Chinese e-commerce billionaire Liu Qiangdong is following his peers in seeking a slice of the smart-home market. Liu’s JD.com, the biggest rival to Chinese e-commerce titan Alibaba Group Holding, plans to invest 67.5 million yuan ($10.8 million) for a 45% stake in a joint venture with Chinese speech and language technology firm iflytek Co. The new firm will develop smart-home appliances and voice-control solutions for devices that can be remotely controlled by a phone or a computer, iflytek said in a March 5 filing. JD.com will support iflytek by providing marketing and sales channels for future products. “This is a combination of JD's commercial platform and our technology," iflytek spokesperson Feng Tao said by phone. " But we are still at the initial stage of product and technology planning." A number of Chinese billionaires are already attracted by the country’s nascent smart-home sector, which consultancy iResearch forecasts will reach 1 trillion yuan by 2020. Billionaire Lei Jun’s smartphone vendor Xiaomi is making air purifiers and light bulbs that can be controlled by the company's handsets, while Pony Ma’s Tencent works to connect devices with its instant-messaging service WeChat. Alibaba Group has also partnered with more than 100 appliance and electronics manufacturers in making connected devices. Its smart-home app, Ali-smart, will be available on Chinese smartphone maker Meizu’s MX4 models this spring, the company said in a Jan.28 post. Anhui-based iflytek is known for creating voice-control apps similar to Apple ’s Siri. The company boasts 680 million users on its voice platforms. It appeared on Forbes Asia’s 200 Best Under A Billion List. Liu was ranked No.11 on the China Rich List and No. 179 on this year’s World’s Billionaire List, with a net worth of $ 7.8 billion.
China"s JD.com ventures into the Smart-Home market and plans to invest 67.5mn yuan ($10.8mn) for a 45% stake in a joint venture with Chinese speech and language technology firm ifytek.com. The new firm will develop smart-home appliances and voice-control solutions for devices that can be remotely controlled by a phone or computer according to a filing made by iflytek.Alibaba Group has also partners with 5-Mar-15 appliance and electronics manufacturers in making connected devices. Its smart-home app, Ali-smart, will be available on Chinese smartphone maker Meizu"s MX4 models from this spring.Consultancy iResearch forecasts China;s nascent smart-home sector will reach 1 tn yuan by 2020Forbes more than 100