Xiaomi : How a Startup Disrupted the Market and Created a Cult Following`

by Jayadevan P.K.

"There may be no hotter company on the planet than Xiaomi. In less than a decade, the company has gone from being a Chinese start-up to a global player in the smartphone market. Driven by the philosophy of ‘Innovation for all’, Xiaomi has a cult fan following; after all, it offers high-end features at relatively low prices. Besides, it does not only sell phones. It also sells earphones, bluetooth speakers, televisions, fitness bands, weighing scales, power banks and air purifiers, among other products. Each one of them offering the best possible value for money. How did a small Chinese start-up become so big in a matter of years? How has it managed a cult following in such a short time period when a company like Apple took decades? What’s the secret behind Xiaomi’s success? Such are the answers this book will provide at length."

Genres: Business, Nonfiction, Technology, Audiobook, Journalism, History

212 pages, Paperback

First published April 15, 2021

Reviews

[Saurabh · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's less of a book and more of an information brochure and it absolutely does not talk about Xiaomi's strategy as the author mentions. It's a lifeless book which gives you vanilla information about Xiaomi as a company which one can find from Wikipedia too

[Avnish Anand · Rating 4 out of 5]

Xiaomi is one of the most interesting as well as one of the fastest growing companies in the world. So a book about them is bound to be intriguing. This book does not disappoint.

Please bear in mind that this is a Chinese company. So there is less information available about them. Moreover, the writer didn’t have direct access to either their founders or key employees or the people who built and ran the Indian business. So it’s a hard task writing a very detailed and hugely informative book about them. The writer has largely pieced this together from secondary sources. But he’s done a very good job and this is a wonderful book about Xiaomi.

The subject matter is fascinating. Xiaomi has broken all growth records and has become the biggest smartphone seller in the second largest market in the world, India. They have overcome the stigma Chinese products being cheap and low quality to build a high quality product which has a cult following amongst its users. They have done this using a unique community based marketing approach with a zero budget.

JPK ( the writer) tells this story really well covering everything from the origin of the company and its maverick CEO, the key stages of their domestic and global success, their vision to combine software, hardware and the internet and their revolutionary approach to marketing. He also goes into detail about how the mobile phone industry started off in China and how it grew into a global powerhouse.

This is a thin book which you can finish quickly. You wish there were more details and inside stories from the key characters. But there is still a lot of good stuff and it’s worth a read. You will learn a lot about this fascinating hard to pronounce company.

[Quang Hung · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a fascinating read that explores how Xiaomi, a Chinese electronics company, rose to prominence in the smartphone market despite fierce competition from established players like Apple and Samsung.

The book delves into the company's founding story, its strategy of selling high-quality devices at affordable prices, and its innovative marketing techniques, such as using online fan communities to generate buzz for new products. Additionally, it discusses how Xiaomi's unique business model, which relies heavily on e-commerce and word-of-mouth marketing, helped it to quickly gain market share in China and other countries.

The book also covers the challenges that Xiaomi faced along the way, such as intellectual property disputes and accusations of copying designs from competitors. Despite these obstacles, Xiaomi continued to push forward and has now become a major player in the global smartphone market.

Overall, "Xiaomi" provides a compelling look at how a startup can disrupt an industry and achieve incredible success through innovation, perseverance, and a deep understanding of its customers.

[Sahith Pv · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quick read. Long news paper scoop

No research on the subject exclusively done by the author. Look like information is taken from different places and put to getting.
But the flow of the book is good. same information keeps repeating with out ever explaining details in depth.
I got the book to understand how companies in Chinese ecosystems work and come about and different from India

[Vikrama Dhiman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic Book

This was a fabulous book. The chapters just flowed.

What was covered was excellent. I would have loved to read more about the initial struggles and the heated competition.

I loved the chapters on Manu Jain and the background on Chinese startups.

[Pulkit Tiwari · Rating 1 out of 5]

Broadly a curation of most material that is available in Media. Does not go deep into the "How" part of it due to no insight from insiders. The book is rushed, half baked and unlike several business books that carry anecdotes, voice of executives, counter POV from stakeholders and a lot more interesting POVs from stories of those that are at the helm of decision making, this one has little or no access to anyone of consequence to the story of the juggernaut brand and hence offer little new value

[Vishnu Ajit · Rating 2 out of 5]

Story of Xiaomi. Honestly, the starting of the book began well. But as the book progress it started becoming more and more boring. Having been used to reading autobiographies in a manner of terrific storytelling - Sam Walton, Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet,Lee Iacocca etc. This came across as a book of statistics. The author was throwing around lots of numbers and stats. And it kind of started getting boring.

[Sambasivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short read. The book is written only with secondary data that is publicly available. No primary research done. This is a weakness. Having said that the story comes out clearly. Xiaomi seems to have achieved the objective of a cool product company that listens closely to the customer. Founded by a techno geek, the company has surprised everyone by its accelerated growth in the last ten years.
Real case study. There needs to be a more in depth analysis of its success story.
Go for it.

[pritimoy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being a Xiaomi users, i am always curious about its
story. How the company was selling at a very affordable price? Even though I am not currently into business books these days. Still my genuine interest about Mi made me read this book. It's a good little book, which is mainly about Xiaomi India.

[V Narayanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best business biography I have read
After reading The Little Rice : Smartphones, Xiaomi & the Chinese Dream, I thought I had very little unknown on Xiaomi. This book changed my thoughts and while explaining the biography of the company it taught certain broad lines of how to do business

Fabulous Read

[Swateek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A comprehensive story about the company and its journey, however the writing isn't great to have a cohesive narration, it wasn't gripping. Information was too much, but this could have been presented a lot better. I believe it's more of an edit problem than a writer's research, cos that was on point and solid!

[Xuan · Rating 1 out of 5]

A collage of third plus hands info. Might as well just search for Xiaomi on Twitter and scroll through, and perhaps you might find better and more interesting information. And similar to scrolling on Twitter - it was an absolute waste of time.

[Rithik Dharan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jayadevan P K has clearly wrote about the rise of Xiaomi and discussed about the environmental economic situations that has affected the growth of Xiaomi. A must read book those want to know about the smartphone eco system.

[Yogi Saputro · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is informative, but lacks emotional depth. This happened, that happened, someone had certain background, someone did something, and boom! Xiaomi is selling like hot cake.

I struggled to finish it after halfway on the book.

[Lieu Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Xiaomi is one of the fastest growing companies. I used to use a Xiaomi phone and I understand why Xiaomi is so successful, they are really confident about product quality.
How a great market expansion strategies, including going offline.

[Vibhor Jain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Decent read on the rise of Xiaomi with significant Indian perspective. Good for Indian readers.

[Mehran Reza · Rating 3 out of 5]

cool book. well researched. wish it went into more technical detail though.

[Jaan Liitmäe · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite Indian-centric and like collection of excerpts and citations all in all

[anil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a great book.
It’s just a catalogue. With missing inside story, it seems to lack substance.
I like the chapter on fans of Mi. That’s why 3*

[Đinh Gia Bảo]

Nothing special revealed, only a pile of information about Xiaomi

[kyuctuoidep home · Rating 4 out of 5]

Khai mở nhiều góc nhìn mới về tầm nhìn xa và chiến lược từ rất sớm của chính phủ Trung Quốc, cũng như của CEO Xiaomi Lôi Quân. Hẳn là một quá trình dài và nhiều thử thách cần phải vượt qua và Xiaomi đã chứng minh bản thân mình. Hành trình phía trước, sau hơn 10 năm thành lập có lẽ sẽ thú vị hơn để trông đợi - tầm nhìn xa được đến đâu và sự thay đổi để thích nghi có giúp Xiaomi đạt được những mục tiêu mới, hay chỉ củng cố mục tiêu hiện tại mà thôi.