Visit our website startup stories. IN for more inspirational stories and updates from the startup world. Startup stories in association with oh look. in. As the world’s second largest economy China continues to attract top multinationals from around the world who seek to establish a presence and expand their global footprint. But the recent market dynamics have begun to change as the roaring Chinese economy slows down and the consumers begin to mature. Home grown businesses have been quick to respond with equally ambitious aspirations and a few have been on their way to become national or even global leaders. At least in the smartphone division. There is one company which is creating quite a at home and across the world at the moment. In just seven years since farming. The company has grown from a startup to the eighth largest smartphone brand in the world.
And is currently valued over $45 billion dollars.The company we are talking about today is none other than China’s Apple Xiaomi. And it’s time that the world learns about the successful brand who they are and what they have done. Born on 16 December 1969. Leh John is a lesser known founder of Xiaomi. After completing his studies, Lei began working at Kingsoft as an engineer in nineteen ninety-two. Well, with his sheer skills and talent. The man managed to quickly rise up to the ladder and became the president and the CEO of the company in nineteen ninety-eight.
Now why he was at it? He had also founded Joyo. com. An online bookstore in the year 2000. He was so good with work that in just a matter of four years he grew his bookstore so great that it was bought by Amazon. com for seventy-five million dollars in two thousandfour. It was around the late 2010 when Lei found himself increasingly fascinated with the growing smartphone craze.
One thing led to another and along side and other several accomplished like minded veteran technopreneurs. Xiaomi was born. The next step was raising funds for the company. The Hong Kong billionaire Shan that control hangline properties which back morning side ventures had been a regular investor in lay since years. And maintaining the fame. They decided to back him again. Apart from the also received capital from various other venture firms including IDG capital partners.
And with that Xiaomi along with eight co-founders was officially founded on the sixth of April two thousand ten. The company first started of as a software company creating a new custom rom based on Google’s Android. Their aim was to provide additional functionality that Android had yet to offer and an easy to use user interface. After putting their blood and sweat towards it. Xiaomi launched their first Android based firmware called MIUI.
Later in 2011 Xiaomi was not only making its own software but its own hardware too. The same year Xiaomi announced the Me one phone. The Me one was a top spec phone with a great price which was way ahead of its time and this has remained Xiaomi’s philosophy from day one to offer best specifications at an affordable price and later the next version in line was Xiaomi Me two smart phone. Me two was powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon S four pro and was announced in the next year.
After the humongous success of the first version. Me two smart phones were sold in an even more wider range and with the help of wireless phone vendor Mobi City. The company went on to capture the western market including the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand. The year 2013, also saw quite a few other developments. This included the launch of their new smart TV which was followed by their new and improvised third version the Me three phone. Well with all these developments. Xiaomi slowly had become the fifth most used smartphone brand in China.
Later in July 2 thousand fourteen, Xiaomi entered India which is one of its biggest market outside China. The company launched me three smart phone for the Indian market which was available to buy only through Flipkart. Well, Xiaomi received an overwhelming response in India as it sold 100, 000 devices in just 4. 2 seconds.Well, after achieving super success in such a short span. The year 2016 saw Xiaomi cooling down at a worryingly rapid pace. The six year old company was at the pinnacle and the decline was occurring despite all the impressive tools in its arsenal.
It all started in the late 2015 lay announced that Xiaomi would sell hundred million smartphones that year but it fell short of its ambitious goal selling only 71 million devices later in the first quarter of 2016 it was kicked out of IDC’s list of top five smartphone vendors now except for Apple and Samsung the other three on the list were Chinese companies including Hawaii and two relatively lesser known brands back then OPO and Vivo well one major problem with Xiao was that.
It did not focus on making a good phone without consolidating its position in the smartphone industry. It impatiently expanded into other areas such as TVs, power banks among others. Well, Xiaomi will surely face speed bumps as it raises forward. Like the patent suits it’s already facing in India. Competitors may use patent litigation to slow down Xiaomi’s global expansion. But then again a company worth forty-five billion dollar and planning an IPO can easily raise enough cash to buy a substantial pattern portfolio of its own.
Beyond that it’s hard to see what will slow Xiaomi’s steady march ahead. Well despite a tough two thousand sixteen. Xiaomi made a great comeback in 20 17. As its India revenue has risen by three twenty-eight percent in the first half of the year. Underlining the Chinese smartphone makers rising graph in the market which is its most crucial outside its home market.The revenue growth came as the company shipped a record high of 23. 1 million devices globally in the last quarter which ended on June. Xiaomi now plan to sell hundred million smartphones in two thousand eighteen.
Well, right from day one, the focus of Xiaomi has always been on developing core technologies. Committing manpower and other resources and plenty to research and development. Building an amazing user experience is at the core of Xiaomi’s business. They even interact with users during the early stages of their product launches. Listen to them carefully and quickly make changes based on it. Well, though they might have had a hard road in their journey. Xiaomi is and will always be one of the biggest brands in the smart phone industry.
Thank you so much everyone for suggesting us to do a success story on Xiaomi. We hope you liked it. Do let us know whose story do you want to see next in the comment section below and we’ll soon have it uploaded on this channel. For more inspirational stories and updates from the startup world. Visit our website startup stories. IN. Till then stay motivated.
