Xiaomi Opens Shop in US & Europe but Without Smartphones & Tablets
Xiaomi, a 5-year-old upstart company from China, has now entered the mobile technology market of U.S. and Europe. It has been providing China and other parts of Asia with smartphones and tablets, among other forms of technology, but it would appear that their shops overseas will be featuring a different slate of products.
According to CNET, the Chinese smartphone maker will be launching an online marketplace -- Mi -- for their American and European clients. However, instead of focusing on delivering cheaper and more affordable smartphones and tablets, the company was clearly cautious and has opted to sell mobile accessories instead.
Through the online store, U.S. consumers can now purchase Xiaomi’s portable battery packs, the Mi Band activity tracker for only $15, and the Mi Headphones for only $80. On Tuesday, the store will also be opening in the U.K., France, and Germany.
This online launch is the Chinese tech’s company first step into the Western technology market. Although Xiaomi has managed to enter Europe and North America, it has opted not to include its smartphones and tablets into its list of initial products.
In the first quarter of 2015, alone, Xiaomi was able to sell 13.5 million Mi 4 units all across China, which placed it in second place next to Apple Inc., which sold 14.5 million iPhones during the period, as pointed out by a separate CNET report.
Xiaomi has also entered the smartphone market in India, becoming one of the country’s top brands for low-cost smartphones. Meanwhile, Bloomberg has confirmed that the Chinese tech giant will be selling the units in Brazil in the next couple of months as well.
Although Xiaomi is best known as the Chinese manufacturer of low-cost smartphones, company's global vice president Hugo Barra has stated at the Mobile World Congress 2015 that the company's main goal is to also be recognized as “a lifestyle brand,” and not merely as a gadget maker. He also explained why Xiaomi is flourishing even without aggresive ad placements.
"We have a brand that feels very different. It's kind of geeky, pretty geeky, it attracts the early adopters. It's also very fresh," Barra said via Business Insider.
Xiaomi’s Mi 4 might have been criticized as an iPhone copycat, but it actually runs on Google’s Android OS. Still, the company has always been compared to Apple Inc., primarily because of the company’s ability to entice consumers to purchase their well-crafted and high quality mobile gadgets. Just last month, it sold two million units of its smartphones in just a span of 12 hours, CNN reported.
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