RELIANCE LAUNCHES CHEAPEST COLOUR PHONE AT A PRICE OF RS 999

In a bid to break entry barrier for coloured-display phones, Reliance Communication today launched 'Classic 732' at a price of Rs 999, the lowest in Indian market.

Classic is India's largest operator-driven handset brand introduced by Reliance at a very low entry level pricing, a top company official said.

"We have crossed the one crore sales mark in Classic handsets. Now, the Classic 732 will become the entry level handset for new mobile users in the country," Reliance Communications President, Personal Business S P Shukla told reporters here.

Earlier in May, the company had launched the Classic monochrome phones at a price of Rs 777.

"With about 200 million mobile users in India, the penetration still is at a low of 20 per cent. Apart from affordability for new customers, we have to enhance the experience of existing customers," Shukla said.

He declined to comment on the handset manufacturing cost or the cost at which the company was purchasing it.

"The pricing is through a comparison of acquisition cost of a new customer and the customer life cycle value," he said.

Reliance Communication has a total customer base of over 38 million including 1.2 million individual overseas retail customers. Its average revenues per users (ARPUs) was Rs 375.

NOKIA CONTROVERSY: 'DUPLICATE' BATTERY SALES TAKE A HIT

The Nokia BL-5C battery

With reports of some cellphones not functioning properly while getting charged or during thunderstorms and unsafe batteries being recalled by one of the largest cellphone manufacturer, Nokia, the grey market of duplicate batteries has taken a hit.

"Earlier, we had brisk sales of duplicate cellphone batteries which used to cost much cheaper than the original ones but now because of the Nokia controversy, the sales have dipped," says Pintu, a shop owner in Gaffar Market, New Delhi, one of the biggest grey markets for cellphones in the capital.

While Nokia may have issued a warning about a batch of defective cellphone batteries offering free replacements, even grey market buyers have now become smarter. "We usually have different range of cellphone batteries catering to all kinds of people. Since the controversy, the demand for lower end batteries has dropped considerably," says Tarloch Singh, another cellphone shop owner in the capital.

He adds that even though duplicate battery still sells, it is the better ones with a higher price than local batteries are in demand.

According to Indian Cellular Association (ICA), of the 45 million replacement batteries in the Indian mobile market, about 80 per cent are counterfeit and unsafe.(ICA), of the 45 million replacement batteries in the Indian mobile market, about 80 per cent are counterfeit and unsafe.

MOBILE STRIDES: China develops world's first solar-powered mobile phone

A Chinese company has claimed to have developed the world's first solar-powered mobile phone that uses sun's energy to recharge itself. The company says a scale-like solar panel on the top side of the clamshell-designed phone can also be recharged by light from other sources including candles. It can provide 40 minutes of talk-time after sitting in the sun for an hour.
Hi-Tech Wealth, a well-known telecommunication products supplier in China, claims its mobile phone is the world's first to use solar power to recharge its battery.
The company says it has developed the most advanced solar power technology and owns eight patents and has applied for numerous others.
Many companies around the world are working on similar mobile phones but their products are still at the experimental stage, Xinhua news agency quoted a company official as saying.
"With more than 400 million mobile phones in the country, China would save a great amount of electricity if all its mobile phones were recharged by light," chairman of Hi-Tech Wealth, Zhang Zhengyu said.
He claimed that the lifespan of the battery in the new phone is 2.5 times longer that traditional batteries. The cost of the solar-powered mobile phone was not provided.
The company plans to put six of its light energy mobile phones on the market this year, and another 30 next year, the report said.

(Courtesy: PTI)