To expand its empire, Reliance Jio is now eyeing the next big thing for the Indian market. The company is in talks with American chipmaker Qualcomm to bring out a laptop with built-in cellular connection for the Indian market. The laptop that is likely to run on Windows 10 is Reliance Jio’s next bet to increase the company’s average revenue per user (ARPU).
Senior Director, product management of Qualcomm Technologies, Miguel Nunes said that Jio can take the device and bundle it with data and content. Qualcomm is already working on an ‘Always Connected PC’ with bigwigs such as HP, Asus and Lenovo globally. Already 14 operators have extended their support for this including AT&T, Sprint and Verizon in the US, as well as major operators in UK, Australia, Germany, France and Italy.
Homegrown Internet of Things brand Smartron is also working with Qualcomm to bring laptops powered by with cellular connectivity.
Counterpoint Research, a global research firm specializing in mobile & technology products, said that almost 5 million laptops are sold every year in India, with most of them utilising Wi-Fi for connectivity, as mentioned in a report by the Economic Times. So needless to say, laptops with cellular connectivity could be the next big thing for ARPU.
Counterpoint Research further mentioned that even if operators can connect a million laptops, that is only 20% of the total sold in a year, to 4G networks by end of next year and can charge Rs 300 to Rs 1,000 per month, operators could generate monthly revenue of Rs 30 crore or close to Rs 360 crore. It could touch Rs 1000 crore a year from these users only.
Qualcomm and Reliance Jio are already working together for a 4G feature phone.
