On Wednesday, Reliance Industries announced the arrival of Jio Tv+, a content curation platform that would host about 12 streaming apps within its interface, at its 43rd Annual General Meeting (RILAGM). The meeting, that took place on their newly launched video conferencing app Jio Meet, was the first time an Annual General Meeting was held virtually.
The Jio Tv+ platform will allow customers to access the content of popular digital players like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+ Hotstar, Voot, SonyLiv, Zee5, JioCinema, JioSaavn, Shemaroo, Eros Now and YouTube with a single sign-on instead of logging into every streamer. Apart from this, Jio TV+ will reportedly also offer an aggregated voice search along with the traditional search that understands context. Users can surf content based on actors, directors, genres, producers, and even mood with this feature.
The single sing-on aims to reduce the tedious task of logging into every app and will provide all content available under every app belonging to the main platform. The single-click process is only applicable for the 12 apps listed above.
@jiotvplus would feature aggregated content from over 12 leading global OTT players such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+ Hotstar, Voot, SonyLiv, Zee5, JioCinema, JioSaavn, YouTube and many others: Akash Ambani at #RILAGM #NayeIndiaKaNayaJosh #JioTV #Jio
— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio) July 15, 2020
It was further announced that Jio TV will allow users to interact with the broadcasters for Live TV shows and not just remain one-way with JioFiber facilitating the process. For instance, users can participate in a poll to vote for their favourite contestants in reality shows or music contests and results would display on the screen in real-time with the percentage comparison of every other vote that has come in from across India. “For decades, TV content has been largely broadcast-dependent without any interactivity. With JioFiber, we have reimagined this experience and brought interactivity to TV,” said Akash Ambani who believes that interactivity is the future of consumption.
Akash also added that the Jio set-top-box also consists of the Jio App Store through which users can access internet applications across multiple genres such as entertainment, education, health, cooking, yoga, gaming, religion, and more. He also invited app developers to build, launch, and monetize apps for the store through the Jio Developers program if they were interested in doing so.
Through Jio Developers program, any app developer can develop, launch and monetize their apps. Developers who wish to partner with Jio can visit https://t.co/lhopVkmh9T for details: Akash Ambani at #RILAGM #NayeIndiaKaNayaJosh #Jio #JioDigitalLife
— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio) July 15, 2020
The meeting also saw the announcement of Jio’s latest innovation, Jio Glass that provides Mixed Reality services to give users an immersive experience. It has reportedly been developed for teachers and students to come together in 3D virtual rooms and conduct holographic classes and for other virtual meetings through the Jio Mixed Reality cloud in real-time. They also touched upon Jio’s education platform, Embibe, the Jio Health Hub platform, and Jio Mart.
Reliance also claimed that its video conferencing app Jio Meet has had more than five million downloads within a week of its launch. The app stands out when compared to its popular rival Zoom owing to its no time limit feature as opposed to the 40-minute time limit on Zoom. All meetings on Jio Meet are also encrypted and password-protected, unlike Zoom which was recently mired in controversy for its lack of security. Though Jio Meet was an exact replica of Zoom when it initially launched, the app has now undergone changes, emerging slightly different from its rival.
Since its release a few days ago, JioMeet has already been downloaded by more than 5 million users. Built by a young Jio Platforms team in just two months, it is India’s first and only cloud-based video-conferencing app: Mukesh Ambani at #RILAGM #NayeIndiaKaNayaJosh #Jio #JioMeet
— Reliance Jio (@reliancejio) July 15, 2020
Reliance has now achieved a Net Debt Free Balance Sheet with Google, Silver Lake, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR, TPG, Intel Capital, Facebook, Qualcomm Ventures, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) and Mubadala of the UAE, and Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia investing in the company, helping them rake up 1,52,056 crores.
Google, Jio’s strategic investor, has reportedly agreed to invest INR 33,737 crores for a 7.7% stake in Jio Platforms in accordance with the binding partnership and investment agreement signed. The two are looking to develop an Android-based operating system for entry-level smartphones offering them access to Google Play Store and the relevant apps. They plan to make India ‘2G-mukt’ by providing affordable “4G or even 5G” smartphones running the Android OS.
Reliance also announced its plans to bring 5G connectivity to India.
Watch the Reliance Industries Limited Annual General Meeting 2020 here.
