Chapter 102 Quickly attracting strong attention from the outside world (4000 words)
Lu An skipped this topic and instead told: "The product launch event can be warmed up. You go arrange people to start the arrangement."
The company's core focus in the last quarter of this year The first step is to release the first-generation housekeeping service robot
Meng Qiuyan nodded: "Well, I'll deal with it."
The target customer group of the housekeeping service robot product is very clear, which is to target high-net-worth families and take the high-end luxury route.
When the cost comes down in a few years and the price can reach more than 200,000 yuan, the target customer group will shift to a larger middle-class family, and the strategy will be adjusted to take the route of popular products.
Originally, in the eyes of the public, it symbolized luxury goods that only wealthy people could afford. After a significant price reduction, it can actually stimulate sales.
This is like a high-end model of the BBA car series that originally sold for more than 500,000 yuan, but suddenly announced that it would be sold for 250,000 yuan at a price of half, and found that it could be afforded. This will inevitably greatly stimulate consumers to have a strong desire to buy.
Of course, after switching from a high-end luxury product strategy to a popular route, there will inevitably be a significant loss of high-net-worth users.
But it doesn’t really matter at that time, because the size of middle-income families is much larger than that of high-net-worth families, and the total profit scale that can be earned is definitely larger than that of high-net-worth families.
High-net-worth families can sell two to three hundred thousand units a year, which is considered a super hit.
But for middle-income families, annual sales can easily reach several million, or even tens of millions is not impossible.
Because the sales volume of private cars is this number.
With reference to the BBA car series, the high-end cars of these car companies that cost more than 500,000 yuan do not contribute a high proportion of profits to the company. The core profit source is for the middle-income group. Because of the large sales volume, the real money is from mass-market cars.
More extreme cases, such as those multi-million dollar luxury cars, have indeed high profit margins, but they cannot be sold in large quantities.
It doesn’t make much money, it’s more about telling brand stories.
As for the high-end luxury goods sector, Luan will definitely not give up directly. It will also fight for the customer group of high-net-worth families if it can.
If you really can't win, then forget it, but high-end luxury goods robots will continue to be made. They don't ask for continued sales volume or how much money they make. Instead, they turn their focus to the narrative level of shaping brand culture.
To put it down to earth, it is used to fill up appearances and show off one’s face.
…
The next day.
Yuanjie Intelligent Control began to prepare for the next product launch conference and prepare for publicity and momentum.
The product launch conference of the first generation of domestic service robots was also held in accordance with the specifications of major technology manufacturers. Now Yuanjie Intelligent Control is already a well-known top manufacturer in the eyes of many people, with an annual net profit of nearly 50 billion. In terms of profit alone, even the three Internet giants of BAT are in the back row.
In the technology circle, Yuanjie Intelligent Control is now becoming more and more famous day by day.
In the capital circle, it is the most potential super unicorn among unlisted companies.
The company’s latest valuation is US$65 billion, equivalent to more than 400 billion yuan in RMB.
This valuation level makes Metaverse not only the most highly valued unlisted company in China, but also the world's number one valuation ranking globally.
As early as the first half of this year, Metaverse Intelligent Control’s valuation ranked fourth in the world with a valuation of US$40 billion.
The top three companies are Beijing Magnesium's Uber, ranking first with a valuation of US$50 billion, followed by domestic Xiaomi, with a valuation of US$46 billion, and third place, domestic Mayi Financial, with a valuation of US$45 billion.
The valuations of Uber, Xiaomi, and Mayi Financial have not changed.
However, Yuanjie Intelligent Control's performance has exceeded expectations one after another, and its valuation has been frequently raised by the capital market.
There are few companies in the world that have such strong high-tech monopoly barriers as Metaverse Intelligent Control. This is also the type of company that capital likes most.
So far, various capital forces have not given up on Yuanjie Intelligent Control, and have been secretly thinking about it.
…
At about 16:00 in the afternoon, a rumor caught the attention of the outside world.
According to sources, relevant state units will provide large subsidies to the bionic prosthetic products of Metaverse Intelligent Control. A single bionic prosthetic limb will receive a state subsidy of 17,000 yuan.
As soon as this news came out, it immediately attracted huge attention from people in the technology and capital circles.
As the news spread and consumers learned about it, it caused a wider sensation and quickly aroused heated discussions on the Internet.
[Are the sources reliable? ]
[What? A subsidy of 17,000 yuan? ]
[I’ll admit it’s a big loss. I just bought a mechanical leg for my dad last month, and I lost 17,000 blood! ]
[Really or falsely? Is this news true? I am planning to buy a prosthetic arm. If this is true, I have to wait for the national subsidy before buying it. ]
[I hope this news is true, and I hope the country can take more care of our disabled and vulnerable groups. ]
[Fake, impossible. If the subsidy is really 17,000 yuan per piece, wouldn’t it mean that you can buy a bionic prosthesis for 3,000 yuan? ]
[It should be a rumor. I still believe it if the subsidy is 1,700 yuan. ]
[There is no smoke without fire. I feel that there may be subsidies. Even if it is not as exaggerated as 17,000, it will be a little bit. ]
[I think this news has a high guarantee rate. If a bionic prosthetic limb can help a disabled person who cannot take care of himself gain the ability to take care of himself, and even gain the ability to work, it means that he is not only no longer a burden to society, but can even create labor value and GDP. ]
[It makes sense, I also think this subsidy news should be true. ]
[Just take a blind guess, maybe you can get medical insurance in the future. ]
The news of bionic prosthetic subsidies is not official news, and Metaverse Intelligent Control has not disclosed relevant information.
It is obviously coming from elsewhere. The subsidy policy has been determined, and the documents have begun to be communicated to relevant departments. More and more people will know about it, and it is not surprising that the news will spread to the outside world.
An hour later, Qin Yiyun called Lu An.
"Are there any rumors about subsidies that are spreading outside?" Qin Yiyun asked on the phone. Even if he could ask this question, he obviously didn't get the news.
Lu An said: "So your offline channel authorized store will be expanded as soon as possible, and the subsidy will take effect in January next year. As you said, the sales of bionic prostheses will definitely increase significantly by then, so we must prepare early."
After getting Lu An's affirmative reply, this matter must be true. Qin Yiyun said: "OK, no problem, but can you supply the goods here?"
Lu An smiled and said: "Don't worry, we are already expanding production capacity."
Qin Yiyun said: "That's okay."
The authorized stores of Wanxiang Huitong's offline channels have been open and operating for some time, and there are currently 58 of them. The offline direct stores of Metaverse Intelligent Control are also being rolled out across the country as planned. Currently, 79 are open and operating, and they are still advancing.
There are also online sales channels. Metaverse’s official website has a mall where you can place orders, including several e-commerce platforms.
However, the online sales of bionic prosthetics are not very large, because this product still requires the guidance of some professional medical staff to use it, and consumers themselves are more inclined to buy it from offline stores, or buy it in hospitals.
The majority of netizens and consumers outside are still speculating on whether the news about national supplements for bionic prostheses is true or false, but some people already know that this is true news, including some well-informed capital.
The reaction of the capital market was reflected in the stock price of Wanxiang Huitong. After the news was released, there was a two-day daily limit.
The company's stock price rose to 147.96 yuan, corresponding to a market capitalization of 70.2 billion, which is 169.93 yuan away from the previous high, and has narrowed the decline to -14.85%.
…
Two days later, Metaverse Intelligent Control released major news.
The company will hold a new product launch conference on Saturday, October 3, and officially launch its first commercial-grade humanoid robot product.
Once this news was released, it quickly attracted attention from the outside world.
Especially the technology and capital circles are particularly concerned about this.
· Outsiders have raised eyebrows. In the first half of April, the R1 robot was launched and shocked the technology world. How long has it been?
In just 5 months, less than half a year, the first application product is about to be launched?
Previously, many people in the industry, including the majority of netizens, believed that it would take two years before Metaverse Intelligent Control’s R1 robot would be commercially available.
And until now, most people think that the application scenario of R1 robot should be military.
Because it requires people to operate it, there seems to be no application scenario for commercial use. The most common non-military scenario that I can think of is firefighting, which means it is engaged in some higher-risk fields.
At this moment, outsiders all thought that the product launch conference held by Metaverse Intelligent Control on October 3 was to launch the R1 robot.
But the next day, Metaverse Intelligent Control’s marketing and publicity department officially launched its efforts and continued to disclose some information about new products. Now outsiders suddenly realized that the new product released was not the R1 robot, but a housekeeping service robot.
“Xiaoyuan Robot. Focus on the five major application scenarios of housekeeping?” A senior practitioner in the industry is focusing on reading the latest promotional copy of Metaverse Intelligent Control. “Xiaoyuan” is the official name given by Metaverse Intelligent Control to its first domestic service robot.
"Kitchen, elderly care, child care, housework, emergency. It is actually a domestic service robot for the domestic industry..."
This senior practitioner was surprised. He soon realized another piece of information that made him even more critical. Since the "Xiaoyuan" robot is a domestic service robot, it must be highly intelligent and highly automated.
This is obviously different from the R1 robot exposed in April.
The R1 robot still needs people to control it, but housekeeping robots certainly cannot do this and must have a high degree of automation capabilities.
If people still need to control the domestic robot, a smart person would buy it.
Any consumer who will buy this robot must be aiming to free people from tedious housework, otherwise there is no point in buying it.
At the same time, driven by the news of Metaverse Intelligent Control's new product launch, Wanxiang Huitong's stock price continued to fluctuate and strengthen, breaking through the historical high of 169.93 yuan in the stock market crash in June in the first half of the year before the National Day holiday, reaching a record high.
Wanxiang Huitong's stock price reached a new high of 182.33 yuan, and the corresponding total market value reached 86.6 billion.
Obviously, the current stock price trend of Wanxiang Huitong has basically nothing to do with its own main business. Its main business is valued at 50 to 6 billion yuan, and the remaining 80 billion market value is supported by its 15% stake in Metaverse Intelligent Holdings.
Having been taken away by Metaverse Intelligent Control, investors are ridiculing that Wanxiang Huitong has become a pendant on Metaverse Intelligent Control's lap.
As long as the development momentum of Yuanjie Intelligent Control is strong, Wanxiang Huitong will definitely be taken away and has been deeply tied to the chariot of Yuanjie Intelligent Control.
…
As time goes by, Metaverse Intelligent Control’s new product launch promotion campaign continues to advance, and more and more people know about it.
People from all walks of life in the outside world are very curious about whether this Xiaoyuan robot is useless, or whether it will amaze the world like the original R1 robot.
The press conference will not start until October 3. Yuanjie Intelligent Control has not disclosed more details yet, and the outside world can only rely on their own guesses.
However, everyone has a general consensus that this Xiaoyuan robot must be highly automated.
And the degree of intelligence cannot be low, otherwise it will not be qualified for housekeeping work at all, and it will be a useless product.
In the next few days, as attention increased, the news fermented.
Suddenly, a well-known big V jumped out to badmouth the Xiaoyuan robot that had not yet been released.
Big Vs said that the core technology of robots is AI artificial intelligence, and Metaverse Intelligent Control only has some strength in mechanical engineering.
Him also ridiculed a wave of R1 robots that are just traps. They are actually controlled by humans and are not real robots at all.
Hence, the big Vs came to the conclusion that the Xiaoyuan robot must be useless, and whoever buys it will pay an IQ tax.
In fact, industry veterans who really understand technology know very well the outstanding features of the R1 robot and how outrageous its technical content is.
That is because the technical capabilities in mechanical engineering, control engineering, brain neuroscience and other fields have reached the ceiling to make the R1 robot as amazing as when the video was exposed. It is not an exaggeration to say it is a black technology.
After watching a series of videos of Metaverse’s R1 robot, the technical engineers at Boston Dynamics felt that the Atlas robot they built was useless.
So far, no one from Boston Dynamics has come out to evaluate the R1 robot of Metaverse Intelligent Control across the ocean.
Because I can’t evaluate it.
You can’t say that your Atlas robot is useless and your R1 robot is awesome, right?
Do you still want to raise funds?
· Boston Dynamics has been in a state of loss and needs capital to "support" it to survive.
This company has been established for more than 20 years, but it has not yet achieved profitability, nor has it launched a decent mature product. There are actually quite a lot of products, but they cannot leave the laboratory and only live in videos, let alone commercial applications.
Had it not been for the acquisition and blood transfusion by Google, a global Internet giant, it might have gone bankrupt.
However, Metaverse itself has strong revenue and profit support and does not need capital to provide financing support at all. This is definitely what Boston Dynamics imagined itself to be.
…
(End of this chapter)