3G Reliance Tablet gets a jab : Free 500 MB data, Bigflix movies and free international calls

Reliance will offer 500 MB of free data per month for 3 months, free movie streaming from its BigFlix repository for two months and free International calls (worth up to Rs. 250) for anyone who buys their 3G Android tablet.

Tablet makers have tried everything under the sun. Everything means dropping the price and waiting for magic. Reliance, though, has been quiet despite having a distinct advantage. It can rely on its network for data freebies and on its big media repository for free content.

Reliance is in an unenviable position to make a true bundled offer.

A killer blow

Maybe I’m overstating things or maybe I’m getting excited about this. Any which way, I can’t help but wonder the benefits of such a move. A move which only Airtel can match. But Airtel doesn’t have the movie repository. At best Airtel can offer a bundled data offer.

Looks like this is a good sign for the stalled 3G adoption. Is this such a killer move I’m making it out to be?

Let’s peel this….

500 MB of free data : How long will that lost?

Not very long if real 3G speeds are on offer. As for the movies on BigFlix, well that could be exhausted in no time. A two hour movie streamed at 2000kbps will roughly transfer 2 GB of data. Indian movies are longer than two hours.

If the streaming isn’t at high quality and the movie has been hugely compressed, at best one movie can be watched with 500 MB. For all the hue and cry you get to watch just one movie. So much for free BigFlix movies for two months.

Yeah, I know, what you are thinking. All marketers are liars. Technically though, this isn’t a lie. You do get the 500 MB free for a month and you can watch one single movie for the whole month. You just need to peel the onion to know what’s inside.

Do I think if this still a killer blow?

It’s a good move by Reliance. No doubt about that. Not quite a killer blow but a move which its competition will find hard to match.

Think of it as the trailer to get you watch a movie. After all, everybody and their mother is betting on selling you 3G data services. And expecting rock bottom prices would only make the 3G services go the 2G services way. Not what we really want.

Via TOI