of attention.
Most people, however, were reluctant to waste their money on it.
Furthermore, its price point was even lower than the Orange Phone, leading many to assume its performance couldn’t possibly match up.
Why spend over four thousand on a domestic phone when you could add a few thousand more and get an Orange Phone?
The first day’s sales were a pitiful two hundred and thirty units.
Yet, Ye Shaohua and Ning Tao clearly weren’t worried.
Yu Mingming was one of those who bought the phone. Unlike others, his purchase was primarily because of Ye Shaohua.
He was a student from No.1 High School and had previously held strong prejudices against Ye Shaohua. His father had jumped to his death because of stocks.
Although he had cursed Ye Shaohua many times, deep down he knew his father’s suicide wasn’t solely due to the Ye Family’s stock plummeting; it was a combination of other stocks and bonds.
After his father’s death, people from the Ye Family had even found his mother a stable, well-paying job.
That’s why he bought an E-phone on its very first day of release.
Over four thousand was a significant amount for him. Coincidentally, his old phone was lagging badly and almost unusable. He had originally planned to buy an Orange Phone, but ended up, for reasons even he wasn’t entirely sure of, buying the E-phone instead.
The phone’s instruction manual had both Chinese and English versions.
Yu Mingming glanced at it and couldn’t help muttering, “Do they really think foreigners will buy this when its performance can’t possibly be better than the Orange Phone…”
Since it was local delivery, the phone arrived that afternoon.
He excitedly started unboxing it as soon as he got it.
Pressing the power button, he was surprised to find the boot-up speed quite fast. His previous phone was another domestic brand with a slower boot time; the contrast made him realize just how quick this was.
The interface after booting was simple.
He looked around briefly and finally noticed a “Holographic Projection” function on the main screen.
“Holographic projection?” Yu Mingming was stunned. What kind of feature was this?
He’d only seen it in sci-fi novels and movies, and those were mostly special effects. There was no such thing as real holographic projection in reality.
Yu Mingming tapped on it. The contents inside were complex.
He was a naturally curious person.
Having participated in math Olympiads at Yunshui High School, he had a good grasp of mathematics and spatial concepts.
Just one look at the formulas on the main page told him this wasn’t something the developers had just thrown in for fun.
Thinking this, he immediately retrieved the discarded instruction manual from the trash, found the section on holographic projection, and began studying it.
This was the first time he’d ever read an instruction manual for a phone.
Most phones on the market were very similar; hardly anyone actually read the manuals.
After reading the first step, he opened the relevant software within the app.
Then he hurriedly flipped through the following pages in the manual. The instructions were extremely clear. The most important part was that through this software, when contacting others, the other person’s image would be directly projected to his side.
This astonished Yu Mingming. But the instruction manual wouldn’t lie, would it?
He could only take out a potato and started testing it as described in the manual.
When he saw the potato actually projected onto his desk, Yu Mingming was beyond amazed. He reached out and touched the projected potato. It was identical to the real thing, down to the smallest details.
If his hand hadn’t passed directly through the projected potato, he would never have believed it was fake!
He then fetched a book, some vegetables…
For the first time, he felt such a sense of novelty about a product.
He could already imagine how amazing this technology would be if applied to living things, and how videos and movies could have entirely new ways of being experienced.
Thinking this, he wanted to try a holographic call with a friend.
But none of his friends had bought this phone yet.
He could only call his best friend. “Go buy a phone from the official website, now! Yes, the E-brand phone! I’m telling you, it really can do holographic calls! It’s not fake at all! Hurry up and buy one, it’ll arrive tomorrow morning. If you wait, there might not be any left for you!”
His friend was curious about the sudden recommendation. Although he didn’t really need a new phone and was a bit skeptical about the holographic projection claim, his strong curiosity prompted him to place an order anyway.
Meanwhile, Yu Mingming logged into his social media account and used his old phone to take pictures of the new phone’s projections.
Most of his social media followers were schoolmates.
Seeing Yu Mingming actually recommend a Ye Family phone surprised many. “Is this image Photoshopped? Forget whether holographic projection even exists now, the ones in movies are always blurry. How could it be this clear?”
Yu Mingming immediately replied to that classmate, “I’m not lying! It’s real! Go buy one now! I heard the first batch is only ten thousand units. If you miss this, you’ll have to wait a month to get one!”
That classmate didn’t believe Yu Mingming and didn’t buy one.
‘Over four thousand? Might as well add a few thousand more and get an Orange Phone.’
Yu Mingming didn’t bother with him further and started browsing online content.
He knew this phone was going to be a hit.
He received his quickly because of local delivery; he was probably among the earliest recipients. The buzz would likely start by evening.
Sure enough, by that evening, a popular internet celebrity started a live stream.
“First, let me be clear, I did not receive any advertising fee from the Ye Family. I’m actually a anti-fan of the Ye Family. I bought this phone specifically to report them to the Consumer Association,” the female streamer said as she unboxed the phone. “Look at this, ‘Holographic Projection’? The phone’s advertising is so fake.”
But to prove how fake the Ye Family was, she specifically took out the instruction manual.
[LOL, first time I’ve seen someone actually read a phone manual!]
[+1 to the above, but the Ye Family is done for this time. Why did my beloved Ning Group have to get involved with this bad apple?]
There weren’t a huge number of comments, but people were chatting. Most were skeptical.
“Okay, finished reading the manual. Now I’m taking out an apple,” the streamer said, placing a big red apple on the table. “Audience, watch closely. Remember to call the Consumer Association for me, get ready to report this.”
“Holographic projection?” the streamer scoffed. “Do they think… HOLY CRAP!”
This streamer usually cultivated a refined, ladylike image from a scholarly family; her viewers had almost never heard her swear.
But when she saw the apple in her hand, and her hand itself, projected onto the table, she really couldn’t help it!
[DAMN!]
[I screamed so loud I scared my cat!]
[HOLY CRAP! If the streamer hadn’t used her other hand to touch the hologram, I would’ve thought that apple was real!]
[Does this mean there’s hope for my dream of full holographic gaming?!]
[Streamer, project your cat! If it works, I’ll donate a submarine!]
A submarine donation was worth ten thousand RMB. Even after the platform’s cut, the streamer would get a significant amount. Without hesitation, she brought over her beloved pet cat and placed it in the phone’s projection area.
The next second, the cat saw an identical copy of itself opposite it!
Instantly, countless hidden big spenders became interested. They had the streamer project almost everything visible in her house.
This streamer, who usually had around a hundred thousand followers, exploded in popularity overnight!
Her usual viewership peaked around ten thousand people, but that night her live stream reached 12.7 million viewers!
Her follower count also skyrocketed from over a hundred thousand to 1.89 million!
And it was still rising visibly.
At this rate, by the next day, she would go from a relatively unknown streamer to a top-tier influencer on the platform!
After ending the stream, the internet celebrity immediately went to the E-phone’s official page to leave a review: [The E-phone truly is the most technologically advanced phone in the world. I am a true believer now. Thank you, E-phone! Thank you, Ye Family! Thank you, Ning Group! You helped me gain millions of followers and become a top streamer! From now on, I’m a loyal fan of E-phone. I’ll promote your new products for free every time!]
After typing this glowing review happily, she noticed there were already over a hundred other five-star reviews.
Most, like her, had written long, effusive praises.
Scrolling through the comments, she found several other influencers similar to her who had also posted videos that shot to the top of trending lists; the least popular among them had gained over a hundred thousand followers.
On the sales platform, the remaining nine thousand-plus phones from the first batch sold out completely overnight.
Without any paid advertising, it directly shot into the top three of a major sales ranking chart.
“What? Many consumers are calling to ask if there’s any E-phone stock left?”
“Quick, call the Ye Family!” A domestic sales platform, having set up an official sales page for the Ye Family as a courtesy, saw the opportunity. “No current stock is fine, we can open pre-orders for next month’s shipment. Hurry, put it up now!”
Ye Shaohua was in the middle of a discussion with technical staff when she received successive congratulatory calls from Ning Tao, Ye Chen, and senior management from both the Ye and Ning families.
The Ye Family executives who had previously been somewhat skeptical of her now finally, truly accepted that she was indeed ‘Y’.
At the same time, Gao Heng’s ordered phone had also arrived. However, he didn’t even look at the phone itself. Instead, he immediately contacted Dice.
“Mr. Dice, since you revoked the E-phone’s licensing rights, doesn’t the Ning and Ye collaboration now constitute infringement?”
