Diplomatically, China and Taiwan are having strained relationship since long, and the issue is currently not resolved.
It seems that the technological world has inherited this strain and tension, and the battleground is New Delhi this time.
World’s third largest smartphone vendor Xiaomi from China and World’s 5th largest PC vendor ASUS, whose headquarters are in Taiwan, have decided to take it head-on. Both of these mega corporations have declared national launch of their big ticket smartphones on the same day: April 23, 2015 at the same place: New Delhi. (rather, it will be global launch of Xiaomi’s product)
Although Xiaomi hasn’t declared the products which are being launched, speculations are intense that its Mi 4i. Hugo Barra, VP of Xiaomi along with Lei Jun, founder of Xiaomi would be present to carry on the proceedings. Considering that Siri Fort’s auditoriums can accommodate limited people, they have invited all and sundry with first come first basis.
With their experience of online flash sales, they have certainly mastered the art of developing curiosity and interest in their products.
On the other hand, ASUS is very clear about their launch: Zenfone 2, which has been hailed as world’s first smartphone with a 4 GB RAM. They have been marketing this using hashtag #CantWait4Zenphone2; which is all over the social networks.
While Xiaomi has chosen historical Siri Fort as the venue of the global launch (Obama had given a speech here); Asus is conducting a huge bloggers & journalists meet at Kingdom of Dreams in Gurgaon.
Reportedly, around 500+ technology and lifestyle bloggers and journalists have been invited at this huge complex, with some major fireworks planned such as celebrity show, dance show and other events during the launch.
Both ASUS and Xiaomi launched their Indian operations at approximately same time last year; and their progression and expansion has been radically different.
Xiaomi debuted with Mi3 in July, 2014 which was sold via flash sales on Flipkart; and created a new history of online flash sales. They repeated the process, and soon overtook established brands like Apple and Samsung in terms of sales of 4G handsets.
In the year 2014, Xiaomi sold total of 61 million smartphones all over the world, and have targeted 100 million this year. Around a million smartphones were sold in India.
ASUS, also debuted with their Zenphone series in July last year, as they launched Zenfone 4, 5 and 6 at the same time. They later claimed that 40,000 units were sold in 4 days, but besides that there ain’t any notable achievement to speak of their branding & market share in India. However, their Zenfone series phones have got some rave reviews from experts.
In this Clash of Titans on April 23rd, Xiaomi is the dominant side but the temperament shown by ASUS in the last few weeks suggests that the war is far from over.
If you are given a chance, which launch event will you attend: Xiaomi or ASUS?