Xiaomi Developer Conference gets overwhelming response in India

Chinese technology giant Xiaomi organised a Developer Conference at Andaz Hotel, Delhi on Tuesday.

The conference, whose main theme revolved around the advantages of working within the Xiaomi ecosystem and empowering local developers, received an overwhelming response from local start-ups and individual developers, who thronged the event venue in the capital.

The event witnessed the presence of hundreds of attendees.

During the day-long conference, Xiaomi showcased its latest products, services and a few successful cooperation case studies.

In a welcome speech Max Ma, General Manager, Global Internet Business, Xiaomi emphasised on the importance of Indian market for the company and invited local developers to become part of the team to achieve their true potential.

Moving forward, Chinese tech firm revealed a series of resources to support developers, who generally have a hard time gaining tractions and combating competition while launching a new app.

To support the developers in India, GetApps (formerly known as Mi App Store) announced the launch of Seagull Project. The project invests resources worth Rs 1 billion in supporting local developers and start-ups through giving awards, featuring apps on the start page, publishing reviews, providing editorial recommendations, and hosting sessions - all of which will help build a new Internet ecosystem beneficial to all its participants.

Besides, GetApps provides greater reach out for developers to a global audience. In last one year, the app store has claimed to witness 120% growth in Daily Active Users (DAU) to 11 million.

"The complete solution to developers problems is largely driving the new active user on the platform. The app developers have an opportunity to leverage traffic bonuses and multiple strategies to promote their works," said Ivonne Li, the head of Mi App Store (now GetApps), Xiaomi.

Li further elucidated benefits through an example of Trell, one of lifestyle community apps in India, which got 200% more downloads after launching on GetApps.

That is not all, an app, which is solving problems of ground, will also be entitled to get Golden Mi award every week.

The conference also witnessed the launch of Mint Games, a distribution lab for casual and indie games. Conceptualised with a philosophy to enjoy the games, it primarily focuses on publishing games on the Google Play and Apple App Store. For game developers, It offers resources at minimum cost, including distribution strategy, industry expertise and free traffic.

“There are 71.66 million daily active users of Xiaomi phones who are gamers, with an average of 6.65 million new users added daily. An average gaming session on a mobile phone for each user lasts 27 minutes,” said Robin Zheng, Head of Mi Global Game Publishing, Xiaomi.

 With the gaming industry expected for significant growth in the next two years, this is a massive opportunity for game developers in India, Zheng added.

The event also delved on Xiaomi ecosystem many other services including a Kingsoft cloud platform, Mi Pay, Mi Video and its ambition to build a global software ecosystem.

Xiaomi, in its five years of exitance in India, has emerged as a number one smartphone brand in the country. MIUI, the system of Xiamoi mobile phone, claims to have about 279 million monthly active users (MAU). The smartphone brand has retained the number one position for the last eight quarters.

Xiaomi aims to work with local developers and supporting their work to build an Internet ecosystem that provides better service to end-users in India.

Disclaimer: Entrackr was media partner for Xiaomi Developer Conference 2019.