Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 71 posts

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#41

Post by jb613 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #29
neves wrote: post #25

Would this break the New World Order? This is really interesting, maybe this will set a precedent for the creation of tech companies in the developing world. The Developed World have a clear plan: they will own all the "intellectual property" and use the cheap work in developing countries. It is not a problem if the same company produces all brands of printers. If it starts to sell a print itself, it will be sued to…

Wait, how is this worse than developing country steals IP for domestic market, can't sell abroad in countries where IP matters? China can and does appropriate IP as needed, this is basically xiaomi's modus operandi. It stops working when developing country company wants to make money in developed market where IP is owned, which I guess is what they want with the patent portfolio. China in general has said "we don't c…

> China in general has said "we don't care" about IP rights, it is only changing now because (a) they are beginning to have their own IP to protect, (b) it is a race to the bottom between local companies when NO IP is protected, and (c) you will get sued to death on products sold in developed markets that are questionable in IP usage.

Or is China now caring about IP because they have seen that it's more profitable to the innovator rather than after-the-fact-copycat.

The bigger question is whether they can become the innovator. In some instances, they have indicated they might but overall I'm not sold that they can.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#42

Post by seanmcdirmid »

jb613 wrote: post #41
seanmcdirmid wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, how is this worse than developing country steals IP for domestic market, can't sell abroad in countries where IP matters? China can and does appropriate IP as needed, this is basically xiaomi's modus operandi. It stops working when developing country company wants to make money in developed market where IP is owned, which I guess is what they want with the patent portfolio. China in general has said "we don't c…

> China in general has said "we don't care" about IP rights, it is only changing now because (a) they are beginning to have their own IP to protect, (b) it is a race to the bottom between local companies when NO IP is protected, and (c) you will get sued to death on products sold in developed markets that are questionable in IP usage. Or is China now caring about IP because they have seen that it's more profitable to…

Actually, copying other IP has been seen as low hanging fruit, as it was for many other economies at that stage of development (Japan post WW2, America in the late 1800s as the industrial revolution was starting in the UK). Chinese VCs preferred "copy successful ideas from west" ideas because they were much lower risk for their capital.

It is just that the low hanging fruits are now almost all picked. Hopefully they are reaching their Walkman moment.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#43

Post by greatergoodguy »

samwestdev wrote: post #40

I'd love a Xiaomi with vanilla android

I agree. I imported the Xiaomi Mi Note Pro and the hardware is fantastic. I bought it when it was already 8 months old so it dropped in price from $500 to $350. Adding a $20 import fee and the total was $370. It comes with 64 GBs storage, 4 GBs ram, and a quad hd display (2560x1440).

Some things that are lame. No fingerprint sensor and no NFC.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#44

Post by philliphaydon »

li-ch wrote: post #28
pawadu wrote: post #18

I think in 2-4 years, xiaomi will be a market leader. I believe this for three reasons: 1. the Chineese government got their backs. (e.g. foreign competitors have been forced to agree to not sue these guys to get their mergers approved) 2. they make long term strategic decisions. xiaomi is owned by the employees and don't have any short-sighted shareholders to please 3. their engineering and manufacturing teams have…

No they will not. 1. Chinese Gov has Huawei's back, not Xiaomi. 2. Their decision to make their OS to show crazy amount of ads is really short sighted. 3. They are falling dangerously behind Huawei in both sales and quality of product.

There's no ads. At least not here in Singapore versions.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#45

Post by partiallypro »

li-ch wrote: post #28
pawadu wrote: post #18

I think in 2-4 years, xiaomi will be a market leader. I believe this for three reasons: 1. the Chineese government got their backs. (e.g. foreign competitors have been forced to agree to not sue these guys to get their mergers approved) 2. they make long term strategic decisions. xiaomi is owned by the employees and don't have any short-sighted shareholders to please 3. their engineering and manufacturing teams have…

No they will not. 1. Chinese Gov has Huawei's back, not Xiaomi. 2. Their decision to make their OS to show crazy amount of ads is really short sighted. 3. They are falling dangerously behind Huawei in both sales and quality of product.

> 1. Chinese Gov has Huawei's back, not Xiaomi.

The Chinese government backs several companies in the same industry, there's no reason to believe they don't have both company's backs

>2. Their decision to make their OS to show crazy amount of ads is really short sighted.

This must be a Chinese mainland thing, I've never seen this on any of their devices.

> 3. They are falling dangerously behind Huawei in both sales and quality of product.

I don't think so, I find the Xiaomi products to be very inticing and well built for the price. In the new era of smartphones where people will no longer be willing to shell out big bucks and subsidies of smart phones from providers are faltering (or just ending.) Companies like Xiaomi stand to gain.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#46

Post by jb613 »

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #42
jb613 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> China in general has said "we don't care" about IP rights, it is only changing now because (a) they are beginning to have their own IP to protect, (b) it is a race to the bottom between local companies when NO IP is protected, and (c) you will get sued to death on products sold in developed markets that are questionable in IP usage. Or is China now caring about IP because they have seen that it's more profitable to…

Actually, copying other IP has been seen as low hanging fruit, as it was for many other economies at that stage of development (Japan post WW2, America in the late 1800s as the industrial revolution was starting in the UK). Chinese VCs preferred "copy successful ideas from west" ideas because they were much lower risk for their capital. It is just that the low hanging fruits are now almost all picked. Hopefully they…

> It is just that the low hanging fruits are now almost all picked.

If you're copying, then there is never an end to the low hanging fruit. Never.

> Hopefully they are reaching their Walkman moment.

To reach a Walkman moment they first have to invent a Walkman. Hope is not a strategy.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#47

Post by olalonde »

jb613 wrote: post #39
pawadu wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given that all phones are manufactured in China, I would say that ship has already sailed. But I am an equal opportunity guy - if NSA is spying on me it is only fair to let the Chinese in too :) More seriously, since these phones are often bought from "gray market" vendors, I am more worried about cybercriminals planting malware in them when they are imported: http://venturebeat.com/2015/03/07/security-firm-finds-pre…

> if NSA is spying on me it is only fair to let the Chinese in too :) I never understand this self-defeatist mentality. One represents a democracy while the other represents a communist dictatorship. If you trust them so much why not just move there and become a citizen :-) I mean, I hear there's lot of jobs have moved there the past ~decade.

Or you could say that one has a recent history of imperialism and militarism while the other is relatively peaceful and non interventionist.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#48

Post by jb613 »

olalonde wrote: post #47
jb613 wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if NSA is spying on me it is only fair to let the Chinese in too :) I never understand this self-defeatist mentality. One represents a democracy while the other represents a communist dictatorship. If you trust them so much why not just move there and become a citizen :-) I mean, I hear there's lot of jobs have moved there the past ~decade.

Or you could say that one has a recent history of imperialism and militarism while the other is relatively peaceful and non interventionist.

squelching any internal dissent, creating islands in the ocean to hold military bases to takeover an entire section of the world, manipulating currency, providing infrastructure to carry out corporate and nation state espionage, etc... - these are what you consider "relatively peaceful and non interventionist"?

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#49

Post by MasterScrat »

partiallypro wrote: post #45
li-ch wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they will not. 1. Chinese Gov has Huawei's back, not Xiaomi. 2. Their decision to make their OS to show crazy amount of ads is really short sighted. 3. They are falling dangerously behind Huawei in both sales and quality of product.

> 1. Chinese Gov has Huawei's back, not Xiaomi. The Chinese government backs several companies in the same industry, there's no reason to believe they don't have both company's backs >2. Their decision to make their OS to show crazy amount of ads is really short sighted. This must be a Chinese mainland thing, I've never seen this on any of their devices. > 3. They are falling dangerously behind Huawei in both sales a…

> I don't think so, I find the Xiaomi products to be very inticing and well built for the price.

Have you ever used actually used a Xiaomi product for some time? Sure they are cheap and look ok but they are so unreliable it gets unbearable after a few months.

Re: Microsoft sells patents to Xiaomi

#50

Post by snnn »

pawadu wrote: post #31
li-ch wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they will not. 1. Chinese Gov has Huawei's back, not Xiaomi. 2. Their decision to make their OS to show crazy amount of ads is really short sighted. 3. They are falling dangerously behind Huawei in both sales and quality of product.

MIUI showing ads? Are you sure they come from first party apps?

MIUI has another popular name: ADUI
Post reply on HN