Chances are, if I ask if you love Xiaomi, most will say yes. All due to the fact that the company has a lot of fans. Some appreciate her inexpensive devices, others – how she “rose”, and still others – corporate identity and a large number of gadgets. To be honest, I am skeptical about Xiaomi. I don't like everything about her politics and I don't really like her corporate style. But I can't say that I don't respect her. At least, this is the company that started to create smartphones on time, understood where to move and did it almost from scratch, although its founder was at that time a millionaire. It's been 10 years this year since Xiaomi started taking its first steps, and here's what its CEO Lei Jun said about this.
This is how Lei Jun looks confidently into the future.
Who created Xiaomi
Some time ago, we already published a large article about the company Xiaomi in the “Brand History” cycle. Even if that article does not contain the last couple of years of the company's existence, but it tells in detail how it appeared, how it all began and who was its founder. And at the same time, it is sorted out in detail how to correctly pronounce its name and what it means. I advise you to read or watch – there is a video in the article if this format is more pleasant to you.
In short, the company was founded by the Chinese businessman Lei Jun, who had already had several fairly profitable business lines before. In particular, in the field of the Internet and social networks. He made good money from them and decided to take up the smartphone market.
As it turned out, the decision was correct, and now we have a company that is in the TOP-3 smartphone manufacturers in some markets, but in most markets it is in at least four, changing positions with such monsters as Apple, Samsung and Huawei. Taking into account the difficult situation of the latter, the place in the world TOP-3 was literally paved with a red carpet. However, we will not write off the telecommunications giant ahead of time.
Smartphones Xiaomi are very popular. But you cannot deny that they are not for everybody.
CEO Statement Xiaomi
At the 2020 Zhongguancun Forum, Founder and CEO Xiaomi Lei Jun spoke about MIUI as part of the company's success in the global and domestic markets. With this speech, he praised his employees and their efforts, which have led to the rapid growth of the company over the past 10 years.
How MIUI appeared
According to the CEO, the company decided to start with software as it didn't have much knowledge of phone hardware. This is how MIUI was born. Lei Jun reported that MIUI came to attention on September 20, 2010, when a developer posted a comment on the XDA Developers forum, drawing the attention of other forum members to the new software.
At that time, the first version MIUI had only 100 users after it was released in China on August 16. Surprisingly, it first became popular outside of China before the domestic user base began to grow.
Many blamed Jun for copying everything from Apple. Even the famous 'Jobs' style of presentations.
After the very recommendation appeared on XDA, people have already started paying attention to MIUI. The company also did not lag behind and decided to translate it into several languages and adapt it to different phones. This marked the beginning of globalization Xiaomi.
How much does Xiaomi earn
Different sources give different figures regarding the company's income, but this is not important. Significantly, Lei Jun hinted that international business revenue Xiaomi accounts for more than half of all revenue. He connects this with the positive seed that MIUI planted in the minds of a global audience ten years ago. However, the CEO Xiaomi did not share any data showing the company's global revenue compared to China's.
We all understand that the company makes good money and popularity in the domestic market. That market, where a billion Chinese people rabidly buy up all domestic. You might think that in China a company should by default collect huge profits, but this is not the case. On the contrary, the Chinese have been actively buying Huawei until recently. This allowed it to be number one in sales in the world for two quarters in a row. It turns out that Xiaomi is not so popular in China (relatively, of course).
It turns out that the company has turned out to be truly international. If she also throws out on the market all of her developments that she has, like the smart toilet that the company unveiled the other day for $ 230, she will generally be fine. So far, sales are limited to external batteries, smartphones and a few other accessories. Even the solutions of its subsidiaries are presented on the international markets very conditionally. However, if you want to use the words 'Xiaomi' and the toilet in one sentence, then this gadget from AliExpress may be suitable for you.
How do you feel about gadgets with the letters 'Mi' on the case?
Should you buy Xiaomi?
There is no unequivocal answer to this question, since there is not enough data in the question. You need to understand what budget is allocated for the purchase of a smartphone, what are the requirements for it and, most importantly, what the user's preferences are.
For myself, I know that I will never want to buy Xiaomi if it will be a device outside the budget segment. Inexpensive models of this company are really worth their money, but in the middle or even more top segment, I will find something that I like much more.
So everyone decides for himself, but respecting the company for the fact that it started with a shell with a hundred users ten years ago, and now is one of the key manufacturers of smartphones (and not only) in the world, is definitely worth it. It has millions of users, and many more haters, but this is good or bad, I will tell you in a separate article.