Xiaomi sells 150,000 smartphones in less than 10 minutes on WeChat

“9 minutes 55 seconds” … that’s how long it took to sell all 150,000 Mi3 smartphones through WeChat.

WeChat flexed its muscles as a real e-commerce platform when Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi sold 150,000 of its flagship Mi3 smartphones in less than 10 minutes.

Xiaomi originally set aside those units specifically for the sale, which began at noon yesterday. Only the TD-SCDMA versions were available, which means they can only connect to 3G through the country’s most popular telco, China Mobile (NYSE:CHL; HKG:0941). Prior to the beginning of the event, buyers could reserve their Mi3s on WeChat.

The transactions took place entirely on WeChat, China’s most popular messaging app. This bodes well for WeChat as well as similar apps looking to enter the e-commerce space.

Xiaomi has never had a problem selling out of deliberately limited quantities of any of its devices. In a flash sale on November 19, it sold 100,000 phones in six minutes. On November 11 (Singles Day), it sold 200,000 in less than three minutes.

(Hat-tip to TheNextWeb for spotting)

(Editing by Steven Millward)