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Vivo: The Dominators of Global Affordable Smartphone Industry

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The smartphone is one of the most innovative discoveries of humankind. It won’t be wrong if we call a smartphone a mini-computer, as it can do almost everything a computer can do. Today, from entertainment to business and from connecting with people to studying online, everything is possible through this small and handy gadget. Though smartphones could only be a thing for the Rich, due the companies like Vivo, people from every category have been able to get their hands on them. The company is known for its feature-rich yet affordable smartphones and is one of the most loved smartphone manufacturing companies across the globe.

A Brief Introduction

Vivo is a Chinese Android smartphone manufacturing company that is a subsidiary of BBK Electronics and was founded by Shen Wei in 2009. It is the sister company of Oppo and OnePlus. The company’s headquarter is located in Dongguan, Guangdong, and it is one of the leading smartphone companies in the world that manufactures affordable to mid-range smartphones. Apart from smartphones, Vivo also is the mass producer of smartphone accessories, software, and online services. Vivo’s mobile applications are widely available on its dedicated V-Appstore, and its smartphones also run on the Funtouch OS.

The Back Story of Vivo

Vivo, as mentioned earlier, is a subsidiary of BBK electronics, which came into being with the emergence of smartphone technology around the world in 2009. The company continued to serve its Chinese audience for around 3-4 years of its founding, and in 2014, by entering Thailand for the first time, it started to expand overseas. The company offered innovative designs and features incorporated into its smartphones that made Vivo smartphones quite popular among its global audience in no time.

Vivo
Image Source: ohsem.me

By 2015, the company had reached major Asian countries like India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, and Vietnam, etc. The same year, Vivo had sold 45 million units of smartphones worldwide, whereas it was producing 60 million pieces annually. In the year 2017, Vivo also started its expansion in the European countries starting from Russia.

Vivo is credited for bringing the first slimmest smartphone in 2014 and also for becoming the first smartphone company to incorporate a Hi-Fi chip into a smartphone (the Vivo X1) in 2012. The company also entered the U.S. market with the brand name BLU. In 2019, the company had become the second-best smartphone company in India. Apart from smartphone manufacturing, the company is also one of the sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL), UEFA, India’s Pro Kabaddi, and FIFA.

The Key People at Vivo

Shen Wei is credited as the founder of Vivo, who is also the disciple of the founder of BBK Electronics, Duan Yongping. From the time of the founding of Vivo, Wei has been serving the company as its CEO as well as the President. Before serving as the CEO of Vivo, Shen was working for BBK Electronics. According to Duan, it was never his plan to start a dedicated smartphone company, but after the demand for affordable smartphones started, BBK had to enter the competition. Today, BBK trades as the smartphone seller with its subsidiaries Vivo, Realme, OnePlus, and Oppo.

The Company Today

Vivo has its dedicated R&D centers established in Dongguan, Chongqing, Shenzhen, and Nanjing, and around 3,000 engineers are working at those centers. Apart from that,  around 10,000 employees are serving the company globally and till now, Vivo is actively providing its services in over 100 countries. Vivo has continued to follow its ritual to introduce new smartphone models every year, such that it remains relevant in the changing smartphone market. The company with its innovation grown to become a leading name in the smartphone industry and is one major contributor to the growth of its parent company BBK Electronics, too.

Duan Yongping : The Secretive Chinese Entrepreneur & the Founder of BBK Electronics

Founder, start-up, Story, Tech Story / By

The competition is not always with others, there are many who wants to compete with their own self, to be their own improved version. The famous Chinese inventor and entrepreneur, Duan Yongping, has similar thoughts on self-improvement. According to him, he does not believe in surpassing anyone, but he focuses on self-improvement. He is the real example of simplicity and brilliance, all together. The chairman and the founder of BBK Electronics Corporation, Yongping, is an inspiring personality, and the source of motivation for many.

Early Life & Career

Duan Yongping was born on 10 March 1961, in Nanchang, Jiangxi, China. He received a graduate degree in wireless electronics engineering from Zhejiang University, in 1978.

duan yongping
Image Source: alchetron.com

As soon he graduated from college, he started his career as a teacher and joined the adult education centre of the Beijing Radio Tube Factory. But soon, he left the job and entered the Renmin University to pursue econometrics, and later, completed an EMBA from CEIBS.

After completing his education, he started working at the state-run vacuum tube plant.

Career as Entrepreneur

During the time Yongping was working at the plant, China was moving towards capitalism swiftly, leading to the formation of many private industries. Influenced by the same, in 1989, Yonping left his job and moved to Guangdong province to try his hands in the business.

In the same year, he joined a newly founded electronic plant in Zhongshan. Soon he became the CEO of the company and was the biggest influence in the success of the company. At the beginning of the company, it was under 2 million RMB debts, but in the leadership of Yongping, the company became one of the leading companies of that time, i.e. Subor Electronics Industry Corporation.

Subor developed the learning computers and was one of the biggest suppliers of the same in China. It also entered into the video-game facilities production market and built its first gaming console named “Subor” embedded with dual-cartridge slots. The console was an instant hit, and even, gave a tough competition to its rival Nintendo.

Yongping left the company on 28 August 1995, when the company was at the peak of success, to found his own venture named BBK. He founded BBK in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, and started with the production of DVD and MP3 players. BBK also started its subsidiary company, Bubugao Communication Equipment Co., that produced the feature-phones and became the biggest manufacturer of the same in the year 2000.

By the end of the same year, there was a fall in the sales, and Yongping was looking for peaceful ways to shut down the company, such that the employees stay unhurt. But then his protege Tony Chen advised him to start a new company.

In 2001, along with Chen Mingyong, Yongping founded Oppo to manufacture and sell music players. The company became the subsidiary of BBK.

At the same time, BBK also started the production of other electronic devices such as television sets, MP3 players, digital cameras, etc.

In 2007, with the launch of the first iPhone, like other cell phone producers, BBK was also inspired to start building those new and revamped smartphones. The famous smartphone manufacturing company Vivo is also the sister company of Oppo and another subsidiary of BBK. In 2009, both Oppo and Vivo started their operation in smartphone production and became the biggest pillars in the success of BBK and Yongping. Currently, both the brands are providing their service in over 100 countries and are among the best sellers.

In 2017, BBK was the second largest smartphone manufacturer in the world, ahead of Apple and Huawei, and sold 56.7 million smartphones in the first quarter of the year.

Currently, BBK is working on improving its smartphone lineup and involved in the R&D for the next-generation 5G network for smartphones. The headquarter of the company is located at Chang’an Dongguan.

Personal Life

Yongping is also active in the philanthropy works and donated US dollar 40 million to Zhejiang University in the year 2006. At the age of 40, he moved to California to focus more on investment and philanthropy works. He was the second largest individual shareholder of NetEase in the years 2002 to 2004.

Yongping is a private person and likes to keep away from the limelight. Even though, his life story is one of the most inspiring ones for not only the people of China but also the world.