The Indian Express

It seems content is the new game for smartphone manufacturers. After the content push from Le Eco, Indian smartphone major Micromax has announced a partnership with Eros International “to bring endless entertainment” to its consumers.

Micromax has over the past couple of weeks been talking about becoming more of a services company, shifting focus from its hardware presence. And this content play is apparently aimed at that. The Eros Now app will now come preinstalled on Micromax’s latest smartphones showcasing Eros Now’s extensive repository of Bollywood films, music, originals and regional content. Eros Now will on the other hand leverage Micromax’s presence of over 150,000 retail outlets to distribute its content.

Rishika Lulla Singh, CEO, Eros Digital said, “We are extremely pleased to partner with Micromax to offer our collection of movies, music and more. With this partnership we will be expanding our ability to provide entertainment on-the-go, anywhere and anytime to Micromax’s new acquisition of 3.5 million users every month and also their existing base of more than 30 mn connected users. Joining forces with one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers provide us with another opportunity for exponential growth and customer reach.”

Vikas Jain, Co-founder, Micromax Informatics Limited, said, “We are extremely excited about this partnership, as it promises to make the digital content from cinema, movies and videos available to our urban and rural customers. Beyond urban cities in India, Micromax has found mobile internet to be one of the most favored connectivity options in rural cities. This tie up helps us to enhance the experience for our customers beyond hardware specifications. The rich content library of Eros Now promises to become a part of the daily digital consumption of our customers.”

Micromax smartphone users can choose between subscription packages of Rs 49 pm or Rs 99 pm for a duration of their choice ranging from one month to a year. This will give them access to a “range of exciting features, such as viewing content offline, full-length movies, thematic curated playlists, watch-lists, regional language filters, video progression and subtitles to offer the best video viewing experience to users”. Plus, there will be individual music tracks and music video playlists using the app.