Xiaomi sold all 40,000 units of its low-cost Redmi 1S in about 4 seconds

Online sales of budget smartphone maker Xiaomi’s new Android phone were gone in India before many even had a chance to click. Known as “China’s Apple,” Xiaomi sold all 40,000 units of its low-cost Redmi 1S within 4.2 seconds on Flipkart, an online marketplace that does business exclusively in India, according to Hugo Barra, Vice President of Xiaomi Global. Those unable to swipe one of the phones took to Xiaomi India’s Facebook Page or Twitter to vent their frustration, criticizing the Chinese firm for entering one of the world’s largest markets with limited supply.

Chinese Android manufacturer Xiaomi may be trying to compete at the high end of Android devices with it’s iPhone-inspired Mi 3 handset and unsubtley-named Mi Pad, but it isn’t neglecting the low-end of the market. Its Redmi 1S just launched in India and, according to a tweet by former Google exec and now Xiaomi Global VP, sold 40,000 units in 4.2 seconds. The company’s flash-sale approach may generate headlines, but doesn’t appear to be winning it any friends, with would-be customers responding to the tweet with complaints. A similar thing happened with the Mi 3, reports Indian site NDTV Gadgets, where a recent flash sale of 20,000 handsets sold out in 2.4 seconds. The lesson would appear to be that you might be able to artificially create impressive-sound short-term stats, but at the cost of alienating your customers. It seems shortsighted for a company that doesn’t appear to need this type of gimmick: it announced back in July that it had more than doubled its year-on-year sales since it began its international expansion program.