Journalism of Courage
Freedom 251, the cheapest smartphone in the world is finally getting launched today. After months of scepticism over the ridiculous pricing of the phone and the feasibility of Ringing Bells business model - the little known Noida based company has announced the start of deliveries starting July 8. Ringing bell has no idea how it will fulfill a backlog of 7.5 crore phones on order - the kind of numbers big companies sell in an entire year. Read more here
Ringing Phones is also launching two other smartphones today - Elegance, priced at Rs 3,999 and Elegant, priced at Rs 4,499. The company is also launching a feature phone - Boss, priced at Rs 999 along with three powerbanks with 4000mAh, 5500mAh and 8000mAh power backup priced at Rs 399, Rs 499 and Rs 699 respectively.
Freedom 251 is a 3G device that features a 1.3GHz quad-core processor with 1GB of RAM. The phone will run on Android 5.1 Lollipop. The company’s GM Anmol Goel told IndianExpress.com: “We may deliver more units if we get help or we may not deliver at all in the upcoming months. We are only focusing on the giving away the devices now.” The statement though doesn't inspire much confidence.
In an interview to IANS, Ringing Bells CEO Mohit Goel said he faced Rs 930 loss on each phone, which cost Rs 1180 and the parts were imported from Taiwan. Freedom 251 has an 8GB internal memory and supports external memory cards of up to 32GB.
He told IANS, “In order to digitally-empower every Indian, if I can get government support under the Digital India programme, I can ensure timely delivery of ‘Freedom 251’ phone to all citizens at the same price.” Freedom 251 has an 8MP primary shooter and a 3.2MP front camera.
Freedom 251 will be available in two colours - black and white. “The government can make the phone — under our Freedom brand — from some other vendor. I have no objection to it. To make such phone for every Indian citizen, the government needs to allocate funds from its Digital India initiative,” he told IANS.
Ringing Bells might not have delivered the cheapest phone in the world, but they have plans to launch India’s cheapest LED. Goel insists they have 1 lakh pieces in stock to deliver to customers.
Interestingly Ringing Bells is hosting an event today where it will launch new phones and India’s cheapest LED TV (below Rs 10,000). It has also assured deliveries for Freedom 251 from tomorrow. Freedom 251 will display the Indian Tricolour when you switch on the device.
