Five seconds, 40,000 phones and more than two lakh hopefuls scrambling for them… the countdown to the Xiaomi online ‘flash sale’ has begun, and at an IT firm in Bangalore, Deepak Rajanikanth and his entire team are riveted to their laptops — missed lunch-hour notwithstanding. So thick is the air with anticipation, one can cut it with a knife. Shoulders hunched, fingers on the mouse, they are all awaiting — in nerve-wracking silence — the India release of the Chinese manufacturer’s latest mobile phone, the Redmi 1S. A tech chimera that has eluded many an ardent fan.

“Since 1pm, people have been waiting for the 2 o’clock unveiling , praying to their favourite deities. Some of my colleagues even subscribed to the Flipkart First service and installed cheat codes to give them an advantage. Unfortunately, none of us were able to grab the phone this time,” says Rajanikanth.

Like Rajanikanth, thousands across India (if Facebook groups are any testimony) are ardent Xiaomi fans. The ardour is hardly unusual in this age of technophiles, except, the Chinese manufacturer is barely two months old in India. It had its first ever ‘flash sale’ here as recently as July this year.

Word power

“Word of mouth is hugely underestimated,” says Manu Jain, head of Xiaomi India, who earned his business credentials by co-founding Jabong.com. “We rely a lot on it. We don’t believe in brand marketing through paid ads. You are never going to find an ad for Xiaomi on TV or even in digital spaces. What we do rely on are social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We educate and interact with customers and take their feedback for future releases and sales. For instance, thanks to the feedback, last week’s sale included a free micro-sim adapter and screen protector.”

The strategy is certainly working in India, as it did earlier in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. The company is now eyeing the markets in Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Brazil and Mexico.

Its meteoric rise in China, after it was set up by serial entrepreneur Lei Jun in 2011, has been inarguably overtaken by the speed of its growth in India(although the number of phones sold is smaller). In its eight ‘flash sales’ here so far, all routed through Flipkart, it sold out completely — 20,000 during the initial few and 40,000 later on. The first sale took a ‘leisurely’ 38 minutes, while the rest were done and dusted in under 5 seconds (not minutes!). “We realised that the retail-distributor model can be expensive and wanted to bypass it through e-commerce,” says Jain. “We have underestimated the demand though, and are trying to increase the quantity and sell more each time.”

A model phone?

Yes, Xiaomi has its competitors on tenterhooks so far, but how good are the phones themselves? Jain swears by their mobile software. “We have our MIUI firmware… We want to keep innovating and build India-specific features.” And there are plans for an R&D unit in Bangalore.

At a starting price of ₹5,999 (for Redmi 1S), word has largely been in favour of the phones, going by the voluble endorsements online. As Rajanikanth puts it, “Their devices have more features than the latest Nexus and don’t cost a king’s ransom. I am waiting to see their LED TVs go on sale, as well as mobile accessories, which are currently only available abroad.”

Others see a mere hype in the making. Anikit Kamal, an MBA graduate in Delhi, thinks it might fizzle out sooner than expected. “I’m really not sure if they’ll be able to continue at the same pace. Sometimes it’s frustrating that the phones get sold out so quickly. I hope they bring in more.” But Bangalore-based actor Prateek Thakker, who uses a Xiaomi phone, is not ready to write it off yet: “With the Micromax CEO stating that he has ‘never heard of this brand’, Xiaomi has caught everyone unawares. And it’s surely doing something right. While there’s always room for improvement, the phone is great value for money. I’m looking forward to the Redmi note, which is expected to be a sub-₹10,000 product.”

As for Xiaomi, popularly called the ‘Apple of China’, looks like it’s unquestionably i for India at the moment.

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