'Closest thing China has to a presidential debate': face-off between two geeks over a mobile phone
Square-off between tech company owners over a new smartphone impresses audiences, some of whom compare it to a presidential debate
The CEO of maverick smartphone maker Smartisan, Luo Yonghao, faced off with the founder of start-up Zealer, Wang Ziru, in an unprecedented online live debate on Wednesday evening.
Their confrontation, centring on Smartisan’s very first smartphone model T1, was highly anticipated on the internet and was a first in China’s technology industry’s history.
At the centre of the storm was Wang’s 30-minute video earlier this month where he demonstrated the T1’s multiple flaws. The 26-year-old, who founded the cellphone-testing company by posting video reviews, said the gadget did not live up to what Luo and his companies advertised.
The T1 is the first product Smartisan released in the mainland. It launched months ago and sells for 3,000 yuan (HK$3,775) each.
The entire debate dragged on for almost three hours and was broadcast live on popular video-sharing website Youku.com, which effectively made it the site’s top event. Youku also splashed a complete replay on the website.
With over 2.5 million people watching the debate live, it was the most anticipated live broadcast in the website's history, Youku told South China Morning Post. The debate's replay was viewed another 2.8 million times and garnered 20,000 comments as of Thursday at noon.