“It was just four days after Christmas 2014, and for Chinese smartphone company Xiaomi, the presents kept on coming as it announced a funding round of $1.1 billion (£850 million) at a valuation of $45bn,” David Gilbert reports for International Business Times. “Just 18 months on from Xiaomi’s last funding round, new analysis of its business suggests it is worth less than $4 billion. So what happened to the world’s once most valuable startup?”
“Xiaomi has seen its share of the smartphone market decline dramatically while its ecosystem of connected devices — which now includes rice cookers, VR headsets and even umbrellas — has failed to generate any significant revenue for the company,” Gilbert reports. “According to figures released this week by research firm IDC, Xiaomi saw sales of its smartphones drop by almost 40% in China during the second quarter of 2016 when compared to the same period in 2015. The overall Chinese market grew during the same period by 4.6% and… Xiaomi’s real competitors in the mid-to-low end of the market — Huawei, Oppo and Vivo — all saw significant growth.”
“So where did it all go wrong for the company once dubbed the ‘Apple of the East?'” Gilbert reports. “Xiaomi’s meteoric rise was based on one simple fact: It was able to produce smartphones with premium hardware and features which cost a fraction of those on sale from Apple or Samsung. However that advantage rapidly vanished when multiple manufacturers followed suit and produced their own smartphones which offered premium specs at low prices.”
MacDailyNews Take: Hoist with its own petard.
Gilbert reports, “Rather than being known as the ‘Apple of the East,’ Xiaomi may soon be known as the ‘Blackberry of the East.'”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The duped pigeons who wasted their money on that crap quickly realized, “Oh, this isn’t really an iPhone at all.”
If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone.
FOAD, IP-trampling knockoff peddling thieves!
SEE ALSO:
Xiaomi phone shipments slump by 38 percent in China – August 17, 2016
China’s Apple iPhone-knockoff maker Xiaomi banned from peddling phones in India – June 27, 2016
Don’t be silly, Xiaomi is no threat to Apple – January 19, 2015
Xiaomi, which makes billions ripping off Apple, warns people not to buy knockoff versions of its devices – January 12, 2015
Chinese Xiaomi copycat hit with patent infringement lawsuits, sales bans – December 23, 2014
China’s Xiaomi made a meager $56 million profit in 2013 – December 15, 2014
Xiaomi’s MIUI 6 Android skin mimics Apple’s iOS 7 – August 18, 2014
7 things Chinese copycat Xiaomi blatantly ripped off from Apple – July 24, 2014
Xiaomi MiPad? Seriously? Apple must be absolutely furious – May 15, 2014
The Death Spiral: It’s what happens to those who steal from Apple – November 10, 2014
Apple’s iPhone can soon reap 100 percent of world’s smartphone profits – November 17, 2015
Apple’s iPhone owns 94% of smartphone industry’s profits – November 16, 2015
Apple iPhone owns over 90% of smartphone profits, so why do others even bother fighting over Apple’s scraps? – October 8, 2015
Apple’s iPhone juggernaut continues with record-breaking sales while Android peddlers fight over scraps – September 28, 2015
Apple’s iPhone owns 92% of smartphone industry’s profits – July 13, 2015
Poor man’s iPhone: Android on the decline – February 26, 2015
Study: iPhone users are smarter and richer than those who settle for Android phones – January 22, 2015
Why Android users can’t have the nicest things – January 5, 2015
iPhone users earn significantly more than those who settle for Android phones – October 8, 2014
Yet more proof that Android is for poor people – June 27, 2014
More proof that Android is for poor people – May 13, 2014
Android users poorer, shorter, unhealthier, less educated, far less charitable than Apple iPhone users – November 13, 2013
IDC data shows two thirds of Android’s 81% smartphone share are cheap junk phones – November 13, 2013
CIRP: Apple iPhone users are younger, richer, and better educated than those who settle for Samsung knockoff phones – August 19, 2013
Hope these scumbags try coming to USA to spend a lot of money on marketing only to go home bankrupt!
I also love it how these guys use the first two letters of the Micro Center logo on their products.
I dug around the font identification sites and found the font to be ‘STOP’. It’s registered by Monotype GmbH and published by the Mecanorma Collection, $45.
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/itfmecanorma/stop/
IOW: If you buy the STOP font and type out “MI” you’ll get the Xiaomi logo. Micro Center typed out their full name instead. Not a ripoff, at least legally. Who knows if Xiaomi bothered to buy the font or simply lifted it from the Micro Center logo.
> If it’s not an iPhone, it’s not an iPhone.
But – If it not a Samsung, it’s a Xiaomi (or Huawei, Oppo, Vivo, etc…). 🙂
THROW THEM IN JAIL!
Apple of the east – JOKE!
Glad SOMEONE lost money on this blatant theft of IP…
…think of all the poor, ignorant people who bought Xiaomi phones (and stock) who are totally innocent of Xiaomi’s blatant theft of IP — they do not deserve any of this. NOT!
/s
Fighting over crumbs…