Micromax's Yu Yureka registrations halt within 20 minutes

 
On Friday, the Yu Yureka registrations went live on Amazon India at 2PM, but within 20 minutes the process was halted due to excessive traffic on the website.

Registrations for the phone are expected to go live again. Amazon is currently in the process of performing a load balancing exercise to compensate for the excessive traffic for the registration of the phone.

Yu, which a 100 per cent Micromax owned subsidiary, is a new online only venture. While the registrations have gone live, the phone will be available in January only.

On December 18, Micromax co-founder Rahul Sharma launched the Yu Yureka smartphone for Rs.8,999.

The Yu Yureka, on paper at least, looks like an enticing option. It has a big 5.5-inch 720p screen, a relatively potent octa-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 processor with 64-bit and 4G support, and 2GB of RAM.

It also packs a 13-megapixel rear camera which has a Sony Exmor sensor and a 5-megapixel camera on the front. There is also a 2,500mAh removable battery, dual-SIM support, a microSD card slot and 16GB of internal memory.

Software wise the phone is quite interesting. CyanogenMod 11 powers it, which is a popular ROM based on Android KitKat. Yu has an exclusive agreement with Cyanogen Inc. for Cyanogenmod in India.

Micromax is trying to replicate the online flash sale model of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi.

Earlier in the year, Xiaomi made waves in the country with its disruptive pricing, impressive hardware and unique sales model.

With the Yureka, Yu is trying to compete with Xiaomi. In fact, the Yu Yureka offers better hardware than Xiaomi's 5.5-inch Redmi Note 4G and is cheaper by Rs.1,000.

The deal with Cyanogen Inc. has also courted controversy, as the OnePlus One smartphone has been rendered illegal in India as it also runs on Cyanogenmod. In the process, it violates the exclusive deal between Yu and Cyanogen Inc.