Lenovo ties with RCom to launch smartphones below Rs 8,000

Will be sold across 2,500 retail stores of Reliance & 1,000 stores of Lenovo

Chinese PC major Lenovo today announced entry into the rising smart phone market in India, in partnership with dual technology carrier Reliance Communications (RCom).

The handset that works on both GSM and CDMA technology platform simultaneously will be priced below Rs 8,000. The China-made co-branded handset will be made available in market by March end.

Lenovo, which ventured into the smart phone segment about two years back, has so far focussed in the Chinese market.

“We have plans to launch six more co-branded smart phones and CDMA tablets in India within the next six months,” said Gurdeep Singh, President & CEO (Wireless Business), RCom.

The handset will be bundled with RCom services, while consumers will be given the option to use both CDMA and GSM services simultaneously. “The device has in-built capability to switch between CDMA and GSM networks during a call or a data session, if one of the networks loses the signal. This would benefit the consumers and reduce call drops,” Singh said.

While the handset will be locked for the CDMA network with RCom, the GSM would be kept open and consumers can avail service of any other operator if they wish to.

The device will be sold across 2, 500 retail stores of Reliance and 1,000 company-owned stores of Lenovo.

“India’s smart phone market is booming and predicted to grow even faster in the coming years. We expect CDMA/GSM to drive market expansion both in terms of volume and in terms of technology and service innovation. Our partnership with RCom offers Indian consumers more and better choices,” said Liu Jun, Senior Vice President, Lenovo Group.

During 2012, about 16 million smart phones were sold in India, and the market is projected to double in 2013. Currently, about 80% of the market is dominated by Samsung and Nokia.

RCom will offer special data plans and voice tariff with the co-branded smart phone. The operator also has plans to offer “all share” data plans where customers can pool their data into one account and use upto six devices across smartphones and tablets. Meanwhile, Singh said that RCom would lower focus on the “voice only” subscribers and would proactively migrate them to its GSM network. CDMA will be kept only for data users, he added.