As soon as Reliance announced the launch of its much talked about Jio Phone and thereafter opened the pre-booking option, around 6 million units have been booked within 3 days, starting August 24. In its latest revelation, the channel partner of Reliance Retail has said that the company is planning to start the delivery of its effectively free phones during the Navratri festival which is starting from September 21. Speaking to PTI about the same, the channel partner said, “The pre-booking of Jio Phone 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 Jio Phone will start during Navratri.”
During his last Annual General Meeting (AGM), Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani had said that the company is planning to sell 5 million Jio Phones every week. The pre-booking of Jio Phone, priced at Rs 1,500, started against payment of a refundable deposit of Rs 500 and the remaining Rs 1,000 has to be paid by the customer when the company starts delivering them in September.
The company had stated that the total amount will be refunded after 36 months when the customers return their phone. Even the industry experts say that around 10 million people have shown their interest in the Jio Phone. According to CyberMedia Research, a total of 61.8 million mobiles were delivered to retailers in the second quarter of 2017.
Ambani, during the AGM, also announced that voice calling would be free in Jio Phone and users would also get unlimited internet data for a month against a payment of Rs 153. The phones will come with pre-loaded Jio apps for messaging and various entertainment options. The phone can also be connected with television sets for watching live TV by using the Jio TV feature. The phone will also include some other features such as instant messaging and social networking.
