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As per a note from CLSA, LYF, the handset brand from <keyword id="58448" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Retail">Reliance Retail</keyword>, has everything that it takes to become a $1 billion brand in India in the coming years, given that it can benefit from the launch of <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword>'s 4G services and the ongoing smartphone boom in India. 
 
Other than this, Reliance Retail's strong distribution network, better brand appeals at entry level, and initial bundling of Jio's 4G services are also the reasons which could play a pivotal role in pushing LYF handset sales in the country. 
 
Counterpoint Research says that in the first quarter since its launch, the brand has emerged as India's fifth largest smartphone player, with a 7% share in the Indian smartphone market. 
 
Other than this, sales of LYF handset will also get a boost because of the ongoing invite-based Jio's 4G services, an offer exclusively meant for LYF buyers. 
 
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/lyf/photos/pb.114652558874832.-2207520000.1463137189./280153675658052/?type=3&amp;theater">Image source</a>

Reliance Retail's LYF could be worth $1 billion in the next financial year

Chinese mobile chip maker <keyword id="2503529" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="100" keywordseo="Spreadtrum-Communications">Spreadtrum Communications</keyword> is said to be in the process of manufacturing a 4G-enabled feature phone that would cost around Rs 1500 in the Indian market, half from the current starting prices of 4G phones from Indian brands like Lava and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/topic/Micromax">Micromax</a>. "We are working on a technology that makes a Rs 1,500 4G feature phone viable. We have already started concept promotions to our partners," Spreadtrum Communications' country head Neeraj Sharma told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/you-could-soon-buy-a-4g-feature-phone-at-just-rs-1500/articleshow/58467323.cms">ET</a>. This has prompted both Lava and <keyword id="71696" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Micromax">Micromax</keyword>, along with Karbonn, to reduce prices of their entry level feature phones. Other than Spreadtrum, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/companies/reliance-is-pumping-2-8-billion-more-in-jio-after-registering-profits/articleshow/58355844.cms">Reliance Jio Infocomm</a> is also said to be planning an affordable range of 4G VoLTE feature phones priced under Rs 1,500. Subscribers can only use 4G enabled phones to make use of Jio services. Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/dhan-dhana-dhan-tariffs-submitted-to-trai/articleshow/58260455.cms">Reliance Jio submits Dhan Dhana Dhan tariffs with TRAI</a> Spreadtrum Communications has also partnered with Reliance Industries to power its inexpensive range of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/Reliance-4G-smartphones-under-Rs-3000/articleshow/53116090.cms">LYF</a> Flame 5 smartphone. With Lava, it had partnered for Lava M14G-enabled feature phone, available to customers for Rs 3,599. Due to the rising popularity of Jio’s high-speed 4G data plans that are <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/small-business/companies/jio-to-continue-with-attractive-offers/articleshow/58374710.cms">aggressively priced</a> to take on rivals like <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/tech/mobile/airtel-cries-foul-says-jio-took-too-much-time-to-comply-with-trai-order/articleshow/58104896.cms">Airtel</a>, Vodafone and Idea, handset makers have shown increasing focus towards low-cost 4G feature phones.

A 4G phone at Rs 1,500 could soon be a reality

Reliance Retail Ltd, subsidiary of Mukesh Ambani-led <keyword id="6355199" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Industries">Reliance Industries</keyword> Ltd, has introduced entry-level LYF-4G mobiles - <keyword id="3238745" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Flame-1">Flame 1</keyword> and <keyword id="3263238" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wind-6">Wind 6</keyword> - priced at Rs 6,399 and Rs 7,099, respectively. 
 
The entry-level range from LYF devices is equipped with cutting-edge technology such as VoLTE and VoWi-Fi, delivering 4G experience on a VoLTE supporting network, Reliance Retail said in a statement. 
 
Flame 1 
The handsets would offer HD quality voice and video calls, multi-party voice and video conferencing, Wi-Fi calling and high-speed Internet, among others. 
 
Wind 6 
Both phones are equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon Chipset and 1GB RAM and come with a 5 MP front and rear camera with blink and smile detection. 
 
Reliance Retail on the occasion also announced a new online portal -- www.mylyf.com -- sharing information about the products available from the company.

Reliance Retail launches entry-level LYF mobiles

Mobile shipments in India are likely to touch 262 million units by the end of fourth quarter going by the numbers so far where mobile handset vendors shipped 80 million mobile handset units in the third quarter this year, as per market research firm <keyword id="616509" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="cmr">CMR</keyword>. According to CMR's "India Monthly Mobile Handset Market Review Report for 3Q 2017," mobile handset vendors have shipped around 200 million mobile handset units in the country since the beginning of this year. The smartphone market recorded 29 per cent sequential growth in the thrid quarter, with 37.5 million units shipped, on the back of the festive season sales. "The third quarter witnessed the continued leadership of <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> in mobile handset shipments with a 22 per cent market share, and a comfortable 11 per cent lead over <keyword id="874458" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Xiaomi">Xiaomi</keyword>," said Prabhu Ram, Head-Industry Intelligence Group (IIG), CMR. The quarter also witnessed Indian mobile handset manufacturers offering bundled entry-level feature phones (<keyword id="3391400" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="reliance-jio-lyf">Reliance Jio LYF</keyword>), which was later replicated by its competition in the entry-level smartphone segment. "We anticipate this trend to increase in Q4, resulting potentially in an increased market share for the Indian brands. This would also lead to consolidation of handset vendors in sub-Rs 5,000 smartphone segment. It remains to be seen how this move will benefit Indian brands in countering the Chinese dominance," Ram added. Xiaomi recorded 84 per cent sequential growth in the third quarter, to be on par with Samsung in smartphone shipments. Shipments of global brands recorded 52 per cent sequential growth, while Indian brands grew by 28 per cent. Chinese brands had a market share of 44 per cent while Indian brands had a 28 per cent share. "However, Xiaomi's future growth will be dependent on its offline channel strategy to counter competition. Q3 also saw the return of <keyword id="6354716" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Nokia">Nokia</keyword> to the top 10 mobile handset brands list, with its growth fueled by its feature phones," said Narinder Kumar, Analyst, CMR.

Indian smartphone market grows 29% in Q3, Samsung leads the pack

Indians can now lay their hands on smartphones supporting 4G technology for less than Rs 3,000 price barrier, thanks to the price cut that <keyword id="10926" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance">Reliance</keyword> Retail announced for its latest Lyf-branded 4G voice over LTE (Volte)-enabled smartphones, viz. Flame 3, Flame 4, Flame 5 and Flame 6. 
 
The phones were launched over a month ago, but now their prices have been slashed by 25% to Rs 2,999, much before the year-end limit that was <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Prices-of-4G-smartphones-to-drop/articleshow/51806725.cms">predicted earlier</a>. As per analysts, this move will put a lot of pressure on other smartphone makers, who would want to be in the market no matter what. 
 
"This will definitely spur competition and Indian players may be forced to cut prices," Tarun Pathak, a senior analyst at Counterpoint Technology Market Research, told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/4g-smartphones-under-rs-3000-now-a-reality-much-before-expected/articleshow/53106385.cms">ET</a>. "But they shouldn't because they don't have the same revenue model as Lyf, which has the phone bundled with voice and data services." 
 Customers who buy Lyf mobiles get a <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> Infocomm SIM card with voice and data services; however, they are not restricted to use these phones only with the same SIM and can take services from other telecom operators. 
 
In March 2016, the price bracket of Rs 1,600-6,600 took up over 40% share of the smartphone market, out of which half were in the Rs 5,000-6,600 range. This price segment attracts all Indian handset makers, who already have a large presence here, but still play aggressively. 
 
<a href="http://rtn.asia/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/LYF.png">Image source</a>

Reliance is now offering 4G smartphones under Rs 3,000, way before expected launch

<keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> Infocomm’s president and mobility business head <keyword id="692487" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amitabh-Jaipuria">Amitabh Jaipuria</keyword> has reportedly quit the company, a <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Reliance-Jio-To-Hire-500-Professionals-Plans-To-Launch-Services-By-September/articleshow/33730023.cms">few months</a> before the much-awaited commercial launch of its 4G services. 
 
The reasons for his resignation are said to be personal, and as per <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/company/corporate-trends/reliance-jios-amitabh-jaipuria-steps-down-ahead-of-companiess-big-4g-launch/articleshow/52930913.cms">ET</a> sources, Jaipuria might move out of the entire telecom industry. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/10-kb/articleshow/51710681.cms">Reliance Jio may delight customers and stun rivals with data tariffs at 0.5 paisa/10 kb</a> 
 
Jaipuria, who was earlier the MD of the Indian unit of US agriculture company Monsanto, had joined <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Reliance-Jio-c-be-at-disadvantage-over-delayed-launch-as-Airtel-can-now-offer-4G-across-India/articleshow/51791193.cms">Reliance Jio</a> around two years back as its wireline business head. It was only about a year ago that he moved to Jio's mobility business where he oversaw a host of functions, including customer acquisitions, usage and retention (U&amp;R), Wi-Fi and enterprise businesses. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Reliance-Jio-is-rolling-out-its-4G-backed-Lyf-smartphones-for-consumers/articleshow/52568500.cms">Few steps away from formal launch? Reliance Jio is rolling out its 4G-backed Lyf smartphones for consumers</a> 
 
Now that Jaipuria has quit the company, it could possibly mean a possible segment-wise restructuring of the mobility business, and senior officials might have to name separate functional heads for all the functions that he managed. 
 
<a href="http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/multimedia/dynamic/01134/BL06_AGRI_MONSANTO_1134672f.jpg">Image source</a>

Amitabh Jaipuria quits Reliance Jio right before 4G launch

This <keyword id="6354312" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="IPL">IPL</keyword> season is going to belong to mobile handset makers, who will hog the most airtime during the matches on official broadcaster Sony. Mobile brands like Oppo, Vivo, Lava, Micromax and LYF are not only going to advertise a lot during the T20 league matches, but are also sponsors of six out of the eight playing teams. Other than this, another brand Intex also owns a team. 
 
Oppo has signed up as the presenting sponsor this year, which means that it would take 240 seconds per match, the highest ever time slot in the IPL. Similarly, the other two presenting sponsors -Vodafone and Amazon - have taken 210 seconds per match. 
 
Like this year’s mobile brands, the last season of the IPL belonged to the ecommerce majors like Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon, CarDekho, Car-Trade, Paytm, Shopclues and Myntra, who brought around 23% of the total ad revenues for the broadcaster. 
 
"This year, the handset category is making up around 20% of our advertising revenues, the highest among all categories," says Rohit Gupta, president of Sony Pictures Networks. 
 
The reason why smartphone makers have overtook e-commerce companies is that the losses of some of the leading ecommerce players grew significantly over the past one year, forcing most of them to cut down on advertising costs. 
 
As per media planners, this IPL would give Sony around Rs 1,200 crore from sponsorship and advertising, as compared to just under Rs 1,000 crore in the last season of IPL. 
 
<a href="http://www.iplt20livecricket.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/IPL-2016-1.jpg">Image source</a>

Mobile handset makers to pay Sony around 20% of IPL ad revenue

The <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=IPL">IPL </a>controversy memories may not have faded yet, but the man at the center of it - Mr <keyword id="18641" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Raj-Kundra">Raj Kundra</keyword> - has managed to sail through troubled waters to keep his prosperous business career flourishing. Yes, for this former <keyword id="13802" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Rajasthan-Royals">Rajasthan Royals</keyword> co-owner, his IPL investment goes out of the window, but there are newer ones on the cards already. The launch of his new Viaan mobile smartphones is testimony to the fact that there has been no stopping him ever since Justice Lodha Committee read out that judgement over IPL betting a few months ago, pronouncing him guilty and banning him for life. 
 This sports enthusiast feels it was an unfair trial but life doesn’t stop for him there. It didn’t stop for him either when doors were slammed on his face at the beginning of his career as he tried to sell the Pashmina shawls he bought from Nepal, to fashion houses in London. He was persistent. Soon, he rose from being a small-time seller to becoming the largest buyer of Pashmina shawls. Business opportunities in Antwerp, Russia, Ukraine and UAE pushed him forward into various ventures and investments across the board from mining to <keyword id="6354553" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="real-estate">real estate</keyword> and renewable energy to entertainment and hospitality. That’s not all. Today, he owns Indian television home shopping channel - Best Deal TV Pvt Ltd and a construction company called Kundra Constructions Pvt Ltd. Married to one of the prettiest and fittest <keyword id="143" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Bollywood">Bollywood</keyword> stars, <keyword id="6358615" type="PERSON" weightage="100" keywordseo="Shilpa-Shetty">Shilpa Shetty</keyword>, Raj has evolved as one of the most recognized faces in the biz world today, more so after his recent decision to plunge into the risky consumer electronics space with the launch of affordable smartphones in the name of his son Viaan. 
 At a time when the mobile market is flooded with all kinds of phones – affordable to premium to luxury – and <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> is bracing up to descend in the market with its affordable Lyf phones, how is this British businessmen really planning to work this out for himself? As he bets his money in yet another business prospect that he believes in, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/">Business Insider</a> chats with him to get you a sneak peek into his beginning days of struggle, journey to a successful career amid lows and highs, and his newest venture with his wife Shilpa Shetty. 
 
Q) We understand you dropped out of college to choose a career path of your choice. Take us back to the beginning of your journey when you sold Pashmina shawls. 
 
I was 17 when my father gave me six months’ ultimatum to either choose a career line or manage the family-run restaurant business in London. Running the restaurant was not something I was keen on doing. So, I backpacked and set off to discover something that I would want to do my entire life, well aware that I will have to return to London and run the restaurant in case nothing worked out in these six months. However, during my visit to Nepal, my eyes were fixated on the colourful Pashmina shawls that were hanging outside several shops in Kathmandu. As I learnt more about it from the shopkeepers, I felt the product was interesting for the cold climate conditions in London. A credit card with 2000 pound limit in it was all I had. I asked the shopkeeper if he had a factory. He said yes. I asked him to give me one piece of every colour assuring him that I’ll soon get him orders. I swiped my credit card and put all the money into these Pashminas, and took these to London with me. As I reached out to several companies to sell the idea, doors were slammed on my face. Nobody wanted to talk to me since I was a single-man army. Soon, a chance meeting with someone at the airport landed me with a whopping 10,000 crore order. There started my journey. Luck was on my side, and there has been no looking back ever since. 
 
Q) Amid your successful businesses is a low point you faced when Justice Lodha Committee pronounced you guilty in the IPL betting controversy in July this year. It brings your crucial IPL business investment to an end. How has that affected you? 
 
It was not an investment for us, but something Shipla and I were passionate about. We had nothing to sell neither any product to advertise, it was just for the love of the game. I don’t agree with the report. First time around, they said Raj is in the clear but we need to investigate a bit more. To my surprise, without showing me any evidence they suddenly called me guilty. This is huge violation of natural justice. All I know is whoever was guilty has been arrested. I was not once arrested or picked up by the cops. Even they agree that there is no evidence against me. It was an unfair trial. I am not guilty. There’s nothing I have done and I clearly mentioned that if an iota of wrongdoing is found on my part, I’ll forfeit my shares. In any case, it was a judgement that we cannot argue about, so we silently walked off. I don’t want to do anything where there is violation of natural justice. 
 
What brings you to the mobile segment now? 
 
After trading Pashmina shawls, I got into buying and selling mobile phones in UK. It led to me learn the business and eventually, I understood that space very well. Today, I look at India as having so much potential with the demands of nearly 500 billion middle class population residing in the country. I would often complain about certain handsets not working in a certain way. Sometimes you just want to pick your phone, hear a human voice and get your work done. The personal touch that is lost in this tech age is something I still like. And so, I thought not everyone likes to use an app to book their tickets and maybe we need someone to go back to the basics. 
 
What’s the USP? 
 
Our USP is V Assist - 24x7 personalized concierge service which will provide users details on best deals on products and services. With the cheapest entry level phone, you have got a personal secretary at your service to do everything. Just pick your phone, get details and ask our staff to do it for you. It is a free subscription for 1 year. Also with every handset, we are giving a 2 lakh accidental insurance. It’s a lovely add-on. The trivia is that India is known as the accident capital of the world. We cannot prevent these accidents, but a lot of it happens when you are busy on your mobile phones. At least, we can help in this way. We are going to be all about service. 
 
So are others. Don’t you feel that the entering the mobile market is a risky affair with the telecom giants innovating day by day. Soon, Reliance Jio’s Lyf phones which are again affordable phones like yours will hit the market. How do you aim to crush your competition? 
 
I think there is no dearth of demand. Look at the consumption. There are 2 crore handset requirements every month in India and it’s growing at 20-30 per cent every year. It’s a huge consumer market and an average consumer changes his phone twice in a year. With a billion people living in the country, one can imagine the actual consumption. Yes it’s cluttered and you need to create the brand, but it all goes down to service when it comes to a handset. You will provide the same features - camera, memory, speed etc. What different can you do? It is all going to be in the service you offer, the quality of your phone and the affordability factor. 
 
What are you expecting as returns from this new venture in the coming 2-3 years? 
 
We have tied up with a company in Ukraine and we have already launched in 7 CIS countries simultaneously. This one agent in Ukraine is going to look at the CIS turf. His projected business is $80 million a year. If I am taking $80 million internationally and I am doing the same kind of figure in India, you have done a business which is nearly $200 million in the first year itself. Success is assured. 
 
With several start-ups waiting to climb up the ladder of success, what would be your one advice to the newbies? 
 
You have to take risks if you want to run a business. As they say, with no risk comes no gain. However, you can minimize the perceived damage the decision can have of play safe if you take calculated risks. When you put money somewhere, just make sure you are able to see an exit option during unforeseen circumstances.

Raj Kundra- The shrewd
opportunist, with a never-say-die-attitude

The infighting between telcos and <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> led <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> is turning out to be the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Telcos-vs-Reliance-Jio-over-Jio-4G-launch-and-free-trial-test/articleshow/53875879.cms">biggest slugfest in the Indian telecom industry</a>. And now <keyword id="2003276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> has partnered with 19 smartphone makers lapping up over 3million subscribers even before its commercial launch. This is not going down well with the telcos, we spoke to industry body <keyword id="6373028" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="COAI">COAI</keyword> who is of the view that Jio is playing an unfair game and COAI members (including <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone, Idea) will no longer extend their interconnect capacity to Jio as they don’t consider Jio as a full fledge telecom operator until they stop their free trial testing and commercially launch their services. 
 Mukesh Ambani announced the testing of Reliance Jio services on December 27th, which incidentally is Dhirubhai Ambani's birth anniversary. The test started with employees only free trial offer but soon it was extended to retail consumers through a bundled offer with Jio's range of Lyf mobiles. And now, Jio’s 90 days free trial offer can be availed with the purchase of 19 smartphone brands including <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword>, LG, Panasonic, ASUS, Gionee, Karbonn, Lava, Xolo, Videocon, Sansui, Sony, Micromax, YU, Alcatel, TCL, Vivo, Intex and HTC. This fast growing Jio’s ‘free service’ partnership with smartphone makers is adding more fire to the never ending war of words with the existing telecom operators in the country over Jio's trial offer. Telecom operators <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Airtel-Vodafone-Ideas-asks-govt-to-stop-Jios-free-data-trial-offer/articleshow/53647221.cms">have written to the top govt offices</a> including the PMO about Jio's three month free trial offer and how it's helping Jio poach their customers. 
 
Now with Jio growing bigger by the day without having launched their services commercially, telcos have taken a stern stand to stop providing any further interconnect capacity to Relaince Jio. This move can potentially hurt Reliance Jio’s voice services as it is already a huge concern for Jio “It would clearly not be prudent for RJIL to contemplate launching of commercial services with this level of call failures” Jio had said. While telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone, Idea have claimed that they have provided Jio with enough interconnect capacity to meet the usual demand of 15 to 20 million customers and now the industry will not extend the interconnect capacity any further until Jio enters the market as a full-fledge telecom player. With the growing number of Jio subscribers this could lead to a huge concern for Reliance Jio and not to mention yet another spark in this never ending battle.

Telcos pull the plug on call support for Reliance Jio as Jio’s ‘free service’mobile partnerships grow rapidly

<ul><li>Reliance Jio is working on bringing affordable 4G smartphones below ₹3,000 in the country. </li><li>The company wants to speed up its acquisition of existing 2G subscribers from other telcos. </li></ul>Reliance Jio is reportedly in talks with various smartphone makers to introduce budget 4G smartphones in bulk and retail them at around ₹2,000-₹3000. According to a report in <a href="https://www.business-standard.com/article/companies/reliance-jio-s-new-big-idea-4g-smartphones-at-rs-3000-to-migrate-2g-users-120022601633_1.html">Business Standard</a>, Reliance Jio has approached Lava Mobiles to make these affordable phones. Jio is looking to expand the ecosystem of 4G services by reducing the existing phone prices by half - which now hover between ₹5,000-₹6,000. Reliance wants to repeat its JioPhone success These ‘starter phones’ will help Jio chase its 500 million subscriber target and it’s currently at 370 million. At the same time, Jio has been trying to bring high spenders into its ecosystem, making the shift from 2G to 4G essential. In India which has over a billion mobile users, around over 550 million customers are still on 2G/3G. And, it is not the first time that Jio tried to peddle handsets to ease the transition. In 2017, it introduced its 4G feature phone, which was priced at ₹1,500. The company has sold over 100 million JioPhones since its launch due to the low-cost and 4G support. And they continue to bring in business, even now. Of the 6-9 million subscribers that Jio has been adding every month, over 3 million come from the sale of the JioPhone. The phone is offered for ₹501 when a user exchanges a 2G phone, or at a flat ₹1095 which comes bundled with six months of free calling and data. Jio might cut corners for the smartphone While the ₹1,500 JioPhone helped the telco gain users, its user experience is low with overall build quality and lack of memory. The upcoming budget 4G smartphones may face the same fate if the company cuts corners to cut costs and bring down the price. The phone may have a sub-standard display and poor battery quality. A decent 4G smartphone still costs more than ₹7,000, so it remains to be seen if Jio can bring that price down to under ₹3,000 without any major quality compromises. Not the first time Jio has introduced budget 4G smartphones In December 2015, Jio had introduced its Lyf series of budget 4G VoLTE smartphones as there were limited options in the market that supported 4G VoLTE. Soon after, Jio’s LYF brand entered the top-five smartphone makers in the country. After seeing the success of Lyf smartphones and Jio’s increasing subscribers, other smartphone makers started introducing VoLTE compatible smartphones. Now, 4G VoLTE has become a basic feature of any smartphone launched in the country. While Reliance Jio did scaled up its Lyf brand and hasn’t introduced a new smartphone in a while. But it looks like it will make a comeback in a swankier avatar in 2020. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/corporates/news/mukesh-ambanis-reliance-jio-becomes-the-largest-telco-by-revenue-and-subscribers-as-industry-shows-signs-of-recovery/articleshow/73667566.cms">Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio becomes the largest telco by revenue and subscribers - as industry shows signs of recovery</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/panicking-vodafone-idea-users-are-porting-to-airtel-and-reliance-jio-but-that-might-not-be-the-solution-theyre-looking-for/articleshow/73425737.cms">Panicking Vodafone-Idea users are porting to Airtel and Reliance Jio — but that might not be the solution they're looking for</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/as-the-rest-of-the-world-flies-high-on-5g-most-of-india-will-still-be-on-a-4g-network-in-2025/articleshow/72225998.cms">As the rest of the world flies high on 5G, most of India will still be on a 4G network in 2025</a>

Mukesh Ambani plans to offer ₹3,000 smartphone to hit his 500 million subscriber target

<keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> announced the testing of <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> services on December 27th, incidentally, <keyword id="6418409" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Dhirubhai-Ambani">Dhirubhai Ambani</keyword>’s birth anniversary. It started with employees only free trial offer but soon it was extended to retail consumers through a bundled offer with <keyword id="2003276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword>’s range of Lyf mobiles. And now, the Jio free trial offer can be availed with the purchase of various 4G smartphones across many brands. All this while Jio is in the middle of an unending war of words with the existing telecom operators in the country over Jio’s trial offer that provides customers with free 4G services for three months. Telecom operators like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Airtel-Idea-Vodafone-hit-back-on-Jio/articleshow/53743575.cms">complained to the top govt offices </a>including the PMO about Jio’s 90 days free trial offer and how it’s helping Jio poach their customers. 
 
But it looks like the fight is only adding fuel to the fire as Jio’s trial offer has only grown bigger and wider by the day. Reliance Jio has now partnered with many smartphone brands to make the Jio Preview Offer available on a multitude of 4G smartphones apart from company owned Lyf handsets. This partnership between Jio and smartphone makers is certainly proving to be a win-win situation for both where Jio is hoping to add subscribers to its fast growing network and smartphone makers hoping for a push in the sale of their handsets with free services from Jio. Reliance Jio is looking at many such partnerships in the near future and the company is already being approached by other smartphone makers for such partnership. 
 So far the free trial offer from Jio can be availed with the purchase of 4G handsets from nine smartphone brands including company’s own handset Lyf, <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword>, LG, Panasonic, Micromax, Yu, Asus, Alcatel and TCL. As part of the offer, customers can get unlimited complementary access to Jio services for three months which includes HD Voice, Video calling, unlimited SMS, unlimited High-Speed Data services, and access to Jio Apps. Consumers can avail the Jio Preview Offer at all <keyword id="6419831" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Digital">Reliance Digital</keyword> stores including <keyword id="1929859" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Digital-Xpress">Digital Xpress</keyword> and Digital Xpress Mini after purchasing 4G smartphones from any of these brands.

While telcos oppose Jio’s free trial testing, Jio's offer become bigger by the day

The <keyword id="2003276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> services were announced by <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> who turned a usually dull event like an AGM(Annual General Meeting) of a company into one of the most talked about event in the country. So far the Jio services came bundled with the company’s LYF mobile and a few smartphone brands that Jio had partnered with. And from today, <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> services are available for all. At the event <keyword id="10924" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ambani">Ambani</keyword> welcomed all consumers to his network with a host of free services. And who doesn’t want free stuff, well if you are wondering what phones are compatible with Jio’s network, here’s a comprehensive list of smartphone brands that work on Jio network.

Check if your phone is Jio compatible or not

<keyword id="6355199" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Industries">Reliance Industries</keyword>, has asked its 40,000 or more workers to quit using connections of existing leaders, as <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword> and Vodafone, and rather change to its own fast 4G Jio. 
 
RIL has requested that workers port their current telephone numbers to Jio, a move that may open another front with the current administrators, who have been ready to fight against the Mukesh Ambani-drove firms delayed beta testing. 
 
“We are excited to announce yet another milestone towards greater excellence, where we will be switching our existing corporate connections to Jio," RILs HR division kept in touch with every one of its workers. 
It requested that workers use MNP to port their current numbers to Jio and disclosed to them the orderly procedure. 
 
Mobile number portability (MNP) empowers phone clients to hold their number when changing from one bearer to other. 
 
“Once you have submitted the required information, we will initiate the Mobile Number Portability (MNP) process with the existing operator. This will take around seven working days to complete,” the company HR said in the email. 
 
In this way, the company subscribed to corporate arrangements of every significant administrator including Airtel and Vodafone for the representatives. 
 <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword> test dispatched its services last December, yet no dates for business dispatch has yet been declared. At first, Jio SIM was accessible just to its workers, and later packaged with Reliances own Lyf-marked smartphones. Presently, all <keyword id="10591" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Samsung">Samsung</keyword> and <keyword id="6356116" type="CITY" weightage="20" keywordseo="LG">LG</keyword> smartphones clients could stroll into a Reliance Digital store and obtain a Jio SIM. 
 
It now has more than 1.5 million clients. 
 
The company says it has made the universes biggest end-to-end all IP network and contributed over Rs 1.34 lakh crore. Once dispatched, the services will cover more than 18,000 towns and more than 2 lakh villages over all the 22 administration ranges of the nation.

'Stop using Vodafone & Airtel': RIL tells its employees

As per a CMR report, emerging mobile handset vendors will be shipping 25% of the overall shipments, a total of 32.5 million smartphone units, by the end of this year. This number was 15.2 million smartphone units last year; it hints that the emerging brands have rapidly gained momentum in the rapidly increasing smartphone market in India. 
 
By 'emerging,' the report referred to the brands launched in India not before 2013. 
 
The report also said that these emerging brands contributed 16% towards the overall smartphone shipments in 2015, while in 2013, the contribution was merely 3%. 
 
"The emerging brands do not remain confined only up to giving competition to the incumbents and offering a wide variety of options for prospective buyers to choose from. But these brands are also focusing on offering value for money products, so that buyers could get more and best of specifications at affordable price points," Faisal Kawoosa, Lead Analyst Telecoms at CMR, told <a href="http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/emerging-brands-to-ship-32-5-million-smartphone-units-this-year-cmr-study/articleshow/52980856.cms">ET</a>. 
 
"Further these brands have been trend setters like - Xiaomi introducing the concept of flash sales, OnePlus going by invitation mode only and Oppo boldly focusing on the camera feature and calling its phone as the camera phone," he added. 
 
The report added that Gionee and Oppo were the only two brands that had leadership positions in all segments of smartphone prices. 
 
In 2015, the emerging brand market was led by Xiaomi (23.6%), while Gionee and Panasonic came second with 14.7% and 11.3% market shares, respectively. 
 
The report added that India saw 21 new smartphone brands being launched in 2015, as compared to 74 brands launched in 2013. In the last two years, prominent brands that have come to India are Gionee, Oppo , InFocus, LYF, Qiku and Meizu. 
 
Although the number of new entrants has fallen, their contribution has rapidly increased, said Krishna Mukherjee, Analyst Telecoms at CMR. 
 
<a href="http://techmalak.techmalak.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/new-smartphones.jpg">Image source</a>

Emerging brands will ship 25% of overall smartphone units this year, says CMR

The telecom industry is seeing one of the biggest, baddest infighting over the <keyword id="3820" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Mukesh-Ambani">Mukesh Ambani</keyword> led <keyword id="6354504" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="Reliance-Jio">Reliance Jio</keyword>'s trial offer. This trial test pack from <keyword id="2003276" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Jio">Jio</keyword> offers unlimited data services for free for three months to customers on their yet to be commercially launched 4G services. Jio’s extravagant trial offer did not go down well with the incumbent telecom operators like <keyword id="15491" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Airtel">Airtel</keyword>, Vodafone, Idea and they approached the top offices in the country including the <keyword id="6365387" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="PMO">PMO</keyword> to stop <keyword id="10926" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Reliance">Reliance</keyword> Jio's trial testing immediately. 
 But a source in the company told Business Insider, “There is no reason to stop the three month free services for customers. The trial offer will continue as promised” the source said. Which is a relief for the customers as most of them had to purchase Jio’s Lyf mobile handsets in order to avail the particular offer. The company source also said “We will abide by what the <keyword id="6356988" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="TRAI">TRAI</keyword> or the govt instructs us but we are certain that TRAI will not stop the trail service as that will impact the consumers”. 
 
This after a huge war of words between the existing telecom operators and Reliance Jio where telecom industry body COAI wrote to the Telecom Secretary, JS Deepak, "we request your (DoT) urgent intervention in this matter and instruct the said licensee to stop such practices. Further, they should be instructed to immediately disconnect all such connections provided to general public under the guise of test connections," COAI said. Reliance Jio did not take it lying down and called the allegations "malicious, unfounded, ill informed and frivolous" in an indirect response to the incumbent telecom players through a letter written to the telecom regulator Jio said, "steps taken by COAI in last few days by issuing press releases, alleging unfounded biases with the regulator and by writing letters against test trials are in fact attempts to sabotage the market entry of RJIL". 
 
COAI pointed out that the elongated free trial testing is helping Jio poach customers, it said, "(Jio) has also tried to port subscribers from other operators, even though this is a prelaunch test period". Jio initially began testing its voice and data services with employees only scheme and now the company has over 1.5 million customers after they extended their free data trail offer to retail consumers. Reliance Jio's launch has been long awaited but Jio puts the onus for delay (of their commercial launch) on the incumbent players saying that the existing operators are not offering the requisite interconnection bandwidth and that incumbents are using their dominant position to stifle other operators.

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