At the end of last year, Micromax started a new brand of smartphones, dubbed ‘YU’ and announced the first device in the line, the ‘YUREKA’. The affordable device was sort of a big deal because it offered Cyanogen software on a budget. Many Indian users will be familiar with Cyanogen as they’ve often turned to the aftermarket OS to bring them a more up-to-date version of Android or in many cases save them from poorly implemented software from the manufacturer. With the YUREKA though, users will be able to purchase a device running stock Android in the form of Cyanogen right away. And it’ll only cost RS 8,999.
Sadly, it’s not just the marriage of affordable hardware and Cyanogen’s software that Micromax seems to have borrowed from the OnePlus playbook. Flash sales and a small amount of units available also seem to have become part of Micromax’s playbook for the YUREKA. Tomorrow, there will be 10,000 units of the YUREKA available on Amazon India and they’ll all be served up by a first come, first served method. Starting at 2PM loca time, Amazon India will have 10,000 units available and those able to add the device to their basket will have a unit reserved for them, with just 15 minutes to checkout. Once they’ve all been sold, that’s it. There is a chance however that if you’ve missed out, you’ll be added to a waitlist and those that don’t checkout or cancel will effectively be giving their device to those on the waitlist.
With a 5.5-inch 720p display, a Snapdragon 615, and CyanogenOS 11 onboard it’s no surprise the RS 8,999 device is to be in high demand. Hopefully, this is just the beginning for the YU brand, and after a while people will be able to pick up YU devices as normal. Flash sales can be great for building a name quickly, but as we’ve discovered with OnePlus, it doesn’t always instill long-lasting relationships with your customers. Micromax is a company that’s been around in India for a long time though, so hopefully they know how to handle things properly in the future.