Lei Jun, founder and chief executive officer of China's mobile company Xiaomi, Inc, during a news conference held at the National People's Congress in Beijing, March 6, 2015. (Photo : Reuters)
Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp. is expecting to sell more than triple its revenue from mobile services such as games and a payment app, according to an article published by Technology News China.
Lei Jun, Xiaomi's founder and chief executive, said in an interview on April 24, Friday, that they hope to get nearly $1 billion this year with mobile services as a source of revenue.
According to the report, Xiaomi became the world's most valuable technology startup last year buoyed by investors' hopes that it can convert smartphone buyers into paying customers for entertainment and financial and other services.
Xiaomi previously said that it expects to have a total revenue of $16 billion this year, and $1 billion of projected revenue from mobile services would account for about 6 percent. The company made less than $300 million in revenue from services last year.
Washington Street Journal had reviewed a document showing that Xiaomi's business had a net income of 3.46 billion yuan ($559 million) in 2013.
Lei said that the company is also trying to localize data storage for international users, with tech companies' data security and consumer's privacy in mind.
Lei cited Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. as its future competitors.
"The ways that Tencent and Alibaba make money today are the ways that Xiaomi will make money in the future," he said.
With the recent launching of its smartphone for Indian consumers, Lei said they are building data centers outside of China and by the end of this year, the cloud services for Indian consumers will be managed from an India-based data center.
Xiaomi is now focusing on India as a major destination for its expansion outside of China. On April 23, Thursday, the company launched in New Delhi its phone aimed at users outside of China.
