Google, Jio Reveal India's Budget Smartphone: Bloomberg
India’s Reliance Industries Ltd’s billionaire CEO, Mukesh Ambani, showcased the JioPhone Next handset co-developed with Alphabet Inc’s (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) Google, to tap India’s substantial first-time smartphone user base, Bloomberg reports.
Ambani emphasized the importance of an ultra-affordable 4G smartphone at Reliance’s annual meeting on Thursday. The device will run a re-engineered version of the Android operating system.
Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai joined remotely to add that the JioPhone was built for India and would deliver translation features, a voice assistant, and an excellent camera.
JioPhone’s Next handset is slated for a Sep. 10 debut ahead of India’s festival season.
Jio has over 423 million users of voice and data services in India.
Google Cloud technologies will form the basis for Jio’s upcoming 5G wireless solutions and serve the internal needs of online services like Reliance Retail and JioMart, Ambani said.
Asia’s richest man aiming to turn an oil-and-petrochemicals giant into a homegrown tech leader, presented the new device amid supply chain headwinds.
The launch comes nearly a year after Google acquired a $4.5 billion stake in Reliance Industries’ digital arm Jio Platforms Ltd.
Global tech leaders like Google and Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) have jumped on the Reliance bandwagon to grab a slice of India’s 300 million first-time smartphone user market who are estimated to start accessing the internet by 2025.
Competition looms in the form of established peers like China’s Xiaomi Corp (OTC: XIACF) (OTC: XIACY), Oppo, Vivo, and OnePlus with high specs at low prices.
Price action: GOOG shares traded higher by 0.62% at $2,544.95 on the last check Thursday.
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