中国小米手机挺进世界智能手机市场

When it comes to smart phones, industry giants Apple and Samsung are usually first to pop into consumers minds. But one Chinese manufacturer, Xiao Mi, is quickly catching up.

The Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi is forecasting that annual revenue of more than one billion US dollars this year. After two days of sales, their 8th batch of online preorders for the ’Mi-one’, the company’s first and only generation smartphone, exceeded 200 thousand units on Tuesday.

Two years ago Xiaomi was a fresh startup company with only 14 employees, but it seems the company has become an overnight success.

The Xiaomi is being ripped off online-shopping shelves. The smartphone sold out almost immediately after being released for online purchase. Last month’s 7th batch of sales saw all 150 thousand phones sold out in 12 minutes.

Li Wanqiang, vice president of Xiaomi Corporation, said, "We’ve sold a total of 2 million phones since Mi-one entered the market 6 months ago. The number is small compared to sales of Samsung and iPhones in China, but to us it’s a huge achievement for a single and first generation of a smartphone product. Sales of over a million are already significant, but we have doubled that."

The company has raised more than 130 million US dollars, including foreign funding. It also teamed up with Foxconn, the primary Apple product supplier, for its supplies as well.

All these efforts were made to ensure Xiaomi develops as a quality high-end product provider, with plans to release a new phone every year. The company will release Mi-two some time later this year, also running on the android-based MiUI software. Li says the smartphone provides user apps without being an exclusive system, giving the customer more freedom and options.

Compared with other popular smartphone brands in China, this one is certainly more affordable, as it costs less than half an iPhone. This has helped attract many users, but to keep them as loyal fans, much more has to be done.

There are 26 after sales centers like this nationwide. It’s a scale other Chinese brand smartphones can’t compete with.

’Mi-one’ customer said, "I started using Mi-one when it came out about half a year ago. The price is very affordable, and as a smartphone its quality is excellent. The only concern now is that access to buying is not very smooth."

In the past, customer demands have always exceeded supplies, as Mi-one has mainly been released through internet purchases on a monthly basis. But the company recently teamed up with China’s major telecom providers, spreading sales even wider than before.