Xiaomi Corp. is not ready to challenge Apple, the market leader in the U.S., just yet according to industry experts on Friday. The Beijing-based company's top executive said that they are set to open an online store in the U.S. later this year, but will only sell handset accessories and various fitness bands.
Lin Bin, Xiaomi's vice president in charge of international operations, said that selling Mi devices in the U.S. market can be a rigorous plan to take.
He said that "the amount of effort required to bring those products (smartphones and tablets) to market is significant. We just have to move at the right pace, so we are accelerating our entry in a sense by bringing simpler products."
He believed that manufacturing and software compatibility are among the biggest challenges for Xiaomi, apart from the regulations and lack of experience to introduce smartphones in developed markets like U.S. and Europe.
This is not the first time Xiaomi has planned an expansion overseas and experienced setbacks. Their most common hurdles are legal in nature. Xiaomi has been accused of imitating some designs from other companies, particularly Apple.
Just last year, the Chinese company was sued by Ericsson AB in India for stealing patents and banned them from selling smartphones. The same happened in Singapore where they faced privacy investigations.
Although Lin said that "all companies have had patent litigation" and they have filed hundreds of patents to improve their own defenses against such claims.
Xiaomi is one of China's emerging mobile companies known for bringing cheap yet feature-packed technology that pleases the crowd instantly. Even though its smartphones would not be available in the U.S. anytime soon, they plan to slowly infiltrate the U.S. market starting on Thursday.
They will start by selling inexpensive headphones and other accessories online through Schow-mee. Unlike Apple who tends to keep their consumers guessing on their next product features, Xiaomi keeps everyone updated and even let their "fans" suggest new features which they will include in their weekly updates.
Corporate strategy expert Teng Bingsheng said that a Xiaomi phone "may not be the best product out there, but a product with the best combination: a very affordable price and good quality." Teng works at the Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing.
Although iPhone still at its peak in the luxury segment of China's market, Xiaomi phones are equally popular to the masses. Xiaomi sold about 61 million phones last year, breaking their own sales record for 2013. The company is the third-largest e-commerce firm in China that sells phones and accessories online.