

Apple, Be Afraid: China's Xiaomi Going Global - ytNumbers
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2014/04/27/apple-be-afraid-chinas-xiaomi-going-global/?partner=yahootix

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antimagic
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. Forbes really should just stop writing tech
articles.

1) The article itself notes that Xaiomi's flagship phone is _already_ facing
declining sales in China (Apple is still increasing sales there, so who should
be worried again?).

2) It's running Android - the closest equivalent product is the Samsung Galaxy
S5, surely the headline should be warning Samsung, not Apple (Apple has a nice
competitive moat by having their own OS / AppStore ecosystem).

3) Speaking of ecosystems, does this thing have Google Play (I looked on their
site, but couldn't get a clear answer - no Google app logos though...)? If
not, it's really going to struggle in Western markets.

~~~
chrisdevereux
> surely the headline should be warning Samsung, not Apple

Even then, Xaiomi surely couldn't compete with Samsung on pricing or
advertising, given Samsung's huge advantage as a component manufacturer.

~~~
mcintyre1994
Samsung choose margins over industry-changingly competitive pricing though.
They price like an iPhone, not a Nexus or from the article a Xiaomi.

~~~
rsynnott
And at that, they don't have massively high margins. Their marketing spend is
absolutely huge, and would impede them from competing directly on price.

~~~
chrisdevereux
Good point, hadn't thought of that.

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chrisdevereux
Cupertino should be worried. Acer's laptop is cheaper than the MacBook Air --
1,999 yuan versus 4,488—and better—the Acer has a larger and sharper screen
and a camera with higher-density pixels. Unless you insist on having a
depiction of a piece of fruit on your device, you will go with the Acer
offering every time.

Edit: Satire

~~~
phn
One thing we should've learned from apple long ago, is that hard numbers
(larger, sharper screens, more GHz, more RAM) do not make a better product.

I won't change my macbook air for a laptop that will have a weaker
construction, a fire-prone battery, and a less thought design. (I'm over-
generalizing, just making a point)

The piece of fruit is just a nice final touch.

~~~
tluyben2
Yep as I always tell nagging people; give me a laptop of Macbook (pro/air)
specs and quality for less than the equivalent non Apple one. There isn't much
and most simply are not on par; feel like they will fall apart any moment like
the Ativ 9 plus, which is actually more expensive anyway.

~~~
celebril
A second-hand Thinkpad.

~~~
tluyben2
Well which one? I like them and they are nice, but doesn't really compare to
the air or the pro retina in handling. But maybe you have something in mind.

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illdave
Saying "you will go with the Xiaomi offering every time" based on just three
factors (price, screen size and camera quality) is over-the-top, hugely
simplistic and ignores phenomenally important elements like marketing and the
actual software on the phone.

~~~
coldtea
Not to mention that:

1) Screen size is a personal preference, bigger != better. And even if it was
so, Apple is preparing a new iPhone with a larger screen to be shown in June's
WWDC according to all rumors.

2) Price is irrelevant if the devices are not comparable.

3) The iPhone regularly beats all other phones in camera reviews. If it's
worse than anything, it is marginally worse. And after you get your photos in,
the iPhone has crazy good apps for managing them, from VSCO and Camera+, to
Photoshop and Lightroom Mobile.

4) And all that are for last years model. In less than 2 months there will be
a NEW iPhone announced.

~~~
celebril
>bigger != better

It's hard to ignore the hint of irony here when it's the Westerners' turn to
tout this line.

~~~
coldtea
Actually not a westerner :-)

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deadfish
When I lived in China I owned one of the first generation xiaomi phones. It
was charging on my desk and suddenly it started smoking. I quickly unplugged
it and found all the around the usb port was melted. I posted it on Chinese
twitter and it went quite viral. Then they kept badgering me to take it down
and gave me a refund.

So unless they have improved their product quality and their testing I don't
think Apple have anything to worry about.

Having said that it seems people like disposable goods these days as long as
they are cheap...

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julianpye
It's all about branding. So far there is not a single Chinese company that has
been able to build up their own brand from scratch to become a leader in the
consumer space. The strategy therefore is to buy out established Japanese and
European companies for their brand value - but none of these candidates have
the reputation and brand capability to get even close to Apple or Google.

~~~
assafs
What about Lenovo?

There is quite a non-trivial number of Chinese firms that have managed to do
so, but admittedly not in the consumer space.

~~~
rahimnathwani
Lenovo didn't do it from scratch. Lenovo bought IBM's PC business.

~~~
vidarh
Lenovo had a quite well known brand before they bought IBM's PC business. It
was what made them enough money to buy IBM's PC business.

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Tloewald
Forbes, Be Afraid: Business Insider has Gone Global.

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emeidi
"announced [...] that it is planning [...] this year." I'd be scared, too,
about this vagueness.

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Oletros
Apple and Samsung, LG, HTC, Microsoft, etc

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jezfromfuture
I doubt there afraid form a relatively unknown chinese company who has little
to no exposure outside china.

Not to mention the privacy concerns of a company operating in a country where
laws/company/interests and national security interests are wrapped in the same
corruption.

~~~
louthy
> Not to mention the privacy concerns of a company operating in a country
> where laws/company/interests and national security interests are wrapped in
> the same corruption.

Are we talking about the US or China here?

