Xiaomi’s launch of Mi-3 and its first smart TV

It was curious that Xiaomi might have deliberately chosen a venue which had less room to accommodate its attendees. The aisles and the rest of spare room were packed with media and Xiaomi’s fans. Lei Jun (雷军) appeared on the stage in Steve Jobs’ iconic black T-shirt and blue jeans. He yelled out a slogan in Chinese, which means literally “Among all kinds of martial art, agility is the only undefeatable.” [“天下武功，唯快不破”]

Throughout the launch, the screaming of the fans was a lot more surprising than the two products it unveiled on that day. The third generation of Xiaomi phone comes with a cloud storage and an app to smooth your skin in photos like a charm. These gimmicks will be helpful in its marketing.

The tech specs of Xiaomi Mi-3 are high-end and this is where Xiaomi’s strength and strategy lie. Xiaomi’s “agility” may refer less to the speed of its awesome processor but more to the pace of it uplifting the standard specs for a low-priced smartphone. Its move is to force its rivals to follow and catch up with it. 

Note that during the release, Xiaomi compared its product with Samsung’s and Samsung’s only. It did not mention ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad or Lenovo, all of which prevail over Xiaomi in marketing channels. Likewise, traditional television manufacturers may stick to their marketing channels to buy themselves more time. It is questionable whether Xiaomi’s smart TV and the likes of it may succeed without marketing channels and core technologies.

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As we forecast before, last week would begin a tide of releases of mobile devices. Your correspondent attended Xiaomi’s launch of its new smartphone model and its first smart TV on last Thursday, September 5, and was astonished by how crowded the conference hall was. It was curious that Xiaomi might have deliberately chosen a venue which had less room to accommodate its attendees. The aisles and the rest of spare room were packed with media and Xiaomi’s fans. Lei Jun (雷军) appeared on the stage in Steve Jobs’ iconic black T-shirt and blue jeans. He yelled out a slogan in Chinese, which means literally “Among all kinds of martial art, agility is the only undefeatable.” [“天下武功，唯快不破”]

Throughout the launch, the screaming of the fans was a lot more surprising than the two products it unveiled on that day. The third generation of Xiaomi phone comes with a cloud storage and an app to smooth your skin in photos like a charm. These gimmicks will be helpful in its marketing.

The tech specs of Xiaomi Mi-3 are high-end and this is where Xiaomi’s strength and strategy lie. Xiaomi’s “agility” may refer less to the speed of its awesome processor but more to the pace of it uplifting the standard specs for a low-priced smartphone. Its move is to force its rivals to follow and catch up with it. 

Note that during the release, Xiaomi compared its product with Samsung’s and Samsung’s only. It did not mention ZTE, Huawei, Coolpad or Lenovo, all of which prevail over Xiaomi in marketing channels. Likewise, traditional television manufacturers may stick to their marketing channels to buy themselves more time. It is questionable whether Xiaomi’s smart TV and the likes of it may succeed without marketing channels and core technologies.