Xiaomi's Lei Jun looking beyond smartphones to take control of your entire home

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Lei Jun, founder and chief executive officer of China's mobile company Xiaomi, at a news conference in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Published: 6:15pm, 6 Mar 2015Updated: 11:30am, 16 Apr 2015

For Lei Jun, founder and chief executive of Xiaomi, one of China’s most influential technology start-ups valued at around US$50 billion and often called the “Apple of China”, the future for his company goes beyond just the smartphone market.

Already China’s largest smartphone maker, Lei's wants to take the technology a step further by enabling Xiaomi smartphones to connect to all home appliances so they are remotely controlled by the handset, he told reporters at the National People's Congress in Beijing on Friday.

“Imagine when you put the smartphone on the desk at office or home, all electronic devices will automatically link to it. It will be an amazing experience,” Lei said.

There's only one thing standing in his way: convincing the Chinese government to set a national standard for all digital home appliance makers in order to make the internet, home appliances and digital hardware compatible with each other.

The digital home appliance market is expected to grow to be worth as much as 140 billion yuan by 2018, according to Lei, while there are now more than 400 million Chinese smartphone users.

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