In the penultimate quarter of this year Xiaomi made numbers: thesmartphone exports in the overseas market increased by 80% compared to the previous year. More export equals more revenue, this is true, but entering the European and US market was not easy at all and probably in terms of time it cost a lot to Xiaomi. You wondered, precisely, why it took us long before our beloved brand arivasse in the American and European market? To ensure its success in the Western market, Xiaomi has opted for two roads to be followed at the same time: collaborate with manufacturing companies in America and with European operators (even if said so it seems a war).
Xiaomi in the American market
In fact, there is talk of war, since the US market is divided between 4 big brands that challenge themselves with hits of new devices, of which Huawei occupies the first position. With more than 30 years of experience and thousands of patents, Huawei has established itself as the first manufacturer collaborating with the major companies in the American market such as Ericsson and Qualcomm. Being Xiaomi born only in the 2010 and basing its market (at least for the first few years) on the sale of smartphones alone, it did not have the strength and experience to deal with such a giant and even, after the first attempts to enter the market in the New World, it was involved in more than one lawsuit: in fact, in the 2014, the year of the boom in India, Ericsson sued Xiaomi accusing it of violating 8 patents and thus prevented his entry into America. Then towards the end of 2015 Xiaomi has finally received certification from the FCC ( "Federal Communications Commission") Competent body that defines the standards and technical standards of the various types of electronic equipment such as the SAR limits; when it finally seemed to be done, Xiaomi found the road blocked by the now monopolized market, and for the second time it failed to enter the US market.
The European market like the American one are known for their rigidity. For this reason Xiaomi has focused in recent years to try to collaborate with large US companies in order to get the chance to enter the market. Xiaomi will come in at the end of rome in collaboration with Intel, Microsoft and Google, collaboration that will lead to the beginning of the dream of entering the American market.
Xiaomi in the European market
In an almost similar way to the whole American affair, Xiaomi also had problems with the European Union market. Poco after its birth Xiaomi made itself known in Europe with devices of different kinds such as headphones, earphones and home accessories but was unable to do the same under the smartphone profile: unfortunately in Europe the reins of the market of mobile devices are pulled by the telephony operators. So strong of the experience with America, Xiaomi saw us along and before the listing on the stock exchange, to enter the European Community market, started a monumental collaboration with Li Kashing (the richest economist in Hong Kong dubbed by the British "Superman") who becomes a member of the company, as well as Jack Ma (Alibaba) e Pony Ma (Tencent). But why do we say "monumental"? Not just for the caliber of the people involved, but also because Li Kashing is the sole owner, after the exit of Russia, of the group Wind-Three. In fact we have seen that this year some terminals like Mi Mix 2, Mi 8 and Redmi 5 Plus are offered with subscription by the telephone company Tre. Basically it is thanks to the establishment of this collaboration that in the first season of this year Xiaomi has conquered the fourth place in the European market, having 10 economic growth times greater than in previous years.
From left: Pony Ma, Li Kashing and Jack Ma.
Photographs by Paul Yeung, Anthony Kwan, Brent Lewin / Bloomberg
Personally, the move to enter the American and European market immediately after the listing on the stock exchange seems a move as smart as it is risky. What do you think about it?
