Stream-to-TV Xiaomi Box Finally Up for Pre-Order, But All 10,000 Snapped Up

The Xiaomi Box for streaming content to TVs.

After a delay of several months caused by China’s media regulator, the stream-to-TV Xiaomi Box is finally available for pre-order online, costing US$63 in general, or just $48 for previous buyers of its phones. It marks the arrival of the young Chinese company’s second product line after the success of its Android-based Xiaomi phones, of which over seven million were sold in 2012.

Today, an initial batch of 10,000 Xiaomi Box units were available for pre-order. But the device – which is comparable to the Apple TV except that it runs a version of Android – is not available nationwide, and for some reason is shipping only to three Chinese cities: Shanghai, Changsha, and Hangzhou. You’ll need to provide a shipping address in one of those cities in order to snag one. The devices will ship on April 9th.

All 10,000 have been snapped up, so the Xiaomi Box homepage remains inert until the next batch comes up for pre-order on March 26th. Xiaomi founder Lei Jun recently explained that “the supply of Xiaomi phones doesn’t meet the demand,” and it’ll likely be the same with its new set-top box. So you can expect more fitful releases in limited numbers for the Xiaomi Box, even after its proper launch next month.

(Source: IT168 – article in Chinese)