1.
Digital media player
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Digital media players are home entertainment consumer electronics devices first introduced in 2000 that can connect to a home network to stream digital media. They should not be confused with media players, which are portable consumer electronics devices capable of storing and playing digital media such as audio, images. Most digital media players utilize a 10-foot user interface, and many are navigated via a remote control. com and these types of digital media player are sometimes referred to as HD Media Players or HDD Media Player if they can support a Hard Disk Drive installed inside. The means to play files on a network-connected digital media player that is permanently connected to a television. Digital media players fill this market niche, the rapid growth in the availability of online content, including digital music and video files and video games, has made it easier for consumers to use these devices and obtain content. YouTube, for instance, is a common plug-in available on most networked devices, Netflix has also struck deals with many consumer-electronics makers to make their interface available in the devices menus, for their streaming subscribers. Media players are often designed for compactness and affordability, and tend to have small or non-existent hardware displays other than simple LED lights to indicate whether the device is powered on, some remotes also include accelerometers for air mouse features which allow basic motion gaming. They are also incapable of recording audio or video. Digital media players are commonly referred to as a digital media extender, digital media streamer, digital media hub, digital media adapter. Digital media player manufacturers use a variety of names to describe their devices, some more commonly used alternative names include, A digital media player can connect to the home network using either a wireless or wired Ethernet connection. Digital media players includes an interface that allows users to navigate through their digital media library, search for. Stream movies, music, photos over the wired or wireless network View digital pictures Stream online video to a TV from services such as Netflix, play video games such as Angry Birds and others. Browse the Internet, check email and access social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, video conference by connecting a webcam and microphone. The models change frequently, so it is advisable to visit their web sites for current model names and these devices come with low power consumption processors or SoC and are most commonly either based on MIPS or ARM architecture processors combined with integrated DSP GPU in a SoC package. They also include RAM-memory and some type of type of non-volatile computer memory. All these can play computer-based media files to a television without the need for a computer or network connection. Some players come with USB ports which allow local media content playback, digital media players can usually play H.264, MPEG-4 Part 2, MPEG-1, MPEG-2. mpg, MPEG-2. TS, VOB and ISO images video, with PCM, MP3 and AC3 audio tracks. They can also display images and play music files, some digital media players will only connect to specific media server software installed on a PC to stream music, pictures and recorded or live TV originating from the computer
2.
Google
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Google is an American multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products. These include online advertising technologies, search, cloud computing, software, Google was founded in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph. D. students at Stanford University, in California. Together, they own about 14 percent of its shares, and they incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4,1998. An initial public offering took place on August 19,2004, in August 2015, Google announced plans to reorganize its various interests as a conglomerate called Alphabet Inc. Google, Alphabets leading subsidiary, will continue to be the company for Alphabets Internet interests. Upon completion of the restructure, Sundar Pichai became CEO of Google, replacing Larry Page, rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions, and partnerships beyond Googles core search engine. The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system, the Google Chrome web browser, and Chrome OS, the new hardware chief, Rick Osterloh, stated, a lot of the innovation that we want to do now ends up requiring controlling the end-to-end user experience. Google has also experimented with becoming an Internet carrier, alexa, a company that monitors commercial web traffic, lists Google. com as the most visited website in the world. Several other Google services also figure in the top 100 most visited websites, including YouTube, Googles mission statement, from the outset, was to organize the worlds information and make it universally accessible and useful, and its unofficial slogan was Dont be evil. In October 2015, the motto was replaced in the Alphabet corporate code of conduct by the phrase Do the right thing, Google began in January 1996 as a research project by Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they were both PhD students at Stanford University in Stanford, California. They called this new technology PageRank, it determined a websites relevance by the number of pages, and the importance of those pages, Page and Brin originally nicknamed their new search engine BackRub, because the system checked backlinks to estimate the importance of a site. Originally, Google ran under Stanford Universitys website, with the domains google. stanford. edu, the domain name for Google was registered on September 15,1997, and the company was incorporated on September 4,1998. It was based in the garage of a friend in Menlo Park, craig Silverstein, a fellow PhD student at Stanford, was hired as the first employee. The first funding for Google was an August 1998 contribution of $100,000 from Andy Bechtolsheim, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, given before Google was incorporated. At least three other investors invested in 1998, Amazon. com founder Jeff Bezos, Stanford University computer science professor David Cheriton. Author Ken Auletta claims that each invested $250,000, early in 1999, Brin and Page decided they wanted to sell Google to Excite. They went to Excite CEO George Bell and offered to sell it to him for $1 million, vinod Khosla, one of Excites venture capitalists, talked the duo down to $750,000, but Bell still rejected it. Googles initial public offering took place five years later, on August 19,2004, at that time Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt agreed to work together at Google for 20 years, until the year 2024
3.
Android (operating system)
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Android is a mobile operating system developed by Google, based on the Linux kernel and designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. In addition to devices, Google has further developed Android TV for televisions, Android Auto for cars. Variants of Android are also used on notebooks, game consoles, digital cameras, beginning with the first commercial Android device in September 2008, the operating system has gone through multiple major releases, with the current version being 7.0 Nougat, released in August 2016. Android applications can be downloaded from the Google Play store, which features over 2.7 million apps as of February 2017, Android has been the best-selling OS on tablets since 2013, and runs on the vast majority of smartphones. In September 2015, Android had 1.4 billion monthly active users, Android is popular with technology companies that require a ready-made, low-cost and customizable operating system for high-tech devices. The success of Android has made it a target for patent, Android Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California in October 2003 by Andy Rubin, Rich Miner, Nick Sears, and Chris White. Rubin described the Android project as tremendous potential in developing smarter mobile devices that are aware of its owners location. The early intentions of the company were to develop an operating system for digital cameras. Despite the past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly and that same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope. In July 2005, Google acquired Android Inc. for at least $50 million and its key employees, including Rubin, Miner and White, joined Google as part of the acquisition. Not much was known about Android at the time, with Rubin having only stated that they were making software for mobile phones, at Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradeable system, Google had lined up a series of hardware components and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation. Speculation about Googles intention to enter the communications market continued to build through December 2006. In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony, the first commercially available smartphone running Android was the HTC Dream, also known as T-Mobile G1, announced on September 23,2008. Since 2008, Android has seen numerous updates which have improved the operating system, adding new features. Each major release is named in order after a dessert or sugary treat, with the first few Android versions being called Cupcake, Donut, Eclair. In 2010, Google launched its Nexus series of devices, a lineup in which Google partnered with different device manufacturers to produce new devices and introduce new Android versions
4.
Sony
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Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation that is headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified business includes consumer and professional electronics, gaming, entertainment, the company is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and professional markets. Sony was ranked 116th on the 2015 list of Fortune Global 500 and these make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. The group consists of Sony Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Financial Holdings and others. Sony is among the Semiconductor sales leaders by year and as of 2013, the companys current slogan is BE MOVED. Their former slogans were make. believe, like. no. other, Sony has a weak tie to the SMFG keiretsu, the successor to the Mitsui keiretsu. Sony began in the wake of World War II, in 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in a department store building in Tokyo. The company had $530 in capital and a total of eight employees, in the following year he was joined by his colleague, Akio Morita, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo 東京通信工業. The company built Japans first tape recorder, called the Type-G, in 1958 the company changed its name to Sony. When Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was looking for a name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TTK, the company occasionally used the acronym Totsuko in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was Tokyo Teletech until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name, the name Sony was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words. One was the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was sonny, a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a boy. In the 1950s Japan sonny boys, was a word into Japanese which connoted smart and presentable young men. The first Sony-branded product, the TR-55 transistor radio, appeared in 1955, at the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji. The move was not without opposition, TTKs principal bank at the time and they pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Banks chairman gave their approval, according to Schiffer, Sonys TR-63 radio cracked open the U. S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics
5.
Sharp Corporation
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Sharp Corporation is a Japanese multinational corporation that designs and manufactures electronic products, headquartered in Sakai-ku, Sakai. Since 2016 it has been a part of Taiwan-based Foxconn Group. Sharp employs more than 50,000 people worldwide, the company was founded in September 1912 in Tokyo and takes its name from one of its founder’s first inventions, the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil, which was invented by Tokuji Hayakawa in 1915. As of 2013, Sharp Corporation is the tenth-largest, by market share, in Japan it has been a long-time leader. Sharp has at times also been the most popular mobile phone brand in the Japanese market, in 1912, Tokuji Hayakawa founded a metal workshop in Tokyo. The first of his inventions was a snap buckle named ‘Tokubijo’. Another of his inventions was the Ever-Sharp mechanical pencil in 1915, after the pencil business was destroyed by the 1923 Great Kantō earthquake, the company relocated to Osaka and began designing the first generation of Japanese radio sets. These went on sale in 1925, in 1953, Sharp started producing TV sets. In 1964, Sharp developed the world’s first transistor calculator, which was priced at JP¥535,000 and it took Sharp several years to develop the product as they had no experience in making computing devices at the time. Two years later, in 1966, Sharp introduced its first IC calculator using 145 Mitsubishi-made bipolar ICs and its first LSI calculator was introduced in 1969. This was the first pocketable calculator priced at less than JP¥100,000, the company produced the first LCD calculator in 1973. All of these units are considered collectors items on the secondary market, one of the company’s main inventors of LCD calculators was Tadashi Sasaki. The company ventured into the high end stereo market in 1976 with the introduction of high end receivers, amplifiers, speakers, turntables and cassette players. The Optonica line as it was called, consisted of quality and technically advanced components. The line was changed, in 1981, and moved mainly into digital high end. Sharp’s Mobile Communications Division created the world’s first commercial camera phone, since 2000, Sharp has heavily invested in LCD panel manufacturing plants, Kameyama in 2004, Sakai in 2009. The Sakai plant is still the only 10th generation LCD manufacturing plant on the globe, however, the 2008 financial crisis and strong Yen significantly lowered world demand for Japanese LCD panels. Furthermore, the switch to digital TV broadcasting was completed in Japan by the middle of 2011
6.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used
7.
Bluetooth
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Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks. Invented by telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994, it was conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect up to seven devices, overcoming problems that older technologies had when attempting to connect to each other. Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which has more than 30,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, the IEEE standardized Bluetooth as IEEE802.15.1, but no longer maintains the standard. The Bluetooth SIG oversees development of the specification, manages the qualification program, a manufacturer must meet Bluetooth SIG standards to market it as a Bluetooth device. A network of patents apply to the technology, which are licensed to individual qualifying devices, the development of the short-link radio technology, later named Bluetooth, was initiated in 1989 by Nils Rydbeck, CTO at Ericsson Mobile in Lund, Sweden, and by Johan Ullman. The purpose was to develop wireless headsets, according to two inventions by Johan Ullman, SE 8902098-6, issued 1989-06-12 and SE9202239, issued 1992-07-24, Nils Rydbeck tasked Tord Wingren with specifying and Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson with developing. Both were working for Ericsson in Lund, the specification is based on frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology. The idea of this name was proposed in 1997 by Jim Kardach who developed a system that would allow mobile phones to communicate with computers, at the time of this proposal he was reading Frans G. Bengtssons historical novel The Long Ships about Vikings and King Harald Bluetooth. The implication is that Bluetooth does the same with communications protocols, the Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes and, Haralds initials. Bluetooth operates at frequencies between 2402 and 2480 MHz, or 2400 and 2483.5 MHz including guard bands 2 MHz wide at the end and 3.5 MHz wide at the top. This is in the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band, Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Bluetooth divides transmitted data into packets, and transmits each packet on one of 79 designated Bluetooth channels, each channel has a bandwidth of 1 MHz. It usually performs 800 hops per second, with Adaptive Frequency-Hopping enabled, Bluetooth low energy uses 2 MHz spacing, which accommodates 40 channels. Originally, Gaussian frequency-shift keying modulation was the modulation scheme available. Since the introduction of Bluetooth 2. 0+EDR, π/4-DQPSK and 8DPSK modulation may also be used between compatible devices, devices functioning with GFSK are said to be operating in basic rate mode where an instantaneous data rate of 1 Mbit/s is possible. The term Enhanced Data Rate is used to describe π/4-DPSK and 8DPSK schemes, the combination of these modes in Bluetooth radio technology is classified as a BR/EDR radio. Bluetooth is a protocol with a master-slave structure
8.
Gamepad
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A gamepad, is a type of game controller held in two hands, where the fingers are used to provide input. They are typically the main input device for video game consoles, gamepads generally feature a set of buttons handled with the right thumb and a direction controller handled with the left. The direction controller has traditionally been a four-way digital cross, there are programmable joysticks that can emulate keyboard input. Generally they have made to circumvent the lack of joystick support in some computer games. Initially used toggle switches built into the computer display to control the game. These switches were awkward and uncomfortable to use, so Alan Kotok and Bob Saunders built and this device has been called the earliest gamepad. The third generation of video games saw many changes. Nintendo developed a device for directional inputs, a D-pad with a cross design for their Donkey Kong handheld game. This design would be incorporated into their Game & Watch series, though developed because they were more compact than joysticks, and thus more appropriate for handheld games, game designers soon discovered that D-pads were more comfortable to use than joysticks. The original Sega Genesis control pad has three buttons, but a six-button pad was later released. The inclusion of six action buttons was influenced by the popularity of the Street Fighter arcade series, for most of the 1980s and early 1990s, analog joysticks were the predominant form of gaming controller for PCs, while console gaming controllers were mostly digital. This changed in 1996, when all three major consoles introduced an optional analog control, despite these changes, gamepads essentially continued to follow the template set by the NES controller. Gamepads failed to any soft of dominance outside of the home console market, though several PC gamepads have enjoyed popularity. In 1994 Logitech introduced the CyberMan, the first practical six degrees of freedom controller, but due to its price, poor build quality. Industry insiders blame the CyberMans high profile and costly failure for the gaming industrys lack of interest in developing 3D control over the several years. The Wii Remote is shaped like a remote control and contains tilt sensors and three-dimensional pointing which allows the system to understand all directions of movement. The controller is also multifunctional and includes a bay which can be used with different types of peripherals. An analog stick peripheral called Nunchuk also contains an accelerometer but unlike the Wii Remote, gamepads are also available for personal computers
9.
Asus
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AsusTek Computer Inc. is a Taiwanese multinational computer hardware and electronics company headquartered in Beitou District, Taipei, Taiwan. The company is also an original equipment manufacturer, Asus is the worlds 4th-largest PC vendor by 2015 unit sales.3 billion. Asus has a listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under the ticker code 2357. The company is referred to as Asus or Huáshuò in Chinese. According to the website, the name Asus originates from Pegasus. Only the last four letters of the word were used in order to give the name a high position in alphabetical listings, the companys slogan/tagline was Rock Solid. Persistent Perfection. and is currently In Search of Incredible, persistent Perfection In Search of Incredible Asus was founded in Taipei in 1989 by T. H. Tung, Ted Hsu, Wayne Hsieh and M. T, liao, all four having previously worked at Acer as hardware engineers. At this time, Taiwan had yet to establish a position in the computer-hardware business. According to the legend, the created a prototype for a motherboard using an Intel 486. When Asus approached Intel to request a processor to test it, Asus solved Intels problem and it turned out that Asus own motherboard worked correctly without the need for further modification. Since then, Asus was receiving Intel engineering samples ahead of its competitors, in September 2005 Asus released the first PhysX accelerator card. In December 2005 Asus entered the LCD TV market with the TLW32001 model, in January 2006 ASUS announced that it would cooperate with Lamborghini to develop the VX series. On 9 March 2006 Asus was confirmed as one of the manufacturers of the first Microsoft Origami models, together with Samsung, on 8 August 2006 Asus announced a joint venture with Gigabyte Technology. On 5 June 2007 Asus announced the launch of the Eee PC at COMPUTEX Taipei, on 9 September 2007 Asus indicated support for Blu-ray, announcing the release of a BD-ROM/DVD writer PC drive, BC-1205PT. ASUS subsequently released several Blu-ray based notebooks, in January 2008, Asus began a major restructuring of its operations, splitting into three independent companies, Asus, Pegatron, and Unihan Corporation. In the process of the restructuring, a highly criticized pension-plan restructuring effectively zeroed out the existing pension balances, the company paid out all contributions previously made by employees. On 9 December 2008, the Open Handset Alliance announced that Asus had become one of 14 new members of the organization, on 1 June 2010, Asus spun off Pegatron Corp
10.
Xiaomi
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Xiaomi Inc. is a privately owned Chinese electronics company headquartered in Beijing. It is the worlds 5th largest smartphone maker, Xiaomi designs, develops, and sells smartphones, mobile apps, laptops, and related consumer electronics. The companys founder and CEO is Lei Jun, Chinas 23rd richest person according to Forbes, the company sold over 60 million smartphones in 2014. The company has over 8,000 employees, mainly in mainland China, India, Malaysia, and Singapore, and is expanding to other such as Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa. According to IDC, in October 2014 Xiaomi was the third largest smartphone maker in the world, following Samsung and Apple Inc. and followed by Lenovo, Xiaomi became the largest smartphone vendor in China in 2014, having overtaken Samsung, according to an IDC report. Xiaomi is 4th worlds most valuable technology start-up after it received US$1.1 billion funding from investors, Xiaomi entered the Indian market in July 2014 via flipkart. com. Xiaomi is the Chinese word for millet, in 2011 its CEO Lei Jun suggested there are more meanings than just the millet and rice. He also stated that he thinks the name is cute, in 2012 Lei Jun said that the name is about revolution and being able to bring innovation into a new area. Xiaomis new Rifle processor has given weight to several sources linking the latter meaning to the Communist Party of Chinas millet, Xiaomi was co-founded by eight partners on 6 April 2010. On 16 August 2010, Xiaomi officially launched its first Android-based firmware MIUI, the Xiaomi Mi1 smartphone was announced in August 2011. It was shipped with Xiaomis MIUI firmware which is based on Android and resembles Samsungs TouchWiz, the device could also be equipped with stock Android. In August 2012 Xiaomi announced the Xiaomi Mi2 smartphone, the phone was powered by Qualcomms Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064, a 1.5 GHz quad-core Krait chip featuring with 2 GB of RAM and the Adreno 320 GPU. The company said on 24 September 2013 that the company had sold over 10 million Mi2 devices over the preceding 11 months, mi-2 smartphones were sold by wireless phone vendor Mobicity in Australia, Europe, New Zealand, the UK and the US. On 5 September 2013, Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun announced plans to launch an Android-based 47-inch 3D-capable Smart TV, the company explained the choice as to take advantage of Wistrons skill as a supplier of Sony. In September 2013, Xiaomi announced its Mi3 phone, with a version powered by the Snapdragon 800, a 2.3 GHz quad-core Krait chip featuring with 2 GB of RAM and the Adreno 330 GPU. On 25 September 2013, Xiaomi announced plans to open its first service center in Beijing, by October 2013 Xiaomi was reported as the fifth-most-used smartphone brand in China. In 2013 it sold 18.7 million smartphones, and 26.1 million in the first half of 2014, in 2014 Xiaomi announced its expansion outside China, with their first stop in Singapore. The international headquarters, which will coordinate all activities including future product launches in the region, Xiaomis Redmi and Mi3 phone were released in Singapore on 21 February –7 March 2014
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