How It Works In The Real World

IFA is this week and there’s already been a bunch of product announcements.

Announce any damn thing you want, companies. But if you can’t get it on the shelves of a physical store, it doesn’t matter.

Here is the dream world of the so-called Rational Techie:

1) Product announcement

2) Read Internet hype

3) Compare specs to current devices

4) Decide to buy

5) Note launch date

6) Order online

7) Boom. Done.

8) Return to Amazon/vendor if disappointed

Xiaomi Wastes Limited Hype Attention On MiPad Price Cut

Weibo:

The MiPad, over a year after its launch, is finally priced like its competition was back then.

Does anybody care?

What a waste of my attention.

Xiaomi MiPad Announcement Tomorrow

After a period of seeming nearly dead, the Xiaomi MiPad account sent out this Weibo:

Meizu Gets New Logo, Internal PDF Leaked

This is where the company wants to be:

See their plan — if you can read Chinese — in the leaked PDF [Google Drive].

via Weibo

Smartisan Phone Unveiling In China Nearly Fills A Stadium!

Weibo:

The New China Syndrome

A Chinese Entrepreneur’s Rude Awakening at a German Manufacturing Fair

I also noticed that many visitors did not trust products made in China. They either showed contempt or were afraid of them. In order to promote our website, we visited all exhibition halls and talked to many customers. Not many people were interested in Chinese companies. They did not pay much attention. Some even said: “We do not do any business with Chinese companies, please stop!”

Onda Engineer Q&A Weibo

An Onda engineer answered questions on Weibo about the new V919 3G Air Core-M tablet.

I’m publishing all of the Weibos.

Weibo regarding heat:

Samsung: Charging More For Less = Fewer Sales, Less Profits

Galaxy A8 prices start at north of $500

Hahahahahahaha. No.

This is a US$350 device, period. There’s now real competition from Alcatel, Asus, and LG, to name just three.

Previously here:

Samsung News: Phone A8 And Tab S2 Prices
Samsung Galaxy Phone A8 Gets A Review
Samsung Galaxy Phone A8

Amazon’s “Sub-Optimus” Prime Day A Joke In Asia Too

Amazon Prime Day disappointment highlights Alibaba’s superiority

An ecommerce battle between the two would be waged on a variety of fronts, but after watching the Prime Day debacle, it’s hard to imagine that Alibaba won’t have the upper hand when it comes to marketing and promotional events and sales. After the folks at Amazon clean up the PR mess that was Wednesday’s Prime Day, they really ought to take a long hard look at Singles Day to find out what they should have done.

Amazon’s Prime Day was a disaster.

Not even their Kindle Paperwhite was on sale! How does that even make any marketing sense? They would have made up any loss in hardware profit with eBook profits. All those people who are still hanging onto their old Kindles would’ve jumped to upgrade.

Anyway, China’s 11/11 day has nothing to fear.

Previously here:

Xiaomi Final 11/11 Sales Tally
More 11/11 Sales Data
Final Overall 11/11 Sales Figure
Xiaomi Final 11/11 Sales Total
Teclast’s 11/11 Shipping
Xiaomi 11/11 Sales Figures
Xiaomi 11/11 Sale Record
11/11 Sale: Incredible New Record Created
11/11 Sale Breaking Records
The 11/11 Sales Tmall Press Room
A Variety Of Photos From The 11/11 Sale

Asus Violates Rule One: Don’t Confuse The Market!

Asus ZenPad S 8.0 is now available to buy in the US for $199.99

Interestingly, Best Buy says it’s selling the Z580C model of the Asus ZenPad S 8.0, but the specs it lists are actually those for one iteration of the Z580CA. We assume Asus’ naming conventions have managed to confuse even this well known retailer.

Boldfaced emphasis added by me.

I didn’t even look at the listed specs!

A reality check is in order.