Reliance Jio and Google working Undercover for affordable 4G Smartphones

By Shariq Hussain

Posted on March 15, 2017

After surpassing 100 Million subscribers, JIO has no intentions to stop exploring the market. According to the reports, Reliance JIO has partnered with Google to develop affordable 4G Smartphones, (VolTE) which will be targeted towards the lower middle-class audience.

Apart from launching Budget smartphones, JIO and Google are also working to develop software for the Telco smart TV services, which will be launched later this year.

On his visit to India in January 2017, Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google said: “There is a need for $30 (Rs. 2,000) smartphones in the Indian market.” This will be the second attempt by Google in Indian smartphone market. Earlier, Google has started AndroidOne which aims to develop budget smartphone but failed.

Jayanth Kolla, founder and partner at Convergence Catalyst, said “Android One had too many OEM partners, with each phone from every brand looking exactly the same, leaving no distinction for the vendor. Moreover, at the same time, Chinese players like Xiaomi launched their phones at a similar price with a lot more features, essentially killing the idea of Android One completely,”

Jio is already into smartphone competition named LYF headsets, which are produced from Chinese ODMs like ZTE, CK Telecom, Wingtech, and Tinno Mobile. Branding with Google will help the telecom aggregator to boost Jio’s plans to sell cheaper 4G handsets and reach a larger market.

While Both, Reliance Jio and Google are yet to confirm the news, it could definitely mean a complete turn-around for the Indian feature phone industry too. The 4G smartphones will have all the benefits of JIO applications, which will open lots of browsing options for the users. Google will be responsible for the marketing of the device while Reliance will handle the production. Read more JIO news.

Reliance Jio and Google working Undercover for affordable 4G Smartphones