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It has just been revealed that Facebook owner, Mark Zuckerberg and Lei Jun, CEO of Chinese smartphone maker, Xiaomi Inc. planned giving Apple and Google a good fight by launching their own smartphone. But the deal failed to materialise.
Reports said the discussions were held at a private dinner when Zuckerberg visited Beijing in October, last year.
Xiaomi, dubbed the “Apple of China”, recently became the most successful tech start-up in the world after being valued at $45 billion.
Reuters quotes inside sources as saying that the two company leaders weighed the political and commercial implications of Facebook – which has been banned in China since 2009 – buying into the Xiaomi.
Analysts think that had the deal seen the light of the day, Xiaomi’s profile in the US would have skyrocketed especially with a link to an american social networking phenomenon with more than 1.3 billion users.
Apple would have been given a good run for their money.