Xiaomi Mi Band, $15 Fitness Wearable On Sale In India Tuesday

Fresh from the success of its Redmi Note 2 launch, of which it sold 800,000 units in an initial round in China, according to several reports, Xiaomi Corp. is looking to sustain the interest of its Indian fans in its various products.

The Chinese smartphone maker has another batch of its fitness tracker and sleep monitor wristband for sale Tuesday on its website at 2 p.m. local time in India. The fitness band, one of the cheapest available, costs 999 rupees (about $15). Xiaomi is also selling its 5000mAh power bank, which costs 699 rupees, on the same “flash sale,” the company said on its official forum.

Flash sales serve the purpose of converting the problem of small inventories into a marketing opportunity, as perhaps the latest sale on Tuesday might prove to be -- the sale is on Xiaomi’s own site, rather than on online shopping sites such as Flipkart.

As with other Xiaomi products, the Mi Band too is high on features and low on price. The last time Xiaomi sold the Mi Band in a flash sale in India, it offered 10,000 units on its own site, which were quickly snapped up, going by the comments of disappointed fans on its official Facebook page.

Market research company IDC projects the wearables market to grow 173.3 percent to 72.1 million units this year, up from 26.4 million in 2014. Some 155 million wearable devices will be sold in 2019, IDC estimates.

The Mi Band is light, made of aluminum alloy, comes with a rubber strap, offers battery life of up to 30 days on a single charge, and does a variety of things. It can be hooked up to a Mi Band app, and used to track walking, calories burnt, get alerts on incoming calls and messages, and monitor sleep.

The fitness wearable is compatible with most smartphones running Android version KitKat 4.4 or above, according to Xiaomi’s post on its forum. Participation in the sale requires registration on Xiaomi’s website.