Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Inc (小米) yesterday said that it is to open a facility in Taiwan in the next few months to showcase its products and provide better after-care service.
Xiaomi, whose low-cost, feature-rich phones are sold largely online, previously planned to set up a store in the nation by the end of last year, but the timetable was adjusted because the company needed more time to find an appropriate location, Xiaomi co-founder and president Bin Lin (林斌) said.
The new store, with more than 230m2 of floor space, is close to the Xingtian Temple MRT station. The temple is the most-visited in northern Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
According to Lin, the store is likely to open between April and July to showcase Xiaomi devices, but will not sell them.
“I think we should improve our services [in Taiwan] and learn more from Taiwanese businesses,” Lin said at a spring banquet with Taiwanese media.
Also, the Chinese handset maker is scheduled to open two authorized maintenance stores with local partners, one in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) and one in Taichung, Lin added.
Xiaomi has 18 “experience” stores in China and plans to open one in Hong Kong later this year.
The company’s India head said Thursday that it would set up 100 of the stores in India this year beginning in the first week of April, each of which will cover 46m2 to 92m2.
Founded in 2010, Xiaomi is often dubbed “China’s Apple,” partially due to the perceived similarities between some of its devices and iPhones but also because it evokes Apple-like adoration from its fans.
Valued at around US$46 billion, the fast-growing start-up expects to sell 80 million to 100 million smartphones in 2015 after hitting the 61 million mark last year.
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