Stefan Mileschin

Bin Lin, co-founder and president of Xiaomi Corporation, has only been in the business of selling high-spec Android phones for three years. But yet, here he is, talking on stage at Dive Into Mobile about just how successful his outfit has become. "No sales, no marketing, no retail -- we price our phones at the build of material," said Lin. That probably sounds like a recipe for disaster in the United States, but it's working exceptionally well in Asia. Lin stated that Xiaomi has reached a clip of around $2 billion in revenue on 1.7 million phones, and in 2013 it's hoping to ship 15 million handsets.

For those who've been paying attention, you'd know that Xiaomi is hawking unsubsidized superphones -- packing the latest and greatest components -- for well under $400. And they're selling out within minutes. "Last year, when we announced the Mi2, for 3-4 months we'd have hundreds of thousands of units available, and they'd be gone within two or three minutes after we posted availability online. We're working hard on distribution -- China is big, and we're aiming to get phones into hands in just three days after purchase."

http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/15/x...sales-markets/