Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi set to enter Indian market
26 Mar 2014
Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi will soon make an entry into the Indian market.
According to Hugo Barra, the vice president of Xiaomi and formerly the vice president of product management for Android, who spoke to CNET, the company was set to enter India with aggressively-priced products. In fact, he added, Xiaomi planned to sell phones almost close to cost.
He added, though, that despite the relatively low pricing, the company's phones in India would promise performance and quality.
The company would only launch Android smartphones and had no plans to launch Ubuntu or Firefox OS smartphones, not just in India, but also in global markets. Barra said the company thought it had made Android an even better operating system.
Xiaomi, which would be the third known Chinese player after Gionee and Oppo, is working on forming relationships with telecom operators and partners in India, other than Chinese players like Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE, who already had a presence in India.
Xiaomi was working on forming relationships with telecom operators and partners in India and also putting up an e-commerce portal, from where its smartphones would be sold directly to customers. The success of Moto G had already shown that the online-only model could work in India.
The Hindu cited people with direct knowledge of the matter as saying the company planned to set up an office in the country, and also partner with telecom companies to sell the devices.
Phone sales through online platforms such as Flipkart had become a hit in the Indian smartphone market, with companies such as Motorola using it to good effect.
Under the company's rather unconventional business model, it sells its phones at a very low cost, but makes money by offering services such as mobile applications and movies via its software, based on Google's Android operating system.
The company's classic Mi3 phones had led to the company's founder, Lei Jun, acquiring the status of a cult figure, often compared to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
The report quoted an industry executive as saying, when Xiaomi entered India, it would have its work cut out for it. He added, not only would it have to contend with biggies such as Lenovo or Samsung, it also had to worry about the Indian low-end, which comprised players such as Micromax or Karbonn.
