Xiaomi Corp (小米) unveiled a new product called the Smart Home Suite with a group of four components that offer security features as it broadens its range of devices that can be controlled by mobile phone.
The suite includes a human motion sensor and a pair of door and window sensors that can be used for home security, Xiaomi president Bin Lin (林斌) said yesterday at the GeekPark Innovation Festival in Beijing. The company is to start a consumer test of the product next Monday, he said.
“In the past, motion sensors were very complicated and large in size, so that if you wanted a system, you needed professional installation,” Lin told the conference. “For this suite, there is not a single nail or wire. These components are all very simple.”
In less than five years, Xiaomi has grown to become the world’s third-largest smartphone vendor and, at US$45 billion, the most-valuable technology startup.
Now, chief executive officer Lei Jun (雷軍) is pushing into Web-enabled devices for the home even as it challenges Samsung Electronics Corp and Apple Inc at the higher end of the mobile-device market.
The suite also offers a wireless switching device for controlling appliances, and a multifunctional gateway that links the components with other devices by Wi-Fi, allowing control by mobile phone.
The market for Internet-connected appliances is set to grow to US$7.1 trillion by 2020, from US$1.9 trillion last year, market researcher International Data Corp said.
Xiaomi, which means millet in Chinese, was founded in 2010 to make software for mobile devices running Google Inc’s Android system. The company subsequently released products including a tablet computer, a television set-top box and TVs that connect to the Web.
Other previously announced home products from Xiaomi include an air purifier that sends pollution readings to mobile phones and alerts users when its filter is dirty, and a light bulb that can change colors by remote control.
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