One of the sources said that JioBook will be targeted to sell “hundreds of thousands” of units locally by contract maker Flex with Jio by March.
One of the sources said that JioBook will be targeted locally by contract maker Flex with Jio selling “hundreds of thousands” of units by March.
Two sources with direct knowledge of the matter said that Reliance Jio will soon launch a laptop priced at just ₹15,000 ($184) – one of the cheapest offers in India, aiming to capitalize on the success of its low-cost phone. is to repeat.
Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is known to disrupt businesses with price cuts. Jio, its telecom unit, has been credited with raising the world No. 2 mobile market in 2016 with cheap 4G data plans and free voice services. Last year, it was followed by its 4G JioPhone which was priced at $81.
Sources said the laptop, which will be called JioBook and will be paired with a 4G SIM card, will be available for customers such as schools and government institutions from this month, while a consumer launch is expected within the next three months. Like the JioPhone, a 5G-enabled version is set to follow.
“It will be as big as the JioPhone,” one of the sources told Reuters.
The sources declined to be identified as launch plans have not been made public. India’s largest telecom carrier with over 420 million subscribers, Jio did not respond to a request for comment.
According to Counterpoint Research, JioPhone has been India’s best-selling smartphone under $100, accounting for a fifth of that market segment in the last three quarters. The segment accounts for 9% of smartphone sales in the country.
The JioBook will run on the JioOS operating system, sources said, adding that some apps from Microsoft will also be available. He said it will use Qualcomm chips based on Arm Ltd.’s technology.
The laptop will compete with a limited number of offerings in that price range from Acer, Lenovo and Indian firm Lava.
But it may face some resistance in a country where laptops running Microsoft Windows dominate.
“The challenge of adoption will be user awareness … Non-Windows (operating systems) are also a letdown,” said Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak.
Currently, HP and Dell dominate laptop sales in India – a market of 14 million units sold annually that could expand by another 15% with JioBook, Pathak estimates.
One of the sources said that JioBook will be targeted to sell “hundreds of thousands” of units locally by contract maker Flex with Jio by March.
Jio, which is also offering laptops as an alternative to tablets for out-of-office corporate employees, raised nearly $22 billion in 2020 from global investors such as KKR & Co Inc and Silver Lake.