Articles On Information: Smartphones

Xiaomi | High End Smartphones at Rock Bottom Prices

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="288" scrolling="no" src="http://live.wsj.com/public/page/embed-F038A906_B3B7_44B5_B2BB_1449BB21678D.html" width="512"></iframe></div><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://www.theverge.com/2013/8/29/4672668/what-is-xiaomi-china-smartphone-hugo-barra-android" target="_blank">The Verge</a></b></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">Y</span><b>ou probably haven’t heard of China’s Xiaomi (pronounced SHAO-mee) but one day you may buy a smartphone from them.</b><br /><br />Founded by Bin Lin, who is listed by Forbes as one of China’s wealthiest entrepreneurs, some have dubbed Xiaomi the “Apple of the East.” The company has only been <a href="http://en.miui.com/" target="_blank">making Android phones for the Chinese market</a> for the past two years and despite its brief history has already taken a leading position in the country’s mobile market. Macworld reported that Xiaomi’s shipments had already surpassed Apple’s there.<br /><br />Bin Lin is committed to selling high quality products at no profit margins. How do they do that? By selling services such as backup, security and customized versions of its software. They also offer accessories to their phones including different color backplates and even batteries .<br /><br />To lower costs, the company cut out middlemen and distributors, selling directly through its Web site. The marketing was not just innovative for China, the company said, but allowed Xiaomi to sell smartphones for just half the price of the iPhone or Samsung Galaxy phones.<br /><br />Xiaomi also outsources designs and features online from its so-called Mi-Fans, and releases a new version of the operating system every Friday, to add new features and keep the Mi-Fans excited.<br /><br />The Xiaomi Phone 2S, its most recent flagship, has top end specs competitive with the Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One. It sells for a bargain price of ¥2,299 (roughly $370)—roughly half of what the Samsung Galaxy S4 is priced at.</div><br /><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="480" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QXM7QmgM7yc?rel=0" width="853"></iframe><br /><br /><div id="posttext" style="text-align: justify;">Xiaomi phones, which run a customized version of Android that looks more like Apple’s iOS, sold $2 billion in handsets in China last year and it expects its revenue to double this year.<br /><br />The company caters to young, college-educated people who want a smartphone but cannot quite afford one.<br /><br /><span style="color: black; display: inline; float: left; font-family: museo-1,museo-2,helvetica; font-size: 32px; font-weight: 300; letter-spacing: -0.04em; line-height: 1em; margin: 30px 30px 30px -125px ! important; text-align: right; width: 295px;">Xiaomi sold 100,000 phones online in 90 seconds</span>Xiaomi recently introduced a lower-cost model, known as “Red Rice,” that sells for 799 Chinese yuan (or $130, including the country’s value-added tax). The company sold 100,000 of the devices in 90 seconds when it offered Red Rice online.<br /><br />Bin says that the company routinely sells out batches of 300,000 phones at a time through direct sales to consumers on its website. Recognizing this high demand, counterfeiters and pirates have swooped in to capitalize on it and sell lower-quality products under the auspices of the Xiaomi brand, tarnishing its reputation and providing poor experiences to customers. Lin says that it is working on increasing production to meet demand and working with the Chinese government to crack down on the piracy issue.<br /><br />While Xiaomi has had great success in China selling unsubsidized phones directly to consumers via its website, western markets are still largely driven by in-store sales and on-contract, subsidized devices. <br /><br />Xiaomi recently branched out into Hong Kong and Taiwan where the smartphone climate is similar to the West’s subsidy-dominated model. This may be a testing model before moving into the US and Europe.<br /><br />Earlier this week, Xiaomi hired Hugo Barra, a top Android executive and VP at Google.</div>