Just got the MIUI 8 update on my Mi4i, it has this neat “Promoted apps” unit which appears under open folders. This is a very nice way to decouple app discovery from the Play Store, a much highlighted problem on both iOS and Android. In a business context, there are two interesting considerations.
1. Xiaomi is effectively competing against Google (and Facebook) as an Ad company.
2. This allows Xiaomi to position its phones similar to how Amazon positions the Kindle - a device sold at low/no profit, but as a starting point for a long term relationship that drives revenue.
Assumption being that unit is showing or will show sponsored apps.