“India is Xiaomi’s Most Important Overseas Market” Says CEO Lei Jun
The four-year-old Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi has become one of the most talked about smartphone maker in Indian tech industry. With high-end specs and low costs, the company has managed to create a huge market for itself in our country.
Xiaomi’s chairman and CEO Lei Jun at the recent World Internet Conference commented on ‘how India has become the most important overseas market for Xiaomi. Jun also shared the company’s strategy to become world’s largest smartphone maker.
The panel attending World Internet Conference on ‘Creating an Online Global Village Together’ included tech heavyweights like LinkedIn Chairman Reid Hoffman, Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri, Baidu President Zhang Yaqin and China Telecom Chairman Wang Xiaochu.
Talking about India as a market place, Jun said, “India is becoming our largest overseas market.” Its smartphones offering tempting specifications at an affordable price range have been lapped up by buyers.
Xiaomi is hosting an event today in Delhi where it will unveil Redmi Note before it reportedly goes up on sale next week.
Even though, the company has been criticised for the limited availability of its products and privacy related issues, the smartphones have been seen flying out of shelves in a matter of seconds during the flash sales every Tuesday.
CEO Lei Jun showed up late for the conference which made up the headline of various publications. At the same time, the company was hosting a press conference in Beijing to announce that it and Shunwei Capital (of which Lei is also chairman) are investing $300 million in Baidu’s IQiyi.com video website. It’s all part of Lei’s plan to plow $1 billion into video content to help bolster sales of Xiaomi’s Internet-ready televisions and set-top boxes.
“I believe that no one thought the Xiaomi from three years ago, which just made its first phone, would later rank as the third largest player,” Jun said. “Within five or 10 years, we have the opportunity to become number one smartphone company in the world.”
The company has a stronghold on the Indian market already with its current offerings Mi3 and the entry-level Redmi 1S. Xiaomi is now planning to launch the Redmi Note in India. It is hosting an event today in Delhi where it will unveil the phablet, before it reportedly goes up on sale next week.
