Why did Xiaomi make a 3,000 yuan router?

On the afternoon of June 10, Xiaomi held a press conference with the theme of "embracing all rivers". Traditionally, Xiaomi always releases two hardware products at its press conferences. This time, Xiaomi released two expensive routers, but the real theme of Xiaomi was "embracing all rivers" and talking about content. And the target was LeTV.

Xiaomi has made routers with hard drives before, but the market was not good. Why does it continue to make new models? The video resource alliance was also done by TV companies such as Hisense before, but it was not successful. What is Xiaomi's intention in doing this now?

1. Chen Tong’s role

Lei Jun mainly makes money from hardware when making smartphones. He has content and services, but they are not valuable. And things like smart TVs and Xiaomi boxes are either updated too slowly or priced too low, so the profit from hardware is not enough. Content has always been Xiaomi's shortcoming.

Lei Jun said that the cumulative sales of Xiaomi TVs and boxes have reached 6.77 million units. In fact, we already have a very good platform, what we lack is content.

After recruiting Chen Tong from Sina, Xiaomi started making big moves. Shortly after he joined Xiaomi, Xiaomi invested RMB 1.8 billion in iQiyi, Youku Tudou, and Huace Film & TV. Xiaomi has injected capital into everything from video websites to film and television production companies.

In just a few months, the number of members of the Xiaomi Video Website Alliance has exceeded 100, and the total amount of genuine video content connected to the broadcast control platform on Xiaomi TVs has reached 18,051, and on mobile phones it has reached 33,213.

Xiaomi has established partnerships with 10 of the top 12 video websites in China, and through this has captured more than 85% of the market share, becoming a giant almost overnight.

Chen Tong's experience in the industry helped Xiaomi a lot. Xiaomi had no shortage of money, platform or status. Chen Tong was like a catalyst, opening up the meridians, and Xiaomi immediately became a master.

Second, what is the router doing?

Historically, there is no market for this kind of high-priced router with hard drive released by Xiaomi. But it is intriguing that Xiaomi insists on making it.

Xiaomi solved the content problem and claimed that it was free. But in fact, partners like Youku Tudou share profits with Xiaomi. Xiaomi spent 1 billion not to be Lei Feng, but to get money back from users and make a profit.

Xiaomi will share the advertising fees and membership fees for Youku videos watched on Xiaomi TV.

However, the radio and television industry has a red line: online videos cannot be played on TV. This is a matter of life and death. No matter how much content Xiaomi buys, if it is not allowed to be played on Xiaomi TVs or boxes, Xiaomi will not get a cent from the profits.

What to do? The secret of Xiaomi router with hard disk has surfaced. Can I download and play it if it doesn't work online?

Xiaomi mobile phone remotely controls the router to download content from video partners, and users can play it on TV at home. Do you have any say over radio and television? Xiaomi gets its share of the membership fees and advertising fees generated by the broadcast, and it does not violate any regulations.

This is Xiaomi's intention to make a high-priced hard drive router. You have to look at it together to understand it.

3. Terrible Xiaomi

I have written many times about Xiaomi's system, which integrates hardware, software and services, cloud computing, network channels and terminals. Apple plus bat is Lei Jun's ambition.

What is scary is that Lei Jun not only dares to think, but can actually do it. Xiaomi's involvement in content is an intention and a strategic layout, but it poached Chen Tong and invested 1 billion to really develop this content, which is scary. Yesterday, Lei Jun poached Wang Xiang, CEO of Qualcomm, another senior and experienced person. Xiaomi has a catalyst for the next step of extending the chip industry chain.

Xiaomi's model can be continuously expanded, but where is the limit? If you can't see the limit, you will feel inexplicably scared. In the past, Apple was willing to poach people from its partners, and now Xiaomi is doing the same, which is chilling.

Xiaomi's content business is easy to see through, but the ambition and strength behind it are not simple. The Xiaomi empire is turning ambition into reality.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.