Oh China, the land of rip-offs that arrive to market faster than the original products, you never cease to amaze us! A few months ago, Pressy was launched as a Kickstarter project, and aimed to bring an additional button to any Android device as a small and unobtrusive 3.5mm headset plug. Yesterday, we heard of the Xiaomi MiKey, an almost exact replica of Pressy made by Xiaomi.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, or so does the idiom say. And Xiaomi seems to have seen the potential behind Pressy’s idea and decided to copy it with a short lead to market, given their big logistics and manufacturing background as opposed to the small startup that Pressy is.

The MiKey is a 3.5mm plug you can insert into your phone and that carries a small button on top. A companion app monitors the numbers of button clicks and automates certain tasks accordingly, like launching the camera, taking a picture, opening certain applications and more. The MiKey seems to support up to 10 configurable clicks and will be available with 6 different colored carrying sleeves. It should go on sale on April 8th in China for $0.8.

Xiaomi MiKey app interface

Being a Pressy backer, I am a bit surprised to see the product copied so fast and for such a low price. However, I doubt that the MiKey will be as universal and as useful as the Pressy. For instance, we don’t know if it is going to sell outside of China, if it will work with non-Xiaomi devices, or if it will support plugins with Tasker or AutomateIt for added functionality.