When Mukesh Ambani announced the JioPhone during its 40th Annual General Meeting in July, there was an immediate tension in the Indian mobile industry. Feature phones, which many assumed were obsolete, suddenly gained more attention from OEMs and consumers.
The JioPhone struck a perfect balance between a smartphone and a feature phone for those who didn't want to upgrade.
The fact that RIL decided to offer the JioPhone essentially for free meant the demand multiplied. Due to an overwhelming demand for the JioPhone, where 6 million units were booked, the company had to halt pre-booking until it delivered the first batch.
There have been several dates on when the pre-bookings for the JioPhone would resume, but the company maintained its stance on it being "soon".
The best timeline for JioPhone bookings is when the deliveries of the 6 million units are completed in India. It was largely expected to be over in October, but there is no sign of it even as November has almost ended.
According to a new report, the JioPhone's pre-bookings are likely to resume as the company is validating the potential consumer base.
According to a report on India Today Tech, 10 million customers who registered their interest in the JioPhone are now getting a message from the company asking them to confirm their interest. A link takes them to Jio's official webpage when clicked to confirm.
On the Jio site, customers are greeted with a message that reads: "Thank You for confirming the details. We will be starting the JioPhone delivery very soon and will get back with more details about it."
Users do not get any tentative timeline on when they can pre-book the JioPhone, but the report states that this is the company's way of checking if people are still interested in buying the phone.
Depending on how many responses RIL gets, the company can plan better for the next sale – if and when that happens.
Surveying consumer's interest is also essential, considering the market has already been flooded with several JioPhone alternatives.
Micromax Bharat 1 is a great deal for 4G VoLTE feature-phone customers, but there are other offers like JioPhone from rivals like Airtel, BSNL, and Vodafone.
