$4bn Mobile Handset Giant from China That You Haven’t Heard Of

Many online sellers deal in mobile phones and accessories. Samsung and Apple have been a boon for sellers in the past 3 years, but Micromax is also worth a mention as an Indian company cutting it to the big league. Though Micromax is a 20 year old company, it did not come to fore till the 2008, when it entered the mobile handset market. It has grown rapidly since, clocking a revenue of $368 million or Rs. 2,183 crores in 2012. Their 2013 dream is a revenue of $1 billion or Rs. 6,000 crores.

Good story! But a 3 year old chinese company dwarfs Micromax's success. Xiaomi, a chinese mobile handset maker has clocked  $2.16 billion or Rs. 12,815 crores in revenue within the first half of 2013. It is on track to touch the revenue target of $4.5 billion by the end of the year. If Micromax achieves it's (now seeming modest) target of $1 billion, it will be 1/4th of Xiaomi.

At Xiaomi's current numbers, it has sold 70 lakh+ handsets which is more than the number they sold in all of last year. While exact number for Micromax are hard to come by, it is clear that with competition from brands like Xolo, Karbonn and Lava, it will not be close.

Xiaomi's success can be attributed to their Android customization. They release a version of miUI (Xiaomi's Android skin) every week which is tested by hundreds of customers and then pushed live. Though their Android skin is in Chinese language, you can expect them to expand to India in a few years (or months) and come-in with revolutionary improvements in the Android UI specific to India.

What it means for Indian Online Sellers
Xiaomi has very quickly become a force to reckon with, in the smartphone market. They are China focused for now, but they will soon look at expanding overseas. India is expected to be there first port of call given the similarities between the Indian and the Chinese economy. Sellers with links in China should start the ground work of building relations wit h Xiaomi to get an early advantage when they arrive in India.