Is Xiaomi a Game Changer?

Mobile phones have become ubiquitous today. As they evolve, they are packing more and more functionality. The feature phone to  Smartphone transition marks a major leap. As with every technological change, new companies are emerging to take advantage of the  changes in market. Some of them may simply be imitating what others before them have done. Once in a while, emerges a company that seeks  to change the very fundamentals of a market. It may be in terms of innovating new products, like Apple did by introducing iphone a few years  ago. It may also be in terms of offering value at a price point which may have been considered impossible so far. Xiaomi is one such company  that has come up in the last four years. It has offered features to customers at less than half the price that its competitors are offering. To make  it possible, it has utilized hitherto unheard business models that are made possible by emerging technology. By eliminating entire heads from  its cost structure, it is able to offer smartphones at unbelievably low prices. Xiaomi was initially considered to be pursuing a non-scalable and  non-sustainable business model and its critics were waiting for the forces of gravity to catch up with the company. However Xiaomi has  defied expectations by capturing the numerouno slot in world's biggest Smartphone market – China. As it expands its footprint to more  countries, including India, it will be more closely examined. This case study is an attempt to understand the things that make Xiaomi distinct  and potentially a game changer.