Chinese technology company LeEco (formerly LeTV), which entered the Indian market this month, is set to replicate its Chinese structure in India by establishing an environment made up of devices, content, cloud, and a user interface platform. LeEco is seeking to make India its biggest market after China.
According to Live Mint, the company ambitions to become India's third largest smartphone maker by the end of this year. Besides gearing up to roll out more smartphones and accessories like virtual reality headsets, Smart TVs, and smart bikes in the second quarter, the company is internally planning to establish manufacturing facilities in the country.
LeEco launched two smartphones early this month, joining the growing number of Chinese smartphone brands in India such as Meizu, Xiaomi, OnePlus, Oppo, Gionee, Zopo, Coopad and QiKU. These firms are focused on replicating the success of companies like Huawei Technology Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. in India.
Reports indicate that India is the fastest growing smartphone market globally and is set to become the second largest by 2017, overtaking the United States.
A head of the smartphone business for LeEco India, Atul Jain, who served as the senior vice president and head of global emerging market for digital appliances at Korea's Samsung Electronics Co., said: "In China, we have a very successful ecosystem which is still evolving. It comprises of devices, content, cloud, and platform, which we are bringing into India. What we want is to replicate our China model in India."
LeEco, which also has stores in the U.S. and Hong Kong, operates in different segments, including video streaming, content, Smart TVs, mobile, automobile, sports and cloud, among others.
The company is currently seeking to set up a cloud data network in India to enable users get access to video content from its partners.
LeEco is quietly establishing its network by building offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru as it seeks to expand its employee base to 200 people from the current 60.