Xiaomi (Photo : YouTube)
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi recently announced its plan to invest in companies based in India that develop apps and online services. This is part of the Xiaomi's strategy to broaden its own MIUI mobile platform.
Xiaomi Global vice president Hugo Barra told Economic Times, "Our investment in India mostly would be around mobile services and mobile apps because hardware ecosystem is in early stages. In China, our major investments are in hardware startups because the ecosystem is more developed there."
Barra added that the company is currently in negotiation with several Indian startups. The company's main driving force is the need to create more applications for its own platform. Barra did not provide a specific timeline as to when these apps will be released but many tech analysts speculate that it should hit the market within the next two to three months.
Each independent startup chosen by Xiaomi is believed to receive more than $100,000 in investment capital. More recently, the company made a huge investment amounting to around $300 million into online video provider iQiyi. On top of its recent investments, Xiaomi also bought massive stocks in in China's biggest video streaming website Youko Tudou.
As part of Xiaomi's integration in the Indian market, the company tapped the services of Foxconn to start the assembly process of smartphones intended to be released in India.
India is one of the biggest market prospect when it comes to tech products. As a matter of fact, Lenovo is also planning to invest in the Indian market. According to CNBC, India is the world's fastest growing smartphone market but the utter lack of native hardware supplier and infrastructure have significant effect in its growth.
