Users of Jiophone, India’s highest selling mobile device, can install WhatsApp messenger starting from today, Reliance Retail said.
The software can be installed by going to the phone’s appstore and downloading it.
“WhatsApp will be available on the JioPhone AppStore starting 10th September, 2018 and will be rolled out on all JioPhones by 20th September, 2018.
“On being made available on the JioPhone, users can download WhatsApp on both the JioPhone and the JioPhone 2 by visiting the AppStore and clicking on download,” it said.
This is after the successful completion of the trials, the company said.
WhatsApp built a new version of its private messaging app for JioPhone, running the Jio-KaiOS.
The company has even set up a special helpline number ‘1991’ to answer queries on the JioPhone.
LARGEST SELLING PHONE
Meanwhile, JioPhone has also become the largest selling phone in India “ever”.
Eight out of every 10 phones sold in the sub-Rs 1,500 price-range are JioPhones, the company said.
Rivals like Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel are yet to come up with a strategy to counter the Jiophone.
Akash Ambani, Director of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, thanked Facebook, the company behind WhatsApp for “really standing by it from the beginning”.
“The result of one such partnership is out for the world to see today. We will be providing WhatsApp, the most used chat application in the world, on all JioPhones starting today. Jio wants to thank the Facebook and WhatsApp team for making this happen.”
The app offers fast and reliable messaging and the ability to send photos and videos — all end-to-end encrypted. It also supports recording and sending voice messages.
To get started, JioPhone users only need to verify their phone number and then they can begin chatting with other WhatsApp users one-on-one or in groups, it said.
“By designing this new app for KaiOS, we hope to expand the ability for people to communicate with anyone in India and around the world,” said Chris Daniels, Vice President, WhatsApp.
Jio was launched two years ago and has already garnered a base of over 215 Million users.
To make voice services affordable, the company slashed the price of monthly unlimited voice packs to Rs 49 for Jiophone users.
It also subsequently cut the price of the Jiophone to Rs 501 under exchange.
The phone also comes with apps such as JioTV, JioCinema, JioMusic, JioChat, Google Maps and Facebook.
The company said number of Voice Commands used on a JioPhone surpasses that on a smartphone by 5 times and that JioPhone users spend more time using the internet and applications than even smartphone users.