（Chinese Version）

Finally, Lei Jun decided to talk to the media after launching Xiaomi Mi Note Pro.

The newly-launched Xiaomi Mi Note Pro is a cornerstone for Xiaomi since this is the first time Xiaomi enters the 3000 RMB smart phone market. Even Lei Jun isn’t sure whether Xiaomi’s users can accept the price or not and admits that Mi Note Pro might be facing a great challenge. However, it turns out that Mi Note Pro is well-received by Xiaomi’s users. Lei Jun didn’t expect it that over 3000 people queued up for the new model and Mi Note Pro achieved 1 million pre-orders on Xiaomi’s official website.

Xiaomi Mi Note Pro features the most powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64-bit 8 core CPU, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM and 64GB of ROM, a 13-megapixel camera and a 3D curved glass screen which will sport an impressive resolution of 2K. Moreover, Mi Note Pro comes with a 2.5D curved glass on front and a 3D curved glass on back, which is highly resistant to scratches and shattering. However, Lei Jun was still not sure about the price of the new model the night before its debut and set the price at 2999 RMB, instead of 3000, only after calling all the other six co-founders of Xiaomi.

Lei Jun explained his decision to we media Guancha01: 3000 RMB and 2999 RMB differs a lot. If we set the price at 3000, then we can boast that Xiaomi finally enters the 3000 RMB smart phone market. Yet, if we set the price at 2999, we are trying to show to our customers Xiaomi’s emphasis on quality and cost performance. While many smart phone manufacturers in China correlate high-end product with high price, Xiaomi will always provide our customers with smart phones of high performance-price ratio. That’s why we finally set the price at 2999 RMB. Nevertheless, Mi Note Pro signifies Xiaomi’s attempt to enter high-end smart phone market in China. I don’t have any expectation towards the sales performance of this new model but, to be honest, I am surprised to find out that it is well-received among our users.

In the past year, many smart phone manufacturers treated Xiaomi, instead of Apple, as their biggest rival and it seemed as if Xiaomi suddenly became the new “Enemy of the State”. While some insiders made joke of Mi Note Pro’s advertisement, some journalists doubted if Xiaomi faked its popularity and hired some users to queue up for the debut, and interviewed some users waiting in the line. To their amazement, nobody was hired by Xiaomi and Mi Note Pro was indeed well-received by Xiaomi’s users. Not only journalists but also Lei Jun was surprised by Mi Note Pro’s popularity. Lei Jun even made jokes when answering journalists’ questions.

For example, when asked by a journalist “Qihoo 360’s CEO Zhou Hongwei mentioned your name for 22 times during the release conference of its own smart phone model. Do you have any comment on that?”, Lei Jun burst into laughter and responded: “Mr. Zhou really loved me that much?” However, journalists were shocked two years ago at the Internet Conference by Lei Jun’s simplicity since he responded to the veteran journalist Li Min by repeating “Xiaomi’s ultimate goal is to surprise our users.”

Lei Jun explained to Guancha01, saying that his company is now more confident. In the past, Xiaomi focused more on performance-price ratio and would do whatever is takes to release a new model. Since the release of MI 4, however, Xiaomi has become more mature and shifted its focus to user experience. We have completely restructured Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 CPU and carried out the powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 64-bit 8 core CPU, so that Mi Note Pro can better dissipate heat. Only then can our smart phone models can be mass-manufactured.

Lei Jun denied the rumor that Xiaomi aims to surpass Apple and Samsung, and responded, with chagrin, that he had never boasted that way. What he really meant is that in some aspects the performance of Xiaomi’s smart phone is better than Apple’s and Samsung’s. Lei Jun explained that he was a typical science geek and might not express his own thought well, so people misunderstood him a lot.

Relived by Mi Note Pro’s sales performance, Lei Jun decided not to remain refrained and spoke frankly with journalists. Even, he tried to promote Xiaomi’s 1000hAh charger baby and data wire to our journalists. The press conference was set to last only two hours, but finally prolonged to three hours. Guancha01 summarized Lei Jun’s answers to the media as the following:

1. Xiaomi is already weighing the possibility of opening offline Xiaomi Stores.

Xiaomi Note Pro is, the first time in Xiaomi’s history, sold online and offline at the same time. In the offline sector, over 3000 Xiaomi’s fans queued up for the new model. Shocked by Xiaomi’s popularity, Lei Jun suggested that: “Xiaomi is already weighing the possibility of opening offline Xiaomi Stores. As more and more Xiaomi’s products are launched, we’ll have to give our users more direct access to our products, so did Apple. These Xiaomi Stores are sure to help Xiaomi build up our reputation.”

However, Lei Jun admitted that the time was not ripe yet since Xiaomi’s products were still not enough. Lei Jun predicted that Xiaomi shall open offline stores in no more than three years when Xiaomi has launched more than 100 products all together. In his opinion, online retailers remain Xiaomi’s primary marketing channel. Yet, Xiaomi is right now cooperating with major mobile phone carriers in China to sell its smart phones along with mobile phone cards and service plans. Moreover, Xiaomi is already weighing the possibility of opening offline Xiaomi Stores.

2. Chinese smart phone industry is going through a bottleneck period right now.

“The bottleneck period is not necessarily something bad”, Lei Jun commented, “On the contrary, it offers Chinese smart phone manufacturers a great opportunity to concentrate on improving the performance of their smart phone models, such as battery life and image quality”

3. Xiaomi is the number one smart phone manufacturer in Chinese market.

According to International Data Corporation (IDC)’s statistics on shipment volume, Apple took the lead (14.5 million) in the first quarter in Chinese market, while Xiaomi ranked second, with a total shipment volume of 13.5 million. Lei Jun denounced IDC’s statistics and claimed that: “Xiaomi is the number one smart phone manufacturer in Chinese market, since the total shipment volume of Xiaomi reached 14.98 million.”

Lei Jun further suggested that: “Since our shipment volume in April again breaks the record, I have every confidence that Xiaomi’s shipment volume in the second quarter will be satisfactory, and that the total shipment volume of Xiaomi in 2015 will reach 90 million, six times higher than the first quarter’s. Our goal is set between 80 million to 100 million.”

4. Xiaomi TV will outperform all its competitors in China.

Xiaomi debuted its first smart TV model in September, 2013, only a year and a half ago. Xiaomi hasn’t release any official data on the sales volume of its TV products yet, so we are not sure if Xiaomi dominate Chinese TV market. Moreover, Xiaomi seems to be left behind in terms of its TV content service.

Lei Jun responded that: “Personally, I am satisfied with Xiaomi TV’s sales performance. Our 40-inch Xiaomi TV turns out very popular among our users” Lei Jun was well aware of the importance of video content to TV industry and had already invested in Iqiyi and Youku Tudou, whose video content is soon to be available on Xiaomii TV. At the same time, Chen Tong, vice president of Xiaomi, is still working on Xiaomi’s video content. Lei Jun believed that Xiao TV would finally outperform all its rivals in China.

5. Smart phone, TV and smart home remains the three core businesses of Xiaomi.

Lei Jun denied the rumor that Xiaomi was going to enter real estate industry and claimed that smart phone, TV and smart home remained the three core businesses of Xiaomi. According to him, Xiaomi ranked first in China and fifth in the world as a smart phone manufacturer, ranked first also as a TV box provider in China and was catching up in terms of its video content service. Moreover, Xiaomi did a great job in smart home sector, since its routers have the largest market share in China, and air purifiers took up 20% of the market. Xiaomi has already invested in 39 hardware manufacturers and is going to invest in 61 more in the future. In return, all the products of these hardware manufacturers will pre-install access to Xiaomi’s products, so that Xiaomi’s smart home products will work more efficiently.

According to Lei Jun, Xiaomi has already taken the first step towards smart home industry through placing Xiaomi Smart Home app in the lock screen of Xiaomi’s smart phones. Lei Jun was satisfied with, even shocked by Xiaomi’s progress.

Lei Jun was clear about the development strategy of its smart home business and valued hard result instead of empty words. In fact, Xiaomi took the lead in Chinese smart home industry.

Moreover, Lei Jun thought poorly of over-expansion and set Xiaomi primarily as a smart phone manufacturer. After five year’s development, Xiaomi has already become the number one smart phone manufacturer in China and the fifth largest smart phone manufacturer in the world. Yet, in the face of fierce competition among smart phone manufacturers, Xiaomi will have to strive hard to remain its prominence. “That’s why Xiaomi will not enter real estate industry and smart car industry in the near future”, said Lei Jun.

6. Internet finance is a new core business of Xiaomi.

On May, 8th, Xiaomi launched Xiaomi Finance app on Xiao’s app store, and along with it, HuoqiBao service. However, index fund service wasn’t included in the app yet. For Lei Jun, Xiaomi is not only a smart phone manufacturer, but also a mobile Internet company and online retailer. Xiaomi registered an overall revenue of 5 to 6 billion RMB in 2014. “It is only natural that Xiaomi should also carry out its Internet finance service”, said Lei Jun.

Lei Jun suggested that Xiaomi spent the last two years investing in other Internet finance companies so as to know better this industry, and was going to gradually enter the industry and played a main role in the coming 3 to 5 years.

7. Xiaomi is going to make profit out of its user base via O2O services.

Lei Jun suggested that Xiaomi was going to make profit out of its 100 million users via O2O services. Xiaomi has already started to provide some O2O services, and was going to carry out O2O model in film and we media services as well.

 “The more users trust Xiaomi, the better Xiaomi can make profit out of them”, Lei Jun explained, “Winning our users’ trust lie at the core of Xiaomi’s future development strategy.”

8. India is one of the major overseas markets of Xiaomi.

Xiaomi first enter Indian smart phone market in 2014, when Lei Jun boasted that Xiaomi was sure to become the largest smart phone manufacturer in India. However, Xiaomi not only has to compete with Indian smart phone manufacturers, but also lots of Chinese manufacturers.

According to Lei Jun, Xiaomi can’t win the Indian smart phone market simply by repeating its marketing strategy in China, but carry out marketing plans that appeal to Indian consumers. Furthermore, Xiaomi tried to best utilize resources of Indian market and enter Indian market more smoothly through accepting investment from Indian companies, such as private investment from Ratan Tata, Honorary Chairman of Tata Group.

9. Xiaomi has no plans to get listed within five years.

During the press conference, Lei Jun reiterated on the claim that Xiaomi has no plans to get listed within five years.

Lei Jun said that Xiaomi had a steady cash flow and there was no need for Xiaomi to get listed. Once Xiaomi is in need of large amount of money, Lei Jun suggested that Xiaomi would borrow from banks or simply issuing bonds. For Lei Jun, a company has to develop steadily for ten years before getting listed, while Xiaomi only has five year’s history. To encourage Xiaomi’s employees, Lei Jun promised that all Xiaomi’s employees will benefit from Xiaomi’s success in the future since Xiaomi is wholly owned by its employers.

10. Running Kingsoft and Xiaomi is different.

For Lei Jun, it’s challenging to run Kingsoft but comparatively speaking easier to run Xiaomi in the Internet era.

Lei Jun admitted that when he was running Zhuoyue and Kngsoft, he had great difficulty in attracting investment. After he became an angel investor himself, he found out that the reason why he couldn’t attract investment is that he didn’t know what investors really wanted at that time. With this lesson in mind, Lei Jun succeeded in attracting investment for Xiaomi.

Lei Jun admitted that he was under great pressure to run Xiaomi, and didn’t expect it that Xiaomi’s market value had exceeded 46 billion RMB. He said that Xiaomi, the only Internet company in the world that didn’t get listed, had plenty of friends, as well as rivals. At last, Lei Jun made a joke that he hoped Uber can catch up with Xiaomi soon, so that Xiaomi will not be the only target for all, and he will be given more time and understanding to carry out more user-friendly products.

[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Su Yi, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

Translated by Levin Feng (Senior Translator at ECHO), working for TMTpost.