Lo and Behold, there is a new tablet in town and this one comes branded with Reliance. With the kind of hype surrounding tablets I have to say I am not really surprised.
An aggressively priced full featured tablet seems like a golden opportunity in the Indian tablet market and despite a flurry of lot of sub 15k tablets being launched, there hasn’t been a runaway success in the tablet wars .
The strategic thinking behind the launch of tablet is captured well by the company when they say,
“We believe the unmet demand of a fully loaded tablet at an aggressive price point will now fuel the aspirations of the evolved customers”
Well, in Reliance Communications case the opportunity is two-fold. The tablet will come bundled with Reliance 3G services and if the tablet is right on the money, it could turn out to be the perfect sales channel for Reliance’s 3G services.
However, the adoption level of the tablet is what will decide whether the strategic play will work for Reliance. For starters, the tablet is not being made by Reliance Communications. The tablet is being made by ZTE Telecom and will be branded and sold under the Reliance Communications banner.
Call me a cynic or a stereotype but a *full featured* tablet made by a Chinese company in the 13k price range looks dicey to start with. But I will not be judgmental and leave you with some technical / general specifications of the tablet.
Reliance Tablet Specifications
- Reliance 3G tablet is a 7-inch tablet and runs on Android 2.3 OS
- The tablet has 512 MB RAM and will come up with a 4GB SD card (with an option to upgrade it to 32 GB)
- The tablet promises extensive features including the likes of push mail, video streaming, documents to go, Mobile TV, Video Recording etc.
- The device is currently available in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata and will soon be available across all 13 circles reliance operates in
Well, again nothing really out of the ordinary here in terms of technical specifications. However, a lot will also depend on the overall usability and WOW experience that the tablet is able to deliver.
The tablet in itself may not be a profitable business for Reliance communication since it is not involved in the manufacturing but if the device is any good, Reliance 3G services might take off and provide it the lead amidst the fierce competition in the Indian communication space.
Another tablet gets added to the already increasing list of tablets. With a 13k price range, a comparison with the iPad may not exactly be an apples-to-apples comparison but then that’s the benchmark, isn’t it? Lets wait and watch if the Reliance tablet causes disruption in the low price tablet category.
What are your thoughts on this new Reliance Tablet ?