Xiaomi, which some refer to as “Apple of China,” is preparing to enter the smart band market with a device of its own.
The Xiaomi MiBand will cost an equivalent of $32, offering activity tracking and notifications.The firm is known for offering rock-solid devices with top-notch specs and affordable prices, despite their gear having an original design and a special MIUI skin that is running on top of Android.
Just like many earlier Xiaomi products, the upcoming Xiaomi MiBand will too offer a standard feature set (for a fitness band) that includes activity tracking and notifications for the low price of 199 Yuan. That’s some $32 by today’s exchange rate, making other similar devices look rather expensive.
But, as that’s usually the case, hardware is just one piece of the puzzle. What Xiaomi — and every other fitness band maker for that matter — needs is a great software. After all, that’s what makes the Jawbone UP24 and Fitbit two of the most popular such devices.
Xiaomi has proven it can make software as well, but will it be able to replace the success it had in China and few Asian countries in the West is a whole different story, one that goes beyond the scope of this article. At the moment, the company doesn’t have the official presence in the Western economies though that could change at some point next year.
Finally, it’s worth reminding that Xiaomi got into spotlight last year when it hired Google’s top Android executive Hugo Barra in a move that signaled its expansion to other markets around the world.