There is a smartphone company blowing up in China, and it is already tremendously successful. Xiaomi is what some would call ‘China’s Apple’. Xiaomi has not only been growing at a breakneck pace of approximately 100% per year (where revenue is concerned), but for every 100 minutes iPhone users spent using apps, Xiaomi users spent 107 minutes. The rest of the Android devices average 71 minutes.
Despite the fact that it accounts for only 11% of the global smartphone market, app developers still prioritize the iOS platform highly because iOS device users are more active than Android users, and Android accounts for a whopping 78% of the smartphone market! This means that each iPhone user has the potential to make app developers more money via advertisements or a pay-per-use system than an Android user.
Xiaomi’s success in topping iOs means that app developers may invest in the Chinese app market more, and this will raise Android’s app usage rate because Xiaomi smartphones run Android. They now have yet another reason to translate their apps to Chinese and to advertise them in China.
Xiaomi’s Revenue
Xiaomi Inc, founded in 2010 by Lei Jun, has grown to become a multi-billion dollar company with annual revenue of $12 billion. Their revenue has been doubling recently. If this rapid growth continues, Xiaomi will dominate the Chinese smartphone market in the near future.
As Charles Arthur from The Guardian said:
‘Xiaomi’s revenues have doubled each year, and it ended 2014 having shipped 61m smartphones – more, that is, than the entire Windows Phone ecosystem, where about 50m were shipped. In all, 97% of Xiaomi’s phones were sold in China, with a few in India and the rest of Asia.’
He also noted:
‘As a phone company, it’s thriving: Jun founded Xiaomi in 2010, having already had success as chief executive at software maker Kingsoft, Joyo (which he sold to Amazon for $75m in August 2004), and as chairman of browser maker UCWeb.’
Source: The Guardian.