The Brazilian selling Chinese phones to Latin America
The Brazilian selling Chinese phones to Latin America
By Daniel Gallas
South America Business Correspondent
30 June 2015
Hugo Barra says Latin America presents a big opportunity
Brazilians, like the rest of us, are used to buying products made in China. But in Sao Paulo's Santa Ifigenia neighbourhood - the city's main market for electronic devices - consumers are not kind to Chinese brands.
"The first thing that comes to my mind when you say Chinese is an inferior product, probably contraband. I would avoid them," one shopper tells me.
There is even a pejorative term for Chinese brands that try to rival or imitate other established brands: "Xing Ling". Yet this is the market chosen by China's Xiaomi to start selling its smartphone outside Asia.
Smartphones
Leading this Chinese "invasion" is a Brazilian executive. Hugo Barra, Xiaomi's vice-president, is a rare case of a Latin American businessman heading a top Chinese company.
The world's third largest smartphone maker is not very well known outside Asia and it chose Latin America as its first major Western venture. Not Europe, not the US.
More:
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-33302098