Jai Mani, former executive for Google, has joined the ranks of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.
The hire was announced on Sunday and serves as a move for the Beijing-based company to manage its products team in India, as well as make its business bigger in Asia, according to CNET. Hugo Barra, global vice president of Xiaomi, said on his Facebook and Google+ accounts that Mani has already moved from San Francisco to Bangalore, India.
"You can think of it as the beginning of our R&D center development in India," Barra said in regards to the hiring.
Mani will now serve as Xiaomi's lead product manager for its operations in India, according to The Economic Times. His work at Google includes serving as the search giant's Google Play Strategy and Analytics associate for almost 2.5 years. He also assisted Barra with demonstrations at last year's Google I/O conference, as well as making an appearance during the launch of the Nexus smartphone.
Mani worked as a product manager and co-founder of a startup in his most recent venture.
Xiaomi's hiring of the former Google employee comes at a time when the 4-year-old company stands as the top smartphone maker in China, the biggest market in the world for these devices, CNET reported. The company's cheap, high-end Android-powered smartphones helped it to obtain 14 percent of the Chinese market in the second quarter of this year.
The goal for Xiaomi now is to expand its business in India and Southeast Asia, as India is experiencing a high demand for the company's devices. These areas are not Xiaomi's only targets, as the smartphone maker, the fifth biggest in the world, also has its eyes set on Europe and the rest of Asia.
