Xiaomi Corp (小米) yesterday said it plans to launch its Mijia “smart” home devices in the fast-growing Indian market this year, as part of the Chinese smartphone vendor’s latest efforts to boost growth with overseas expansions.
The Beijing-based company said it sold 1.35 million handsets in India last year, taking third position in the world’s third-largest mobile phone market.
China is the world’s largest handset market, followed by the US.
“The company’s brand has gained ground in India, considering the popularity of Xiaomi cellphones. In just one day, we sold 300,000 smartphones,” Xiaomi ecosystem division vice president Xia Yongfeng (夏湧峰) told reporters in Taipei yesterday.
To capitalize on that advantage, “we are in discussions with Manu Kumar Jain, who is in charge of the Indian market for Xiaomi, about introducing some Mijia products to the market this year,” Xia said. “We consider India a very important market.”
The company offers its smart home devices such as air cleaners and LED lamps under the Mijia brand, keeping the Xiaomi brand for smartphones and TVs, he said.
The company develops smart home devices mostly in collaboration with start-ups in which Xiaomi has invested, he said.
Like a start-up incubator, the Xiaomi ecosystem division has investments in 77 start-ups, with 31 of them having launched products on the market, Xia said.
Last year, Xiaomi’s ecosystem division, set up in late 2013, generated revenue of about 15 billion yuan (US$2.18 billion), tripling 2015’s 5.45 billion yuan, the company said.
More than 50 million “smart” home devices developed by the Xiaomi ecosystem division were sold last year.
Many of those devices can be accessed and controlled via an app developed by the company.
Yesterday in Taipei, Xiaomi launched a Mijia smart home device in the Taiwanese market, a robotic vacuum cleaner.
The cleaning robot was designed by start-up Rockrobo (石頭科技), which the ecosystem division invested in about three years ago.
Xiaomi aims to sell 10,000 robotic vacuum cleaners within one month in Taiwan, with sales totaling NT$100 million, Xiaomi Taiwan general manager Henman Lee (李佳峰) told reporters yesterday.
That would make Xiaomi the biggest cleaning robot brand in Taiwan, Lee said.
Since the launch of its robotic cleaner in China in September last year, Xiaomi has sold more than 100,000 units, the company said.
In Taiwan, Xiaomi plans to introduce more than 10 products over the next one or two months, including bluetooth earphones and electric cooker, Lee said.
To boost sales of Mijia products, Xiaomi also plans to open one or two Mi Home outlets in Taiwan this year and three direct-sales stores, Lee said.
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