Reliance Jio 4G LTE Mega Nation Wide Launch Delayed

Based on our Industry & Insider channel checks, we find Reliance Jio Infocomm well placed to meet the rollout obligations by Aug-2015 i.e. they will likely have a soft launch with adequate towers. We believe that the actual launch will be around Dec-15 coinciding with founder Dhirubhai Ambani’s birth anniversary (vs. market expectation of May-15) as the company may take some time to have a good quality network to be operational.

In our independent assesment some of the reasons for the delay in launch vs. our expectations are 1) Time taken to rollout fiber as approvals for right of way (RoW) take time; 2) Rolling out a good quality 2300MHz & 1800Mhz 4G network with offloading via WiFi and Small-cells is taking more time and 3) Jio may look for a good quality voice solution on 4G network like Vo-LTE with the latest acquistion of 800Mhz spectrum rather than a fallback on traditional 2G or 3G network.

If the company is going for (more…)

Reliance Jio Chat App Achieves 100,000 Downloads – Review

Reliance Jio Infocomm’s Jio Chat App which went live 10 days ago and has achieved 100,000 downloads with an average 4.3 Rating from 10,000 users on the Android Platform. The app is also launched for iPhone users as well. The app highlights Jio’s intention to eventually become a single platform for users (voice, messaging, entertainment & ecommerce), similar to that of Chinese apps.

Jio chat offers the features of WhatsApp – messaging and calls on data. It includes other features including a channels section, where it has tied with various companies for content (entertainment & ecommerce), and conferencing
facility including video. Jio chat app offers File / Media & Contact sharing. It also offers 100 free SMS/mth (sent on data) which would be useful and applicable in case either sender/recipient’s data network at the time of sending the message is unavailable. This is unlike WhatsApp where messages sent through remain in the network in case of data issues and sent / received once (more…)

Mobile Powers Chinese Rural e-Commerce

According to research recently released by bjbusiness, roughly 64% of netizens in rural China shop via mobile phone, far in excess of those who shop by PC (~36%). In many of China’s less developed markets, the smart phone is indeed the key gateway to internet access rather than the PC due to the lower device cost when compared with the PC. E-commerce penetration in rural areas has risen substantially, as key e-commerce players such as Alibaba and JD shift their strategic focus from top-tier cities to rural areas. Mobile usage meanwhile has come to embrace online shopping quite rapidly and seamlessly.

Roughly 74% of rural netizens indicate Taobao and Tmall as their most frequently visited e-commerce sites, while (more…)

High Speed / Fast Charging SmartPhones – New USP

In the past two years, big screen phones have been gaining popularity. Due to the bigger size of battery, phablet battery hours usually are longer. According to Apple, iPhone 6+ can last 24 hours’ talk time on 3G vs 14 hours for iPhone 6. This is because iPhone 6+ has a 2,915 mAh capacity battery, 61% larger vs iPhone 6’s 1810 mAh. However, the downside is that charging takes much longer. For example, it can take 3~4 hours to fully charge an iPhone 6+.

Samsung adopted fast charging in Galaxy Note 4 and Galaxy S6. We expect many international and Chinese brand smartphones to start adopting similar technologies with models launching in 2H15. High Speed / Fast Charging SmartPhones constitute < 10% of the market today and is expected (more…)

Just Dial Asset Light Local Commerce, Open to Partnership

In an era where JustDial – JD is competing with the PE-backed internet players that are flush with cash and have an appetite for cash burn, JD unveiled its strategy saying that it maintains belief that over the longer term, JD will be able to compete and emerge stronger vs. vertical / horizontal players who are gaining top-line market share by burning cash.

Just Dial has invested heavily in making a mobile app that can provide multiple touch points for the consumer. The single focus for technological evolution at the company is linked to make JD the preferred platform for all (more…)