印度知名實業家拉丹塔塔入股小米
Ratan Tata, the Indian industrialist, has invested an undisclosed sum in China’s biggest smartphone maker, Xiaomi, giving a boost to the company’s Indian expansion plans.
印度實業家拉丹•塔塔(Ratan Tata)向中國最大智能手機制造商小米(Xiaomi)進行了一筆金額不詳的投資，此舉對小米的印度擴張計劃是個提振。“India is our biggest market outside of mainland China and also an extremely important one. Our goal is to become number one in the next three to five years and we are keen on partnerships here,” said Bin Lin, Xiaomi co-founder and president, in a statement.
小米聯合創始人、總裁林斌在一份聲明中表示：“印度是我們在中國內地以外最大的市場，也是一個極其重要的市場。我們的目標是在未來3至5年中成爲老大，我們熱衷於在那裏建立合作伙伴關係。”
Since his retirement in 2012 as chairman of industrial conglomerate the Tata group, Mr Tata has become an active venture investor in Indian e-commerce start-ups. Mr Tata, whose current title is chairman emeritus of Tata, made the investment with his personal wealth and the stake will be held independent of the group.
2012年塔塔從綜合產業集團塔塔集團(Tata Group)董事長職位退休以後，成爲了一名風險投資者，積極投資於印度的電商初創企業。他現在的頭銜是塔塔集團榮譽董事長，他對小米的投資用的是私人財富，所購得的股份將獨立於塔塔集團持有。
The announcement on Saturday follows a visit to India by Xiaomi last week. During the visit, former Google executive Hugo Barra, now Xiaomi’s vice-president for international operations, unveiled the company’s newest handset, the Mi 4i, which will sell for INR12,999 ($204).
上述消息於上週六宣佈，在那之前，小米上週訪問了印度。在那次訪問中，谷歌(Google)前高管、現任小米國際業務副總裁的雨果•巴拉(Hugo Barra)，發佈了該公司最新款手機Mi 4i，預定售價爲12999印度盧比（合204美元）。It is the first phone that Xiaomi has launched outside China. Localised versions of the Mi 4i will also be begin selling in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong next month.
這是小米在海外發布的首款手機。下個月，馬來西亞、印尼、新加坡、臺灣和香港也將開售本地化版本的Mi 4i。Xiaomi controlled 4 per cent of India’s smartphone market in the fourth quarter last year, according to market researcher IDC. Market leader Samsung controlled 22 per cent, followed by Indian vendors Micromax, Intex and Lava. Smartphone penetration in India trails that of China, leaving room for fast growth.
市場研究公司IDC數據顯示，去年第四季度，小米在印度智能手機市場佔有4%的份額。印度市場領導者三星(Samsung)佔有22%的份額，之後是印度供應商Micromax、Intex和Lava。印度的智能手機普及率低於中國，這爲快速增長留下了空間。Xiaomi raised $1.1bn late last year in a venture capital funding round that valued the company at $45bn. The company has used a viral marketing campaign to sell its high-spec, low-cost smartphones and vault over more established manufacturers to become the market leader in China.
小米去年晚些時候在一輪風投融資中籌得11億美元，使該公司的估值達到450億美元。該公司一直使用病毒式營銷來出售自己的高配置、低價格的智能手機，一躍超過一些更老牌的製造商，坐上了中國市場頭號交椅。The company has also branched out into online music and internet-enabled set-top video boxes that act as a substitute for cable TV.
該公司還將業務擴展至在線音樂和可取代有線電視的互聯網機頂盒。Xiaomi’s expansion plans in India hit a snag in December when the Delhi High Court banned the company from selling smartphones pending a further hearing on alleged patent infringement against Swedish technology group Ericsson. The ban has since ended.
去年12月，小米在印度的擴張計劃遇到了難題。當時德里高院(Delhi High Court)對小米智能手機下達了禁售令，等待其就有關小米侵犯瑞典科技公司愛立信(Ericsson)專利的指控進行進一步庭審。該禁令後來被撤銷。
