Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi, builds ‘long-term partnership’

Software maker Microsoft Corp is selling about 1,500 of its patents to Chinese device maker Xiaomi, a rare departure for the U.S. company and part of what the two companies say is the start of a long-term partnership.

The deal, announced on Wednesday, also includes a patent cross-licensing arrangement and a commitment by Xiaomi to install copies of Microsoft software, including Office and Skype, on its phones and tablets.

Both companies declined to discuss financial terms of the deal.

“This is a very big collaboration agreement between the two companies,” Wang Xiang, senior vice president at Xiaomi, said by telephone ahead of the deal.

Analysts said Xiaomi’s ambitions to be a major player outside China were hampered by weak patent protection and a fear of a prolonged legal battle.

“This deal might just give them enough of a patent trove to move to Western markets,” said Sameer Singh, a UK-based analyst. “Their position in China has been under constant attack from even lower-end Android vendors, so moving overseas is now a necessity.”

Shipments of Xiaomi phones fell 9 percent year-on-year in China in the first quarter, according to Strategy Analytics, and its market share dipped to 12 percent from 13 percent, squeezed not only by Huawei [HWT.UL] and Samsung Electronics but also smaller contenders including Oppo and Vivo.

Wang said the acquisition of Microsoft patents, which included voice communications, multimedia and cloud computing, on top of some 3,700 patents the Chinese company filed last year, were “an important step forwards to support our expansion internationally.”

Xiaomi launched its first U.S. device earlier this month, a TV set-top box it developed in cooperation with Alphabet Inc’s Google, which owns the Android operating system it and most Xiaomi devices run on. Xiaomi has also launched a tablet which runs a version of Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

Jonathan Tinter, corporate vice president at Microsoft, said the company was keen to tap into Xiaomi’s young, affluent and educated users by having its products pre-installed on their devices. He declined to go into detail about the patent deals, but said the overall deal was something “we do only with a few strategic partners.”

Microsoft has cut licensing deals with many Android device makers over the years, but has had less luck with Chinese manufacturers.

Florian Mueller, a patents expert who consulted for Microsoft in the past, said it was rare for Microsoft to actually sell its patents, adding “it’s possible Microsoft found it easier to impose its Android patent tax on Xiaomi as part of a broader deal that also involved a transfer of patents.”

source: interaksyon.com

Xiaomi’s Mi Pad to go on sale in the Philippines on May 4

MANILA, Philippines — Xiaomi’s newest product, the Mi Pad tablet, is set to go on sale in the Philippines next week.

The Android tablet of the Chinese electronics company will go for P10,999 and has the following specifications:

• NVIDIA Tegra K1 quad-core 2.2GHz
• 192-core Kepler GPU
• 7.9″ IPS display at 326 PPI, Gorilla Glass 3
• 2GB LPDDR3 RAM, 16GB Flash (128GB expandable)
• 8MP BSI f/2.0, 5MP front camera
• Dual band 802.11ac Wi-Fi, 2×2 MIMO antenna.
•  

The company’s local PR affiliate said that interested customers may purchase the device through the website Mi.com/ph.

source: interaksyon.com

China’s Xiaomi challenges iPhone 6 Plus with new flagship Mi Note

BEIJING — China’s Xiaomi Inc staked its claim to Apple Inc’s crown on Thursday as the world’s third-biggest smartphone maker and most valuable tech start-up unveiled the flagship Mi Note, its challenger to Apple’s iPhone 6 Plus.

Chief Executive Lei Jun introduced the Mi Note in Beijing with a breakdown of the large-screen phone’s technical features, with multiple comparisons to Apple’s equivalent. At 2299 yuan (244 pounds) for a model with 16 gigabytes of memory, the Mi Note will retail for almost two-thirds less than the iPhone 6 Plus.

Just three years after Xiaomi sold its first smartphone, a $1.1 billion round of fundraising announced in December valued the firm at $45 billion. The privately held company has risen to become the world’s No. 3 smartphone maker and is challenging Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd as well as domestic rivals such as Huawei Technologies Co Ltd.

Xiaomi takes efforts to play down comparisons with Cupertino, California-based Apple, though it is commonly called the ‘Apple of China’.

“The Mi Note is shorter, thinner and lighter than the iPhone,” Lei told his audience of thousands gathered in the north of China’s capital.

Lei wore a light-blue shirt, eschewing his previously favoured black top, jeans and sneakers, reminiscent of Apple founder Steve Jobs’ trademark black turtleneck and jeans.

“Xiaomi is an innovative start-up company, with a short history,” said Lei. The company has been frequently criticised for allegedly copying other tech companies, most notably Apple. “In 10 years we will have tens of thousands of patents.”

Lei also laid out Xiaomi’s strategy to connect its smartphones with Xiaomi-branded home appliances, allowing phone users to remotely control washing machines, air purifiers and surveillance cameras.

“In five to 10 years all devices will become smart devices,” he said. “If every smart device and every device at home can be seamlessly connected to the cloud, what could our life be like? It would be beautiful and easy.”

Xiaomi weathered a decline in overall smartphone sales in China last year to see revenue more than double to $11.99 billion from 2013.

The company sold more than 61 million handsets in 2014, up 227 percent from a year earlier. In China, the world’s biggest smartphone market, overall sales fell 8 percent, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

On Monday, Reuters exclusively reported that Lei and Facebook Inc CEO Mark Zuckerberg discussed a potential investment by Facebook in China’s top smartphone maker ahead of last month’s fundraising, but a deal never materialized.

source: interaksyon.com

Ouya scores Xiaomi partnership to take games to China

SAN FRANCISCO — U.S video game service Ouya is turning to Asia to capture the growth that has eluded the startup on its own home turf.

The Santa Monica, California-based firm has partnered with Xiaomi Inc to take its games to Chinese living rooms via the smartphone maker’s new streaming boxes and “smart” TVs, an Ouya executive and a source at Xiaomi close to the deal told Reuters.

Xiaomi, which in three years became China’s top smartphone seller ahead of Apple Inc and Samsung, harbors ambitions beyond mobile gadgets. Last year, it expanded into the TV and set-top box business with its “MiBox” and “MiTV.”

Ouya Chief Executive Julie Uhrman said details are still getting hashed out but it’s likely Ouya will get a dedicated channel on Xiaomi software installed on those devices, on which gamers can shop for and download a selection of its independently developed games later this year, Uhrman said.

Xiaomi will likely commit to marketing Ouya games, she said.

“For the likes of Xiaomi’s MiTV, its set-top boxes and other Android set-top boxes that are entering the market, this could be a turning point..in bringing great content and developers to gamers and into a region that they have never had access to before,” Uhrman told Reuters.

Ouya, which raised funds on crowdfunding site Kickstarter, began selling a $99 game console based on Google Inc’s Android software last year. But sales were disappointing.

This year, Ouya started marketing its software as an app through which developers sell games on other hardware makers’ devices. But the company, which has over 40,000 developers and more than 900 games on its platform, has sealed few partnerships, such as with Mad Catz Interactive Inc to stream games onto its M.O.J.O console.

Whether the Chinese take to gaming on TVs remains to be seen. But its deal with Xiaomi, which models itself on Apple, hands the startup a chance to distribute its content in a fast-growing video game market.

Unlike games on Apple and Google mobile devices, games developed for Ouya are designed to work on TV sets with controllers, similar to the Xbox and Playstation. Ouya and Xiaomi are discussing launch titles and marketing now, Uhrman added. The developers, Ouya and Xiaomi will share revenue, she said without elaborating.

China is the world’s third biggest gaming market, where revenues grew by more than a third to nearly $14 billion last year. The government’s move in January to allow Microsoft, Sony Corp and Nintendo Co to sell consoles has re-kindled interest in gaming hardware.

Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp for instance has tied up with game developer The9 to release the “Fun Box” console.

“The whole industry is still in a very early development stage,” Uhrman said. “There is an opportunity for both” Xiaomi and Ouya.

source: interaksyon.com