China's Xiaomi soars as US judge lifts it from backlist

HONG KONG - Shares in Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi surged more than 10 percent in Hong Kong on Monday after a US judge removed it from a blacklist that barred American companies from investing in it.

The firm's stock price has been hammered since mid-January when Donald Trump, in his last days in office, included it in a group the White House considered a threat to US national security.

The move classified Xiaomi, which is among the biggest smartphone makers in the world, as one of nine "Communist Chinese military companies" that also included state oil giant CNOOC, and popular social media app TikTok.

But US District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled Friday that the Department of Defense and the Treasury "have not made the case that the national security interests at stake here are compelling".

He removed Xiaomi from the blacklist and suspended the investment ban after the firm appealed against the blacklisting.

The news sent shares in the firm surging 12 percent in Hong Kong morning trade Monday, having lost more than 40 percent since Trump's order. 

However, while Xiaomi was removed, US regulators listed Huawei and ZTE among Chinese telecom equipment makers considered a threat to national security, signalling that a hoped-for softening of relations is not on the cards.

Washington claims Huawei has close ties to China's military and that Beijing could use its equipment for espionage -- accusations the company denies.

Agence France-Presse

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 Mi 5: Smartphone beast for cheap

Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi unveiled their latest flagship handset last Feb. 2 and started shipping the devices last week. We managed to grab one to review and check how this P15,000 smartphone will fare.

There are three variants of the Mi 5 with slight differences in their hardware configuration. The base configuration has 3GB of RAM and 32GB internal storage, followed by a 3GB RAM and 64GB storage with slightly faster Snapdragon 820 processor. The third variant, labeled as the Mi 5 Pro, comes with 4GB of RAM and 128GB storage. What we got is the base configuration with 3GB/32GB combo that costs about P15,000 as sold in China.

Xiaomi has been known to make really great phones at an affordable price. The first time they officially entered the Philippines, the Xiaomi Mi3 sold really well that people were buying them and selling them for a higher price due to heavy demand.

The Mi 5 brings that same great design and solid hardware at an affordable price tag. The design was inspired from the bigger Mi Note that was released last year, only smaller, with just a 5.15-inch display. The glass front and back panel sandwiched in a metal frame is very similar to the Samsung Galaxy S7 especially with the tapered back and material design.

At only 7.24mm thin, Xiaomi managed to pack the Mi 5 with a lot of great features like the home button that serves as a fingerprint scanner, a 16-megapixel rear camera with optical image stabilization that does not show any ugly protrusion at the back like the Galaxy S7 and iPhone 6S, dual nano-SIM tray and a new USB Type C charging port.

The 5.15-inch display has a full HD resolution and 428ppi pixel density that looks gorgeous and very bright. The edge-to-edge glass display makes it seem that the Mi 5 is almost bezel-less along the sides. While other flagship handsets like the Galaxy S7 and LG G5 have much higher screen resolution (2560x1440 pixels), the 1080p screen resolution of the Mi 5 is still at par and even gave the handset an advantage by pulling higher scores in device benchmarks.


While there is dual-SIM capability, there is no option to expand storage via microSD card so you’re stuck with about 25GB usable space when you pick up the base 32GB model.

Very few flagship handsets these days come with USB Type C – the Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, OnePlus 2 and the LG G5. The Mi 5 adds to that very short list. Nevertheless, the device supports superfast charging, which translates to around 80 to 90 percent charge in just an hour for the 3,000mAh internal battery.

The Xiaomi Mi 5 runs on MiUI 7.2.5, which is basically a customized version of Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It is a simple UI but very nice and clean with tons of themes available in the App Store.

Xiaomi has once again made good on their promise of a really great-looking phone, topnotch hardware configuration at a very cheap price. If only they would release this device in the Philippines very soon. We’re not keeping our hopes up, though.

Xiaomi Mi 5 specifications:
5.15-inch full HD display @ 1920 x 1080 pixels, 428ppi

Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 quad-core processor

Adreno 530 GPU

3GB / 4GB LPDDR4 RAM

32GB, 64GB / 128GB UFS 2.0 internal storage

4G+ LTE Cat12, up to 600Mbps

VoLTE support

Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

Bluetooth 4.2

NFC

IR Blaster

GPS w/ A-GPS, GLONASS

Fingerprint sensor

USB Type-C

16-megapixel Sony IMX298  PDAF rear camera w/ dual-LED flash, 4-axis OIS

4-megapixel front camera

3000mAh battery w/ Quick Charge 3.0

Android 6.0 Marshmallow w/ MIUI 7

144.54 x 69.20 x 7.24 mm

129 g

Black, White, Gold

source: philstar.com

FROM PHONES TO DRONES | China’s risk-takers who rule the world

BEIJING — From a company founded by a college student in 2006 to a global leader in the civilian drone industry, the story of Da-Jiang Innovations (DJI) illustrates just what a true commitment to innovation can do.

“The key to innovation is not 1-to-n, it’s the 0-to-1 part that makes all the difference,” said Wang Tao, DJI’s founder.

“First-mover advantages are difficult to lose when you are in the market with groundbreaking technology.” he said.

In 2010, DJI sales were a respectable 3 million yuan (460,000 U.S. dollars). In 2014, that number jumped to nearly 3 billion yuan. DJI is on track to make a billion dollars in 2015.

The Shenzhen company sells nearly 70 percent of the world’s civilian drones, and 80 percent of its revenue is generated outside China.

DJI’s success story is not an isolated case. Xiaomi, a mobile phone firm founded in 2010 became the third-biggest seller of mobile phones worldwide in 2014, the same year that Xiaomi came 35th on a list of the world’s most innovative companies compiled by The Boston Consulting Group.

Aside from its low price, Xiaomi’s popularity can be explained by its innovative MIUI OS which was more smooth than the original Android OS.

As Xiaomi took the phone market by storm, it continually looked to the future and now offers a diverse range of Internet of Things products that interact with its mobiles including an air purifier, bathroom scales, blood pressure monitors, light bulbs, TVs and a webcam.

The success of Xiaomi and DJI boils down to continually reinventing themselves. The search for new technology and new ideas has become a palpable tide in China as the era of cheap labor and fast exports is washed away.

Innovation was put in first place in China’s plan for the next five years, a plan with the grand goal of doubling 2010 GDP and per capita income of both urban and rural residents.

The government set aside 40 billion yuan last year to nurture startups. In the first three quarters of 2015, 10,000 new companies were registered each day.

As China becomes prosperous and more families, even those from rural backwaters, have access to higher education, people are becoming more confident risk-takers. Stable government jobs have gradually lost their shine with the chance of making a new product and reaping rich rewards within the reach of many.

In 2014, venture capitalists pumped a record 100 billion yuan into startups. The figure for 2011 was 30 billion yuan, but there is still ample room for improvement.

Despite being the world’s second biggest gross R&D spender behind the United States, China still lags behind developed countries which normally spend 3 to 4 percent of their GDP on R&D. Last year, expenditure in research and development reached 1.3 trillion yuan, up 9.9 percent from 2014, and more than 2 percent of GDP, only the second straight year above the 2-percent mark.

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

Facebook, Xiaomi discussed possible investment in the Chinese smartphone maker – sources

HONG KONG/BEIJING — Mark Zuckerberg and Xiaomi Inc CEO Lei Jun discussed a potential investment by Facebook in China’s top smartphone maker ahead of its $1.1 billion fundraising last month, but a deal never materialized, several people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

The discussions, at a private dinner when Zuckerberg visited Beijing in October, were never formalised, three of those people said, as the two CEOs weighed the political and commercial implications of Facebook – which has been banned in China since 2009 – buying into the Chinese tech star now valued at $45 billion.

One individual with direct knowledge of Xiaomi’s fundraising said the mooted Facebook investment was “not huge”, but the talks underscore how ties between U.S. and Chinese companies have deepened as China’s tech industry matures.

A Facebook investment in Xiaomi would have raised the international profile of the popular handset maker dubbed “China’s Apple” by its fans and linked it to a U.S. social networking phenomenon with more than 1.3 billion users.

Facebook, for its part, has long harboured ambitions to expand into the world’s most populous country, potentially with partners. One of the individuals said Facebook and Xiaomi began discussing a possible investment in mid-2014.

Xiaomi’s Lei was partly put off by the potential for political fallout at home of selling a stake to Facebook while the U.S. social network is still banned in China, two of the people said, adding Xiaomi also feared a tie-up with Facebook could threaten its relationship with Google Inc, a crucial business partner. Xiaomi’s phones are built on Google’s Android operating system.

Xiaomi ultimately announced last month it raised $1.1 billion from investors including Hong Kong-based tech fund All Stars Investment; DST Global, a private equity firm that has invested in Facebook and Alibaba Group; Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC; Chinese fund Hopu Management; and Alibaba founder Jack Ma’s Yunfeng Capital.

The fundraising valued Beijing-based Xiaomi at $45 billion just three years after it sold its first smartphone. The company had revenue of close to $12 billion in 2014.

Zuckerberg has eyed China as a critical piece of his vision to connect the global population. But, like Google and Twitter, the social networking giant has been blocked by China’s internet censors, who cite national security concerns.

“Facebook wants to get into China, and Xiaomi is keen to expand outside, so they both recognise the importance of working together,” said one of the knowledgeable individuals, none of whom wanted to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Xiaomi and Facebook declined to comment for this article.

The two CEOs knew each other previously and deepened their relationship last year. In October, Zuckerberg was invited for dinner at Lei’s Beijing home along with Facebook business development chief John Lagerling and China head Vaughan Smith.

The next day, Zuckerberg, whose wife is Chinese-American, addressed the prestigious Tsinghua University and won plaudits for speaking in Mandarin during a 30-minute Q&A session.

As Xiaomi sought financing last year, ICONIQ Capital, a San Francisco-based fund that manages several individuals’ personal wealth, including Zuckerberg’s, also considered buying shares, but ultimately did not, several people with knowledge of the matter said. Talks about ICONIQ taking part in Xiaomi’s financing were not led by Zuckerberg himself.

ICONIQ declined to comment.

Called off

Xiaomi is China’s biggest smartphone maker, according to some industry analysts, and trails only Samsung Electronics and Apple in global market share.

A strategic partnership with Xiaomi would give Facebook

another avenue to distribute its apps and potentially provide a powerful ally in its bid to overturn its China ban.

For Xiaomi, access to Facebook’s vast banks of user data would be valuable as it seeks to grow into a global internet company providing comprehensive online services.

But Lei thought it would be “too sensitive” to sell an equity stake to Facebook given its uncertain political status in China, said one of the people with knowledge of the matter.

China’s top internet censor, Lu Wei, has warned that social media, particularly foreign services, could be a destabilising force for Chinese society. Lu, however, visited Facebook’s U.S. headquarters last month, prompting speculation that relations between Facebook and China’s government were warming.

source: interaksyon.com

Xiaomi to invest $1 billion to expand Internet TV content

BEIJING — China’s Xiaomi Technology Co said on Tuesday it would spend $1 billion to expand its Internet TV content as the world’s third largest smartphone maker ramps up its push into the living room, and a market estimated to be worth $3 billion.

Xiaomi’s burgeoning TV unit includes its Xiaomi TV as well as a set-top box, which both use its software and content. The company is best known for its budget smartphones and tablets that have won it legions of fans worldwide.

In a post on its official Weibo microblog, Xiaomi said it had hired Chen Tong, a former executive at Chinese internet firm Sina Corp, to overhaul the TV business and make it more “diverse and exciting”.

“We want to repeat the success of Xiaomi’s hardware integration model in the television industry,” Chen said at a press conference, according to Xiaomi’s microblog. The company did not to provide further details.

Xiaomi’s expansion of its internet TV business pits it against local Internet companies including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, Tencent Holdings Ltd and Baidu Inc, all of which have recently increased their investment into Internet TV, a market Chinese consultancy iResearch says is estimated to be worth $3 billion in 2014.

Xiaomi said it could invest further in Internet TV in the future.

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

China’s Xiaomi announces latest flagship Mi 4 smartphone

BEIJING — China’s Xiaomi unveiled on Tuesday its new flagship Mi 4 smartphone, aimed squarely at the premium handset market dominated by Apple Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

The Mi 4 has a 5 inch, 1080p screen and a Qualcomm Inc Snapdragon 801 2.5 Ghz processor, said Chief Executive Lei Jun at a launch event in Beijing.

But sheathed in iPhone-like metal sides, the Mi 4′s similarities to Apple’s smartphone drew murmurs from the crowd of ‘iPhone’ when showcased by Lei.

Founded in 2010 by Lei, Xiaomi seeks to cut costs by eschewing brick-and-mortar stores in favor of web-based distribution and word-of-mouth marketing.

Xiaomi became the world’s sixth-largest smartphone vendor in the first quarter of 2014, according to data firm Canalys, after repeatedly doubling its sales. The company was valued at $10 billion last year.

Xiaomi sold 18.7 mln smartphones in 2013 and on Tuesday maintained a 60 million sales target for 2014. For comparison, Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] has said it is targeting 80 million smartphone sales for the year.

The latest phone was unveiled at a glitzy launch event at the National Convention Center in Beijing, where Lei Jun and Vice President Hugo Barra – a former Google executive – posed for photos with a winding queue of fans decked in Xiaomi-branded red T-shirts.

Barra told Reuters in an interview this month that the company was actively targeting the Indian market.

source: interaksyon.com

Chinese smart phone ‘Mi 3′ enters Malaysia market

KUALA LUMPUR — Chinese-made smart phone “Mi 3″ entered the Malaysian market and started selling Tuesday, said Beijing Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd president Lin Bin in Kuala Lumpur.

Lin said “Mi 3″ is honored as the fastest smart phone in the world.

Since its marketing in September in the mainland market of China, the smart phone has also entered the markets of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore and received warm welcome from the consumers.

A mature and free market, Malaysia is not only the palace for issuance of world’s most advanced smart phones, but a place of fiercest competition, Lin added.

He believed the impeccable quality and service of the phone will win the customers, adding the company will set up after-sales service centers in Kuala Lumpur, Pulau Pinang and other two cities and form “Xiaomi Family” within this year.

source: interaksyon.com