Xiaomi Corporation (1810.HK)

[CityFarmer]

Well, we will see Xiaomi pretty soon in Singapore. Base on feedback so far, it is as good as Samsung/Apple, but with a fraction of the cost...

Xiaomi to call on Singapore for international expansion

TOKYO — Since August, when Chinese mobile phone maker Xiaomi lured away top Google executive Hugo Barra to oversee its international expansion plans, two big questions have remained: When and where would Xiaomi turn its attention?

The company has now provided some clues.

At a media event in Taiwan, Xiaomi said it planned to set up shop in South-east Asia early next year. When pressed for details, the company’s press office said Singapore and Malaysia would be the first markets in the region to get Xiaomi phones.
...
http://www.todayonline.com/tech/xiaomi-c...-expansion

[opmi]

I am proud to say I own a xiaomi first generation. Hahaha.

[valuebuddies]

The latest generation was manufactured by Longcheer, if really landed to Spore would probably get one to test it out.

[LionFlyer]

Their Rice Box 米盒 is pretty good too but if bring here, SH/ST will got big fight on their hands! But then again, you can get an android hub like Minix Neo 7 and get CloudTV.

[rogerwilco]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/print/2014...else-.html

By Mark Milian - Jan 5, 2014

Lei Jun must be feeling pretty confident right now. The CEO of Xiaomi has taken the Beijing-based company from inception to become one of the top smartphone makers in the world's largest mobile market in less than four years. Lei expects the company to more than double its smartphone unit sales this year to at least 40 million.

Xiaomi's next stop is Singapore, according to a post on Google+ by Hugo Barra, a vice president at the company. (In case you're wondering why he chose to make the announcement on Google's social network, it's because he used to work there.) After expanding into Taiwan and Hong Kong last year, Singapore will be Xiaomi's first foray outside of Greater China, and it should be a humbling experience for Lei.

Few Chinese technology companies have managed to recreate their success elsewhere. Singapore isn't a make-or-break market — the country's population is 5.3 million, smaller than Hong Kong and less than half the size of Beijing — but it's an important test for Xiaomi.

Singapore's mobile market doesn't have a lot in common with China. The country is saturated with smartphones, which account for 92.1 percent of the mobile phone market, according to data from research firm IDC. Apple is the No. 2 smartphone maker in Singapore, with 25.8 percent. In China, Apple struggles just to stay in the top five. In fact, Xiaomi actually surpassed the iPhone for a short time last year.

Cultivating a devoted following through social networks and word-of-mouth is Xiaomi's special sauce, according to Jenny Lee, a partner at GGV Capital in China and an early investor in Xiaomi. The startup has more than 30 million users, and the brand affinity is off the charts. In China, Xiaomi "fan boys" evangelize for the Android phones, which use custom software with its own app market. "The Xiaomi strategy is really all about a fan base," Lee said in an interview.

Going into a new country, especially an island nation, is almost like starting from scratch. Xiaomi has created a separate Xiaomi Singapore page on Facebook that has about 2,700 "Likes." Compare that with the 476,000 Likes on the main Xiaomi page, which is an even more impressive number when you consider that nobody really uses Facebook in China. Liu Wei, a spokesman for Xiaomi, didn't respond to a request for comment about the company's plans for expansion in Singapore or elsewhere.

Xiaomi's quick expansion throughout China has bought Lei and his design-obsessed team the benefit of the doubt. Yu Yongfu, the CEO of the Chinese mobile browser maker UCWeb, lists Xiaomi alongside Tencent and Alibaba as China's leading tech companies. "Xiaomi is a miracle worker," Yu said in an interview.

Whether Lei can work a miracle outside of China may not matter that much right now. Researcher Canalys estimates Xiaomi's market share in China to be about 6 percent, which leaves the company with strong momentum and plenty of room to grow on its home turf.

[kagemusha]

yup, I do believe it will be a humbling experience for them.
Singaporeans can be snobs, when comes to our phones.

[opmi]

xiaomi "scarcity/bragging rights" marketing strategy wont work in SG or Asia.

Coz SE Asian people either eat potato (Western culturised) or jiat kim chi (korea fad)

[kagemusha]

lol can jiat sushi also. But I jiat pheng one leh.

[valuebuddies]

I do have a different view, the performance of MI 3 is comparable to its counterpart's iphone and galaxy. MI 3's ODM is Foxconn so quality shouldn't be too far from the apples. It takes time to build a foothold here but I think it will be faster and better comparing to Huawei.

[opmi]

See phones as consumer goods. Marketing is more
important than tech specs. If not, creative MP3 player would have
dominated the world. Hahaha.