Freedom 251

Introduction
Ringing Bells Noida-based startup launched world's cheapest smartphone- Freedom 251,
priced at Rs 251, a move that is set to disrupt the booming Indian mobile handset market.
BJP MP Murli Manohar Joshi launched the smartphone Freedom 251.
While the company seems committed to their noble cause of selling the Rs 251 smartphone
and even make a profit of Rs 31, there are a lot of apprehensions regarding whether it will reach
the promised 25 lakh people who have booked online before June 30.
The apprehensions are justified. And the only way Ringing Bells can enter the hall of fame in the
Indian smartphone market is by delivering on its promises, The company has its task cut out:
making Freedom 251 and delivering all the units booked within four months. B

Features
The 3G handset, Freedom 251, features a 4-inch display, Qualcomm 1.3-GHz quad-core
processor and 1 GB RAMand 8GB internal memory, all the space you need. SD card support
(expandable up to 32GB), With 3.2MP AF Rear Camera & .3MP Front camera Freedom 251
with its inbuilt touchless technology is Ideal for perfect Selfie. For Selfie lovers life just got a
little easier,,according to details shared by the company.With its 1450 mAh battery, Freedom 251
gives you more time to talk, text, Play and watch videos without needing to worry about running
out of power,a microSD card slot and even a 1,450 mAh battery.

Brief Description
At Rs.251, the Freedom 251 isn't just the cheapest Android smartphone in the world, it is a
fully functional smartphone on the basis of the information that's there in the public.The
Freedom 251 will be available through its own website. It is priced at Rs.251 and is the world's
cheapest smartphone, by a country mile. A report on Tech PP says - The government clearly has
provided Ringing Bells a lot of support. This has probably happened for the Make in India
initiative. The phone also comes with a bunch of government of India apps preloaded. The most
notable one being the Swachch Bharat app. The phone runs on Android Lollipop 5.1 and also
comes with the Google Play store and WhatsApp preloaded. Software wise, at least according its
website, there are no compromises. The phone even supports 3G connectivity, so it will certainly
be faster than a bunch of 2G phones that are available in the market. The phone will have
aftersales. Ringing Bells is offering a 1-year warranty and has set up 650 service centers in the
country.
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Freedom 251

Ringing Bells has been making phones since 2015. It is based out of Noida. It also makes a 4G
phone called the Smart 101. It hasn't popped out of nowhere. Ringing Bells claims on its site that
it even has an in-house testing centre in India. At Rs.251, this phone could have the potential to
be the poster child for PM Modi's Digital India and Make in India campaigns. Going by the
features of the phone and the disruptive pricing the phone is likely to make an impact.
In an interview, Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha demystifies how his company seeks
to achieve this seemingly unachievable feat of selling a phone at a mere Rs 251."We put in a lot
of research and a lot of thought," says Chadha." Agreeing to our calculations on the component
pricing, Chadha says that the general assumption would be to sell such a phone at Rs 2,300 or Rs
2,500. The idea of selling the phone at Rs 251 came to Chadha and his colleague MohitGoel, a
director at Ringing Bells, on a midnight stop at dhaba on the highway to Jhansi. With the goal of
achieving the Rs 251 goal, Chadha and Goel went back to the drawing board and calculated that
they could bring the price down to Rs 800. Chadha says the company will pass on the 13.8 per
cent duty protection (around Rs 450-Rs 470) for Make in India to the customer. And they will be
saving an additional Rs530 from the economies of scale (given that the company plans to mass
produce the phone) which theoretically will bring down the costs. Another Rs 460 is said to be
saved from marketing and selling costs (given that the company is largely opting for online
sales). This still leaves a wide gap between the Rs 251 price tag and the costs, that according to
his calculations, is Rs 800. "I am selling at Rs 251. So I have to cover Rs 550," says Chadha.This
balance, according to Chadha, will be recovered by the earnings from a marketplace that the
company will be setting up. "So here is my marketplace, you want to sell something, come to
me, pay me a revenue for it, and I will pass the revenue on to my customer," he says. That's how,
according to the company, the Freedom 251 can sell for Rs 251. The company intends to sell
around 2.5 lakh to 3 lakh units a month. The Freedom 251 will be available on sale both online
and offline, however the company accepts a bulk of the orders to be online. Ringing Bells, has
set for itself, another seemingly unachievable target of 30 per cent of the Indian smartphone
market in the next 12 months. Chadha also clarified that there is no subsidy from the government
for the Freedom 251. "The investment required will be anything between Rs 230 to Rs 250
crores, for the first round," says Chadha which, he says, the company has arranged through debt
equity.

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Freedom 251

Problems Faced After Launch

Expressing concern over the launch of a smartphone at price as low as Rs 251, mobile
industry body ICA has written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to get into depth of the
issue, saying the rate could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale.
The Indian Cellular Association (ICA) also said that it is not appropriate for the senior political
and government leadership to be present at the launch till the air around this is cleared and it is
not shrouded under controversies."For your kind information, the bill of material (BOM) value
for a product like this when sourced from the cheapest supply chain cost approximately $40 (Rs
2,700)."And this, when translated into retail price after addition of applicable duties, taxes and
with distribution and retail margins would be at least Rs 4,100 while the product is being sold at
Rs 251," ICA National President Pankaj Mohindroo said in the letter. He further added that even
if the product is sold at lower margins in an e-commerce type subsidised sale, the final consumer
price cannot come below $52-55 (about Rs 3,500-3,800). "Further, there is no visible mobile
operator subsidy involved in this, which in any case is not the way the Indian mobile market
operates," he added. Mohindroo said it would be advisable that officers from Deity get into the
depth of this and ICA will provide any technical assistance, if required. "We are bringing this to
your kind notice, so that a scenario does not arise in the future, where the nation, the government
of India, industry and trade are seen in a poor light," the letter added.
The Department of Electronics & Information Technology has formed an internal panel to
assess the viability of Ringing Bells, which launched the world's cheapest smartphone for Rs
251, as senior company executives met ministry officials to explain their sales model.
The internal panel will delve into the credibility of Noida-based Ringing Bells, according to
people privy to the development. This is being done at the request of the Indian Cellular
Association, which questioned the pricing economics, and BJP lawmaker KiritSomaiya, who
alleged the company's strategy was a 'ponzi' scam. Executives including company president
Ashok Chadha and director MohitGoel met officials of the Ministry of Communications and IT
and explained the viability of their model.

Latest Updates
Company is reportedly refunding the payments that it had accepted on the first pre-booking date.
The company stated that it had accepted payments from the first 30,000 orders, after which their
website had crashed. According to Ringing Bells MD MohitGoel has claimed that the company
has refunded the money of all 30,000 customers and said that the company will accept cash on
delivery. Notably, after the first 30,000 bookings were made, the company did not ask for any
booking amount after its website was live after a 24-hour outage. Once the second round of
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Freedom 251
booking were made live on the website, the company allowed people to book one Freedom 251
unit with one email ID and mobile number. After a particular booking was successfully accepted,
Ringing Bells said that the customer would receive a payment link on the registered email ID to
confirm their booking within 48 hours. However, it did not send any payments related email to
its customers."The company has decided that we will, henceforth, offer 'cash on delivery' mode
of payments for those who have placed an order for the 'Freedom 251' smartphone. This will
ensure further transparency and clear any misgivings," Ringing Bells president Ashok Chadha
said in an official statement. They said that "they will withdraw the money raised by booking
30,000 handsets only after they're delivered. The money is in an escrow account at present," one
of the people said, seeking anonymity. Ringing Bells, little known until it launched the Rs 251
smartphone, is aiming for 50 lakh bookings. The company has promised to deliver all the
handsets booked as of now by June 30. Experts said the Rs 251 price tag is too good to be true
and the communications ministry pointed out that a phone with the same specifications would
cost a minimum of Rs 2,300. Even at this price, Goel said the company will make a profit of Rs
31 on each handset, according to a media report. The company created a storm of consumer
interest when the smartphone was launched last week. With over 6 lakh hits per second on the
opening day of bookings, the company's website crashed soon after and was revived before it
was closed on February 20 evening.

Two Reasons It Is Not a Scam

Political leaders have launched this product: At a glittering event, veteran BJP leader
Murli Manohar Joshi launched this handset in Delhi. Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar
was also expected to attend this event, but he failed to turn up.
Ownership Is Clear: The companys owners are not hiding and have presented themselves
to be scrutinized. Here is the Facebook profile of the founder MohitGoel, who goes by
the name CuteMohit; besides, all the founders of this company have come out in the
open with a full page ad on TOI and mentioned that the handsets would be delivered in
June.

Four Reasons It Is a Scam

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The actual product is a shady rebranded ripoff: Sample unit of Freedom 251 was
reviewed by Hindustan Times, and they found that its a shady, rebranded ripoff of a
smartphone sold by a company named Adcom, which is a Delhi based importer of
gadgets and electronic products. And, Marketing Manager of Adcom has said, We have
no idea that our branding is being used on the Freedom 251.. We will look into
this.Adcom A400, the handset which is being allegedly rebranded (without their
permission) was launched 2 years ago. Hence, it can be a possibility that Ringing Bells
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Freedom 251

are now reselling the old stock at lower price. The logo of Adcom is hidden by a whitener
no genuine company selling a smartphone shall do that.
Promises Broken: As per the specifications mentioned in their website, this smartphone
will be pre-loaded with several apps such as Swatch Bharat, Women Safety App,
Facebook, Whatsapp and more. But the review unit didnt had any such app. Besides, the
actual handset received by HT is entirely different from the handset which is being shown
on their website and the full page ads in newspapers.Infact, the icons & browser seems a
direct copy of iOS icons and Safari browser.
Unrealistic/Infeasible Pricing: Mobile Industry Body Indian Cellular Association (ICA)
has written to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, asking him to look into this matter,
as there is no way any company can sell such a handset below Rs 2700, even after
considering all discount
Not Govt. Approved: Ringing Bell, the parent company behind the scintillating offer
is not listed under Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), which means that they are not
certified to sell any product in India. This is a major red flag alert, which indicates that
its a scam. And, there are no address mentioned on their website; the copy which they
have written describing the advantages and features are all amateurish, and
the Tweets they are sending are unprofessional to say the least.

Pros And Cons

Pros:
Affordable to all: If such cheap smartphones are really made available, very soon the
entire population of India will be able to afford one. Not everyone is capable of affording
a phone priced above their daily wage but when smartphones are available at the current
price of Freedom 251, everyone will be able to get one. Connectivity helps people reach
out to each other and to opportunities. A well featured phone would mean more and more
people opening up to knowledge and education.
Boost to Make in India campaign: We were lagging behind in the making of smartphones
in our country. We either relied on big tech giants or the local ones like Micromax. While
big brands offered reliable quality, they are priced higher than affordability of poor and
lower middle class. Micromax tried to cut the prices with their own launches but failed
miserably in quality and battery life. Other brands at lower price only come from China.
If the likes of Freedom 251 succeed in catering to the needs of Indian market at such a
low price, it would be the biggest boost to Make in India initiative. Chinese phones will
at least get dominated with our own home-brand.

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Freedom 251

Good features: The smartphone is also gaining a lot of popularity for its excellent features
at such a low price. The phone promises a 4 inch display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1
GB of RAM, 8 GB of internal memory, a 3.2 MP camera and 1450 mAh battery life. It is
a 3G phone that supports WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS and runs on Android 5.1. It also comes
with a warranty of 1 year and has some pre-installed apps like Women Safety, Swachh
Bharat, Farmer, Fisherman, Medical, WhatsApp, Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Connecting India: If the next billion people of India can now have smartphones that can
connect well, it may as well be expected that in a few years, everyone will be on internet,
knowing and learning things that they never had access to. We could even expect telecom
providers to launch affordable internet in days to come. It is a good step towards
development if everyone can have access to smartphone and internet. It is very important
that our locals come out of their zone and experience world class opportunities for their
businesses.
Flagship and credibility: It all looked fake when the news flashed for such a cheap phone
but the flagship of Make in India initiative and association of big political names during
the promotion and launch has brought high hopes for everyone. It is believed that unlike
other cheap phones and tablets, this one will live up to the expectations of people.

Cons
Drawback to other brands: The sale of other brands smartphones will suffer largely if
one particular phone with good features is available at such a low price. Low end phones
of other Chinese brands will be down from Indian market in no time, affecting the sales
of our local dealers who have stocked those phones in advance. There will be major
chaos and objections from other brands if this phone hits the Indian market with good
reviews from customers.
Copyright infringed: The built-in apps of the smartphone have copied the icons of
Apples iPhone. The web browser app of this phone is also said to be a swindle of
Apples Safari browser that are solely reserved for their own brand. This could land them
in a major case of copyright infringement from the tech giant, Apple. A smartphone brand
bearing the flagship of Indian governments big initiative should not have this kind of illreputation.
Fake identity: Another drawback of this smartphone for its association with Make in
India is its fraudulence of identity. It is said to be bearing the logo of Adcom concealed
with a whitener. When investigated from the Delhi based brand, Adcom that sold its
phone for around Rs. 4000, totally denied knowing anything about the utilization of its
market by the new brand. Now they will be further investigating the matter only to land
Ringing Bells in trouble.
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Freedom 251

Site crashed: If the seller was intending to offer well featured smartphone at such a low
price, they should have been prepared for the huge flow of traffic to their official website
as soon as bookings start. How could they not be expecting huge traffic and ignore the
capability of their website if they are to be selling low end phones to the Indian market?
It is only pre-booking that the company is unable to handle which makes their credibility
of delivering extremely questionable.
What would the million people do with a smartphone? I dont mean to be absurd but the
majority of our population does not want a smartphone at this point of time. Yes, they
want good governance, cheap pricing of food and oil, law and order and affordable
reliable internet connectivity. What are we expecting poor people to do with a
smartphone when they cannot connect to internet? This is not going to impress them if
that is what ministers expected when they wholeheartedly supported the dubious low end
phone.

Conclusion
The freedom 251 smartphone is in its pre booking state. Until it reaches out to people
(which wont be anytime sooner than June) we can only make assumptions of its credibility. We
expect that the brand stands up to the expectations and the name of the initiative attached to its
back.
Meanwhile, Ringing Bells should think about being free from any charges of infringement
from Apple and Adcom. They must also apply for BIS certification which is mandatory for
selling phones in India.
At this time ,everything is hide in case of freedom 251. No one is sure about this mobile . but
if this mobile comes in market with all features of it (which is shown in its advertisement) then
will have no doubt about its popularity and popularity of 'made in India'. If this happens it will
be good for consumers and country growth in technology. we hope this will come in market.

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