
Xiaomi's phones have conquered China – now it's aiming for the rest of the world - vidyesh
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-06-04/chinas-xiaomi-the-worlds-fastest-growing-phone-maker
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ooOOoo
From CNET: "Xiaomi's Redmi offers exceptional value for its low price, and
blows all other budget handsets out of the water. If you're looking for a
cheap Android smartphone without having to compromise performance, look no
further." [http://www.cnet.com/products/xiaomi-
redmi/](http://www.cnet.com/products/xiaomi-redmi/)

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nicpottier
I don't know, I'd much rather have a Moto E for $129 than that phone for $135.
Looks seriously chunky and vanilla Android is far nicer.

Will give them a nod on the 720p display though.

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ferongr
The Moto E SOC has two relatively slow A7 cores and a slow graphics chip
though. Something to keep in mind.

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joosters
When did Businessweek's website start requesting your browser location when
you visit it?

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blueskin_
about:config

geo.enabled = false

Problem solved.

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PeterWhittaker
Thank you.

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sdegutis
Looks like a solid option, I love it when companies ditch non-integral aspects
of their budget to improve functionality or form of their product. That's also
why I shop at Aldi, because you get lower prices with the same quality
products, at the cost of having to put a quarter into the cart, bag your own
items, and even bring your own bags (or use empty boxes).

That said, I've been ditching smart phones lately in favor of dumb phones. Not
only is life too short to be attached to a gadget all day long, but you can't
beat the price (roughly $7 a month for an emergency mobile phone).

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hyp0
Yes, and whoever creates the most value will (and should) win.

tangent: I've noticed ALDI products are often the same quality - and the same
_price_ \- as the "generic/home/no name" brands of regular supermarkets. But
in nicer packaging. Basically, generic brands are high enough quality these
days, but people will pay more for shiny. (I can feel this in myself).

To out-ALDI ALDI, you'd sell generic brands in generic packaging.

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redact207
My girlfriend got one of these the other day in Singapore. The cash vs tech
spec ratio on the thing is much better than the premium handsets and she seems
quite smitten for picking up a good deal.

The reason they sell out so quickly is the local phone stores buy them in bulk
the minute they're released and add a $20 premium on each set.

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ohwp
I've bought a Huawaei and am very pleased with it (only the camera is crap).
In the past I tried different Chinese brands but they were all crap. It seems
they worked hard to change that. Huawei and Xiaomi both get great reviews for
there low cost phones.

Btw: Xiaomi means something as 'grain of rice'. Meaning that small things
still can be big.

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netcan
You say that like its a promise that keeps going unfulfilled.

I think these is an update that Xiami is is pretty much on track to do what
they keep saying it's going to do and putting some more clarity on the how. EG
_take Xiaomi beyond China and into Brazil, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, India, and
five countries in Southeast Asia._

It's a status update.

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jestinjoy1
Online only selling mode is proving to be a good one. In India Motorola tried
that with an exclusive deal with online retailer Flipkart for Moto G and it
was an instant hit. More on quality less on Stores and Ad.

In international market it would be tough to compete with phone with Android
OS.

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nemasu
Great! I'm all for more cheap high-spec Android phones! I would buy one.

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kayoone
Feels like i have read the exact same thing half a year ago and half a year
before that. We have seen countless times that what works in asia doesn't
always work in the rest of the world and vice versa. Last i heard was that
iPhones sell very well in China though :)

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1stop
The sell very well if you forget there are a billion people. They sell really
badly if you take that into account.

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blueskin_
I hope they come up with a name that's easy to pronounce if they do.

I also doubt they will do well in the rest of the world for the same reason
Huawei aren't - lack of trustability.

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vvvv
Based on my circle, Huawei is not insignificant and getting traction. Cheap
and reliable is a good way to start.

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pjc50
I have a Huawei Ascend P1 LTE. It's certainly cheap. I wouldn't describe it as
reliable; it was very prone to locking up if you disabled and later re-enabled
the wifi. They released an OTA firmware update which mostly fixed this, but
now the screen is starting to blister in a few places.

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ibloging
I like their domain, very short, haha.

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ogdenyogly
Any article that begins with a narrative is manipulative tripe and not worth
reading.

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blueskin_
Also grammatical mistakes like "an historic".

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naterator
That's not a clear-cut mistake, and in my opinion totally forgivable.
[http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html](http://www.betterwritingskills.com/tip-w005.html)

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blueskin_
Most people, including Americans, pronounce historic as historic, not
'istoric.

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dspillett
Northern UK here. "An' istoric" is _very_ common in informal speech, even in
the south but more so in these parts, but I wouldn't expect to see it written
that way.

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est
> Now It's Aiming for the Rest of the World

More like getting sued in the rest of the world.

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hkmurakami
Samsung seems to be doing just fine ;)

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vidyesh
There is a reason why Samsung manages to pull that off. [1]

Price-fixing and counter-suing strategy. They always have been using the same
disruptive method in every industry they are in. By the time the verdict is
out they have mass produced and sold it with huge profits lined up to pay a
settlement fee.

1\. [http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2014/06/apple-samsung-
sma...](http://www.vanityfair.com/business/2014/06/apple-samsung-smartphone-
patent-war.print)

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airjd
Xiaomi is cheap.

But I hate Android, if they change the OS, maybe I will buy one.

