Taking on the smartphone challenge

Homegrown vendors could be world leaders within five years

Lei Jun, who has been dubbed "China's Steve Jobs", said recently that he wanted his fast-rising handset maker Xiaomi Corp to become the world's top player within five to 10 years.

Bruce Sewell, Apple's general counsel and senior vice-president of legal and government affairs, told a panel discussion at the World Internet Conference that there are "many good competitive phones in China" in a nod to Xiaomi founder Lei, sitting alongside him.