Luo Yonghao presents his Smartisan OS during the new system's launch in Beijing on March 27. Photo: Li Qiaoyi/GT

 

Ever since he smashed three Siemens refrigerators in front of the German industrial giant's Beijing headquarters in November 2011, people have expected unusual and audacious things from Luo Yonghao.

From a high school dropout to an English teacher at New Oriental Education & Technology Group, a renowned foreign language institute in China, Luo's next move was to become a startup entrepreneur by establishing a blogging website and an English training school.

But this was not enough, and in May 2012 Luo started a new smartphone venture called Hammer Technologies, even though it is an area for which he has few qualifications.

Though he had targeted a launch date of December 1, 2012, Luo eventually launched his Smartisan OS, a customized operating system based on Google's Android, on March 27 this year at the China National Convention Center in Beijing, in front of an audience of 3,000 people.

Instead of any revolutionary renovation to the Android platform, the Smartisan OS highlighted a raft of subtle features that include a whole set of redesigned app icons with personalized characters.

"Over the past 2,098 days since the debut of the iPhone in 2007, all app icons have largely been unified as rectangles with rounded corners," Luo said on the launch day.

Even an app icon of a basketball is in the shape of a rounded rectangle, he claimed. "This is an unhealthy, malformed, and even gruesome phenomenon."

The three-hour launch show drew ticket sales of around 500,000 yuan ($79,150), Luo revealed, adding that it was his intention to take on Apple Inc.

Known for his ability to "talk big," Luo seems to have touched a nerve, with many people applauding his efforts.

"I support Lao Luo (Old Luo)!" one Web user with the handle Mr Yuhang Sir wrote on his Sina Weibo Monday.

While Luo's declaration has gained applause from some, it is also been mercilessly lambasted by others, especially industry insiders.

Doubts raised

"Luo's move is destined to fizzle out," Xiang Ligang, a veteran industry commentator and chief executive of telecom industry portal cctime.com, told the Global Times Thursday, one day after the extravagant launch promotion.

Claiming that he had turned down a request from Luo's team to pay him for forwarding Weibo posts hyping the OS launch, Xiang soon found himself in conflict with Luo, who denied the claim and hit back with strong criticism.

"I won't throw a curse in response," Xiang said, but noted that Luo pays too much attention to hype.

Luo said the beta version of his OS will be ready in mid-June, and that Hammer Technologies will release its first smartphone early next year.

Xiang also noted that Luo had originally promised to release the smartphone first, with the OS to follow.

"I believe all things (that prove to succeed ultimately) take hard work. It is impossible to expect to take on the likes of Apple with only a few people's efforts," Xiang said in a telephone interview with the Global Times, pointing to Luo's small team of only around 20 people.

Xiaomi Technology, a Beijing-based smartphone maker, which has gradually found success in the domestic market using its own customized Android OS, is the venture that is perhaps most frequently compared to Hammer Technologies.

But Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi, is a veteran in the Internet industry, while Luo has only had some experience selling IT hardware in the past.

"I think the 'micro-innovation' of Smartisan OS is not what consumers want these days," Bryan Wang, vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research in Beijing, told the Global Times Thursday via e-mail.

"There will be no chance for Smartisan OS to be successful," Wang noted.

Can it succeed?

"When a person's efforts are not understood by the people around him, the guy always seems to be abnormal," Luo said Monday in an exclusive interview with the Global Times at his office in Beijing's Zhongguancun, the nation's main IT hub.

Despite his optimistic attitude, Luo was also straightforward when it came to talking about his efforts so far.

"I did not perform well during the launch," Luo said, noting that it went on for an hour longer than it was supposed to.

"I know the big noise on the Web might be based on expectations that are too high following our marketing hype," Luo said.

But Luo said that this approach was necessary. Only with this kind of hype can a small venture with starting funds of only around 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) expect to attract attention from investors, he said.

While some investors have been scared off by the mixed market reaction since the launch of the new OS, most investors have decided to stick to their plans to inject capital into Hammer Technologies, according to Luo.

The company's first round of fund­raising aims to bring in around 80 million yuan, and is likely to be closed in the next two months, Luo said.

"I hope to lure the interest of dollar-denominated funds in particular," said Luo, noting this is for the sake of a possible future US listing.

CK Lu, a Taipei-based senior analyst at research firm Gartner Inc, told the Global Times Thursday that Luo's new OS was not exactly revolutionary.

But at the same time, there remains room for customized versions of the Android platform in the mainland market, Lu noted.

Meanwhile, Luo said that domestic phone companies have generally shown unsatisfactory performance, but lack the courage to admit their mistakes and defects.

Luo said that he aims to expand his mobile phone startup team to around 200 people, after which the company office will move to Wangjing in Beijing, where a cluster of other big names in the mobile phone arena are located.

Currently, the Zhongguancun office, which is on the same floor as Luo's English training school, has no nametag.

"It's an indication that we've been wholeheartedly devoted to the R&D work," Luo said, noting that when others mock him for being competent only in marketing, it just shows their lack of ability in managing their own marketing tactics.

While Luo looks for manufacturing partners to help with his smartphone plans over the next few months, the controversy around him seems set to continue.

"But I will have no fear," he said.