It might have come as a surprise when the news came that Xiaomi had risen to become the worlds third largest smartphone manufacturer. Second to only Samsung and Apple. However, now that the news has settled, the continuing news that Xiaomi is now a major player should be less of a surprise. That said, as the more news that rolls out it seems just as surprising how successful their short history is becoming. We have already recently heard from the Xiaomi CEO who believes the company is on-track to become the worlds biggest manufacturer. Now, on top of their large number of units shipped (which equates to their third in the world position), it seems the Xiaomi app store is just as successful.
For those that don’t know, as well as making a bunch of devices Xiaomi also have their own app store. This seems to a rather popular revenue generator for Chinese companies with Meizu also having one, not to mention OnePlus recently announcing this might be in their near(ish) future. However, Xiaomi is certainly the king in this domain. Thier app store only launched in 2012 and already Xiaomi are claiming over 10 billion downloads. More specifically they are currently seeing 50 million downloads every day. This has combined, resulting in Xiaomi paying developers dividend in excess of RMB 364 million which is roughly $60 million (and that’s just between Jan and Oct of this year). Whats even more impressive is these figures are for China only
Yep, it seems the Xiaomi app store has only been available to Chinese domestic developers. However, that is all about to change. On the back of the success of their app store in China, Xiaomi has today announced that their app store is now going international. If you are a developer (and before you get too excited) it is worth noting that ‘international’ currently means expanding to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. As a result, developers from these countries can now upload and sale their apps to try and cash-in on the next 10 billion downloads. However, do be warned if the rumors of the Google Play store returning to China are true then Xiaomi might not maintain such a monopoly in the future. Either way though, for now, there seems to be very little that can stop them.