Xiaomi, China's answer to Apple and Samsung, is supposed to debut in Singapore (and South East Asia) with their Redmi (Hongmi 红米 in Chinese) this Friday, 21st February.
The price of $169 is within reach (or Singaporeans have proven willing to spend beyond their means for mobile phones), and what's more - without any annoying contract!
With two days to go, it has been surprisingly quiet. Yes, the Xiaomi Singapore Facebook Page already has 7.6k fans, but this is the same company that claims "为发烧而生“, literally "Living on a feverish passion." And this is the company that Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak supposedly endorsed. The flash-sale of Hongmi in Taiwan saw 10,000 phones snapped up in less than 10 minutes. In Hong Kong it took only 36 seconds.
And Xiaomi / Hongmi are still trending in Hong Kong / Taiwan on Google. So why not Singapore? I'm curious to know.
Xiaomi's China website is more like a Amazon, packed with text and images (the way the Chinese like it, although I'm sure more restrained than usual). Xiaomi's English site is definitely Apple - very minimal. The Hong Kong and Taiwan sites are in between. And Xiaomi Singapore is definitely more of the Apple look.
And that makes sense - Xiaomi picked Singapore not only as the South East Asia launch and also the first English-speaking market. I'm sticking with my iPhone, but still very curious to see where this goes.
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