Xiaomi Unveils Smart Home Suite With Security Features

Xiaomi Corp. 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 said today at the GeekPark Innovation Festival in Beijing. The company will start a consumer test of the product Jan. 26, 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.

Xiaomi in less than five years has grown to become the worlds third-largest smartphone vendor and, at $45 billion, the most-valuable technology startup. Now, Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun is pushing into Web-enabled devices for the home even as it challenges Samsung Electronics Corp. and Apple Inc. (AAPL) 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 will grow to $7.1 trillion by 2020, from $1.9 trillion last year, estimates market researcher International Data Corp.

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.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Edmond Lococo in Beijing at elococo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Stanley James at sjames8@bloomberg.net Subramaniam Sharma, Garry Smith

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Xiaomi Unveils Smart Home Suite With Security Features