Xiaomi said it plans to launch an e-commerce web site in the U.S. in the months ahead, but it won’t sell any smartphones.
The company will first offer some of its branded accessories, such as its fitness band, portable batteries, and headphones. The company isn’t yet ready to sell phones stateside, despite its successes in its home market of China.
“We intend to launch here in the U.S. in a few months,” said Hugo Barra, Xiaomi’s VP of international marketing. “It will not include any phones or tablets” for which the company has “no timeline, it’s not in our plan at this point.” Barra used to work on Google’s Android team.
Xiaomi doesn’t sell devices through carriers; instead, it sells them directly to consumers. Its handsets are based on Google’s Android platform, but Xiaomi’s MIUI user experience is updated as often as once per week, and often with user-requested features. The company sells phones in eight countries and hopes to expand to more later this year.
