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Xiaomi sees strong Xiaomi Mi3 sales

Chinese phone maker sells 100,000 pieces in just 86 seconds following the launch of its latest Tegra 4 smartphone, which is priced at US$327.
Written by Liu Jiayi, Contributor
小米手机3——小米手机官网
Xiaomi Mi3

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi has pulled off another successful aggressive marketing bid to push the Mi3, selling 100,000 pieces of its newly launched smartphone in just 86 seconds on October 15, according to a TechWeb report.

Mi3, featuring a Tegra 4 quad-core CPU and 5-inch full-HD screen, sells at 1,999 yuan (US$327). Since it was first introduced by Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun on September 5, Mi3 has been considered the model with the highest capacity-price ratio in the market.

However, most customers had to approach scalpers for a unit, some of whom even claimed they could buy and deliver the Mi3 on October 15 as long as consumers were willing to pay an additional 1,000 yuan (US$164) for it. Most of the scalpers wouldn't reveal where they got the phone, while some said they raised the price because they had to hire people to do the ordering, according to a Beijing Business report.

The aggressive marketing strategy appears to have paid off for Xiaomi, a startup founded in 2010 by Lei Jun who is also CEO of Kingsoft, a company that develops antivirus, word processing, and translating software.

Xiaomi's Mi series not only has kept abreast with top smartphone makers in terms of hardware, the Chinese manufacturer also develops its own Android-based system, MIUI, which has over 20 million users. Last month, it also launched its own smart TV. 

As of June 31, 2013, Xiaomi has sold more than 7 million phones worldwide and recorded a half-year revenue of 13.3 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion), according to a PCPOP report in July.

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