Earlier today there was breaking news when a seemingly official Xiaomi website in Poland announced the Xiaomi Mi5 and Mi4S would officially launch in the country. The details are not accurate though.
It was the news that Xiaomi fans around the world were waiting to hear, Xiaomi officially entering the European market and their first stop was Poland. At least that’s what this official looking Xiaomi website was claiming.
Gizchina News of the week
The new was quickly picked up by news sites, but as their was no link to the Polish Xiaomi site from the official Xiaomi Global page, we decide to reach out to Xiaomi and see what was up.
The reply was right to the point;
We have not announced plans to enter the Polish market. The website is not an official Xiaomi website.
So it’s too early to get excited about Xiaomi in Europe, but that isn’t to say it won’t happen eventually.
If you need some Xiaomi goodness to help you get over this news then why not check out our Xiaomi Mi5 unboxing and hands on video we posted yesterday.
This sounded fishy from the start. People need to think logically when they hear news like this. Just like the supposed US launch a few months back (with a carrier most had never heard of until that day). Like that one my first thought was “this makes no sense”. Why would their first European country be Poland? If anything it will be Russia, which has been mentioned by Xiaomi in the past.
Xiaomi tried entering Russia year ago – but unsuccessful (failed to negotiate with local chains).
Now Xiaomi try to do it second time with retail chain Svyaznoy.
Russia and EU are two completely different markets.
Yes it is but as far as Xiaomi is concerned every country in Europe would be it’s own entity so the EU wouldn’t matter much.
Xiaomi may think of it as one entity but entering one EU country means any other can just as easily buy everything as well. You’re not entering one country, you’re entering the whole EU market basically.
With Xiaomi all sales are locked down to that one country. The warranty would only work for that one country. To buy officially from Xiaomi Poland, you would need an address in Poland. Like I said the EU wouldn’t matter much to them.
That’s simply not true. Every company selling in EU abides to those laws. Please refer to this link.
In that case Xiaomi won’t be entering the EU for a long time officially, they don’t have the production capacity to handle that big of a market at once.
You can buy xiaomi phones in Romania from most big electronic sale sites like emag, altex, quickmobile etc. Even meizu, OPPO, elephone and others but the prices are more expensive.
It’s not official though. You can buy them in many countries but it’s not an official Xioami site which is why it is more expensive.
Actually no, the meaning of EU is a unified market. You import goods inside the EU unified market, then there is the liberty of movements regarding goods and citizens inside the union allowing them to go anywhere to buy anything. Then transitions between countries inside the EU market will be called “introductions and expeditions”. Basically as if you sell something in the Nevada, and you see people from California coming to buy. More likely the other way around.
I agree with you with Russia, and I agree with Kami saying that it’s a different market.
When they decide to go for the EU then it would be globally like Spain, England Italy,France, Germany…
I couldn’t see them entering that many countries at once. Xiaomi likes to enter one market at a time.
I don’t think they can, meaning that they can’t sell to a specific country alone.
I have to check this out before saying a BS.
I’ll get back to you as soon as I have more infos
Let me check first.
But yes, I won’t see them coming in Europe anytime soon.
It would probably take more than 3 years, maybe 5
Yea they way Xiaomi operates they move to one new country at a time. There is no way they could expand to the entire EU at once. It would be a logistical nightmare of them. But reading through EU laws that other guy linked there is nothing specific that says you must offer your product in every EU member country that I could find. It is a good question to ask someone who does business in the EU.