But more recently, it began using its growing manufacturing scale and logistics prowess to deliver Apple products at far more aggressive prices, which in turn gave it more power to influence pricing industrywide.
The strategies pioneered by Samir Jain at the Times of India — setting aggressive prices, employing focus groups to learn what readers crave, and, above all, treating advertisers as the primary customer — have since become standard in the industry.
The evidence can be seen in the more aggressive prices they set for the company's stock following an insider trade.
For the most part, these are pretty aggressive prices with relatively high limits compared to many of the competing services.
Releasing impressively specc'ed devices at seriously aggressive prices is what Xiaomi is renowned for — the Mi 4c is yet another very competitive offering that should worry Samsung and others — but mobile operators services is something new altogether.
So watch for aggressive prices in the final days of March.
