Xiaomi launching first stores in North America, Europe

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi will launch its first stores in North America and Europe on Tuesday, May 19, selling low-cost accessories as a prelude to launching smartphones in the West, the Guardian reports.

The Mi store launch in the U.S., UK, France and Germany will be the five-year-old company’s first steps beyond China and selects developing markets after struggling with litigation over alleged patent infringement.

The store will sell Xiaomi’s competitively priced headphones, two portable battery packs and the Mi Band – a low-cost but well-received fitness tracker.

Xiaomi’s chief executive and co-founder Lei Jun aims to take the $45bn startup from one of the world’s top five smartphone manufacturers, purely based on sales within China, to the world’s biggest supplanting Samsung and Apple in the process.

But the company has faced issues expanding beyond China. Its launch in India, one of the world’s largest emerging smartphone markets, was plagued with issues around patent infringement that saw sales banned.

A similar situation would likely occur if the company launched its current range of smartphones in the U.S. or Europe, despite Xiaomi being awarded various patents of its own across smartphone technology, the Guardian says.

Apple’s chief designer Jonathan Ive recently criticized Xiaomi’s alleged copying of its iPhone, saying: “It is theft and it is lazy. I don’t think it is OK at all.”

Lin Bin, Xiaomi co-founder, told a press conference – the company’s first significant event for media in the U.S. – that intellectual property was “not the most important matrix”. However, it was one factor that he and Jun use when planning country launch strategies.

Xiaomi sees itself as more than a smartphone company. It recently released media streaming and Internet of Things products for home automation, but has yet to commit to a European or U.S. launch.

For now, the company is using its accessory range as a way to introduce the brand to key markets and create a foothold for further expansion at a later date.