Xiaomi, one of the world’s largest smartphone distributor, whose surging sales have been put on hold by Delhi High Court, has responded to the sales ban with an open letter to Indian buyers.
The letter was posted by Xiaomi’s global vice president Hugo Barra on his personal Facebook page; acknowledges the sales ban and says that the company is in the process of evaluating its legal options.
Below is the full text of Barra’s letter:
Dear Mi fans,
We have been committed to continue our sales of Redmi Note and Redmi 1S devices in India. In the last 2 days alone, we received about 150,000 registrations for Redmi Note on Flipkart and the momentum has been terrific.
However, we have been forced to suspend sales in India until further notice due to an order passed by the Delhi High Court. As a law abiding company, we are investigating the matter carefully and assessing our legal options.
Our sincere apologies to all Indian Mi fans! Please rest assured that we’re doing all we can to revert the situation. We have greatly enjoyed our journey with you in India over the last 5 months and we firmly intend to continue it!
Stay tuned for more information.
Hugo
(on behalf of the Mi India team)
Xiaomi has been in controversies since its launch. In November 2012, Xiaomi’s smart set-top box stopped working one week after the launch due to the company having run afoul of China’s State Administration of Radio, Film, and Television. The regulatory issues were overcome in January 2013.
While in October 2014, Xiaomi announced that it was setting up servers outside of China for international users citing improved services and compliance to regulations in several nations. Around the same time, the Indian Air Force issued a warning against Xiaomi phones, stating that they were a national threat as they sent user data to an agency of the Chinese government.