Actually the whole handset space is a very interesting study on strategy and consumer behaviors if u follow it closely.
In the past decade we see Motorola subsequently Nokia dictating the markets with form factors ie clamshells and chocolate bars.
OS was simple but effective like the original palm OS. Then came internet and phone makers try to be the internet themselves by copying the i-Mode model... nope it is not by Apple
Therein came the WAP idea.
Even up to 2006 I was frustrated why we still couldn't access internet on mobiles with 3G rather than go through restrcited access through the phone makers' primitive OS (much like some "smart" TVs past years). Their answer was no content for WAP and hence no demand for 3G. err.... WAP?? I was talking about HTTP.... Then Blackberry and Nokia offered HTTP on a ridiculously small screen.... because their focus was on form factor.
Then came iPhone. The original iPhone had a few issues but effectively it was a mini-miracle as per my posts in Apple thread. The biggest game changer was a reasonably workable access to internet on the go. It impacted the form factor issue, the OS issue, and the 3G issue.
Suddenly everything changed, except for the incumbent mobile phone makers. Motorola and Nokia continued to maintain their form factors and OS while Samsung started to develop their own OS Bada. Microsoft was interesting case study of how the right strategy ie Microsoft CE could have such lousy execution as they try to do OS and hardware under Balmer. Compare that with Job's execution and integration. HTC aka High Tech Computer originally was the de facto handset for Windows phones, before MS messed up big time.
Then came Google Android and subsequent Chrome. You can see Google is playing a long term game with little profit to show for Android and Chrome. Their strategy is market capture, slowly but surely, and still cooking. End game is for everyone to use their device for internet, either OS, Apps or hardware. They are looking to be the next Microsoft of Internet. Watch this space.
Excluding Google, the rest was history. Both Motorola, Nokia and Blackberry didn't realise their form factors was not condusive to internet. They were mesmerised by their own success and lost the long term plan. They were killed by stagnation and procrastination. It was pretty obvious and not even hindside bias. Whereas Samsung bet on everything as usual... if Android didn't pick up , you can be sure they would be using iOS
Where does Xiaomi fit? In their pursuit for lowest cost, Apple and others went to China, with the Koreans and Japanese later. The difference is that Apple demanded strong engineering skills and quality. The rest was just focusing on cost. Monkey see monkey do without understanding. Why is that important? It breeds an entire ecosystem in handset manufacturing in China which came TCL, Lenovo, Bird, etc and now Xiaomi
Even so AFAIK Xiaomi is losing $ on every handset though they claim turn around, but they have a long term strategy which is heavily dependent on when how long their backers can bleed.
That is also the reason why ODM choose TSMC and UMC for foundry and not SIMC. If we do not learn from history we bound to repeat it. But some CEOs are not good history students, and China has to thank them for it
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