Everything You Need to Know About Xiaomi Malaysia

At last, Xiaomi is here in Malaysia! Xiaomi Malaysia had their official launch event on 19 May 2014 (a day before its 1st sales in Malaysia). LiewCF is one of the invited media. As much as I am exciting about the new smartphone brand in Malaysia, I see many Malaysians do not know the China company yet.

Here are some information to help you understand Xiaomi Malaysia background, their products, and list of Xiaomi Malaysia service centers.

Who is Xiaomi?

Xiaomi Inc. is founded on April 6, 2010 in Beijing, China. Xiaomi is a “Mobile Internet” company, they say. They are not only selling electronics but combine hardware, software and services for ultimate user experience – “Triathlon” business model.

 

Xiaomi Inc. has 8 founders: Lei Jun, Lin Bin, Li Wanqiang, Zhou Guangping, Huang Jiangji, Hong Feng, Wang Chuan, Liu De. Some of them were working in Google, Microsoft, Motorola.

Hugo Barra, who previously was Vice President of Android Product Management at Google, left Google and join Xiaomi in August 2013 as vice president of Xiaomi Global.

Currently, the company has over 4,000 employees worldwide and valuated at over 10 billion USD. Xiaomi is definitely not another China “shanzai” company!

Xiaomi logo

 

Xiaomi means “millet” in Chinese. The “MI” in Xiaomi logo is short for “Mobile Internet”. There are other meanings, such as “Mission Impossible”. If you turn the logo upside down, the logo will become a Chinese character “心” (“Heart”), means they do products heartily. The character is one point less, which also means Xiaomi want their customers worry less.

[box type=info]Do you know that? Xiami purchased MI.COM domain name for USD$3.6 million in April 2014? It is the most expensive domain name in China. MI.COM replaces XIAOMI.COM as the official website domain of Xiaomi.[/box]

Xiaomi Products

Xiaomi only sell two products in Malaysia at the launch time – Mi 3 Android smartphone (RM 889) and Mi Power Bank (RM 36).

On 20th May 2014, Xiaomi Malaysia sold out all 4000 units Mi 3 and 5000 units Mi Power Bank in 17 minutes at first launch. 6000 Mi3 and 5000 Mi Power Bank sold out on 28 May 2014 in 15 minutes.

Redmi 1S to be available in Malaysia in June 2014. The price should be around RM450 (China price is RMB799).

Xiaomi Malaysia told us that they are working “very very hard” to bring more Xiaomi products in Malaysia. Other Xiaomi products you would be interested are:

• Redmi Note (RMB799) – 5.5-inch Android phablet
• Mi Pad (RMB1499) – 7.9-inch Android tablet with Retina display and NVIDIA Tegra K1 processor
• Mi TV 2 (RMB3999) – 49-inch 4K Smart TV plus soundbar and wireless subwoofer
• Mi Box Pro (RMB399) – world’s first TV set top box supports 4K resolution.
• Mi Wi-Fi (RMB699) – 802.11ac wireless router with 1TB hard drive.
• Mi Wi-Fi mini (RMB129) – small 802.11ac wireless router that look like Apple Magic Trackpad.
• Mi in-ear earphones (RMB99) – high quality in-ear earphones

Besides electronics, other Xiaomi software and services includes:

• MIUI ROM – highly customizable Android operating system
• MiTalk – messaging application
• Mi Cloud – online cloud storage

How to buy Xiaomi products in Malaysia?

Xiaomi sell their products online, and online only. They do not have a retail shop. They do not have wholesaler, distributors, etc. They do not take offline orders, even their own Mi Home only sell accessories.

You would not see phone shop selling Xiaomi phones. If there is any, then it is not officially authorized unit. Most probably sell at higher price. Do not buy.

[box type=”note”]Xiaomi only sell products on their official website — Mi.com[/box]

So, how to buy Xiaomi in Malaysia?

It is easy if you already familiar with online shopping. Xiaomi Malaysia uses PayPal to process customer payments. You do not need to sign up a PayPal account to pay. You can pay with your credit/debit card through PayPal.

Assume the Xiaomi sale starts, here are the steps to buy:

1. If you haven’t done so, register a free Mi Account at https://account.xiaomi.com/pass/register
2. Login www.mi.com/my with your Mi Account
3. Add the item(s) you want to purchase.
4. Checkout and pay with PayPal money or Credit/Debit card.

FedEx and UPS are Xiaomi Malaysia’s delivery partners. One of the delivery companies will ship your orders to your doorstep in 6-8 working days.

Why take so many days to ship? Because Xiaomi Malaysia have not a warehouse in Malaysia, yet. Your orders are shipped all the way from China or Singapore. Malaysia warehouse is in planning, by the way.

Do I have to fight for Xiaomi Malaysia sales every time? Depends on their stock number, sooner or later, you can buy Xiaomi products anytime. For example, Mi 3 in Singapore can order anytime, but Redmi and Mi Power Bank are limited stocks. In China, Xiaomi has stock for all Mi phones and China customers can buy immediately.

Mi Fans

Xiaomi’s slogan is “Just for fans” (为发烧而生) as their hardcore fans are leading the company’s every step. xiaomi hardcore fans are called “Mi Fans” (米粉, “rice noodle”). They are a strong community supporting Xiami and the company takes them seriously. Example: You could suggest a wanted feature in MIUI, and you may see it in next MIUI release. In fact, many Xiaomi staff are Mi fans before joining the company.

Xiaomi marketing strategy does not spend money on traditional advertisements. The company invest in social media marketing, instead.

Currently, Xiaomi Malaysia uses Facebook Page to communicate with Malaysia Mi fans. I heard they will have a Twitter account soon.

Xiaomi Malaysia Office

As far as we found out at Xiaomi Malaysia media launch event, they do not have a physical office in Malaysia just yet. As far as I know, Xiaomi Singapore team is in charge of Malaysia market as well.

Xiaomi Malaysia service centers

You can contact Xiaomi Malaysia service center daily 9am–6pm at:

• 1–800–281–182 (free call)
• 015–4840–7777
• Online Chat

Or, email to service.my@xiaomi.com anytime.

 

Xiaomi Malaysia has appointed SEMS Service Sdn Bhd to have 4 service centers to collect and repair your Xiaomi products.

The first four Xiaomi Malaysia service centers are in Petaling Jaya, Ipoh, Penang, and Kota Bharu. More services centers are expected.

 

Mi Home, the Xiaomi owned operated service center, will be coming into Malaysia in 2015. You can have products hands-on experience and product services at Mi Home. However, it does not sell products, except accessories.

Xiaomi has their first warehouse in Singapore to shorten products shipping time in Singapore. They probably will have warehouse in Malaysia for better shipping time, too.

Ask Xiaomi Malaysia

Did I missed any info? What do you want to know about Xiaomi Malaysia? Add your questions in the comment below.