Behind Xiaomi's new methods and overseas best-selling products

Smart Scooter, Hover Board, Self-balancing Scooter, these products have not been classified yet, and have gradually become best-selling products in the European and American markets. China Ouying said that "since July 2015, a large number of orders have been received, and the supply of factories has exceeded demand."

At the Hong Kong Electronics Fair held by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council in October 2015, a large number of smart electric scooters were displayed, and the exhibition areas were unprecedentedly prosperous.



Two-wheeled balance bikes, unicycles and electric unicycles, etc.

The Rongying and Jinyang companies of China stated that "but they are not allowed to go on the road in Japan, so basically no one buys them." Putting aside the innovation of transportation in the Japanese market, how did you make progress?

It can be clearly pointed out that, like the counterfeit mobile phones from 2012 to 2013, the reference design of smart electric scooters is also widely spread in China. The reference design mentioned here refers to a complete set of design information that can be used immediately for mass production. It uses a combination of angular velocity sensors for smartphones and parts of electric motorcycles widely used in China. US iFixit recently confirmed the following parts through disassembly.

<Sensor substrate>

The 6-axis angular velocity sensor "MPU6050" with built-in accelerometer from Invensense of the United States ("iPhone 6" uses this series of products)

China Zhaoyi's innovative ARM MCU "GD32F130" (CPU core is Cortex-M3, 32bit)

<Power>

South Korea’s LG Chem’s lithium-ion battery cell "ICR18650B4" (combined with 20 36V, 2.6Ah battery cells, the total is 187Wh, and the specification on the smart electric scooter is 158Wh)

China Hercules’ charge and discharge control board "DDJ10A9"

<Controller Board>

China Zhaoyi's innovative ARM MCU "GD32F103" (Cortex-M3, 32bit)

<charger>

Hong Kong company-Shenzhen Fuyuan Power


The interior of a smart electric scooter. Most of the lithium-ion battery cells are 18650 products of South Korea’s LG Chem, and occasionally products of South Korea’s Samsung SDI are used. (Click to enlarge)

Chinese people who have obtained a full set of design information have set up start-ups. Two of the three large Chinese companies (the table below) were established during this period. From 2013 to 2014, in Shenzhen and Dongguan, the shrinking general home appliance production factories have been transformed into smart electric scooter factories.

Summary of Changzhou Airway's Registration Information

The shareholder Zhonglu Company is a listed company that has been operating the bicycle business a long time ago.



Summary of registration information of Shanghai Tumbler Investment



Overview of Ninebot

Xiaomi allegedly invested in the company, but it could not be confirmed from Ninebot's registration information.



China's Sony Technology demonstrated the "ESWING (Thinking Wing) ES6" for off-road driving.

In 2015, the scale of mass production expanded and price competition became increasingly fierce. "The scale of the factory has been expanded from 500 units/day to 1500 units/day" (Ouying). The FOB price of a certain model of other companies was about US$200 at the beginning of the year, and then fell to US$100-150. Chinese companies believe that the focus of 2016 is product safety. The reason is that the secondary battery has caught fire one after another, and the sales of Amazon in the United States have been suspended.

Xiaomi acquires Segway

Xiaomi, which has won unanimous praise for being good at marketing, also indirectly stepped into the smart electric scooter business in April 2015. The company and Sequoia Capital, a powerful U.S. venture capital company (VC), jointly invested US$80 million in affiliated companies of Ninebot in China.

Xiaomi's reason for growth or business approach is actually very simple. It is "using the technology of developed countries in the counterfeit products, developing and modifying them, and selling the products through American-style advertising and Chinese-style hunger marketing." As mentioned above, the smart electric scooter is just a copycat product. However, this business approach has limitations. Due to the basic ignorance of intellectual property rights, the legal risk is too high to be exported to developed countries.

In the field of smart electric scooters, Xiaomi may break through this limitation. Its invested Ninebot acquired one of the originators of smart electric scooters-the American Segway. China is no longer a high-growth market. Invest in VCs, acquire powerful companies with intellectual property rights, and expand their influence outside of China. Xiaomi may adopt this new business approach in the future.

Commax-Tech Electronic Co., Ltd      Electronic component specialist

B23, second floor, ASEAN building, Longhua District, Shenzhen

sales@commax-tech.com

https://commax-tech.com

Keyword：Smart Scooter   Hover Board   Self-balancing Scooter   Commax-Tech Electronic