JioPhone delivery to start during Navratri, 6 mn units booked

Around 6 million units of JioPhone were booked within three days of its pre-booking that started on August 24, says a channel partner of Reliance Retail. The delivery of the "effectively free" JioPhone is being planned to start during Navratri festival beginning September 21, the partner said.

"The pre-booking of JioPhone was put on hold after 6 million units were booked within first three days. We have been told by the company that the deliveries of JioPhone will start during Navratri," the channel partner, who asked not to be named, told PTI.

E-mails sent to Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail did not elicit any response. Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani, in his previous annual general meeting speech, had said the company plans to sell 5 million JioPhones every week.

The pre-booking of JioPhones started on August 24 against payment of a refundable deposit of Rs 500 and the remainder Rs 1,000 has to be paid by the customer when the company starts delivering them in September.

Ambani had announced that the total amount will be refunded after 36 months when the customer returns the phone. According to the industry source, nearly 10 million people have shown interest in JioPhone.

According to CyberMedia Research, a total of 61.8 million mobiles were shipped in the second quarter of 2017. With 6 million units of sale, JioPhone is estimated to account for around 10 per cent of India's total mobile phone market in a quarter.

Ambani had announced that voice calling for customers of JioPhone would always be free and they would get unlimited data for a month against a payment of Rs 153.

JioPhone, which can be operated by speaking out instructions to dial, type messages and the like, will come with pre-loaded Jio apps for messaging and entertainment. The phone can be connected with television sets for watching live TV using the Jio TV app. The phone will also include some of the popular instant messaging and social networking apps.