We were down in London last month for the UK Xiaomi launch. Their kit is absolutely top notch and they’re causing waves by creating flagship phones without the insane price-tag.
At the launch, which we covered here, there was a lot of promotional activity going on. The launch sales were similar to those seen on Gearbest, where you have to click or visit a page at a certain time to get a device for a crazy-cheap price. T
Trouble is, the Xiaomi “£1 launch sale” wasn’t that clear, with the Mi website seemingly running a page which had a countdown timer that switched to “Sold out” when it reached zero.
Unbeknown to a lot of customers, there was only a small supply of handsets at the sale price, and the “Sold out” button seemingly put people into a raffle if they were hitting it at the allotted time. The UK advertising watchdog has now told Xiaomi to be clearer about how it future sales are promoted, following 24 complaints about the sale. Only 10 handsets were available across four launch events.
Xiaomi hasn’t responded as yet.