Xiaomi to set-up production units in India alongwith 100 'Experience Stores'

Xiaomi is no longer the disruptive brand that jostles markets. They now hold a considerable marketplace in India and more-so in the world. In India Xiaomi is the fifth largest smartphone vendor and worldwide they are the most valuable start-up with about $45 Billion valuation.

But India is a key market for Xiaomi. At Xiaomi's event yesterday during Q&A we asked if the company was planning to open any experience stores where people can actually use their devices, since they have just an online presence at the moment. To that Manu Jain, Xiaomi's India head, said that they were in-fact working on a new model where they would amalgamate Exclusive Service Centers and Experience Stores together.

Although Xiaomi won't be selling phones through these 100 odd Experience Stores, but people would get to know Mi devices and MIUI. At first these would be small establishments taking up about 500 - 1000 sq feet area. But later the company would expand on the idea. Talking about partnerships with offline retail, he said that at present they have tie-up with just Bharti Airtel for the Note 4G and for the forseeable future there are no plans on this front. Why change what's working?

Xiaomi launched an incredibly priced Mi Pad at its event in New Delhi alongwith the Redmi 2 for India. The Redmi 2 is a unique device as it supports 4G LTE on both SIM cards in dual-standby mode and comes with a 64-bit processor. Moreover, the company also announced that a Limited Edition Redmi 2 would be available in the coming months with 2 GB RAM and 16 GB storage. You can watch our Hands-on with both the Mi Pad and the new Redmi 2 above.