JioPhone Pre-Bookings Are Open! But Where’s The Crowd?

JioPhone pre-booking day one wasn’t as exciting as expected. Really, where is the crowd?

With the kind of buzz the “essentially free” JioPhone had created, we were expecting a huge turnout in front of the Jio store located at Sector-18, Noida, a popular market place.

The pre-bookings were to start at 5:30 pm on 24 August, and I thought it would be very tough to get into the store. When we reached the location we were stunned.

There were hardly any people at the Jio store. Is that because the phone wasn’t physically there? Or is there very little interest in this phone?

How Many Turned Up?

As surprising as it is, the turnout for the Reliance JioPhone was not even half of what the telecom giant garnered at the time of the Jio SIM launch. At the retail outlet where The Quint was, there were hardly 7-8 people at a time, almost 40 minutes after the pre-bookings had started.

Also Read: JioPhone Pre-Booking: Online Stores Crash, Few Takers Offline

However, the story isn’t the same in all parts of the country. There are some stores which received decent numbers compared to the low count in Noida.

Why No Hustle & Bustle?

There are a lot of theories floating around trying to explain why people didn’t turn up in big numbers at Jio stores. Some of the reasons could be:

1. Since you have to pay for the JioPhone (unlike the Jio SIM) there aren’t many people going for the offer. You have to make an initial payment of Rs 500 to pre-book the phone and then pay an additional Rs 1,000 when you get the phone.

2. Many feel that there are enough substitutes in the market like the Intex Turbo+ 4G which is offering the same features and you can also choose your preferred network. With the JioPhone you can only use a Jio SIM.

3. The JioPhone doesn’t support WhatsApp which is where it’s losing its biggest customer base. India is the largest user of WhatsApp and has a base of more than 50 million users.

4. Booking online is a more convenient way as you just have to register for the phone via Jio’s website and also you can book a phone via the MyJio app.

5. Many existing Jio customers are not satisfied with the Jio services, which is why they haven’t opted to go for the JioPhone. They still feel Jio has a lot of catching up to do in data speeds and after sale services.

The basic reason for slow adoption is that this is not such a huge deal as the free SIM with free data was. This is a Rs 1,500 phone. A (doubtful) refund 3 years later does not translate into “free” for the profile of buyer they would be targeting. And there are many Rs 1,000-1,500 phones. 

Prasanto K Roy, Technology Expert

Should Jio Be Worried?

Considering that the opening day of the pre-booking was a weekday, we feel there may be a pick up in bookings for Jio in the next couple of days.

So don’t be surprised if a lot of people throng Jio retail stores over the coming days.

Reliance Jio has promised to make 5 million phones available to the market in a week but looking at the current turnout at the offline stores the big question to ask is: Will they still need 5 million?