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Xiaomi boss snaps back at Jony Ive's iPhone rival 'theft' swipe

I'll have a handset delivered. Judge us after you try us...

The boss of Chinese Android mobile firm, Xiaomi, has smacked back at Apple designer Jony Ive's remarks about "iPhone-inspired" smartphones, telling him to try the phones before he slags them off.

Lin Bin wants Ive sent to the sin bin after he appeared to claim that Xiaomi had nicked Apple's mobe designs.

"Xiaomi is a very open company, which would never force anyone to use its products. However, one can only judge Xiaomi's gadgets after he or she has used them," Lin told the China News Service. "I'm very willing to give a Xiaomi cell phone to him as a present, and I look forward to hearing his remarks after he uses it."

Last week, Ive flew off the handle after being asked if he was flattered that other firms had taken inspiration from the iPhone.

“I think it’s really straightforward: it really is theft, and it’s lazy and I don’t think it’s OK at all,” he raged. He later admitted he had maybe been “a little bit harsh” and claimed his comments made him look “perhaps a little bit bitter”.

Regardless of what Jony Ive thinks of Xiaomi, the firm is now the biggest phone seller in China, leaving even Samsung in the dust.

Apple has its eye on this huge market, but its latest mobe, the iPhone 6, isn't even on sale in the People's Republic. It is expected to hit stores on 17 October after Beijing apparatchiks approved it for use by Chinese bureaucrats.

However, seeing as even smugglers are struggling to shift the iPhone 6 on the grey market, Apple might have to get used to being clobbered by its Chinese enemies.

And, after all, the firm – run by the former vice director of the Google China Academy of Engineering – has Steve "Woz" Wozniak's seal of approval. Apple's cuddly co-founder remarked back in January: "Xiaomi has excellent products. They’re good enough to break the American market." ®

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