Xiaomi Set Their Sights

When some of you hear the word ‘Xiaomi’, it will probably sound like some Chinese dish that you can buy at your local takeaway, for others in the know will understand about this emerging Chinese giant in the smartphone industry. For those who do not know, Xiaomi is a Chinese company as you might have had guess from the name that began in 2011 as a privately owned company, which specialize in designs and sales of smartphones.  The company has been linked to Apple, but not for business but from the way Xiaomi strategize their business model, even their chairman and CEO, Mr. Lei Jun has been mention to resemble Steve Jobs in attire and his way of thinking.
 

Xiaomi believes it has an edge on other companies because it sells all its products directly through its website.  They do not have retail stores and neither do they use third party distributors, Mr. Li Jun believes this strategy takes down costs that larger companies such as Apple would spend when setting up shops and advertising.

They caused headlines when they hired former Google employee Hugo Barra, who worked as vice President of product management for the Android Platform.  At Xiaomi, Hugo Barra has taken the role as Vice President of Xiaomi Global, which is very strange to see a Chinese company poaching staff from high end US firms; maybe it is something that maybe common in the future.

Xiaomi plan to go global with their smartphones, which funny enough have parts made in the Foxconn factory who also do parts for Apple’s iPhones and iPads. Some people claim that while there are a few similarities when compared to Apple products, the ability to customize the software based upon user preferences makes Xiaomi stand out.  Will they succeed? They think so; therefore we should let time tell as the plan to start selling in Westerns cities in one or two years time.
 

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