China's Xiaomi unveils copycat 'Mi Pad' in bid to take on Apple's iPad
Apple's dominance in the tablet market with the iPad will be challenged by a new competitor in Xiaomi, a Chinese smartphone maker that plans to take on the iPad with a nearly identical look and a product name that simply adds one letter and a space to Apple's trademarked name.
Xiaomi on Thursday introduced the Mi Pad, sporting a 7.9-inch display that is the same size as Apple's iPad mini. The new Mi Pad will come in a total of six colors and capacities of 16 or 64 gigabytes, while carrying a starting price of 1,499 yuan, or $240 U.S., undercutting Apple.
The product essentially looks like a plastic iPad mini with more color options, even packing in an identical screen resolution of 2,048 by 1,536. It also runs a heavily version of Google's Android operating system dubbed "MIUI" that looks strikingly like Apple's iOS 7.
Xiaomi founder Lei Jun even openly talked about the iPad in remarks following the unveiling, saying the goal was to create hardware that "could come close to, or even surpass" Apple's offerings, according to Reuters.
The Mi Pad will also be powered by Nvidia's new K1 mobile processor clocked at 2.2 gigahertz, with storage expansion options available via MicroSD.
With more than 1 billion people in China, Chinese smartphone vendors have been carving out a growing share of the total worldwide market. Those companies include Xiaomi, Lenovo, ZTE, Huawei, and Yulong.
While Xiamoi's product name and its look are clearly inspired by Apple's iPad, the company's business model will be different, as the company plans to profit off of services rather than the sale of hardware.
Xiaomi's current sales are largely based in China, but the company has signaled it plans to expand into India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Xiaomi on Thursday introduced the Mi Pad, sporting a 7.9-inch display that is the same size as Apple's iPad mini. The new Mi Pad will come in a total of six colors and capacities of 16 or 64 gigabytes, while carrying a starting price of 1,499 yuan, or $240 U.S., undercutting Apple.
The product essentially looks like a plastic iPad mini with more color options, even packing in an identical screen resolution of 2,048 by 1,536. It also runs a heavily version of Google's Android operating system dubbed "MIUI" that looks strikingly like Apple's iOS 7.
Xiaomi founder Lei Jun even openly talked about the iPad in remarks following the unveiling, saying the goal was to create hardware that "could come close to, or even surpass" Apple's offerings, according to Reuters.
The Mi Pad will also be powered by Nvidia's new K1 mobile processor clocked at 2.2 gigahertz, with storage expansion options available via MicroSD.
With more than 1 billion people in China, Chinese smartphone vendors have been carving out a growing share of the total worldwide market. Those companies include Xiaomi, Lenovo, ZTE, Huawei, and Yulong.
While Xiamoi's product name and its look are clearly inspired by Apple's iPad, the company's business model will be different, as the company plans to profit off of services rather than the sale of hardware.
Xiaomi's current sales are largely based in China, but the company has signaled it plans to expand into India, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Malaysia.
Comments
China copies everything else, so was just a matter of time before this happened. Wonder if Apple will even try to do anything about it. They do have clout in China, so maybe they can stop this but that could be a tough battle.
Wonder what Android Version "MIUI" is built upon. Or is this "MIUI" a Google creation???
This didn't clearly come thru. At least not to me....
Never ending Chinese creativity... what a repeating joke
Can't believe there are too many coincidences in this world, even on the product shots!
Apparently Xiaomi purchased all the copy machines from Samsung
So ... take the colors from the iPhone 5C, splash them onto a clone of the iPad Mini with a skin that looks like iOS 7 and ... profit?
I wonder if they'll try to sell this outside China.
Gotta love the Chinese creativity, whilst they claim there is no IP issues in China.
Well so I see they have chosen to follow in the footsteps of Samsung.
Why not? It worked and the legal repercussions for copying turned to be a joke.
Nope no shame when they stand to earn billions and retire with a few luxury yatch's, a few ferrari's and giant homes and not to mention hot Chinese girls all around them.
... on the other hand if it is not a copy of the performance of the iPad Air, this chinese copy is dead...
MIUI was created by Chinese devs. As Android gets updated so does MIUI.
well, Samsung was fined for a mere $100 million, now everyone would just wait for Apple's lead and just copy it all. It just makes sense. Essentially they are outsource the design to Apple without paying a dime. Isn't that the best business decision ever invented? Shame to the jury for not imposing a punitive damage reward to Apple and shame to those companies for ... I don't know.