Xiaomi Plans to Launch Ferrari-inspired Electric SUV to Compete Tesla Model Y

Xiaomi, the Chinese tech giant, is making strides in the electric vehicle (EV) market. After successfully launching its first EV, the SU7, earlier this year, Xiaomi now has plans to expand its lineup with a new electric SUV. This upcoming SUV, codenamed MX11, was recently spotted testing in China. 

The MX11 electric SUV appears to be similar in size and design to the Ferrari Purosangue SUV. From the sides, it has a distinct silhouette reminiscent of the Ferrari model. The front face features sleek design elements, including slim LED headlights and daytime running lights (DRLs), which draw inspiration from the Xiaomi SU7 (itself inspired by the Porsche Taycan).

Little is known about the specifications, but reports suggest that the MX11 might share some elements with the SU7 electric sedan. It could use the same 400V architecture and a 73.6 kWh lithium-ion battery pack from the SU7.

The leaked images (above) reveal of the upcoming electric SUV is heavily camouflaged yet it has striking resemblance to the Ferrari Purosangue.

There's also speculation about a higher-spec variant with an 800V architecture and a larger 101-kWh battery.

Xiaomi aims to compete with EV giants like Tesla by positioning the MX11 to rival the Tesla Model Y. The previously launched SU7 model was aimed at the Tesla Model 3, and Xiaomi seems determined to make an impact in the competitive Chinese EV market.

The MX11 is slated for a 2026 release and is estimated to cost around 150,000 yuan (21,000 USD).

Xiaomi Registers Its Electric Vehicles Business

China's smartphone maker Xiaomi has officially registered its electric vehicle business. According to CNBC, the name of the subsidiary is Xiaomi EV, Inc. and it has been set up with previously-announced registered capital of 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion).

The newly formed company currently has 300 employees and the business is led by group founder and CEO Lei Jun. In March, the Beijing-headquartered firm has announced plans to launch an electric car business and invest $10 billion over the next decade.

Notably, Xiaomi recently acquired autonomous driving firm Deepmotion for around $77.37 million to “enhance the technological competitiveness” of its electric vehicle business.

The company said its electric vehicle team has done a lot of user research over the past five months. Moving forward with the EV product definition and team, it has also visited industry partners, the report said. The business has yet to unveil a car, he said.

Xiaomi, known for its smartphones and other Internet-connected hardware, has been incredibly popular in China with start-ups like Neo and Xpeng, as well as established players including Tesla and the Warren Buffett-backed VYD, a Chinese auto company. taking place.

After Getting Blacklisted by the US, Xiaomi Shares Dives Down; Co-Founder Loses ~ $3 Billion

Lei Jun, CEO of Xiaomi

Shares in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi collapsed more than 11 per cent in Hong Kong trade on Friday after the US put it on a blacklist. The aim is to ban Americans from investing in it as the Trump administration ramps up its battle with Beijing.

In one of the year's biggest IPOs, Xiaomi went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on July 9, 2018.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Lei Jun, the CEO & CO-Founder of Xiaomi, lost almost $3 billion as the stock tumbled a record 10.6%. Lei' Jun's first success was selling online retailer Joyo.com to Amazon in 2004 for $75 million.

In a statement, the U.S. Department of Defense said it was “determined to highlight and counter the People’s Republic of China’s military-civil fusion development strategy” that allowed it to access key technology and security data.

Interestingly, Xiaomi overtook Apple in smartphone sales in third quarter, according to IDC.

Earlier in May last year, the US government imposed restrictions on Chinese tech giant Huawei's ability to use American technology, stepping up a conflict with Beijing over industry development and security.

Xiaomi is one of the world’s biggest smartphone makers and considered China’s answer to Apple, was one of 11 firms targeted by US officials who said they posed a threat to national security.

Besides blacklisting Xiaomi, a separate list from the U.S. Commerce Department also banned Americans from the companies, including state energy giant CNOOC and deep-water explorer Skyrison, which develops military equipment.

Xiaomi India unveils Mi 10 5G, Mi Box 4K

Smartphone major Xiaomi on Friday unveiled its flagship 5G handset - Mi 10 - that features a 108MP quad-camera setup as well as a content streaming device and wireless earbuds as it looks to further strengthen its presence in the connected devices market in India.

The launch comes at a time when the smartphone industry has been hit by the COVID-19 outbreak.

"With Mi aim to redefine the premium smartphone experience for consumers in India. With its flagship OIS enabled 108MP Quad Camera setup, UHD 8K video recording, world's fastest 30W wireless charging, we hope our users can create content in a way never thought possible before, with Mi 10," Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain said at the launch event.

He added that the company plans to bring multiple devices under the Mi brand to India this year.

Earlier this year, Xiaomi had said it intended to offer more premium experiences to customers via the Mi brand. Its Redmi franchise of devices would offer more mass market products, while Mi devices will focus on innovation and flagship features.

The Mi 10 5G features a 108MP quad-camera setup, Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 chipset for 5G connectivity, 8GB RAM, 4,780mAh battery, and 30W wireless charging. It will come in two memory variants - 128GB (Rs 49,999) and 256GB (Rs 54,999) and will go on sale across platforms on May 18.

According to analysts, smartphone shipments grew 1.5-4 per cent in the March quarter, and demand in the smartphone category is expected to revive only by the third quarter. After 40 days of lockdown, which began on March 25, certain business activities like opening of standalone stores and e-commerce delivery of non-essential items have been allowed in Green and Orange Zones (locations with few or no COVID-19 cases). Companies are also looking at resuming production after getting necessary approvals from state governments.

Xiaomi, on Monday, had said it expects production of its smartphones in the country to return to normal capacity by next month, and demand returning by third quarter (July-September). It has also introduced an offline-to-online solution called "Mi Commerce" for its retail partners to help customers discover and buy products offline while staying at home.

There has been a significant growth in consumption of content via digital platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. While the company has its range of smart TVs, it has launched the Mi Box 4K to woo users who have non-smart TVs but want to consume online video services.



Xiaomi's Android TV streaming media player, which will compete with devices like Amazon Fire TV Stick, supports 4K Ultra high definition video content playback.

Running on the latest Android TV version (9.0), Mi Box 4K allow users to access content from platforms like Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar, YouTube as well as over 5000 apps/games on the Google Play store.

Mi Box 4K comes with built-in Chromecast that allows users to cast up to 4K Ultra-HD content from mobile, tablet or laptops (Windows/MacOS) onto the TV screen. Priced at 3,499, Mi Box 4K has a 2GB RAM, 8GB of flash storage and will be available from May 10.

The Mi True Wireless Earphones 2 will be priced at Rs 4,499 and be available starting May 12. PTI SR

ISRO, Xiaomi in Advanced Talks over NaVIC Chipsets, the Indian Version of GPS

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Chinese mobile manufacturer Xiaomi are in advanced stage of talks on provision of chipsets that can support NaVIC, the Indian version of Global Positioning System (GPS), an official said here on Wednesday.

The NavIC-friendly chipset, being manufactured by the US chip manufacturer Qualcom, is designed to provide accurate position information service to users in India as well as the region extending up to 1500 km from its boundary, which is its primary service area, the ISRO has stated earlier.

"Qualcom has announced that its chip is going to have NaVIC and they are releasing it. Now almost Xiaomi is in agreement to have it. Xiaomi may launch its mobile phones with NavIC chipsets," the ISRO official said.

NavIC is the abbreviation of Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS).

According to the ISRO, the IRNSS was developed for terrestrial, aerial and marine navigation, disaster
management, vehicle tracking and fleet management and integration with mobile phones.

It would provide Standard positioning Service (SPS) to all users and Restricted Service (RS), which is an encrypted service for only authorised users.

The IRNSS is expected to provide a position accuracy of better than 20 metre in the primary service area.

The ISRO official said the international body 3GPP has formally approved usage of NavIC, allowing the ISRO to collaborate with Qualcom. PTI GMS

Xiaomi Launches its Cross-Border E-Commerce Platform 'ShareSave' in India

Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi has introduced a new e-commerce platform called ShareSave, which is currently limited to India only. Xiaomi ShareSave aims to offers a quick and efficient way to order Xiaomi-ecosystem products that have not been released outside China. The company is using social e-commerce as the core model for the platform, which will allow the users to make outright purchases or pair their orders with friends and family to get discounts.

Currently, ShareSave is only available as an Android app and there is no mention by Xiaomi if it will also launch web version and iOS app, or not.

According to an official blog post of Xiaomi, the company is hoping to provide its fans with a convenient and affordable way to order Mi ecosystem devices that have just been released in China with the Xiaomi ShareSave. It is a global initiative with India being the launch market. The company has plans to expand it to other markets in the future.

ShareSave has three kinds of purchase modes as below:

1. Pair-up – Buy with a friend to get an exclusive discount for both.



2. Drop – Up to 100% price drop when enough friends and family join the drop group.



3. Kickstart – Contribute $0.2 to back your favorite products and get up to 10 times the reward.

Xiaomi, which had launched its crowdfunding programme ‘Mi Crowdfunding’ in India, last year, has incubated and partnered with more than 100 Internet of Things (IoT) and lifestyle companies. With more than 132 million connected devices (excluding smartphones and laptops), Xiaomi has the world’s largest consumer IoT platform.

Some of the currently available products on Xiaomi ShareSave are Mi x Wiha Precision Screwdriver, Yeelight LED Light Bulb (Color), and Soocas Sonic Electric Toothbrush X1 Lite. The company promises to provide full local support for all the products purchased through the platform and a doorstep delivery.

As we mentioned earlier, Xiaomi ShareSave is only available as an Android app right now. You can head over to Google Play to download the official app.

“Xiaomi strongly believes in the power of communities and Mi Fans, and the social aspect of ShareSave is a perfect reflection of this. ShareSave allows for a place where Mi Fans connect, enjoy and share a unique #SharetoSave shopping experience. It also serves as a testing ground for key markets, allowing Xiaomi to learn more about the local demand for various types of product,” the company wrote in the blog post.

Last year in April, Xiaomi

Xiaomi Launches Its Crowdfunding Platform in India

Xiaomi on Wednesday launched a new programme in India called 'Mi Crowdfunding'. Notably, Xiaomi’s been crowdfunding out-of-the-box products for years in China, giving birth to various devices outside of the mainstream.

Just like any other consumer-driven funding program like Indiegogo, Kickstarter, the Mi Crowdfunding platform aims to provide a dedicated space to products or ideas that still need money to go into mass production and finally launch in open markets. Xiaomi will keep posting a curated list of "innovation-driven" products that it will sell only when a certain number of people are interested or technically speaking, if the product is 100% funded within the stipulated timeline. If a particular product fails to meet the funding gaol in defined timeline then the product will not be shipped and the customers (backers who supported the product) will get their money back.

As of now, Xiaomi has put up two products that it is planning to bring in India -- Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver and Mi Selfie Stick Tripod, which are priced at Rs 999 and Rs 1,099 respectively.

The Mi Selfie Stick Tripod is able to rotate 360 degrees and comes with an adjustable grip to "accommodate the largest smartphones like Mi Max 2." The product comes in only one Black colour variant, measures 45x49.5x190mm, and weighs 155 grams. Xiaomi promises that it will be shipped within 10 days of successful completion of the project.

The Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver meant to provide wireless music, comes with a single key function that turns on the earphones, connects to Bluetooth, plays and pauses music, and answer calls as well. It comes with Bluetooth 4.2 to connectivity, and a headphone amplifier chip.

Basically, the idea behind crowdfunding is that instead of asking a single company or an investor to put in large amounts of money into your project, such platforms let you ask a large number of people to invest a relatively small amount.

Though Crowdfunding is not as popular as in the US, nevertheless there are many new and emerging crowdfunding platforms such as Ketto, Milaap, Impact Guru, Crowdera, Desiredwings, Bitgiving and FuelADream. Last year, Desiredwings,a reward based crowdfunding platform, acquired Catapooolt.com to together become the largest crowdfunding platform with various diversified successfully funded campaigns to its portfolio.

According to SEBI, the investment knowledge of Indian citizens is not at par and hence popular models like equity crowdfunding and investment crowdfunding are not so popular in India. Last September, SEBI had asked crowdfunding platform to include a disclaimer stating that crowdfunding platforms are neither stock exchanges nor authorized by the capital markets regulator to solicit investments.

News Source - BGR India

Top Image - BTVi.in

Xiaomi Launches Its Crowdfunding Platform in India

Xiaomi on Wednesday launched a new programme in India called 'Mi Crowdfunding'. Notably, Xiaomi’s been crowdfunding out-of-the-box products for years in China, giving birth to various devices outside of the mainstream.

Just like any other consumer-driven funding program like Indiegogo, Kickstarter, the Mi Crowdfunding platform aims to provide a dedicated space to products or ideas that still need money to go into mass production and finally launch in open markets. Xiaomi will keep posting a curated list of "innovation-driven" products that it will sell only when a certain number of people are interested or technically speaking, if the product is 100% funded within the stipulated timeline. If a particular product fails to meet the funding gaol in defined timeline then the product will not be shipped and the customers (backers who supported the product) will get their money back.

As of now, Xiaomi has put up two products that it is planning to bring in India -- Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver and Mi Selfie Stick Tripod, which are priced at Rs 999 and Rs 1,099 respectively.

The Mi Selfie Stick Tripod is able to rotate 360 degrees and comes with an adjustable grip to "accommodate the largest smartphones like Mi Max 2." The product comes in only one Black colour variant, measures 45x49.5x190mm, and weighs 155 grams. Xiaomi promises that it will be shipped within 10 days of successful completion of the project.

The Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver meant to provide wireless music, comes with a single key function that turns on the earphones, connects to Bluetooth, plays and pauses music, and answer calls as well. It comes with Bluetooth 4.2 to connectivity, and a headphone amplifier chip.

Basically, the idea behind crowdfunding is that instead of asking a single company or an investor to put in large amounts of money into your project, such platforms let you ask a large number of people to invest a relatively small amount.

Though Crowdfunding is not as popular as in the US, nevertheless there are many new and emerging crowdfunding platforms such as Ketto, Milaap, Impact Guru, Crowdera, Desiredwings, Bitgiving and FuelADream. Last year, Desiredwings,a reward based crowdfunding platform, acquired Catapooolt.com to together become the largest crowdfunding platform with various diversified successfully funded campaigns to its portfolio.

According to SEBI, the investment knowledge of Indian citizens is not at par and hence popular models like equity crowdfunding and investment crowdfunding are not so popular in India. Last September, SEBI had asked crowdfunding platform to include a disclaimer stating that crowdfunding platforms are neither stock exchanges nor authorized by the capital markets regulator to solicit investments.

News Source - BGR India

Top Image - BTVi.in

Xiaomi To Invest ₹7,000 Crore in 100 Indian Startups in 5 Years

Chinese smartphone major Xiaomi today said it will invest Rs 6,000-7,000 crore in around 100 startups in India over the next five years to strengthen its hardware and software ecosystem. The smartphone maker is looking to invest more on the mobile software tech side, that also help its hardware ecosystem.

"Till 2017 the net investment of the company was Rs 3,000 crore. In the next five years we will invest Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore in around 100 startups in India," Manu Kumar Jain, the Managing Director and vice-president of Xiaomi India, said in a media statement. Assuring that that company’s position of strength in smartphones will continue in future as well, he said that Xiaomi had invested in 10 startups until 2017 and the new investment will be to further strengthen the ecosystem.

Xiaomi had recently (January) invested in $18.2 Million in ShareChat, a Bengaluru-based social networking app. Xiaomi made its first investment in India when, in 2016, it lead the $25 million funding round into Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, a Mumbai heaquartered aggregator and publisher of entertainment content on the internet.

Xiaomi has recently launched its first flagship experience store in Chennai offering products sold in China but not available in India. The products include an electric cycle, a self-balancing scooter, an electric folding bike, smart shoes, smart cooker, laptop, water purifier.

As per a 2017 report by International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi held the maximum market share in the top 50 Indian cities in the Q3 2017 period, beating Samsung. The combined market share of Xiaomi in online and offline is 27% as per IDC

India is the first market outside of China, where Xiaomi has introduced its televisions. In India, Xiaomi currently sells smartphones, air purifiers and mobile accessories like power banks.

Manu Kumar Jain further said that India is a very important market for us and within a very short time, we have been able to capture significant market share in the smartphone market. TV is a big category after smartphones for Xiaomi and in China, we are the fastest growing TV brand, he said.

The above development was first reported in Financial Express.

Xiaomi To Invest ₹7,000 Crore in 100 Indian Startups in 5 Years

Chinese smartphone major Xiaomi today said it will invest Rs 6,000-7,000 crore in around 100 startups in India over the next five years to strengthen its hardware and software ecosystem. The smartphone maker is looking to invest more on the mobile software tech side, that also help its hardware ecosystem.

"Till 2017 the net investment of the company was Rs 3,000 crore. In the next five years we will invest Rs 6,000 crore to Rs 7,000 crore in around 100 startups in India," Manu Kumar Jain, the Managing Director and vice-president of Xiaomi India, said in a media statement. Assuring that that company’s position of strength in smartphones will continue in future as well, he said that Xiaomi had invested in 10 startups until 2017 and the new investment will be to further strengthen the ecosystem.

Xiaomi had recently (January) invested in $18.2 Million in ShareChat, a Bengaluru-based social networking app. Xiaomi made its first investment in India when, in 2016, it lead the $25 million funding round into Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, a Mumbai heaquartered aggregator and publisher of entertainment content on the internet.

Xiaomi has recently launched its first flagship experience store in Chennai offering products sold in China but not available in India. The products include an electric cycle, a self-balancing scooter, an electric folding bike, smart shoes, smart cooker, laptop, water purifier.

As per a 2017 report by International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi held the maximum market share in the top 50 Indian cities in the Q3 2017 period, beating Samsung. The combined market share of Xiaomi in online and offline is 27% as per IDC

India is the first market outside of China, where Xiaomi has introduced its televisions. In India, Xiaomi currently sells smartphones, air purifiers and mobile accessories like power banks.

Manu Kumar Jain further said that India is a very important market for us and within a very short time, we have been able to capture significant market share in the smartphone market. TV is a big category after smartphones for Xiaomi and in China, we are the fastest growing TV brand, he said.

The above development was first reported in Financial Express.

Xiaomi Beats Samsung in Smartphone Sales in Top 50 Indian Cities: IDC

As per a report by International Data Corporation (IDC), Xiaomi held the maximum market share in the top 50 Indian cities in the Q3 2017 period, followed by Samsung, Lenovo (including Moto), Oppo, and Vivo. The top 50 Indian cities have accounted for 50 percent of overall smartphone sales in the country in the third quarter this year. Among all the major cities, Tier I cities in the country are considered to be the "key volume driver" for the Indian smartphone market with a sequential quarterly growth of 29 percent in the last quarter. IDC also reveals that Bhopal, Gurugram, and Jaipur from the Tier II cities have emerged as the "fastest growing cities" with each reporting a massive growth of more than 40 percent from the previous.

IDC in its India Monthly City-Level Smartphone Tracker claims that in the top 50 cities, Xiaomi ousted Samsung to take 26.5 percent of the market. It is said to have registered 120 percent growth in the period, while the Redmi Note 4 contributed to 40 percent of its volumes - becoming the highest selling smartphones across the cities. Offline expansion through the company's Preferred Partner programme and Mi Stores added to this growth, IDC said.

Samsung, which moved to the second slot with 24.1 percent market share, saw 15 percent quarterly growth. IDC says the brand continues to dominate in several cities thanks to its "deep penetration and reach." The Samsung Galaxy J2, Galaxy J7 Max, and Galaxy J7 Nxt made up 50 percent of volumes of the South Korean manufacturer, IDC said.

Lenovo (including the Moto brand) had the third spot with a 10.3 percent share, and grew 8 percent from the previous quarter. New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru were the top cities for the company, with the Lenovo K6 Power, Moto E4 Plus, and Lenovo K6 Note the top sellers.

Oppo moved up to the fourth position with a 5.2 percent share, with the Oppo F3, F3 Plus, and A71 smartphones major contributors to the growth the company enjoyed. Finally, Vivo slipped to the fifth spot at 5.1 percent, and is said to have seen a marginal decline in sales from the last quarter. IDC cites "reduced channel spends" as the primary reason for the fall, but is optimistic about the success of the Vivo V7+ and Vivo Y69 smartphones to bring it back to the fourth position.

IDC says that metro cities continued to be the major contributors to growing smartphone sales in India. Alone Delhi and Mumbai contributed one-fourth of the total sales in top 50 cities. However, expansion of data supply and 4G penetration across the country enabled Tier I and Tier II cities to attract all the smartphone vendors. "Almost all vendors have now decided to go aggressive on offline channel expansion. It will be interesting to see how they are able to match the distribution strength and retail spends by offline dominant players like Samsung, Oppo, and Vivo.

Considering the huge hitherto tapped demand from smaller cities and towns, eventually, these vendors will be forced to tweak their strategies to reach out to the customers in these markets," said Navkendar Singh, associate research director, IDC India, in a press statement.

Vendors are reportedly diversifying their sales and marketing strategies, while e-tailers like Amazon and Flipkart are expanding their presence in India to cater the growing demand for smartphones. Furthermore, IDC claims that e-commerce companies are contributing to around 40 percent of the market in top 50 cities in the country.

"Mega-online sale(s) by prominent e-trailers acted as the catalyst for the robust growth across city tiers with e-tailers now contributing around 40 percent of the market in top 50 cities of India. However, the offline channel saw only average traction during the festive season," said Himanshu Jain, market analyst, IDC India.

A previous IDC report revealed that smartphone shipments in India reached a record 39 million units in last quarter, up 40 percent from the previous quarter and 21 percent from the same period last year. Xiaomi surfaced as the top smartphone brand in the country, jointly sharing the leadership with Samsung, with a market share of 23.5 percent in the third quarter.

Top Featured Image - Inspire2Rise

Xiaomi May Invest $15 Mn In Bangalore-based Social Networking Startup ShareChat

China-based smartphone and consumer electronics manufacturer Xiaomi and its venture capital firm, Shunwei Capital, are reportedly considering investing a whopping $15 million in funds in a Bengaluru-based social networking and regional content platform called ShareChat.

Started in the year 2015 by three IIT Kanpur alumni ‑ Farid Ahsan, Bhanu Singh and Ankush Sachdeva, ShareChat in simple words is a social media platform in local Indian languages. With ShareChat, one can share videos, jokes, GIFs, audio songs and funny images from India in Indian languages like Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, and Malayalam.

As of now, the platform only caters to 10 regional languages. The startup plans on raising funding somewhere between $65 to $70 million dollars so that they can add more regional languages and cater to more diverse people all across the country. It is interesting to note that ShareChat doesn’t have English as a language of choice on its platform.

So, are social media platforms in vernacular languages really a need in the country? Well, various research work suggest it is.

According to research firms, currently, there are 350 million smartphone users in the country, of which an odd 100-120 million users are fluent with English. The others would prefer their vernacular language over English as a preferred mode of communication. This is the gap that ShareChat is hoping to explore and fill.

Furthermore, research company Ernst and Young in a report highlighting the future of digital content consumption in India had shared that the 45 percent of online users in India consume regional language content. The report also claimed that with low data plans, low-cost smartphones and rural development on the roll, one can expect this number to increase exponentially in the near future. This explains the growing investor interest in ShareChat.

Sharing his vision about ShareChat, co-founder Farid Ahsan said, “This is a young and aspirational set of population which is coming on the internet now, on the back of cheap smartphones and easy availability of mobile data. They are very different from people in the big cities who have been using emails and social media for almost a decade. We want to cater to this fast-growing group of users.”

Reportedly, Xiaomi and ShareChat have already inked the big deal, but haven’t closed it yet officially. The app, which claims to have 1.3 million daily active users and 4.2 million monthly active users, can be easily downloaded from Google Play Store. It is said to have been downloaded 10 million times already.

This isn’t the first time that Xiaomi is considering pumping money in platforms catering to regional Indian content users in the country. Previously, the Chinese major had led a $25 million investment into digital media entertainment company Hungama that reportedly has over 8000 movies in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Bengali, Punjabi and six other Indian vernacular languages on its platform.

This development was first reported in the Times of India.

[Image: udemy]

Xiaomi To Acquire Key Patents of Nokia

In a move that surprised many in the mobile technology space, China's Xiaomi and Finland's Nokia came together yesterday to sign a business collaboration and patent licensing agreement which will see the Chinese tech major acquiring key patent assets from the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer.

The patent licensing deal, which is multi-year in nature, is inclusive of a cross license to each of the company’s cellular standard essential patents. The figures involved in the deal haven't been disclosed by either of the parties yet.

While Xiaomi might not be performing well globally including its home country China, but the brand has received massive acceptance in the Indian smartphone market. The Chinese tech major made a whopping $1 billion in revenue in India last year.

A recent report churned out by India Ratings & Research (Ind-Ra), a Mumbai-based agency that provides ratings, research and rigorous analytics of market in India, threw light on the major movement that took place in the list of market position of the top five smartphone players in India in FY17. Micromax Informatics, Lava International Ltd. and Karbonn Mobiles Pvt Ltd had to let go of their positions on the list and their positions were occupied by Xiaomi Inc., Vivo Mobile India Pvt Ltd. and Oppo Mobiles India Pvt Ltd.

The Ind-Ra report has spelled a period of worry for Indian mobile phone manufacturers. According to the report, Chinese smartphone manufacturers have been successful in capturing a whopping 51 percent of the mobile phone handset market share in India leaving their Indian counterparts much behind in their very own country.

The Ind-Ra report has also warned the Indian smartphone makers to tighten their seat belts if they wish to have a long haul in the Indian smartphone market. According to it, since Chinese players like Xiaomi have invested big bucks in brand building and manufacturing facilities in India, it shows that they’re committed to stay. Indian smartphone makers slow innovation rate and limited marketing budgets are acting as major constraints on their future in the Indian smartphone market.

As per the agreement signed between Nokia and Xiaomi, the Finnish Mobile phone manufacturer, which recently gave its classic 3310 a modern revamp, has agreed to provide its network infrastructure equipment, which was designed to deliver high capacity at low power requirements for large web providers and data centre operators.

The two companies will be coming together to work on IP routing based on Nokia’s recently announced ‘FP4’ network processor, a data centre fabric solution and optical transport solutions for data centre interconnect.

Commenting on the agreements signed between Xiaomi and Nokia, Lei Jun, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi said, “As a company seeking to deliver more exciting technological innovations to the world, we are excited at the opportunity to work more closely with Nokia in future."

Rajeev Suri, President and CEO of Nokia welcomed Xiaomi to Nokia's family of patent licensees and said, "we look forward to working together on a wide range of strategic projects."

The two companies have decided on exploring joint opportunities in currently hot technological areas such as artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT) and augmented and virtual reality.

Xiaomi Launches Wi-Fi Enabled Mi Air Purifier in India For Rs 9,999

Xiaomi is ready to expand its product portfolio in India beyond smartphones, tablets and wearables. Today, the chinese company has launched the Mi Purifier 2 in India, the first product from its range of Mi Ecosystem devices to be launched in the country.

Notably, Mi Purifier 2 is Xiaomi's very first smart home product for Indian market. It connects to Wi-Fi and can be controlled from anywhere using Mi Home app (Android and iOS). The app will give you real time air quality reading and also tell you when it's time to change the filters.

The Mi Purifier 2 is price at Rs 9,999 ($149). It will be available through Mi.com from September 26, and from Flipkart starting October 2. The replacement filters are priced at INR 2,499 ($37).



Mi Air Purifier 2 specs:

• Real-time AQI monitoring, Wi-Fi connectivity



• Mi Home app smart controls (Android and iOS)


• Aerodynamic air vortex, 37m2 (400 sq. ft.) coverage



• 310m3/h Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR)



• EPA triple-layer filter, removes harmful PM2.5



• 4.8W energy saving, ultra-quiet 30db noise level

While Xiaomi has a broader range of products in its home market China which includes water purifiers, air purifiers, laptops, cycles, etc, this will be their first home appliance in India. Xiaomi has not confirmed if products like Mi Water Purifier, etc will make their way in the Indian market soon. Although, an year ago, the company hinted to launch Mi water purifier however it couldn't make it to India yet

The launch of the Xiaomi's indoor air purifier comes at a time when Indian cities are increasingly topping the chart for the world's most polluted places. Earlier this year, the WHO reported 10 Indian cities among the world's top 20 most polluted cities.

Last month, the New York Times' former South Asia correspondent, Gardiner Harris, wrote a column describing the impact of Delhi’s polluted air on his eight-year-old son’s health. “Delhi, we discovered, is quietly suffering from a dire pediatric respiratory crisis…” he wrote, wondering if foreigners and rich Indian should continue living in India’s polluted capital.

The air purifier market in India has grown from almost nothing to over Rs150 crore ($23.45 million) in the last few years, according to Jayanti Singh, business head for air products at Philips.

The indoor air purifier industry is growing at 45% CAGR (compounded annual growth rate), but experts believe that with ever increasing pollution in Indian cities the growth will increase to 55-60% CAGR in the next four years.

Not Just Smartphones, IoT Too Is Xiaomi’s Big Bet In India

Xiaomi, the company, is a name that has gained massive amounts of popularity among Indian mobile lovers in a small period of time. With an army of experts products out there on its e-commerce platform, expert in the industry predict that the company is aiming to become an overarching tech company. In a recent interview with an Indian Economic Daily, Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice president international, shared about Xiaomi's recently launched Mi Max, their world of Internet of Things (IoT) products and the company's way forward.

According to Barra, Xiaomi considers itself as a platform whose three main pillars of strength are its ecommerce business, its MIUI operating system and lastly, it's innovative hardware. Xiaomi makes its revenue by building products and services on the top of this very platform. The smartphones that are sold in the market works wonder with the varied products ecosystem because all these products are well-connected to the world wide web and are being operated by their respective applications on the Xiaomi smartphones. The thing that makes a huge difference for Xiaomi is, that the company makes all these different types of products available to its customers directly without any middlemen and ends up making profits for the original manufacturers of the device and themselves.

Barra in his interview makes it very clear that his company is not in the running to become the next Samsung on the block in terms of making all consumer electronics, as Xiaomi's main focus is towards IoT. Since, currently, the company doesn't manufacturer fridges, ovens and air conditioners etc, they for now are resorting to embedding their wireless chips inside the third party home appliances so that they are capable of communicating and sending the data back to their platforms as well.

Talking about the struggle that Xiaomi is currently facing with bringing its entire line of products to the Indian sub-continent, Barra clarifies that there are no as such regulatory problems that they are facing, it is only that the company has taken a strategic decision to currently only bring those products to India that are relevant in the Indian market.

When asked about the reason behind launching Mi Pad when users can have almost the same experience on a Mi Max, Barra stated that the company made a strategic call not to bring the Mi Pad two to India because of it not being a cellular product. To explain it further, he pointed the difference in consumer behaviours in it China (Xiaomi's headquarters) and India. According to him, China is more into WiFi-enabled tablets while the India on the other hand requires 3G enabled tablets and the company thought it isn't logical to make one version of Mi Pad just for India.

Talking about its investment plans in Indian startups, Barra shares that the Indian Startup industry is currently going through a very important transition phase wherein on-demand content is very crucial. Hence, Xiaomi has a twofold agenda when it comes to Indian startups. They're first and foremost looking for partnerships and then towards investments and quite often they both does happen simultaneously.

Seeing the response Xiaomi is producing in India, one thing is for sure, that the company will be in India for quite a long haul. Here's hoping to see more of Xiaomi in India.

Xiaomi Makes First Investment In India, Leads Hungama's $25 Million Funding Round

Chinese Electronics giant Xiaomi has made its first investment in India, leading a $25 million (Rs 170 crore) funding round into Hungama Digital Media Entertainment, a Mumbai heaquartered aggregator and publisher of entertainment content on the internet.

Xiaomi, which will invest along with Hungama's existing investors Intel Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners and its Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, will pick up a minority, but undisclosed, stake in the company.

"Xiaomi is leading an investment round of $25 million in Hungama, with existing investors," said Xiaomi's head of international operations Hugo Barra. "At the same time we're partnering for video on demand service in India and integrating it into our platform".

The investment marks Xiaomi's first investment into a start-up outside its home market of China, and underlines the importance of the fast growing Indian smartphone market, which is well on its way to become a leading base of internet consumers, from the present base of around 400 million users.

Launched in 1999 by Ashish Kacholia, Hiren Ved, Lashit Sanghvi, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, and Neeraj Roy as an online promotions agency, Hungama has since grown to where they also serve as an aggregator, developer, publisher, and distributor of Bollywood and Asian entertainment. Hungaman claims to beIndia's first and largest on-demand digital entertainment storefront

Post this investment, Xiaomi will integrate Hungama's video on demand service with the Mi platform available on smartphones and televisions, the latter not yet available in India. The companies did not divulge the timeline of integration, but said that post the integration, the platform will have some free and some paid content that will be part of the monetisation strategy.

China's largest smartphone maker is replicating its home model in India, where it has launched two of its leading smartphones in 2016, including the latest flagship Mi 5 last week. Though it trails top five players in the handset sales business, it is among the first amongst the deluge of Chinese players to have invested in a company in India.

In China, Xiaomi has invested in 55 companies which form part of the Mi Ecosystem. Of these, 29 have been incubated but only 20 lave launched products. About 7 companies of this subset have clocked sales of RMB 100 million and two - which make power banks and fitness bands - have surpassed the RMB 1 billion sales mark.

Xiaomi aims to have a similar ecosystem here and feels that video on demand is one of the fastest growing services which will become a key driver for users to get on to the internet.

Neeraj Roy, Founder and CEO, Hungama said that the investment will further strengthen the company's movie and television services, besides adding to its 65 million monthly active consumers across platforms that access music, video and movie services in several vernacular languages.

"Hungama Play (app) will shortly add 1500 hours of TV content in Indian languages and English," he added.

The World's Second Largest Startup Is In Load Of Trouble

China's most valuable and World's second most startup Xiaomi has become a well-known name in the tech market in the recent past. While the company's reputation was sky rocketing, so were the founders hopes. But, according to latest news in the tech world, all isn't merry for the Chinese based gadget maker.

The company sells everything from wearables and smartphones, to TVs, cameras and air purifiers etc. And, the one thing that sets them apart from others is the price point at which they offer these products. For example, one can buy a five-inch smartphone for just $200 and a buy a fitness band for a mere $15. Yes, you read it right.

From the very beginning, the tech company's strategy has been to bombard the market with budget devices. Then, after a huge customer base is generated, it would thread all of its products together into an "ecosystem" almost similar to what Google (GOOGL, Tech30) and Apple (AAPL, Tech30) have done with Android and iOS. Once that's achieved, Xiaomi can then sell the software add-ons and applications to the people. That's how the Chinese gadget maker is raking in most of its profits in today's time.

But, according to the estimated sales figures for last year (2015), all hasn't gone according to the tech company's roadmap.

According to Richard Windsor, an Analyst, Xiaomi might have sold just 72 million devices in the year 2015, which is a much lower figure than what the company had predicted for itself.

Assuming that Windsor's estimate is correct, the Chinese gadget makers sales growth could be less than 10% in the year 2015. This is very less when compared to its 211% growth in a three-month period back in 2014.

While these slow growth figures might not be that much of a problem to the firm, it's surely deemed to affect the tech company's valuation and ability to raise capital to continue developing new services for its hardware, which might end up affecting the company's stand in the market in the longer run.

According to figures made available by CB insights, the China based company is currently valued at $46 billion but Edison Investment Research analysts have a different story to tell. According to them, Xiaomi is worth only $5.9 billion, which js 15% less than of the cited figure.

Founded less than five years ago, the startup has become one of the top two smartphone manufacturers in its home country, dethroning the big names, Samsung and Apple. But, unfortunately, its success rate outside the country has been limited.

Well, if the figures above are any true, Xiaomi is surely looking forward to a tough year ahead.

Xiaomi to Sell Smartphones Through Its Own Website In India

In order to strengthen its presence in India, Xiaomi has decided to open its own portal in the country by the end of this year and start selling smartphones. The Chinese Handset manufacturer has decided to expand its market in India, as the country is one of the fastest growing smartphones market in the world.

The Beijing based Company currently sells its devices in India online through e-commerce giant Flipkart. The company’s website Mi.com is expected to go live in India in the latter part of 2015.

The Chinese handset maker sells all its devices through its own website in almost all countries of its operations, except Indonesia and India.

“We are currently looking for warehousing and logistics partners in India, as well as deciding on a payment mechanisms like cash on delivery. It may take anywhere between three to nine months," said Manu Jain, Xiaomi India Head in a statement given to PTI.

Xiaomi has decided to continue its association with Flipkart even after its own portal is launched in the latter part of the year.

"We have always stated that India is one of our most important markets. We have big plans for India this year... We are in process of signing the lease on a facility in Bangalore, which will be our R&D unit. This is the first one outside China," added Jain.

The Chinese handset maker had also launched Mi 4, its new handset, in India in order to expand its operations in the country.

India is considered a very important market for Xiaomi outside of China. The company has been successful in selling a million units in India since its debut in the country in July 2014.

Founded by social entrepreneur Lei Jun in 2010 in Beijing, Xiaomi is famously referred to as the ‘Apple of China’. The company even featured in Boston Consulting Group’s top fifty most innovative companies list of 2014.

India has become the fastest growing smartphone market in the Asia Pacific region by registering a 82 percent growth in its sales in the July-September quarter of 2014 over the same period in 2013. According to research firm IDC, this tremendous growth is driven by the increasing preference of smartphone consumers to upgrade their devices to a higher version or model as well as shorter refresh cycles.

Xiaomi to Sell Smartphones Through Its Own Website In India

In order to strengthen its presence in India, Xiaomi has decided to open its own portal in the country by the end of this year and start selling smartphones. The Chinese Handset manufacturer has decided to expand its market in India, as the country is one of the fastest growing smartphones market in the world.

The Beijing based Company currently sells its devices in India online through e-commerce giant Flipkart. The company’s website Mi.com is expected to go live in India in the latter part of 2015.

The Chinese handset maker sells all its devices through its own website in almost all countries of its operations, except Indonesia and India.

“We are currently looking for warehousing and logistics partners in India, as well as deciding on a payment mechanisms like cash on delivery. It may take anywhere between three to nine months," said Manu Jain, Xiaomi India Head in a statement given to PTI.

Xiaomi has decided to continue its association with Flipkart even after its own portal is launched in the latter part of the year.

"We have always stated that India is one of our most important markets. We have big plans for India this year... We are in process of signing the lease on a facility in Bangalore, which will be our R&D unit. This is the first one outside China," added Jain.

The Chinese handset maker had also launched Mi 4, its new handset, in India in order to expand its operations in the country.

India is considered a very important market for Xiaomi outside of China. The company has been successful in selling a million units in India since its debut in the country in July 2014.

Founded by social entrepreneur Lei Jun in 2010 in Beijing, Xiaomi is famously referred to as the ‘Apple of China’. The company even featured in Boston Consulting Group’s top fifty most innovative companies list of 2014.

India has become the fastest growing smartphone market in the Asia Pacific region by registering a 82 percent growth in its sales in the July-September quarter of 2014 over the same period in 2013. According to research firm IDC, this tremendous growth is driven by the increasing preference of smartphone consumers to upgrade their devices to a higher version or model as well as shorter refresh cycles.

Xiaomi Willing To Invest In Indian Startups

China's Xiaomi Inc, the world's third-biggest smartphone maker and most valuable tech startup in the world is willing to invest in Indian startups and overseas media content according to Hugo Barra, vice president of the company's global division.

"Where we really want to make significant investments is in content, particularly in the Chinese market to start with but beyond that in other markets as well," Barra said.

"We are already making some investments for now focused on China, but in the future we will do that in other markets too."

Just three years after selling its first handset, a $1.1 billion round of fund-raising announced in December valued the privately held company at $45 billion, making it the world's most valuable tech start-up.

Taking a leaf from Samsung's book, Xiaomi's recent investments include a Chinese electronics maker as part of a strategy to build an Internet-of-things environment, where devices can be controlled by smartphones.

Xiaomi has had mixed success in India. Sales of its handsets were suspended there after telecoms equipment maker Ericsson filed a complaint alleging infringement of intellectual property rights. Partial sales were permitted from December though the case is yet to be settled.