Xiaomi is returned by customs. Customs is unwrapping Xiaomi phones purchased on AliExpress. Now a few words about business interests...
In recent days, the topic of blocking the supply channel of Xiaomi equipment from China to Russia has become one of the most popular on the Internet, which is quite understandable - it has become a place of regular shopping for many domestic users, but now shopping in the Middle Kingdom has become more risky.
So, in short, the situation is as follows: devices under the Xiaomi brand (as well as most other Asian vendors) until recently successfully reached Russia through two channels - the official one, through distributors, and the “grey” one, in mail from various online fairs such as and like her. Naturally, the presence of a second alternative channel pleased buyers with its lower (30-100%) prices, but upset the managers of Smart Orange LLC, which officially represents the interests of Xiaomi in the domestic market.
Actually, Smart Orange did not put up with the state of affairs and very much asked (how exactly they asked - history is silent) to the Federal Customs Service of Russia to limit the import of the parent company’s products from China through international shipments. To their request, Smart Orange representatives attached a list of dealers, including the official distributor RDC Group, who are allowed to receive Chinese smartphones, tablets and other gadgets - these are citizens, or rather those registered by them legal entities, regularly pay all the necessary deductions, which means they function quite reasonably.
As a result, thousands of users who ordered Xiaomi products (as well as buyers of some other brands, but to a much lesser extent) from China received notification that their packages were sent back to the sellers. At the same time, the majority of shipments were “wrapped” for one of two reasons: the device contains strong cryptographic protection (the import of such devices into the Russian Federation is limited) or the device was recognized as counterfeit (the fact of counterfeiting is allegedly determined by Smart Orange LLC).
Naturally, this is not the first attempt to limit online shopping by Russians - such a large market cannot remain without state control and its direct (or is it indirect?) benefit. As the curator states public organization RosKomSvoboda Artem Kozlyuk, the customs service can be the main instrument of influence on buyers of foreign online stores.
Users affected by such actions by the FCS are trying to get their money back by contacting Chinese sellers; only a few of them are ready to sue customs. Lawyers note that winning such a lawsuit would be very problematic for a private individual, and the process itself could take years. At the same time, at the moment, parcels from Xiaomi are not allowed through only in Yekaterinburg and Orenburg, but columnist Eldar Murtazin, citing sources in the Federal Customs Service, notes that in the near future employees in other cities will receive similar instructions. Moreover, if the methods tested by Xiaomi prove effective, other companies may apply them in the near future.
However, some users have found a way to relatively safely receive their parcels from the Middle Kingdom. To do this, you need to agree with the seller so that instead of Xiaomi, the shipment indicates another brand of smartphone or tablet that is included in the list of valid FSB notifications. Such a device will not be subject to the law on strong cryptographic protection and may undergo customs inspection.
In April, people like to order inexpensive smartphones They began to report from China that Xiaomi devices were no longer allowed through customs and were being returned back to the sellers. This happened allegedly due to the official arrival of the Chinese brand on Russian market. At the end of last month, the first prerequisites appeared that the ban on the import of “gray” Xiaomi smartphones may stop.
Now the struggle between users and Smart Orange (the official distributor of Xiaomi products in Russia) and customs has come to an end. A number of sources report that Smart Orange has withdrawn all its claims. Moreover, an official response was received from the Orenburg Transport Prosecutor's Office, which puts an end to this matter.
On the social network VKontakte, in the group “Problem with Orenburg Customs”, a response from the Orenburg Transport Prosecutor’s Office regarding delays at customs for Xiaomi smartphones was posted today. It says the following:
“Also during the inspection it was established that the decision of the Orenburg postal customs post to refuse to release and return the goods to the sender - portable phone“XIAOMI” sent to MPO No. RA 189789576FI is illegal and contradicts the provisions of subparagraph 1 of paragraph 2 of Article 328 of the Labor Code of the Customs Union, according to which measures to protect rights to intellectual property are not applied by customs authorities in relation to goods moved across the customs border by physical persons for personal use, including those sent to their address in international mail. These, according to subparagraph 36 of paragraph 1 of Article 4 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, include goods intended for personal, family, household and other non-business needs of individuals, transported across the customs border in accompanied or unaccompanied luggage, international mail or in another way.
The Orenburg Customs did not have any legal grounds for classifying the “XIAOMI” brand portable phone returned to the sender as a counterfeit product, sent to your address in MPO No. RA 189789576FI.
Based on this fact, the Orenburg transport prosecutor submitted a proposal to the head of the Orenburg customs to eliminate violations of customs legislation, which is under consideration.”
Users report that now all parcels pass through customs and there are no problems.
After a wave of complaints to the Investigative Committee, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the prosecutor’s office and the media, customs officers stopped “wrapping” parcels from China
Customs began to let through parcels containing phones ordered by Russians from foreign online stores. Let us remind you that in April, thousands of orders, mainly with Xiaomi brand mobile phones, were frozen by the Federal Customs Service, seeing signs of counterfeit in them. Buyers who did not receive orders considered these actions arbitrary and suspected customs officers of collusion with dealers who sell the same devices in Russia at one and a half to two times more expensive, and began to complain to the regulatory authorities. After the uproar, smartphones began to be released, but it is not known whether the conflict has been settled: the FCS considers its actions legal, as does the Association of Internet Trade Companies. Details are in the material of Realnoe Vremya.
Telephone amnesty, or Customs gave the go-ahead
The Federal Customs Service has begun to allow smartphones from China to pass through. On page There is joyful excitement on the social network created by Russians who did not receive their packages. If just a few days ago they posted samples of complaints about the actions of customs officers to the prosecutor's office, the Investigative Committee and the Antimonopoly Service, now - screenshots with tracking of parcels with the long-awaited “released by customs”. Almost all of our parcels were stuck at customs for 16-20 days.
“Oh, they released me for May 3rd. It looks like an amnesty. Or “Smart Orange” gave the go-ahead,” writes Irina Koroleva in the comments.
Let us remind you that problems with delays in smartphones ordered from Chinese online stores began in April. The Federal Customs Service included the Xiaomi trademark in the register of intellectual property based on an application from the copyright holder, which in Russia became Smart Orange LLC. According to the law, customs must notify a representative of the copyright holder about the import of a suspicious phone into the territory of the Eurasian Economic Union. Smart Orange, in turn, responded that this product has signs of counterfeiting, and objected to its importation. Thus, customs officers began returning thousands of phones back to China.
The Federal Customs Service included the Xiaomi trademark in the register of intellectual property based on the request of the copyright holder. Photo anrt.info
As representatives of the Federal Customs Service commented to Realnoe Vremya, “in accordance with Article 111 of the Labor Code of the Customs Union officials When carrying out customs operations, customs authorities check documents and information, during which they send appropriate notifications to copyright holders about the identification of goods in the MPO that have signs of violation of intellectual property rights (counterfeit). When sending this notification to the right holder, the customs authority makes a decision to extend the period for the release of goods. If, according to the information provided by the copyright holder, the goods being sent are counterfeit, then the customs authorities, in cooperation with the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Russian Post", take measures to prevent the import into the Russian Federation of prohibited goods arriving at the MPO and ensure their immediate export from Russian Federation».
Have you suddenly stopped finding signs of counterfeit in phones?
According to media reports, Smart Orange LLC asked customs to take a closer look at phones from China in order to stop “gray” supplies of smartphones and accessories under the Xiaomi brand. Perhaps the company saw the main threat in private entrepreneurs supplying gadgets bypassing official channels, but in the end, retail customers who ordered smartphones for personal needs began to suffer. The actions of customs officers who “unfold” such parcels were called lawlessness by the President of the National Association of Distance Selling, Alexander Ivanov.
I have great doubts about the legality of this. With us, this story does not apply to goods for personal use - with the rights of individual distributors. Products for personal use are not subject to certification provisions or the law. What happened now is arbitrary. The question is whether the victims will sue and prove their case. The private individual has a weak position in this regard - he is practically powerless against the state. But the Chinese seller will not go to Russia to sue - for him this is a microscopic part of the business, - Alexander Ivanov told Realnoe Vremya.
What happened once the phones began to arrive to customers - did the customs officers change their position or did Smart Orange LLC suddenly stop finding signs of counterfeit in Xiaomi ordered directly from China? Smart Orange was unable to promptly comment on its position to Realnoe Vremya; we sent a request and are awaiting a response.
Buyers believe that an original Xiaomi phone purchased in China from an official dealer cannot be considered counterfeit - it is, without a doubt, original and manufactured in the sender’s country. Photo miui.su
Discounts for victims of greed
A wave of criticism fell on the official distributor from dissatisfied customers. They believe that an original Xiaomi phone purchased in China from an official dealer cannot be considered counterfeit - it is, without a doubt, original and manufactured in the sender’s country.
According to buyers, the distributor’s attempts to stop the supply of smartphones directly from China are connected “solely with greed.” The petition sent to the management of Beijing Xiaomi Technology Co., Ltd states that the official Xiaomi distributor in Russia is selling phones at excessively inflated prices.
“On average, it is 2 times higher than the price set on the manufacturer’s official website,” writes the author of the petition, Alexey Sadchikov.
In the official group on social networks, Xiaomi representatives in Russia are already tired of answering what the price of the product in Russia consists of.
“The pricing policy has already been mentioned earlier, however, we are ready to repeat it. The price of our products in Russia depends on many factors. Taxes and customs tariffs of the Russian Federation are one of the most important. In addition, we offer a number of services included in the price of the product: warranty service, localization, adaptation to the local market and much more,” answers the official distributor.
It is noteworthy that as soon as problems with phones being delayed at customs began, the distributor offered buyers whose phones were sent back to China “the maximum possible discounts on official Xiaomi products.” To do this, it was necessary to send confirmation that the goods were returned to the seller. From the messages under the post one could understand that the discounts were scanty and there was no hurry to take advantage of them.
According to Fedorov, cross-border online trading has long become a channel for obtaining small quantities of goods for commercial use. Photo allinvest.ru
AKIT protected customs
Against the actions of Smart Orange LLC, which declared war Chinese online stores, spoke out in the public organization RosKomSvoboda and the National Association of Distance Selling. However, there are experts who agree with the position of the Federal Customs Service and the official distributor.
AKIT believes that the activities of the FCS are fully justified and correct from the point of view of the law. In our understanding, it is the copyright holder in the country where products under his brand are sold that must determine whether a particular product is counterfeit or not. With the rapid development of the Internet, cross-border online trading has become the main channel for the entry of counterfeit goods into our country. At the same time, for example, in classic imports, customs have long learned to stop the supply of counterfeit products. Cell phones, arriving from abroad in parcels do not undergo certification and security testing (at the same time, all phones officially imported into the territory of the Russian Federation must be certified by the security authorities FSB and FSTEC), cannot be used when working with our standards telephone communication. This means that such goods cannot be legally sold in Russia, says Alexey Fedorov, president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies.
According to Fedorov, cross-border online trading has long become a channel for obtaining small quantities of goods for commercial use. Increasingly, for example, in the regions, a resourceful entrepreneur orders a batch of phones in several parcels “for personal use”, falling within the current duty-free import threshold of 1,000 euros in the Russian Federation. Sales of goods in in this case occurs on the territory of the buyer, at the place of receipt of the goods, that is, such products are considered purchased in the territory of the Russian Federation, and not abroad.
The Association advised not to purchase goods from unofficial sellers and always remember that “the miser pays twice.” Photo miui.su
“Marginal sales of Apple phones are less than 3%”
Often, goods in foreign online stores are cheaper than their counterparts in Russia. AKIT believes that this is due to the fact that some models are not designed to work in our telecommunications networks. In addition, they do not have warranty and post-warranty service and maintenance.
In our work, we have repeatedly encountered a big misconception that Russian sellers receive 300-400% profit from the sale of one phone, which, of course, is not true. So, for example, the margin on the sale of Apple phones is less than 3%, while sellers receive income from the sale of accessories and equipment maintenance, but the difference is in the customs duties they pay Russian companies and their foreign competitors do not pay, reaches 28%. We understand perfectly well that today the Chinese counterfeit everything. At the moment, even in the vastness of the Runet you can find a huge number of sites selling copies and replicas (which, in fact, is just a fancy name for counterfeit products). China has a powerful production of modern technology, but in parallel with this, a huge number of underground factories are developing for the production of branded goods famous brands, which can be bought for very low prices, - says the president of the Association of Internet Trade Companies.
The Association advised not to purchase goods from unofficial sellers and always remember that “the miser pays twice.”
After receiving the goods, in most cases, you simply will not be able to return the money from the foreign seller, Alexey Fedorov is sure.
It should be noted that the Federal Customs Service in the case of Xiaomi smartphones did not confiscate the goods, but sent them back to the seller, who returned the money to the buyer.
Daria Turtseva
The environment shapes consciousness, and in Moscow this definition of historical materialism becomes literally visible. We are undergoing the next stage of city improvement, in which it is necessary to dig up the main streets, narrow the roads and create a million traffic jams. Some are ready to endure this, others are throwing thunder and lightning, they want to immediately get a comfortable city without intermediate stages, preferably in one night. I fell asleep, woke up, and here it is, the city of dreams. But I remembered this moment because of how our lives are beginning to transform. On a weekday you can usually drive along the Garden Ring from Krasnoproletarskaya Street to Smolensky Passage in ten minutes, taking into account the heavy traffic. On Friday the same journey took me fifty minutes! During this time it was possible to walk, and another ten minutes would have been left. Considering the density of meetings, I understood that I would not have time to get to the restaurant, order food and eat what I ordered. Therefore, I asked my friend to take a photo of the menu and send it to me so that he could place an order. By the time I got there, the food was ready and we were able to start eating immediately. I told this to my friends as an illustration of the traffic situation, and in response I heard that they often do this now - and not with friends, but order food from restaurants remotely and indicate approximately when they will be there. This service is gaining momentum, at least for regular visitors to expensive and not very busy places. The environment is changing our habits, and I am sure that restaurant applications will begin to appear in which it will be possible to place such guaranteed orders, and the restaurants themselves will immediately write off the money from the linked bank card, and there will be no risk for them that you won’t arrive and won’t pay for your order. A new approach is being formed, which is dictated by changes in the road situation. And if you look around, you will find many such examples of changes in our way of life, some noticeable, some still hidden from our eyes. I will be glad if you share your experience in the comments and what you have encountered.
Let's start this issue with the topic of cross-border trade and the problems that may await buyers of a number of goods and brands.
Customs confiscates Xiaomi and Sony smartphones - let's look into the reasons
When you have the “best” smartphone in the world, you also need to buy it at best price, preferably in China. The segment of those who buy smartphones from Xiaomi and other similar brands in Russia, ordering them by mail, is quite large. This is approximately 20-30 thousand people every month, plus those who make their own small business on this, buy smartphones for resale, in total Chinese smartphones parcels will total approximately 65-70 thousand monthly. With the average price of such a smartphone being $200, we can say that this is a significant piece of the pie. Moreover, the user does not pay any taxes on such devices, which makes it possible to achieve a very effective price in comparison with the Russian one, when the product is on the shelves of local stores and the manufacturer or its representative is obliged to honor the warranty, pay VAT and cover other expenses. It is economically impossible to achieve the same price in China and Russia due to different devices market, and also the fact that products, despite the same name and index, often differ in “little things”, production costs. For the Chinese domestic market, many products receive completely different qualities, this applies to both components and assembly lines. At the level of common sense, we are accustomed to thinking that they make goods better for ourselves, but in China, as a rule, everything is topsy-turvy, where goods for the local market are of worse quality than those that are exported. Almost the same story happened in the USSR.
So, here's the beginning of the story, our reader sent me the following message on Twitter:
For ordinary buyers, buying phones from foreign stores has long become commonplace, but there are several pitfalls that people forget about. First, in Russia there is a FSB notification for encryption tools. This means that the manufacturer or its representative must send the name of the device model (smartphone or any other device) to the FSB and indicate that it does not contain any means of strong cryptographic protection. In turn, the FSB adds this model to the database used by customs. If you ordered a device for which there is no FSB notification, then the likelihood that it will not be delivered to you is maximum. An example of such a device is in the delivery screenshot.
An important point is that customs at postal points does not have the ability to open all items; inspections are carried out randomly. This is not even every tenth parcel, their number is much smaller. In large sorting centers X-ray machines have appeared that can show the contents of a parcel, so today no one tries to send a phone under the guise of books, these days are irrevocably gone. The actual postal item is indicated.
But those who want to get a phone that does not have notification, as a rule, negotiate with the sender to indicate a model that has this notification. In this way, these obstacles are circumvented. Very often, when buying the same LeEco, people indicate Russian model names, although inside there may be anything from LeEco. And then it all depends on whether there will be a random check on your parcel and how attentive the customs officer will be. As a rule, such parcels pass through smoothly.
Now the second situation, which they wrote to me about, is sending back “counterfeit” goods. Let's look at it using the example of Xiaomi, which became a pioneer in the fight against its own goods, which it was even able to call counterfeit. So, not long ago an official distributor of Xiaomi, the RDC Group company, appeared in Russia. The subsidiary company “Smart Orange” is responsible for sales, marketing and work with the Xiaomi brand in Russia, all relevant rights are received from the parent, Chinese company that owns the brand.
The problem for RDC Group is that the Xiaomi brand is popular in Russia in narrow circles of enthusiasts who know for sure that these smartphones are “better”, defend their honor in online battles, but are not ready to pay a price higher than what they have delivery from China. And the difference between Russian and Chinese prices can be on average 30%, as you can see for yourself by looking at the official online store and the same Aliexpress.
It is difficult to explain to the buyer why it is impossible for an official business in Russia to sell at the same price; every person wants to get favorable price goods, and all related issues are of little concern to him. Likewise, he considers the quality of the goods to be the same, and attempts to explain that this is not so do not bother him. I especially like how people deliberately go about flashing devices at home, spend quite a lot of time on it, but feel that they have received a benefit. In order to decide on such experiments, you need your hands to grow from the right place, or the desire to save money must outweigh everything.
The example of Meizu shows that properly selected sales channels in Russia can easily operate in parallel with cross-border trade and not interfere with anyone. That is, there is a market for gray Meizu, as well as those that were officially imported. The difference in price between them is noticeable, but the gray ones are sold by orders of magnitude less; this market has never become widespread, while the distributor of the brand is developing the business and has made it noticeably larger.
I personally expected exactly the same approach from the RDC Group, but the company apparently considered that parcels with Xiaomi smartphones threatened sales in Russia, so they decided to limit them. The company has legal grounds for this, since Chinese Xiaomi granted all rights to the brand to his partner and wrote corresponding letters to the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation.
In turn, “Smart Orange” listed all partners who have the right to officially import Xiaomi smartphones into Russia. First of all, the company was concerned not with individuals, but with those who put this business on stream, wholesalers. But private individuals fell under the distribution by accident; nevertheless, restrictions also applied to them. Now all individuals or companies that import smartphones and other Xiaomi devices to Russia and are not on the list from “Smart Orange”, violate the rights of the Xiaomi brand. This is the law, and it works. Users have looked for a provision that supposedly exempts private parcels from these restrictions, but, unfortunately, this is not the case. Here is the lawyer's comment:
By virtue of paragraphs. 2 p. 1 art. 313 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union, it is not allowed to send goods prohibited for shipment in accordance with the acts of the Universal Postal Union in international mail. In turn, the Universal Postal Convention (adopted in Doha on October 11, 2012) in paragraph 2.1.3 prohibits the sending of counterfeit and pirated items.
Signs of counterfeit goods are determined by the country party to the Universal Postal Convention.
In particular, based on the interpretation of paragraph 1 of Art. 1515, paragraph 4 of Art. 1252 and art. 1487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as clause 15 of the Information Letter of the Presidium of the Supreme Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation dated December 13, 2007 No. 122, the import into the territory of the Russian Federation of goods marked with a trademark is in an independent way its use. According to Art. 1487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the use of this trademark by other persons in relation to goods that are introduced into civil circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation directly by the copyright holder or with his consent is not a violation of the exclusive right to a trademark. Thus, goods imported without the consent of the copyright holder, whose interests in the territory of the Russian Federation are represented by SMART ORANGE LLC, are counterfeit, since they violate the exclusive rights to the trademark of the copyright holder.
In this case, the above rules of law apply, and not paragraphs. 1 item 2 art. 328 TK TS, because by virtue of paragraph 4 of Art. 15 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, generally recognized principles and norms of international law have supreme legal force in relation to domestic legal norms.
The prohibition of this method of using a trademark, such as the import of goods marked with a Trademark into the territory of the Russian Federation, is aimed at compliance with the international obligations of the Russian Federation in the field of protection of intellectual property rights in accordance with Part 4 of Art. 15, part 1 art. 44 and paragraphs. "o" Art. 71 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation and does not contradict Part 1 of Art. 74 of the Constitution of the Russian Federation."
The Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation is guided by precisely this interpretation; I was unofficially told by a customs representative that at the moment there were restrictions only at a number of customs points, but they will apply to a larger number of points and will gradually work everywhere. Until the moment we are separate individuals will not go through litigation and cannot prove that such actions are illegal, no changes will be made. It is quite difficult to win a case against the Federal Customs Service, plus it will take years, that is, by that time the whole point of this idea will be lost, since new restrictions on cross-border sales will already be in effect.
I was unable to receive official comments about the situation at Smart Orange; the topic is too sensitive. However, I met with one of the company's employees and, on condition of anonymity, he was able to say the following:
- Restrictions for private individuals were a consequence of the fight against wholesalers, but not an end in themselves;
- As soon as these restrictions arose, the company decided that this was an interesting approach and planned to increase pressure on this market segment, without planning to make any concessions.
Circumstances have developed in such a way that people who have bought and are buying Xiaomi equipment in China are almost guaranteed to encounter problems when delivering it to Russia by mail. While there is a gap when not all customs points wrap such items and there are a sufficient number of “lucky” ones, but their number will decrease more and more every day. The only way to remove the ban would be to withdraw the letter from Smart Orange, but this would open the door to wholesale supplies, which automatically means this is impossible.
What can I say? The company has the right to independently decide how to conduct business in other markets, including the Russian one. This means that buying Xiaomi equipment turns into a kind of lottery, and the only guaranteed way is to buy it within the country. For example, Meizu is not going to go the same route, leaving this channel for those consumers who want to have a choice of which device to buy, Chinese or Russian. The same can be said about most companies operating in Russia. Of those who tried to learn from experience, I would like to mention only the Sony company; a source at customs said that it had prepared a similar appeal for a number of goods and the restrictions would be similar to those imposed on Xiaomi in private parcels and not only in them.
Those who are faced with this problem are already trying to find a way out. If your phone is stuck on the road or has already been sent back, try to get your money back from the seller. Those who are just making a purchase try to come up with a workaround, for example, simply indicating “smartphone” on the box, without the name of the manufacturer. This is an almost guaranteed check of the parcel, and then your “smartphone” will go back in the same way. It’s also not worth making up names, since there is no notification for fictitious phones, and they will also be turned back.
Buying abroad has always been a kind of lottery, it’s just that now the chances for the buyer have worsened, this is worth taking into account. If Xiaomi example will be effective, and the indignation in social networks quickly falls silent, as is usually the case, then other manufacturers may learn from this experience and begin to do the same. So you can consider this story as the first sign. Whether this business approach will continue depends on the reaction of people and its strength.
First quarter in the smartphone market - version from IDC
Data has arrived from IDC about who was great in the first quarter of 2017 in the smartphone market. Let me remind you that these are exclusively shipments to the channel, that is, in fact, the figures for wholesale deliveries, not retail sales. Let's look at the sign.
The first thing you notice is the constant sales volume of both Samsung and Apple, both companies look stable in terms of sales, they have reached the saturation point. To grow in sales, they need to make major changes to their product line and how they position and market their products. Both companies are experiencing the same difficulties, in particular, the flagships of both Apple and Samsung have faced a drop in demand in China; the local market consumes local brands with great pleasure. Oddly enough, the reason for the falling share in China is not that Chinese phones cheaper, flagships from Vivo, OPPO are comparable, and in the absence of a wide network of retail stores that promote these products. It is impossible to find exact data on exactly how many stores Vivo/OPPO (BBK Corporation) built in 2016. Moreover, BBK Corporation does not have an exact number, since many stores open as franchisees and purchase goods from local players, a kind of hubs. Conservative estimates suggest that Vivo had around 200,000 stores in China, while OPPO was far behind and was only able to cover most of the country with 150,000 stores. In 2016, there was a retail war in China, when the same BBK Corporation took over LeEco (LeTV) stores, offering better conditions and a kind of profit guarantee for local players who repainted their outlets depending on the choice of a particular brand. What is surprising here is that both OPPO and Vivo use the same approach, strategy, they have similar model range, but they do compete with each other for the same stores and sellers. They don't come as a single sentence, with single center management represented by BBK Corporation. Marvelous? Wrong word.
In the first quarter, there was a qualitative change for these two brands; it is associated with expansion into the foreign markets of Asia, in particular, into India; it is not even worth mentioning other countries against the backdrop of India. The surprising thing is that the same Vivo has completely adapted its Chinese strategy for India and has already achieved success in this. They go from small towns and settlements to large ones, open shops in rural areas and only then enter big cities. The result is already noticeable, this strategy is working, and it is completely contrary to what we see in the approach of Apple and Samsung, they go to the market from the top down, first open stores in large, rich cities and only then go down. The problem for them is that in the person of BBK Corporation they have received their antagonist, a company that is eating the market from the other end, while having a comparable model range with the same Samsung in the budget and mid-range segments.
The expansion of these Chinese companies won't last forever, they are already facing a growing problem. Without access to other foreign markets, for example, American or European, further growth cannot be expected. There is no doubt that BBK Corporation will try to do this. How far they will be able to do this remains to be seen open question. So far, they are successful due to the fact that they work according to a proven scheme in countries where it is applicable and where the costs of opening retail outlets are borne by the sellers themselves. In Russia, for example, such a scheme will not work; a completely different approach is needed here. Can they learn it quickly? Not sure. But there is no doubt that BBK Corporation can still grow in 2017 and the first half of 2018. Together with OnePlus, the company has already overtaken Apple in the first quarter of 2017 in unit sales, becoming number two after Samsung.
Interestingly, Huawei achieved significant growth due to the situation in China; the company adopted the strategy of BBK Corporation, which immediately yielded results. The key to success in China today is simple - the maximum number of retail outlets that sell your product. Against this background, Lenovo looks amazing, which was born thanks to this understanding, but during the transformation process forgot about it and became more European than Chinese. For which she was punished by the local market.
The last thing worth paying attention to is the sales of smartphones in the “Other” category. We are not seeing any growth in this category, which perfectly characterizes the situation of many B/C brands. They are having a difficult time because the market is very saturated. In foreign markets, Chinese brands also feel in the best possible way, they are feverish. The example of Russia shows this very well. The problem for them is that the same Samsung launched an increase in prices for components and the cost of production has increased significantly. The best illustration of this is Samsung's quarterly report, in which record sales were driven by its components division rather than its mobile devices. Samsung's revenue for the quarter was $44.6 billion and operating profit was $8.75 billion. Phone revenue fell nearly 50% year-on-year, partly due to write-downs on the Note 7. However, it was the components that made it a record quarter. But in the second quarter, the appearance of the Galaxy S8/S8+ in reporting will make this record a thing of the past, and profits will increase noticeably. The whole of 2017 promises to be Samsung successful, and individual problems, for example, with TVs and their sales against the background of LG OLED TVs, will not be particularly noticeable. In the same LG, the first quarter was also successful, but the reason was solely due to televisions, while the mobile division has remained unprofitable for two years.
I’m interested in how LG/Samsung, for example, will reinvest the income received in new directions, what companies will do in the market and what they will get in the end. In 2017, they will make decisions to adjust their strategies based on the additional revenue they receive.
To summarize what I said about the market, I would like to repeat what I said earlier. In 2017, we will see a stable market with moderate growth. Large companies will improve their positions, weak players may experience serious problems and will begin to optimize their costs.
Frequency aggregation in Galaxy S8/S8+ and an example of use in practice
Even during the deployment of 3G networks, I encountered an interesting phenomenon - there is always some grumbling, eternally dissatisfied user who declares that all these new technologies are of no use to anyone, do not work and everything is a hoax. And it leads specific examples, for example, says that in his city/village/metropolitan area the operator cannot even provide normal EDGE, and you are talking about some 3G speeds. And the main thing is that we don’t need to show these speeds, we will never see them in practice. There are many such people, and they come up in discussions every time there is a story about new technologies. We even have a whole country nearby in which the majority of the progressive population argued quite seriously that 3G is not needed, and Wi-Fi is enough for everyday life. This is how we lived, switching from EDGE to Wi-Fi.
After the launch of 3G, and then the emergence and development of 4G, the deployment of LTE Advanced in Russia in many regions and cities, only a very narrow-minded person can say that new technologies and the speeds they provide are something unnecessary. We are not talking about any individual records; no one needs them. We are talking about the continued evolution of communication networks, and this is very important point for all of us, the industry does not stand still, but develops.
My main operator is MegaFon; in Moscow it has an excellent 4G network that works without any complaints, and is absolutely ideal for data transfer. I can be called a “heavy” subscriber, since in a week I receive 20-30 GB of data through my phone, mostly work files. And for me, the speed of network access and its reliability are critical. It's difficult to sit and download from ftp big file for hours, as it happened the other day in Vienna, where I was faced with restrictions of local networks, after the first gigabyte my speed was simply cut, although there were no restrictions in the package, the reason was the local load on the base station.
After I switched to S8+, it seemed to me that files loaded faster, this was my subjective impression. I attributed this to the perception of the new device, and not to reality. Moreover, having run Speedtest a couple of times, I didn’t get anything extraordinary, ordinary numbers, quite comparable to the S7 EDGE. In one of the conversations with the operator’s engineer, I mentioned this, and he said the following: “Speedtest can not be used for these purposes, it will not show you the speed, since it uses a small file, in LTE Advanced it is good to test the speed on files of 300-500 MB to see the upload or download speed, but in this software the file is small, and you simply won’t notice anything.” I was advised to put free utility“Connection speed”, since it demonstrates the real speed in the moment. And here a new wonderful world opened up, the download speed really increased, and this is clearly visible in this utility. I tried downloading files from an ftp server, I admit that when downloading from other servers the speed will be greater, but there was no goal to achieve maximum speed. In Moscow, MegaFon has already updated about a thousand stations and supports frequency aggregation, which is available in S8/S8+. In theory, the speed ceiling for devices is 450 Mbit/s, in practice it is about 400 Mbit/s, and in my case on my server it is about 380 Mbit/s. Fine? Undoubtedly.
We even recorded a short video about this, because it seemed interesting to me when, without much fanfare or any special messages, it becomes possible to transfer files very quickly on your network.
You can moan about the fact that these speeds are not needed, there is no way to use them, and the list goes on. But why? Progress cannot be stopped, and the evolution of networks is good and correct. Within a couple of years, such opportunities will become available to all residents of Russia in one form or another. Whether you need it is another matter. A good question, which directly depends on what you do and how actively you consume data. It is possible that an EDGE connection is enough for you, the only question is where you find it.
Tell us, what do you think, is it necessary for networks to develop? Or will they be enough for you in the form they are today for many, many years?
2017 Vertu Constellation - first impressions
Vertu Constellation goes on sale in June; due to the sale of Vertu, the release was postponed from spring, and it falls at an unusual time. A review of the device will appear in the coming days, but for now I’ll present a few impressions, however, we already had a first look at the model.
The price of this smartphone starts from 301 thousand rubles in the basic version, that is, this is the most inexpensive Vertu that exists today, and this in absentia guarantees the public’s interest in it. The first thing you notice is the size; the phone turns out to be very massive and rather large - 161.5x77x10 mm, weight - 241 grams. It fits in my pocket, but it sticks out, I can’t call it thin, I’m even somehow unaccustomed to such sizes.
Great skin, memorable appearance and, of course, the same call that you recognize from thousands. Perhaps this is why I always leave the ringer on on Vertu and never switch to vibrate. This sometimes creates funny situations, the other day this phone rang on the subway, the whole car looked at me carefully and then the phone, which can play so loudly and melodiously. It is clear that this phone is not for the metro, but increasingly, owners of expensive cars are losing the battle with Moscow traffic jams and are sent underground in a figurative sense. Although the well-known Moscow snobbery allows some to spend hours in traffic jams, just not to get out of the cozy and artificial world outside. As for me, snobbery has already turned into folklore, and the majority have simply begun to live a quiet life, in which there is no place for outright showing off. Perhaps it's age related? Are there many young people around who have not followed this path? I don’t know, but it feels like all this is happening in different age groups, and this can only be welcomed.
You can criticize Vertu for anything, but no one will deny that this device has its own unique appearance. I like Constellation for this reason; it cannot be confused with anyone else on the market. The operating time on one charge is good, however, I use it as a second phone for calls, and less so for everything else. During the work we must thank the AMOLED screen, it is very, very good.
Sound, screen operating time and appearance are all advantages of the model. Cons? There is exactly one of them - few people can afford to buy such a device. As a result, discussions of Vertu usually come down to a simple thing - who needs all this? A well-fed person does not understand a hungry person, and the opposite is also true.
I won’t run ahead of the locomotive, I’ll write a review, and in it we’ll discuss technical specifications, as well as device positioning. It turned out well, but will the old Vertu audience return to such models? This issue is the main one for the company, and not something from the field of technical achievements.
P.S. A day off is a day off, and therefore I want to wish you excellent weather and a boost of energy for the rest of the week. Let not only the sun warm you, but also the mood inside.
All Xiaomi smartphones are imported into Russia, so many buyers of mobile devices from this manufacturer were never able to receive their parcels. Chinese online stores and sellers understood this and returned money to customers for undelivered goods. Even though thousands of Russians have already filed complaints with several Russian authorities and the CEO of Xiaomi in China, the likelihood of resolving this situation with customs peacefully is extremely low.
The editors of the site carefully analyzed the situation and found two really working solutions that will help buyers from Russia continue to get their hands on Xiaomi smartphones at very low prices. At the same time, the likelihood of any problems arising with the customs service of the Russian Federation is negligible. If everything is done correctly, the package is guaranteed to end up in the hands of the buyer, bypassing the traps set by the Smart Orange company, which asked not to allow allegedly counterfeit Xiaomi smartphones into Russia, since it owns the rights to this trademark.
Agree with the seller or online store
Russian customs operates very simply. If the postal package contains words like “Xiaomi smartphone,” then such mail will not reach Russia. All Chinese online stores and individual sellers usually mention the name of the company, so Russian customs are actually provided with all the data to complete their task
Before purchasing a Xiaomi smartphone in China, you should contact representatives of the online store or seller in advance, asking them not to indicate the brand name of the smartphone, limiting themselves to only the words “smartphone” or “ mobile device on Android." In this case, the customs service will never be able to know for sure which smartphone manufacturer is inside. Of course, the package can be opened, but this almost never happens.
Compliance with this simple rule will allow you to continue to order Xiaomi smartphones from China without overpaying double the price to the Russian representative of the company. In this case, everything will be on completely legal grounds, since the essence of the parcel does not change. Customs officers will still understand that there is a mobile device inside, but what kind of device they will only have to guess.
Order Xiaomi smartphones from the Mall
As part of its integration into the Russian market, the largest Chinese online store AliExpress opened a so-called “Mall” a few months ago, in which Russian residents can order goods not from China, but directly from their country. Thus, postal items bypass inspection by customs services, which means buying this way in a simple way You can use Xiaomi smartphones.
Of course, goods from the Mall cost approximately 10-15% more than those when delivered from China, but the confidence of receiving the parcel and the absence of headaches with customs are definitely worth it. We also note that all postal items moving only in Russia reach recipients within two weeks, and this is another reason to buy a Xiaomi smartphone through AliExpress Mall.
Until August 25 inclusive, everyone has the opportunity to use Xiaomi Mi Band 4, spending only 1 minute of their personal time on it.
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