During its 45th AGM (Annual General Meeting), Reliance officially announced its Jio Cloud PC – a virtual PC that will be hosted using the new Jio AirFiber (5G) technology. The device is claimed to bring the power of a desktop computer to every household and business at an affordable price.
Jio Cloud PC Announed at 45th Reliance AGM
Announcing its new device, Reliance Jio President Kiran Thomas said, “Owning a computer these days can be cumbersome, as it has to be upgraded and changed every few years. Using Jio AirFiber, people can do away with all expenses related to buying computer hardware and periodically upgrading it, and opt to use a virtual PC hosted in the cloud – called Jio Cloud PC.”
Targeting mainstream personal computers, the telecom company claimed that the Jio Cloud PC will be a game changer for many different demographics, including students, gig-workers, accountants, etc. “With no upfront investment or tension of periodical upgrading, a user needs to pay only to the extent used, resulting in a super-affordable way to bring the power of a PC, even multiple PCs, to every Indian home and business,” added Thomas.
What is a cloud PC?
At its simplest, the Jio Cloud PC is going to be a virtualization service that provides a full blown desktop experience on hardware that is not very desktop like (read: less powerful). An easy way will be to think of it as a streaming service. But, rather than stream movies and TV shows, it streams the output of the desktop OS. The OS is also optimised for common input devices like keyboard, touchscreen and mouse to give the user a seamless desktop experience.
Pricing and Availability
There are no details on the price and availability of the Jio Cloud PC at the moment. But looking at the claim of Reliance that the Cloud PC does not require any upfront investment, we can assume that it will most probably come bundled with a specific Airfiber plan.
Furthermore, there also no details about the specification the device, but looking at the rendered images, we can assume that the PC will come with at least 4 USB ports (one USB 3.1), 1 RJ45 port (Ethernet), an HDMI port and a 3.5 mm audio jack.
Jio 5G Services and Jio Cloud PC
Reliance plans to launch Jio 5G services by Diwali 2022 in metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Chennai. It will then be expanded to other cities and towns in phases to cover entire India (about 1,000 cities) in 18 months by December 2023. “Jio’s ambitious 5G rollout plan will be the fastest in the world,” the company said. So what are your thoughts on Jio’s Cloud PC and it’s ambitious 5G plans. Let us know in the comments below.
