The founder and CEO of Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi, Lei Jun, recently claimed that the company has no plans to abandon the Android smartphone operating system.
At the Global Mobile Internet Conference (GMIC) held on Tuesday, Lei Jun stated that Xiaomi had created a customized user interface outside of Android and indicated that the company's strategy had been successful. When asked if Xiaomi would create its own operating system, Lei Jun replied that Xiaomi planned to continue using the Android system and would not develop its own smartphone platform.
This statement from Lei Jun was particularly attention-grabbing given that many other Android smartphone manufacturers are abandoning this platform. Samsung Electronics, the world's largest Android smartphone manufacturer, is planning to launch a phone with the Tizen open-source operating system soon. Additionally, there are rumors that HTC, another supporter of the Android system, is developing its own smartphone operating system for phones sold in the mainland Chinese market.
In addition to these remarks, Lei Jun also stated at the GMIC conference that he was planning to expand Xiaomi phones into markets beyond China, though he did not disclose the specific names of these markets. Of course, Lei Jun had previously mentioned that Xiaomi would enter the U.S. market once the timing was right.
Xiaomi has become a growing force in the Chinese market and gained even more prominence by hiring former Google Android Vice President of Product Management, Hugo Barra, in August. Barra now serves as Vice President of Xiaomi, mainly responsible for the company's international business expansion. Barra also attended the GMIC conference on Tuesday and stated that the main reason he joined Xiaomi was due to the similarity between Xiaomi's methods of hardware innovation and Google's methods of software innovation. Barra said: "We design and innovate based on the software products we create."
Barra claimed that Xiaomi continuously improves its phone design. He added that Xiaomi solicits opinions and suggestions from users every week and integrates the feedback into their designs. This means that Xiaomi almost adds new hardware features to its phones every week. Barra also noted that a batch of phones ships out every week, which is quite rare. He commented: "Each new batch of phones shipped will be better than the last."
Xiaomi revealed that last week the company sold its first 100,000 MiPhone 3 smartphones online within just 83 seconds. Lei Jun further claimed that the company plans to extend this business model globally. Lei Jun stated that Xiaomi is seriously exploring new potential markets to ensure they can support the e-commerce and social media needed for Xiaomi's phone sales business, as Xiaomi relies on these platforms to obtain user feedback and continuously improve its designs. Barra also stated: "Our first priority in new markets is to establish user feedback channels, but we have not yet determined which new markets we will enter." Lei Jun added: "We will provide customized products for users in each market."
According to data from market research firm ABI Research, Xiaomi became the world's 13th largest mobile phone manufacturer in the second quarter of 2013, surpassing Motorola Mobility. ABI Research data shows that Xiaomi sold 3.8 million smartphones in the second quarter of this year, with 80% sold through online channels, a method that saves significant costs for Xiaomi's retail store operations. ABI Research also pointed out that Xiaomi's Mi 2 smartphone sold over 7 million units in the first half of this year, surpassing the sales of Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple iPhone.