Millet co-founder Lin: Miui and Palawan are key to overseas expansion

Lead: American Science and Technology blog The Next Web is published today titled "The Millet co-founder explains why Google's former high Tebara and Millet's own firmware are critical to the company's international Development" (Xiaomi co-founder on why Ex-google exec Barra and I Own modularity are key to Analysys success) commented that MIUI is the key to the success of Millet, and the company will be used to communicate with Chinese users in overseas markets. The following is the full text of the article: with the Chinese smartphone company Millet gradually known to the global media, many people are curious about the company's globalization strategy is what. The Next Web recently interviewed Millet President Lin, who gave a key element to the strategy: Hugo Barak (Barra). Millet needs to use software talent to promote internationalization when Millet confirmed will hire Google Android Vice President Barak as the company's global vice president, has clearly revealed the international ambitions. In an interview with the company's headquarters, Lin said the whole job of Barak was "to find out which market we should move to and how to move in." "When he joined the millet in October, we expect him to help us develop our strategy," he said. His job is to work closely with Lei and I, together with our other co-founders, to figure out the strategy and implement it. "Lin said. In China, Millet was successful because it sold high-end smartphones at a low price. Lin, however, attributed the company's success to the so-called "three-omnipotent business model"-hardware, software and Internet services-the company's main revenue from the latter two. "We believe that hardware is just a platform for running services." We do not want to make money from the hardware, but look forward to the purchase of hardware users can use our services ... Service is the ultimate source of income. Lin explained. The software refers to the millet based on the Android system highly customized MIUI firmware, in addition, the company also sells themes, applications and application services such as internal purchase. The internet refers to the E-commerce platform of millet, which can sell smartphones and accessories directly through its own website. Look at a set of data: Lin said MIUI and its services generated 20 million yuan (about 3.23 million U.S. dollars) last month, doubling the 10 million yuan in 4 months ago. The company plans to generate $20 million trillion through MIUI by the end of 2014. Lin points out that software is the key to the business model of millet. "Most of the product features people feel are software and services," he says. "Users like the software, they like the experience, they like to surf the internet and download apk." They can run the game smoothly, and they can also take photos and have a good image. We must do the software well between doing other things. "" Different regions, different countriesConsumers will have different needs. We need to understand the needs of these consumers for software design, even for hardware and internet services, and we must understand overseas users before we sell our products on the international market. That's why we need Hugo, who has a lot of experience in the product. He is one of the most adept at this kind of business in the world today. Lin said that, in addition to software development experience, Barak was deeply involved in hardware design because Android needed to work with many hardware OEMs and factories. User feedback is the key to the success of Millet Lin that the success of Millet is largely due to the distinctive communication between the company and its users, who plan to follow this pattern in the international market. He said: "We are the only companies that adopt this model: a highly open attitude, responsive to user feedback, and upgraded software every week." None of the companies except us are doing it, we are the only one. Lin said that millet from the outset to actively integrate into the Internet open environment, adhering to the principle of high transparency, especially in software development. MIUI Each upgrade will give full consideration to the user's feedback, the software to improve. Whenever a different opinion arises, a vote will be held. "The vote was not even initiated by the user," he said. In our forum, you will see discussions and disagreements, and users sometimes say, I am tired of this debate, or vote. As a result, the vote will be back. "Lin said. In addition to software, millet in the hardware will also listen to the views of users. When the user gets the phone, it provides feedback to the company and eventually prompts them to improve the hardware. By allowing users to participate in the production of smartphones, Millet has attracted a group of highly loyal fans. "That is why we have attracted a very loyal group of users," Lin said. They did not receive any rewards for providing feedback. I think it's the spirit of ownership and the willingness to improve the system, to improve the phone, to make them feel respected and feel like a part of the whole process. So it is this spirit of participation that attracts them to the discussion. And that's why they became our fans. "he added. There are hundreds of thousands of millet handsets in the United States. However, since the Millet handset only in China has been tested, whether this will limit its overseas market success probability? Lin not agree with this statement. He said Millet fans have spread all over the world. The company's MIUI can be converted to other languages through independent developers and can already be downloaded through the official web site, covering a number of European countries, as well as Brazil and Indonesia. Lin says this is the job of Barak because most of MIUI's current elements are based on feedback from Chinese fans. "There are a lot of fans outside China, but they are scattered everywhere, and there is no centralized measure to get a deep and long-term understanding of user feedback in specific countries," he explains. I think that's exactly the job he's going to do. We have started this work for the Chinese market, and because of that, I think MiuI can be said to be the most suitable mobile operating system for Chinese users today. For other regions, this is not necessarily the case. Therefore, we need to carry out in-depth analysis of the needs of different regions. "In addition, although the company's mobile phones are sold only in mainland China, Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, many overseas users can still buy the product in other ways," he said. Since this mobile phone is sold through a bare-metal website, it is easy for domestic users to buy and then mail abroad. Lin also revealed a startling news: "The United States has hundreds of thousands of millet mobile phones." Because of logistical problems, we can't sell our phones to the US--distribution only supports Chinese cities--but it turns out that there are hundreds of thousands of millet handsets in the US. "Although Millet has not yet launched international promotion, but still attract some users abroad, despite the small size, but this also reflects the company's internationalization potential." MIUI is part of the Android ecosystem. But when Millet really entered the international market, Google will worry about MIUI too hot, but to suppress it? After all, MIUI is based on the Android system, but it's a big difference. Android's various branch systems have become a common market in China, and Google has been adopting a tacit approach. However, while Google developed the Android system in open source, it blocked Acer from introducing a Aliyun operating system last year because it was an "incomplete" version of Android. But Lin says MIUI is tightly embedded in the Android ecosystem. Sandar Pi Sundar Pichai, Google's senior vice president for Android, has welcomed his continued presence in the Android ecosystem in response to the Barak job-hopping. This also proves that Google has accepted the existence of MIUI. This, he explains, is because MIUI is fully compatible with the Android system: "The biggest worry about Android is fragmentation." People would use a branch of Android and make a lot of adjustments so they never come back. So as Android evolves, so does the branching of Android, which makes a significant difference. In the end, applications developed for one version of Android will not be compatible with other Andorid versions. That's what Google is worried about. But Miui hasn't done it since the first day. We keep up with the Android update and, in many cases, upgrade the Android system as it updates. "Overseas travel has been a great attention to Google's attitude is just one of the many challenges of millet internationalization." The problem before Lin is clear: the future of millet depends on miui--after all, the former Google employee knows very well that developing a globally appealing mobile operating system is a big hurdle for millet to overcome. How far the Chinese company can cater to Westerners ' preferences is not a good judge, but Millet's attempt to expand its success model to global practice has received attention from all walks of life. (Ding Macro)