小米：中国的“苹果”？

在软件领域，如果一家企业成长足够迅速，所有其他问题都会被原谅。小米(Xiaomi)则将这一原则扩张到了硬件领域。在有望成为中国最大的智能手机生产商之际，该公司在最新一轮融资中被估值400亿美元。

测试中可能遇到的词汇和知识：

dilute稀释、冲淡[da??lu:t]

Xiaomi: never mind the profits (373 words)

by Lex,December 16, 2014 5:26 pm

How loyal are the tech group's customers?

In software, if a company is growing fast enough, all else is forgiven. Xiaomi has extended this principle to hardware. The company raised its last round of capital at a reported $40bn valuation, on the back of becoming the biggest smartphone vendor in China.

On Monday, Gartner released its quarterly smartphone market report. It did nothing to dilute the Xiaomi growth frisson. The company has over 5 per cent of the global market, putting it in fourth place between Huawei and Lenovo. Its 16m units shipped in the quarter was 12m more than last year; only Apple came close, with 8m units added.

It is reassuring to find that Xiaomi makes money too. Last month the Wall Street Journal reported figures the company presented to its lenders. They include $4.4bn in sales and $566m in net profit last year, and a target of close to a billion in profit this year. A margin of nearly 13 per cent is better than Samsung, the number one vendor by volume, manages (Samsung had an 18 per cent margin in mobile last year, when sales were higher).

The profits are nice; they do not matter much. When Xiaomi comes to the public markets – the numbers show that it could float at will – it will not need to prove that it can make money. If you sell lots of handsets, you can make a profit. Plenty of companies have done it. Motorola, BlackBerry and Nokia all spring to mind. A strong gross margin is enough to prove the point; at this early stage, Xiaomi should be focused on investment rather than net profit. Justifying a monster valuation will instead require evidence that customers will stay loyal to Xiaomi. Only one company has managed this for long: Apple, using a strong brand and a suite of services that increase switching costs.

Xiaomi's brand is hot in China. It has a popular messaging app, and it is investing in services and content. It will take a few product cycles to know whether all this has made Xiaomi's customers as sticky as Apple's – despite the proliferation of alternatives at the low end of the market. A $40bn valuation makes sense for China's Apple. China's Nokia will be worth much less.

请根据你所读到的文章内容，完成以下自测题目：

1.According to the article, which statement below is true?

A.Xiaomi has over 5 per cent of the global market, putting it in fourth place between Huawei and Lenovo.

B.Huawei raised its last round of capital at a reported $40bn valuation, on the back of becoming the biggest smartphone vendor in China.

C.Any hardware manufacture's fault should not be forgiven even if they grow fast.

D.Apple's shipment grew faster than Xiaomi‘s in 2013.

答案(1)

2.According to the article, which of the following manufactures sold the most devices in 2013？

A.Huawei

B.Xiaomi

C.Samsung

D.Lenovo

答案(2)

3.According to the article, which below is NOT true about Xiaomi？

A.The company is profitable but profit itself seems not to be the most important role.

B.The only mission for Xiaomi is to sell an enormous number of handsets to prove its ability to make money.

C.Apple has done a lot to keep its customers' loyalty.So should be done by Xiaomi

D.Nokia and Motorola were profitable.

答案(3)

* * *

(1)答案：A.Xiaomi has over 5 per cent of the global market, putting it in fourth place between Huawei and Lenovo.

解释：原文第二段中提到：“该公司占全球市场的份额超过5%，处于华为(Huawei)和联想(Lenovo)之间，位居全球第四。”

(2)答案：C.Samsung

解释：文中第三段提到三星为销量第一。

(3)答案：B.The only mission for Xiaomi is to sell an enormous number of handsets to prove its ability to make money.

解释：文中提到小米现阶段的任务并非卖出大量机器以证明盈利能力，而是要尽量争取更多的投资，保证客户的忠诚。