Since the time Reliance Industry Chairman Mukesh Ambani had announced the JioPhone, unavailability of popular apps like WhatsApp has been a concern. With the commencement of JioPhone deliveries, the demand for WhatsApp support is slowly growing. WhatsApp may sound like a big ask from a ‘feature phone’ which effectively costs Rs 0, but its unavailability is seen as a so-called drawback. Also read: JioPhone Bookings: How to Book a Slot and Buy The Reliance Jio Phone
The JioPhone is not a restricted feature phone at all. Dubbed as ‘India Ka Smartphone’, WhatsApp creating a KaiOS-based simple chat app could mean a win-win deal for both parties. Why WhatsApp should support JioPhone?
Reliance Industry Chairman Mukesh Ambani during the company’s AGM in July had shared that India mobile handset market stands at a total of 78 crore (780 million). Out of which 50 crore (500 million) are feature phones and the JioPhone targets this major chunk of feature phone users who are unable to ride the Android bandwagon because they cannot afford to.
WhatsApp had also announced in July that they had garnered 1.3 billion (130 crore) monthly active users. Now, what’s next for WhatsApp? The team has looked beyond regular app feature updates to get the next billion and JioPhone is just the right opportunity. Also, with WhatsApp still dragging support for Windows Mobile and BlackBerry 10 (till December 2017), a KaiOS app for the JioPhone could fetch better ROI.
Keeping WhatsApp payments in mind, it would be highly unlikely that the WhatsApp team would want to miss the JioPhone opportunity with a 50 crore (500 million) subscriber base. WhatsApp is expected to facilitate instant money transfer (bank-to-bank) via the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) transaction platform very soon in India. Also read: Reliance JioPhone First Impressions Review: Tears of Joy Guaranteed
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