Freedom 251- The Ultra-Affordable Smartphone That Sounds Too Good To Be True | TechTree.com

Freedom 251- The Ultra-Affordable Smartphone That Sounds Too Good To Be True

Ringing Bells’ history doesn’t inspire much confidence.

 

From February to June 28 to finally, June 30, Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd has postponed the release date of its Freedom 251 smartphone at least twice. It seems nothing short of a miracle that the phone will actually go on sale this Thursday. The idea of a fully-functional smartphone sounds unbelievably tempting, and far too good to be true.

And so far, Ringing Bells hasn’t done much to boost confidence; quite the reverse.

The company has claimed that the impetus behind the incredibly cheap smartphone are the Make In India and Start Up India schemes. It has gone so far as to claim that the Freedom 251 will be a showcase for Make In India. "Our devices are completely Make in India and were manufactured at our Haridwar-based manufacturing unit," Ringing Bells founder and CEO Mohit Goel was quoted by IANS as saying. Why, then, has the former DIPP secretary Amitabh Kant disclaimed any connection between the Freedom 251 and Make In India? DIPP is the nodal agency behind the Make In India campaign.

Ringing Bells is yet to offer any clarification regarding these counterclaims. The question does arise as to how the company is bearing the formidable loss per unit, assuming it is actually making these phones exclusively in India.

The startup hopes to make profits on volumes and economics of scale. “We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the Digital India and Make in India initiatives has been fulfilled with Freedom 251," Goel was further quoted by IANS as saying.

However, in such a case, the company would exponentially increase volumes, and try to sell as many units as possible. However, from the initial number of 25 lakh units that it had announced earlier, it has now come down to a modest 2 lakh. The company will open a second round of registrations after shipping the first batch of 2 lakh. It’s not too clear as to why a second round of registrations is required after 7 crore people already registered in the first. The company claims that 30,000 people paid for booking the phones in the first run before it started offering the cash on delivery option.

"We don't want money from customers initially. We have investors to back our project. There is a business model to justify the price. We have a foolproof plan and to whomsoever we have disclosed it has agreed to it. I don't want to disclose full details as of now," Goel told India Today.

As for these investors, Ringing Bells has yet to disclose their names. Furthermore, if they have investment backing, a ‘foolproof’ plan, and are looking to play the volume game, why did they not have an original unit to show at the launch event? To make matters worse, it was discovered that the ‘Freedom 251’ units that were handed over to journalists at the launch were actually Adcom Ikon 4 units disguised with whitener fluid! Talk about tacky!

Ringing Bells has still not put up either the actual Freedom 251 phone image or its features on its website. Images showing off the phone in question are now doing the rounds on the web, but then why doesn’t the company itself put the phone on its website, along with the details?

According to Ringing Bells, it has outsourced the task of assembling the phone to two production units, Vie Technology and Eminence Technologies. The company had confirmed to India Today that it had placed orders to manufacture 50 lakh units of the phone at these facilities. Vie Technology had yet to receive the go-ahead to start assembly as of March 10, while Eminence Technologies was approached only five days before the launch,. Now manufacturing 50 lakh units is an uphill endeavour, even more so for a startup. It’s anybody’s guess as to whether the date will be pushed back for the third time.

After all the initial pomp and show, the Noida-based startup has remained mum on the several questions that need answering. Ringing Bells hasn’t exactly inspired confidence by its slacking, and if we were you, we’d approach this smartphone with more than a little caution.

Image Credit: Zee India


TAGS: Freedom 251, Ringing Bells

 
News Corner
IMP IMP IMP
##