Misfit eyes expansion beyond wearables into the home

Misfit, maker of the affordable Misfit Shine and Misfit Flash activity trackers, will soon produce other types of connected devices.

The company just this week received an investment of $40 million from Xiaomi, and Recode reports that its plans for the money involve expanding its portfolio to include “advanced wearables” and connected devices for the home. The cash will also help U.S.-based Misfit grow in China.

Misfit may have established some solid brand recognition with a very successful Indigogo campaign for the Shine, but it’s not as though the company has a huge and varied line of wearable devices. In that sense, it’s not all that shocking to hear Misfit has plans beyond simple activity trackers. What is surprising is that the company plans to explore new product categories so soon.

Details about specific devices are scant. CEO Sonny Vu told Recode that Misfit would release “several smart home products over the next few quarters” but we don’t have any idea of the genre of these devices. The connected home space includes everything from smoke alarms and baby monitors to fridges and TVs, so really, it could be anything.

The hope is that Misfit will keep things as affordable in the home as it does in the wearables space. Here in Canada, one of the common misconceptions associated with creating a connected home is that adoption cost is prohibitively high, and the availability of more affordable technology will go a long way toward vanquishing those myths.

Earlier this year, a Future Shop study polled more than 600 Canadians and found that 72% believed a connected home was “extremely expensive.” What’s more, 69% believed that there would be monthly fees, and more than half (56%) figured a contractor was required for set-up. In reality, Future Shop says that creating an entry-level smart home can cost less than a thousand dollars.

[source]Recode[/source]