Get it straight; Reliance Jio 4G laptops are all about increasing data usage, not about penetrating laptop market in India.
Needless to say that Reliance Jio has made data accessible and affordable like never before. After amassing a whopping 175 million user base in India, Jio is gearing up to cast an indelible impact in the mobile data space. Reliance Jio is reportedly planning to enter the laptop market.
A Laptop with a 4G sim card could be the next big bet for Reliance Jio. Reliance Jio is said to be in talks with chipset maker Qualcomm to launch laptops running on Windows 10 and with inbuilt cellular connectivity.
The report quotes Miguel Nunes, Senior Director, Product Management, Qualcomm Technologies, saying, “…we have talked to Jio. They could take the device and bundle it with data and content.”
Qualcomm is already working with Reliance for the 4G feature phone. The Indian IoT brand Smartron has confirmed that Qualcomm is working to bring Snapdragon 835-powered laptops with cellular connectivity. Globally, the chipmaker is already working on the so-called ‘Always connected PCs‘ with players like HP, Lenovo and Asus.
The Reliance Jio 4G laptop is expected to be price tagged with between INR 35,000 and INR 40,000.
It’s Not About Laptops, It All About Data
Data is the new Oil ! Arguably, no company could possibly agree to that as much as Reliance who has been engrossed deeply in the oil business since ages, and now it is unshakeable in the mobile data market. Reliance Jio evidently wants to make its presence felt among operators beyond smartphones. The company is seeking to increase its average revenue per user (ARPU) by adding as many devices as they can. Last year, Reliance Jio had clocked $4.70 (INR 300) ARPU, much higher than all its competitors in India. The Internet is the backbone of almost every computing and smart devices. If your device requires an internet as fast as 4G, apparently Reliance wants that it should run on Jio, and that’s why a 4G laptop bundled with free data is what Reliance Jio is betting on.
No other telecom provider has such an enormous presence in consumer electronics as Reliance. After launching JioFi dongles and LYF 4G smartphones, Reliance focusing on the computer market can be a potential game changer.
A snapdragon-chipset can provide enhanced battery life to the laptop and a cellular-connectivity will ensure better privacy and security than public Wi-Fi hotspots. As per counterpoint data, total laptops sold every year in India is close to 5 million and most of them connect to either enterprise, home or public wi-fi hotspots. In the light of this news, Reliance seems adamant to embed Jio in each and every device that is capable of running the internet.
With LTE enabled laptops on the horizon and rapid surge in Jio 4G connections, Reliance Jio is likely to be benefitted in another different aspect. Reliance Jio knows about all kinds of devices which are accessing Jio’s 4G data and hence knows the internet usage patterns, now this development will expand its reach to laptops as well which will help it in predictive analysis on how the data is being consumed. If laptops start rolling out with data bundles, Reliance Jio is not eyeing to conquer the laptop market but it is aiming to reach out to more consumers and strengthen its user base.
This can probably be the future of computing as the users could enjoy connectivity in their laptops on the go, without the hassles of mobile tethering and plugging dongles. It will also be favourable for those users who have to bear separate tariffs for their wi-fi and 4G recharges. What is being offered would be new for network providers, for OEMs and also for the users.
