 "A model poses for photographs with a Galaxy Note 7 new smartphone during its launching ceremony in Seoul, South Korea. Photo: Reuters")
Korean mobile manufacturer Samsung got abreather in India regarding the Note 7 as the country's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) allowing passengers to usethe device purchased after September 15.
"The restrictions do not apply toto Samsung Galaxy Note 7 purchased after 15 September 2016 which have green battery chargeindicator on their screen," said the notice from DGCA.
On September 9, the Directorate Generalof Civil Aviation (DGCA) prohibited the use of Galaxy Note 7 on board flights as also carrying them in checked-in baggage following a series of incidents ofthe smart phone's battery exploding in various countries.
The DGCA has said that the flagship handset that are bought after 15 September do not come under the restrictions that the regulator laid down earlier. Sources say, the Korean major is planning to relaunch Note 7 handsets in the third week ofOctober in India.Till now the firm has not delivered any Note 7 device in the country and is in process currently to assemble completelynew handsets at its Greater Noida facility.
On Monday, in a high voltage meetingwith the regulator, the firm had asked for more details on the burnt Note 2handset - an incident that took place early Friday onboard a IndiGo flight. It has also seek to examine the device in question. To address the DGCA's concernand intentions to ban the entire Note series, Samsung had requested theregulator not to take any such call before a thorough investigation.
"The Director General of CivilAviation (DGCA) has issued an advisory to the travelling public and airlinecompanies today, lifting the restrictions on in-flight use of the new Samsung Galaxy Note7, purchased after 15th September, 2016.Customerscan identify the new Galaxy Note7 with the 'green battery icon'.
Devices displaying this visual icon are safe to charge and use during the flight.Itis important to note that Samsung has not sold a single unit of Galaxy Note7 in India so far. The 'green battery icon' will apply to all Galaxy Note7 unitsthat will be sold to customers in India when it is launched," a Samsung spokesperson said. At present, the smartphone major isworking on to launch an all-round promotional campaign before Note 7 relaunchlater in October.
Sources in the company said that despite concerns raised bythe DGCA, less than three percent of the (approx.) 20,000 customers that pre-booked Note 7 have cancelled their booking or asked for refunds till now.The entire episode came as a shock tothe company at a time when it's archrival Apple is launching iPhone 7 & 7Plus on 7 October in India. This year, to capitalize more on the potentialdemand the US major has tied up with Flipkart for precooking which started yesterday (29 Sept).
Apple in a rare gesture has also joined hands with Reliance to expand its offline distribution reach this year. Reliance hasaccess to some 1,20,000 smartphone selling points in the country spread acrossmore than 600 towns out of which Apple is going to utilize Reliance's reach in 200 major towns. Samsung currently holds over 50 percent market share in the above Rs 20,000 price segment of smartphones.
