Xiaomi Inc., the startup that has rattled China's smartphone market with its fast-selling handsets, is looking to tap its international fan base for help as it tries to expand abroad, according to its new American executive.
小米(Xiaomi Inc.)全球副总裁巴拉(Hugo Barra)表示，公司寻求藉助海外粉丝的力量实现海外扩张。作为初创企业，小米已凭藉迅猛的手机销量在中国智能手机市场异军突起。
Xiaomi Global Vice President Hugo Barra, the former Google Inc. official who joined the Chinese company in October, said the smartphone maker--which in recent months began selling phones in Hong Kong and Taiwan--will likely next begin sales in Southeast Asia, though he didn't give a time frame.
这位谷歌(Google Inc.)前高管于今年10月份加入小米。他表示，小米下一步可能开始在东南亚市场进行销售，不过他并未给出一个时间表。最近几个月，小米已经开始在香港和台湾销售手机。
Xiaomi plans to make use of its fans in other markets to popularize its phones and overcome language and border barriers, Mr. Barra said. 'We have fans everywhere,' Mr. Barra said in an interview, his first with foreign media in China. 'We're on a mission. We want to have an impact in the world.'
巴拉称，小米计划藉助其他市场的粉丝力量来推广旗下手机并克服语言和国界障碍。他在中国首次接受外媒采访时称，小米在全球各地都有粉丝，公司肩负使命，希望能在全球发挥影响力。
Started in 2010 by Chinese entrepreneur Lei Jun, closely held Xiaomi sells high-end phones for prices close to cost. Its flagship Mi 3 phone costs $326, less than half the price of top models from Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. Xiaomi, which is worth $10 billion according to its most recent round of fundraising, expects to sell about 20 million handsets in 2013.
中国企业家雷军于2010年创立了小米，以接近成本的价格销售高端手机。该公司旗舰产品小米手机3 (Mi 3)的价格为326美元，较苹果公司(Apple Inc.)和三星电子(Samsung Electronics Co.)的高端手机价格低了超过50%。根据最近一轮融资的信息，小米估值达到了100亿美元。该公司预计今年将售出约2,000万部手机。
Xiaomi's operating platform--currently available in English and Chinese--can be downloaded onto computers world-wide, enabling tech enthusiasts to experience Xiaomi's interface without owning one of its phones.
小米操作平台可在全球范围内的电脑下载，没有使用小米手机的科技发烧友也可以体验产品界面。目前小米操作平台支持英语和中文两种语言。
To cultivate a fan base, Xiaomi gives its users and fans direct input into what features and updates it adds to its operating platform, which runs on top of Google's Android operating system. It updates its software weekly, free of charge.
为培育粉丝群体，小米允许用户和粉丝直接参与其操作平台的新增功能和更新。小米每周都会更新软件，软件是免费的。小米的操作平台是基于谷歌安卓(Android)操作系统上开发的。
The model has won the company more than five million registered users on its Chinese forum and more than 100,000 on its English forum, according to Mr. Barra, who said Xiaomi has forums in 21 countries outside China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Its dedicated users report bugs, offer suggestions for new features and translate its software into other local languages available in unofficial versions.
巴拉称，上述模式为公司在旗下中文论坛上争取到了超过500万名注册用户，在旗下英文论坛上争取到了超过10万名注册用户。巴拉还称，小米在中国大陆、台湾和香港以外的21个国家都有论坛。这些乐于奉献的用户报告系统缺陷，提供有关新特性的建议，并将其软件翻译成其他语言并移植到非官方版本。
Mr. Barra said the process is a powerful tool to attract users. Followers in other countries 'are also the first people that are going to purchase a Xiaomi product when it's available in their country and get the word out and be brand ambassadors,' he said.
巴拉称，上述机制是一种吸引用户的有力工具。他称，其他国家的粉丝也就是那些会在小米产品于当地上市时购买产品、帮助小米宣传并充当品牌大使的第一批人。
Analyst have wondered whether Xiaomi's crowdsourcing of input will be as effective outside China, where the company is relatively unknown. In recent months it began selling handsets in Hong Kong and Taiwan--new markets, but where its Chinese-language services already have a ready audience.
一些分析师考虑，小米在手机输入法上采取的“众包”模式是否也会在中国以外起到同样效果，因为该公司在中国以外的名气还相对较小。近几个月来，小米已经开始在香港和台湾发售手机，这是两个新市场，但该公司的中文服务早就已经在这些新市场吸引了一些关注者。
'They will probably not be able to have as many Xiaomi fans as they do in Taiwan and China, so the hope is just being cheap' will attract customers, said Forrester analyst Bryan Wang.
福里斯特研究公司(Forrester)分析师Bryan Wang称，小米可能无法再获得与台湾和中国大陆一样多的粉丝，因此只能寄希望于通过低价吸引客户。
Mr. Barra said that the company will likely follow the model it took to expand into Taiwan, which he says was in many ways 'experimental.' First the company began shipping phones that were ordered on its Taiwan website directly to the country. Then it established a distribution center and hosted an event at which around 400 users spent time with executives, offering software suggestions, singing karaoke and playing games. A number of fans from the company's forum helped to organize the event.
巴拉称，公司可能会沿用其在进军台湾市场时采取的模式。他还称，这在许多方面都还是“试验性的”。该公司先是开始将顾客在旗下台湾网站上订购的手机直接发往台湾，而后建立了一个分销中心，同时主办一次活动，使大约400名用户能有时间与公司高管进行互动，向他们提供软件方面的建议，并一起唱卡拉OK和打游戏。该公司旗下论坛的一些粉丝帮助组织了那次活动。
'We experiment very aggressively and we're going to be constantly looking for ways to scale aggressively,' he said. Xiaomi wouldn't elaborate on sales figures in Taiwan, or longer-term sales targets abroad.
巴拉称，小米进行了非常大胆的试验，今后将不断寻找大胆扩张的途径。小米不愿进一步评论台湾的销售数据，也不愿具体说明海外市场的中长期销售目标。
Mr. Barra said the company was looking at Southeast Asia next due to the region's large population, relative proximity to China, and the likely draw in those markets of cheaper smartphones with features that compare to those of higher-end phones made by companies like Samsung.
他还称，公司已将东南亚地区作为下一个着眼点，因为该地区人口众多，距中国相对较近，而且这些市场可能对价格更低、特性与三星电子等公司生产的高端手机类似的智能手机有着较大需求。
Mr. Wang, of Forrester, said Xiaomi will likely have to tweak its business model abroad, charging more for phones to make the margins to support the outlays it will take to expand into those countries. Currently, the company maintains low margins on the phones it sells with the idea that it can eventually make money off its millions of users by selling accessories and services like content, games or applications.
福里斯特研究的Bryan Wang称，小米可能将需要在海外市场调整业务模式，通过提高手机售价来提高利润率，以便帮助公司维持在相关国家扩张的费用。目前小米把销售手机的利润率维持在低水平，认为公司最终能仰仗多达百万的用户群体、通过出售内容、游戏或应用等周边产品和服务来获利。
Mr. Barra admitted it could be hard to push abroad, but also said he believed the model that has led to the company's push was applicable beyond China.
巴拉承认，公司可能难以进军海外，但他还是相信，帮助小米不断扩张的模式也适用于中国以外的地区。
'That concept of 'I don't need to see a billboard of your product, just sell it to me for a little bit less' is very powerful, and people get it, ' he said.
他表示，有一种消费观念是“我不需要去看你们产品的宣传，只需要你们用低一点的价格卖给我”，这种观念非常强大，人们也心知肚明。