Jio Phone booking: Pre-booking starts 5.30pm today for Rs 500

The pre-booking of Reliance Jio Phone will start today from 5.30pm across Reliance Jio Infocom's retail stores, the website and the Jio App. The initial booking amount is Rs 500 while the rest Rs 1,000 has to be paid at the time of delivery in September.

"India Ka Smartphone is finally here! Pre-booking for JioPhone starts tomorrow Aug 24 at 5 pm," an SMS sent to a Jio customer read.

As announced by RIL CMD Mukesh Ambani, the JioPhone will be given against payment of fully-refundable deposit of Rs 1,500. Customers will be able to book JioPhone for Rs 500 and the balance Rs 1,000 can be paid at the time of delivery in September. The total amount will be refunded after 36 months when the customer returns the phone.

Jio has also announced a weekly plan for Rs 53 and a 2- day plan for Rs 23 for unlimited data access.

JioPhone, which can be operated by speaking out instructions to dial, type messages and the like will come with pre-loaded Jio apps for messaging and entertainment. The phone can be connected with television sets for watching live TV using the Jio TV app.

Reliance Retail has a target of making available 50 lakh JioPhones every week from September.