In order to offer the cheapest working option, Reliance Jio will soon launch a laptop priced at just 15,000 rupees ($184) in India.
JioBook Launch
It appears that the telecommunication firm is aiming to replicate the success of its low-cost phone, according to the two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
As we all know, Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance is famous for disrupting businesses with cut-throat price offerings.
During 2016, Jio’s telecoms unit has been credited with upending the world’s no. 2 mobile market with cheap 4G data plans and free voice services.
Followed by its 4G JioPhone that cost $81 last year.
This new launch will be called the JioBook.
JioBook Specifications
Basically, JioBook will have JioOS operating system with Qualcomm chips based on technology from Arm Ltd.
Although, some of Microsoft’s apps will also be available, sources said.
It will be embedded with a 4G sim card.
When it comes to usage, it will be available to customers such as schools and government institutes from this month.
We can expect a consumer launch within the next three months, as per the sources.
In the case of the JioPhone, a 5G-enabled version is set to follow.
“This will be as big as the JioPhone,” sources said.
At present, Jio, India’s biggest telecom carrier with more than 420 million customers.
So far, the telecom company did not respond to a request for comment.
Coming to the JioPhone, it has been India’s top-selling smartphone priced under $100.
Further, accounting for a fifth of the market segment over the last three quarters, according to Counterpoint Research.
Further, this segment accounts for 9% of the country’s smartphone sales.
Competition And Resistance
Coming to competition, it will compete with a limited number of offerings in that price range from Acer (2353.TW), Lenovo (0992.HK) and Indian firm Lava.
There is a possibility for this laptop to face some resistance in a country where laptops running Microsoft Windows dominate.
Counterpoint analyst Tarun Pathak said, “Challenges for the adoption will be user awareness…Also non-Windows (operating system) is a letdown too,”.
Presently, HP and Dell dominate laptop sales in India.
Forming a market of 14 million unit sales annually which could expand another 15% with the addition of JioBook, Pathak estimates.
Jio plans to produce the JioBook locally by contract manufacturer Flex with Jio aiming to sell “hundreds of thousands” of units by March, the sources said.
Besides this, Jio is also pitching the laptop as an alternative to tablets for out-of-office corporate employees.
The firm has raised around $22 billion from global investors such as KKR & Co Inc and Silver Lake in 2020.
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