Former Kangjia President Launches AImenpad TV

2015-11-22

Liu Dan, a "veteran" in the color TV industry for 21 years, as the former president of Konka Group, after being "ousted," he created his own brand "Mengpai" in just 50 days and once again entered the already blood-soaked internet TV arena.

On the evening of November 17th, one day before "Menpad" was officially released, Liu Dan had just had dinner with the person in charge of Aliyun OS at a five-star hotel in Panyu, Guangzhou. In a slightly tipsy state, he revealed his own journey of heart and the development strategy of Menpad, still clear-headed and passionate as ever.

The 'Gypsy' of the color TV industry

Liu Dan, 43 years old, although not very old, has a wealth of experience, extensive travels, and deep connections within the color TV industry. Having experienced seven major turning points, he is like a "Gypsy" in the world of color TVs. This time, he wants to "find a home" for himself by establishing Shenzhen AImenpad Group and taking on the position of chairman.

In the past, he was not particularly prominent. On June 18th of this year, Liu Dan "returned" to Konka and took over as the president of Konka Group from Liu Fengxi, becoming a focal point of media attention. Unexpectedly, less than three months later, on September 10th, he was suddenly placed on temporary leave, with Konka Group Chairman Liu Fengxi concurrently serving as the president.

The hidden circumstances are not suitable for detailed discussion. Before the outside world could finish projecting sympathetic gazes, Liu Dan had already transformed herself, setting up her own flag and "claiming the mountain as her own." She is truly a person who loves to stir things up and can make things happen!

"Thank God, returning to Konka is the best liberation," Liu Dan remains so optimistic. Before returning to Konka, he was the Vice President of Shenzhen Huake Group and in charge of the company's own brand color TV business, and also held 20% of the shares in Huake's color TV business. In June this year, Konka invited Liu Dan back to serve as president, allowing him to leave Huake's partnership status smoothly. Even though he was suddenly suspended by Konka later, Liu Dan said, "I am grateful to Konka for giving me the freedom of identity."

Perhaps having drifted too much, Liu Dan hopes to take root and open up a new world of his own. After leaving Konka this year, there were also people in the color TV industry who threw him a ball of silk, such as Gu Wei, the chairman of Zhaochi Shares, who has been engaged in color TV OEM. With his wings growing stronger, Liu Dan offered a "high price" - 51% equity in his own brand business, but Gu Wei did not accept it.

"Menpad, I have a 100% stake," Liu Dan said. Although it's difficult to create a color TV brand, even more challenging is to make money from one. In the first three quarters of this year, among the traditional brands and emerging internet brands in the domestic color TV industry totaling 18, only Hisense and Skyworth made money.

Liu Dan's confidence at this time stems from his familiarity with the supply chain and channel partners in the color TV industry. As one of the few "soldiers to generals" in the Chinese color TV industry, he has held various positions, including Deputy Factory Manager of Kangjia's Mechanism No.1 Factory in Dongguan, Factory Manager of Mechanism No.2 Factory, Manager of Quality Department in Mudanjiang Kangjia, Manager of Air Conditioning Department in Kangjia Group Sales Company, and Manager of Northern Regional Marketing Department. From 2001 to 2003, Liu Dan served as General Manager of Kangjia Multimedia Qingdao Branch, facing the veteran color TV "powerhouse" Hisense and achieving commendable results.

12 years ago, China's color TV industry underwent a rapid transformation from CRT to flat panel. With full momentum, Liu Dan was recalled to the Kangjia headquarters to oversee the emerging flat-panel television business. From 2003 to 2005, he served as the Deputy General Manager of Kangjia Multimedia Sales Company; from 2005 to 2007, he became the General Manager of Kangjia Multimedia Flat Panel Operation Center.

To this day, Liu Dan is still quite proud that in 2003, Konka's domestic market share of flat-panel TVs once reached 38%, surpassing the pioneer of LCD TVs, Sharp. "Foreign brands will ultimately not outperform domestic brands."

In 2007, Liu Dan left Konka. Subsequently, he held positions such as General Manager of Global Business for AOC brand color TVs at Cathay Pacific Group, Managing Director of Huizhou Electronics (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd., Assistant to the Chairman of BOE Technology Group, and Chairman of Gaochuang Electronics (Suzhou) Co., Ltd. under BOE Technology Group, as well as Vice President of HKC Group. From branded companies, upstream panel factories to contract manufacturing plants, Liu Dan has traveled a long way in the world of color TV industry, until this year returning to his starting point "Konka" and standing on a higher position.

Over the past seven or eight years, Liu Dan has been involved in the business of branded color TVs for OEM companies and has achieved notable success. He joined Chimei in 2007 and proposed to protect the profits of channel partners in 2008. Within two years, AOC color TVs expanded to more than 3,300 sales terminals domestically, achieving a sales revenue of 1 billion yuan.

Pragmatic "Dreamer"

The past achievements need not be mentioned again, the key question is whether 'Menpad' TV can truly realize Liu Dan's dream of self-worth?

On the morning of November 18th, facing hundreds of dealers from all over the country, Liu Dan played a short video clip "A Day in the Future" filmed by American glass giant Corning two or three years ago before stepping onto the stage to give a speech. The short film depicts a beautiful life scene in the future era of the Internet of Things: waking up in the morning, lightly touching the TV to see current affairs news; brushing your teeth, lightly touching the mirror to instantly understand the weather conditions; entering the living room, lightly touching the table top to converse with distant relatives and friends; after leaving home, lightly touching the car's display screen to see traffic conditions, with digital billboards along the road... Displays are everywhere, and what you touch is what you see.

This also embodies Liu Dan's dream of color TV. He believes that in the past five years, the color TV market has not grown. The industrial scale of China's color TV industry was 156.5 billion yuan in 2011 and 151.5 billion yuan in 2015; the capacity of the world color TV market was 250 million units in 2011 and is expected to be 230 million units in 2015.

Why is the color TV industry so bleak? Liu Dan takes Tencent Video as an example, saying that online video is now watched on mobile devices by 70%, on computers by 20%, and on TV less than 10%. As mobile phone screens get larger and bandwidth gets wider, watching videos on mobile devices becomes more convenient. Even though internet TV brands like LeEco and Xiaomi have entered the market, they are only competing for market share with low prices rather than creating new markets.

"Over the past five years, vision has been defined as mobile + internet. In the next ten years, vision will be defined as touch + stereoscopic," Liu Dan believes. Touch screens and naked-eye 3D will create new growth space for the future of the color TV industry. At the launch event, AImenpad company collaborated with American CTMATouch to launch a 55-inch full touch screen LCD TV; it also signed a contract with Kangde Xin company to jointly create naked-eye 3D LCD TVs. "Previously, 3D TVs did not become popular because 3D glasses were easy to lose, but naked-eye 3D solves this problem."

With years of experience in the color TV industry, Liu Dan was not difficult to integrate upstream technology and supplier resources first. However, once TCL, Hisense, Skyworth and other color TV giants decided to do so, it was as easy as flipping a hand, hence Menpad TV does not have an irreplaceable core competitiveness.

If industry giants follow up with naked-eye 3D and full-touch screen TVs, as a pioneer, they will also receive appropriate returns. Liu Dan has been preparing for this in advance. He will not simply compete head-on with the existing 'players' in the home TV market; he will also focus on the commercial market. For example, a 55-inch capacitive touch screen TV is very suitable for use in education, and Menpad will launch learning machines and educational devices.

Once there are more people "mining gold," he can also become a "water seller." "Everyone is welcome to follow along," Liu Dan revealed that he has obtained the Chinese agent rights for CimaTouch, hoping to make the cost of touch modules lower and lower in the future. "I am a private enterprise; it's impossible not to make money," he said slyly.

The profit assurance sources for AImenpad TV come from three aspects: First, product innovation. Naked-eye 3D TVs and fully touch-controlled 55-inch LCD TVs will command a higher premium compared to ordinary TVs; Second, channel innovation. AImenpad will adopt the practices of Gree, fully protecting the interests of offline dealers. 30% to 40% of the retail price will be returned to the dealers. The e-commerce channel is not abandoned, but it will not disrupt the offline prices. If the same price is offered, the e-commerce channel will also maintain a decent profit margin; Third, operational innovation. AImenpad cooperates with internet companies, content operators, broadband providers, etc., including Alibaba Cloud OS operating system, which provides subsidies for each TV.

Liu Dan said that AImenpad will invest 180 million yuan in the next three years to open 6,000 sales outlets, with an annual TV sales volume reaching 1 million units; and establish a repair company to implement a service that guarantees replacement within one year of the warranty period for the entire machine.

In fact, whether it's production, sales, or operations, the newly born "AImenpad" relies more on social resources, which is closely related to Liu Dan's experience working at several color TV OEM companies. This time, the AImenpad color TV is also produced in collaboration with OEM factories. Liu Dan also revealed that "we hope to expand together with broadband providers, offering subsidies for network access; we hope to cooperate with content operators, with both parties sharing revenue. We are already in talks with broadband providers in a province, offering an annual network access fee of 800 yuan, half of which is returned to the AImenpad users."

As the youngest internet TV brand in China, AImenpad focuses on offline channels. Liu Dan repeatedly said that internet thinking is not about low prices, but whether it can create value for users.

Dong Min, who once worked under Liu Dan at BOE and is now the general manager of the Black Electric Research Center at AVIC Omnia, also came to support AImenpad on the 18th. Dong Min predicts that internet brands will account for 11% of the domestic color TV market this year and will further increase to 20% in 2016. "The color TV market has shown some warming, but traditional enterprises are not feeling the warmth. The reasons are twofold: first, the strong continue to be strong, and second, internet brands are calmly competing for the market." Moreover, as e-commerce channel growth slows down, internet brands are all moving towards traditional directions. "AImenpad TVs cover 32 to 65 inches, catering to both commercial and residential markets, we have reason to look forward to it."

GUANGZHOU MENPAD TECHNOLOGY CO.,LTD

Sales Address：Room 321-322, Building 3, No. 6, Hanji Avenue, Dalong Street, Panyu District, Guangzhou

Factory Address:Building L13,Tian'an Zhigu Science and Technology Industrial park,No 18 Chuangxin Road,Qingyuan high tech Industrial Development Zone,Guangdong Province,China

Website：www.aimenpad.com

Contact Person:

Luo Wen: +86 18666661387

Liu Jianfeng: +86 18027317256

Jiao Ning: +86 18688678662