Lei Jun is ex-Kingsoft CEO (like Microsoft), co-founder of Joyo.com (sold to Amazon), now Chairman of Great Wall Club and Angel Investor. His newer product, MIUI under his start-up Xiaomi, is stirring rumours about an OEM partnership.
MIUI is a 3rd party Android ROM tailored for the Chinese market. Think about it like a layer on top of your Windows OS on your computer, to make it more customised and personal, but on mobile. From their website it says it enables faster dialling, better security and a big library of themes and skins.
Last weekend at a developer conference there was some chatter about MIUI partnering with a big OEM. We can speculate it could be with Samsung, Motorola or LG because all are bringing their Android phones into the Chinese market. We have reason to suspect the OEM partner is Motorola because as an American based OEM, they know less about Chinese user behaviour compared to Korean based Samsung or LG. It has also been reported that Dianxin, another Android ROM incubated under Innovation Works is partnering with Sharp. Motorola needs to make a good impression to stand out in China, where competition with other Android phone’s is fierce.
Interesting how there are so many rumors around Xiaomi. Last I heard they were seeking to make their own device. Now they’re moving into a device maker partnership model? If that’s the case, I think they will kick the ass of Dianxin OS. I have played with Dianxin on the Sharp device and I think it is a mediocre experience. I have played with Xiaomi MIUI on many Beijing VC/startup friends’ devices – they went through the pain of installing the ROM on their own too. It’s damn good compared to Dianxin.