As part of its annual Mi fan Festival, Xiaomi has launched the Mi Crowdfunding which brings to India a select range of “innovation-driven” products that users will be able to support and buy. The Chinese manufacturer is already offering two accessories for smartphones on its website which will be sold once users pay and support the items.
The idea is to offer a certain few products that will be listed for crowdsourcing and will only be shipped once the item reaches its estimated sales number. When a product fails to impress and doesn’t reach the required support, the customers who paid for the item ahead will get their money returned.
Xiaomi is already offering Mi Bluetooth Audio receiver and the Mi Selfie Stick Tripod which is available for crowdsourcing for the next two weeks. Interested users will need an Mi account to sign in and would need to click an option to support the product and place the order for the same. Once the payment is made, users will get priority deliveries for the ordered items which will be sold within given timeframes. If the project turns out to be successful, users will get their money back.
As for the products listed on Mi Crowdfunding, the Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver also doubles up as a Headphone amplifier and supports Bluetooth v4.2 transmission. The 97mAh inbuilt battery claims to allow users to listen to music for over 4 hours on a single charge and can connect to two devices at the same time. The Mi Bluetooth Audio Receiver is currently available via crowdsourcing for a price of Rs 999.
The second product on the list is the Mi Selfie Stick Tripod which functions both as a mono stick for selfies as well as a smaller tripod unit to be used on a table. The device supports Bluetooth 3.0 on iOS and Android devices with a shutter remote and a 360-degree rotating mount. The Mi Selfie Stick Tripod comes at a price of Rs 1,099, a Rs 100 cheaper when bought off crowdfunding.
Speaking about the launch, Xiaomi India Head of Online Sales, Raghu Reddy said “India is the first country outside of China where we are launching the ‘crowdfunding’ platform. It will enable us to gauge response for new product categories among consumers and determine a roadmap for such products.”
As for the Chinese giant, it’s the first time Xiaomi has introduced its crowdfunding platform outside of its home country. In China, Xiaomi offers a platform for homegrown start-ups to showcase their products to see if consumers are interested in it. This will, in turn, help them raise funds for releasing these products on a large scale and also analyze the kind of potential market for future products.