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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.)全球副總裁巴拉(Hugo Barra)表示，公司尋求藉助海外粉絲的力量實現海外擴張。作為初創企業，小米已憑藉迅猛的手機銷量在中國智能手機市場異軍突起。
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.
這位谷歌(Google Inc.)前高管于今年10月份加入小米。他表示，小米下一步可能開始在東南亞市場進行銷售，不過他并未給出一個時間表。最近幾個月，小米已經開始在香港和臺灣銷售手機。
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.'
巴拉稱，小米計劃藉助其他市場的粉絲力量來推廣旗下手機并克服語言和國界障礙。他在中國首次接受外媒采訪時稱，小米在全球各地都有粉絲，公司肩負使命，希望能在全球發揮影響力。
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.
中國企業家雷軍于2010年創立了小米，以接近成本的價格銷售高端手機。該公司旗艦產品小米手機3 (Mi 3)的價格為326美元，較蘋果公司(Apple Inc.)和三星電子(Samsung Electronics Co.)的高端手機價格低了超過50%。根據最近一輪融資的信息，小米估值達到了100億美元。該公司預計今年將售出約2,000萬部手機。
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.
小米操作平臺可在全球范圍內的電腦下載，沒有使用小米手機的科技發燒友也可以體驗產品界面。目前小米操作平臺支持英語和中文兩種語言。
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.
為培育粉絲群體，小米允許用戶和粉絲直接參與其操作平臺的新增功能和更新。小米每周都會更新軟件，軟件是免費的。小米的操作平臺是基于谷歌安卓(Android)操作系統上開發的。
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.
巴拉稱，上述模式為公司在旗下中文論壇上爭取到了超過500萬名注冊用戶，在旗下英文論壇上爭取到了超過10萬名注冊用戶。巴拉還稱，小米在中國大陸、臺灣和香港以外的21個國家都有論壇。這些樂于奉獻的用戶報告系統缺陷，提供有關新特性的建議，并將其軟件翻譯成其他語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.
巴拉稱，上述機制是一種吸引用戶的有力工具。他稱，其他國家的粉絲也就是那些會在小米產品于當地上市時購買產品、幫助小米宣傳并充當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.
一些分析師考慮，小米在手機輸入法上采取的“眾包”模式是否也會在中國以外起到同樣效果，因為該公司在中國以外的名氣還相對較小。近幾個月來，小米已經開始在香港和臺灣發售手機，這是兩個新市場，但該公司的中文服務早就已經在這些新市場吸引了一些關注者。
'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)分析師Bryan Wang稱，小米可能無法再獲得與臺灣和中國大陸一樣多的粉絲，因此只能寄希望于通過低價吸引客戶。
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.
巴拉稱，公司可能會沿用其在進軍臺灣市場時采取的模式。他還稱，這在許多方面都還是“試驗性的”。該公司先是開始將顧客在旗下臺灣網站上訂購的手機直接發往臺灣，而后建立了一個分銷中心，同時主辦一次活動，使大約400名用戶能有時間與公司高管進行互動，向他們提供軟件方面的建議，并一起唱卡拉OK和打游戲。該公司旗下論壇的一些粉絲幫助組織了那次活動。
'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.
巴拉稱，小米進行了非常大膽的試驗，今后將不斷尋找大膽擴張的途徑。小米不愿進一步評論臺灣的銷售數據，也不愿具體說明海外市場的中長期銷售目標。
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.
他還稱，公司已將東南亞地區作為下一個著眼點，因為該地區人口眾多，距中國相對較近，而且這些市場可能對價格更低、特性與三星電子等公司生產的高端手機類似的智能手機有著較大需求。
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稱，小米可能將需要在海外市場調整業務模式，通過提高手機售價來提高利潤率，以便幫助公司維持在相關國家擴張的費用。目前小米把銷售手機的利潤率維持在低水平，認為公司最終能仰仗多達百萬的用戶群體、通過出售內容、游戲或應用等周邊產品和服務來獲利。
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.
巴拉承認，公司可能難以進軍海外，但他還是相信，幫助小米不斷擴張的模式也適用于中國以外的地區。
'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，有一種消費觀念是“我不需要去看你們產品的宣傳，只需要你們用低一點的價格賣給我”，這種觀念非常強大，人們也心知肚明。
