Rhea Liu
LeTV introduced its third generation Super TV in Hong Kong yesterday, at a price lower than the Super TV’s batch manufacturing cost.
The third generation Super TV includes six models, the X40, X55, X55 Pro and Max65. Prices range from RMB 1699 (USD 266) to RMB 8499 (USD 1332).
Liang Jun, President of Le Shi Zhi Xin, the smart device subsidiary of LeTV, said LeTV intends to use its low price strategy to get as much market share as possible. LeTV has sold less than two million television sets to date.
“LeTV wants to get over 30% of the TV market,” Liang Jun told Sina Finance. “We want to get a majority of users at the current stage and leave few opportunities to our competitors.”
According to a report published by LeTV earlier this year, over 30 million smart televisions were sold in China in 2014.
The company claims it will make up the gap between price and cost of manufacture through LeTV’s “content eco－system.” It owns more than 100,000 episodes of soap operas and more than 5,000 films. Its key sports service broadcasts 17 types of games with over 4000 matches.
The company claims to attract a daily audience of over 50 million. LeTV makes about RMB ten million (USD 1.57 million) per month through its pre-loaded ads. It even profits from product launch conferences, the company said.
Unlike with previous smart TV releases, LeTV has separated the sales of its content from its hardware in its latest Super TV. Previously, two years of membership fees to LeTV’s online streaming platform were packed into the price of a Super TV set. A year membership at LeTV costs RMB 490 (USD 76).
LeTV also gave up its previous pre-order sales strategy to better manage its inventory. The new Super TV will be available for purchase on LeMall.com or LePar from September 29th with products in stock.
LeTV held its sales day “Black 919” last Saturday, in which over 382,000 television sets and 594,000 smartphones were sold, achieving sales of RMB 1.78 billion (USD 280 million) at days end.
(Photo is from LeMall)