Daily Authority: Xiaomi’s marketing 📉

Yesterday Xiaomi launched its Xiaomi 11T series but is still focused on Europe and Asia through sales in the US.

What you need to know:

• The Xiaomi 11T Pro (the Mi branding is dead now, remember) leads the series, with a Snapdragon 888, 6.67-inch AMOLED display that looks great, solid battery life with super-fast 120W charging and a triple camera that focuses on a 108MP main shooter.
• To keep costs down, Xiaomi saved up on the IP rating, opted for a cheaper plastic construction, abandoned wireless charging and started the base model with 8GB / 128GB for 649 euros (~ 650 US dollars, before tax).
• Depending on the region, it will struggle with the OnePlus 9 ($ 649), Motorola Edge ($ 699), iPhone 13 ($ 699), and the Galaxy S21 FE if Samsung finally gets that on in the next few weeks or so Market brings.
• Reviews are already out and they are just fine.
• The 11T Pro looks like a powerful set of components that don’t quite fit together thanks to a mediocre camera and a cheap build.
• Conclusion: “Xiaomi has set high standards with the 11T Pro, but not quite achieved it. The phone has a lot going for it, like a beautiful display, top performance and lightning fast charging, but the cameras are mediocre and lack some features that detract from its overall appeal. ”

The no-phone craze:

The proximity of the launch to Apple’s event by one day made Xiaomi’s already clumsy marketing seem wild off the slopes.

• Xiaomi is weird in that it is really really good with solid, inexpensive smartphones and flagships that tick a lot of boxes.
• But marketing is by no means its forte. His best marketing effort is his pricing, not his product launches.

In a flashy two-hour launch, Xiaomi was more distracted by fashion and movies than the details of its devices.

• It was slick and budget and scenic and expensive, but Xiaomi spent its time with wildly weird elements.
• Confusingly, Xiaomi showed more than half a dozen short films.
• The word “Cinemagic” (Cinema Magic) was used as a tagline for the 11T series more than a dozen times.
• Xiaomi showed a collaboration with the French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld.
• Supermodel Coco Rocha posed with the Mi 11 Lite NE in a one-minute video.
• None of this really felt like it belonged to it or looked related.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering why this is Xiaomi’s approach. Obviously, Xiaomi relies on the marketing effect of the brand claim; It doesn’t focus solely on Hollywood filmmakers and fashionistas and so on to buy its phone.

• A basic marketing principle is to associate glamor with making people believe that your phone is better and more valuable.
• It’s social psychology, celebrity effect and so on.
• So Xiaomi thought of associating its brand with Hollywood and fashion; not so much the nerds and geeks wondering if a phone has an IP rating.
• Apple manages this without feeling like it is trying.
• Xiaomi felt that it was a lot further away.

Likewise: Xiaomi’s new Pad 5 tablet has gone global and will be available in Europe for 349 euros.

Do you remember when passwords were the way to go? A hell of a world of forgotten details, not using too long a password, security loopholes, a mixture of numbers and letters and so on.

• I mean, we’re still in this period, sorry.
• But it’s getting better!
• The news that Microsoft accounts can now become completely passwordless means we may finally see a catalyst for further development.
• Microsoft has worked towards a passwordless login and we are finally here.
• “Today marks a major milestone in Microsoft’s passwordless ambitions after the company activated security keys and made Windows 10 passwordless in 2018,” writes The edge.
• “We introduced this at Microsoft and almost 100 percent of Microsoft are now passwordless,” said Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president of Microsoft security, compliance & identity. More than 200 million people already use passwordless options. “

Thank you very much,

Tristan Rayner, Managing Editor.