Xiaomi is a Chinese smartphone manufacturer that has experienced significant growth on its home turf in the four years it has been around. It is often referred to as the Apple of China, due to its meteoric rise in one of the most competitive markets on the planet. Its smartphones have actually been outselling the iPhone in China. Xiaomi is not like other Chinese manufacturers who don’t go behind the Great Wall. It has its sights set firmly on global expansion, and now eyes 10 new countries to expand sales into.
Xiaomi Corp., the four-year-old smartphone maker that outsells Apple Inc. in China, plans to enter 10 more countries this year as it accelerates international expansion. Sales will start in nations including India, Brazil and Russia, Lei Jun, Xiaomi’s founder and chief executive officer, said at a press conference in Beijing today. The maker of smartphones, televisions and routers is broadening its range of consumer electronics and expanding overseas to build on existing sales in its home market of China as well as Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Xiaomi keeps costs down by selling directly to consumers online and Lei has set a goal of boosting sales fivefold to 100 million phones in 2015.
