Mapping out the overall strategy for its ecosystem business, Xioami has announced a new sub-brand named "Mi Ecosystem".
The "Mi Ecosystem" sub-brand covers a range of products manufactured by Xiaomi's ecosystem partners, but the company's first product to have launched under this new brand is the Mi Induction Heating Pressure Rice Cooker.
Priced At RMB 999 (roughly translates to Rs 10,200), the new rice cooker is said to be less than 40 per cent the price of comparable high-end Japanese induction heating pressure rice cookers. It will be available for sale on Mi.com in China during Mi Fan Festival from April 6.
The Mi Induction Heating Pressure Rice Cooker is a WiFi-enabled smart gadget that can be controlled via the Mi Home app. For example, users can scan their pack of rice to identify the type of rice, brand and origin, and based on that, the rice cooker can adjust its heating methodology to best suit the type of rice.
It currently supports more than 200 brands of rice, and this will be expanded in the future. Users can also set their personal preferences within the app.
The app also comes with other recipes that can be used with the cooker, including brown rice, crispy rice and even cakes.
Users do not have to figure out the methods for cooking these other items – instead they can just set it through the app, which currently supports 2450 heating methods.
The Mi Induction Heating Pressure Rice Cooker also uses electromagnetic heating technology for higher thermal efficiency and to ensure even cooking.
It "employs a magnetic relief valve to precisely control the pressure inside the rice cooker to 1.2 times the atmospheric pressure, corresponding to an ideal boiling point of water at 105 degree Celsius, which results in more flavourful rice," explains Xiaomi.
"For the lining material, the cooker uses grey cast iron that has undergone a 69-step process, which has the advantages of even heating and strong thermal performance. It also incorporates PFA powder coating that is used to solve the problem of rice sticking to the bottom of the pot. Due to the high level of technical expertise needed to combine grey cast iron and PFA powder coating, the team spent 18 months carrying out over 30,000 tests before arriving at the perfect combination," adds Xiaomi.
To build the Mi Ecosystem, Xiaomi has so far invested in 55 companies that design and manufacture products beyond its three core product categories - smartphones, smart TVs and smart routers.
Among these, 29 companies including Zhimi (which makes the Mi Air Purifier) and Viomi (which makes the Mi Water Purifier) have been incubated by Xiaomi from their founding.
To date, over 20 Mi Ecosystem companies have launched products.