mayu @Mayavi 369 Freedom 251: The reason why the phone at Rs 251 is not ringing a bell for everyone Ringing Bells Freedom 251 could be the real democratisation of the smartphone. At this price, there should be no one in India who doesn’t own a smartphone and everyone should be online within a couple of years. That is the kind of effect a Rs 251 smartphone will have on the market, not to speak of the dozens of smartphone companies that will go out of business. However, things are not that simple. If there was a possibility to manufacture and sell a phone at under $5, the Chinese ODMs would have done it already. Nearer home, why would a large domestic player like Micromax have left that door open for a small Noida company to exploit first? Indian Cellular Association president Pankaj Mohindroo said “this pricing is not possible under any circumstances, even if the components are made in India.” He said the bill of material of a product like this is around $40. While the association expects there to be a “marginal effect on market sentiment” as “consumers may hold back purchases”, “this will have no impact on a profound campaign like Make in India”. The first set of reviewers who have got the phone, have been posting on how it is actually an Adcom Ikon 4, incidentally priced at Rs 4,100 on Flipkart and other ecommerce sites. In fact, the Freedom 251 carries a Tricolour sticker on the rear panel to conceal the Adcom branding. “A 3G device with the specs offered has a base manufacturing cost almost 8X higher than what’s being offered. So, we’re interested in learning of how they’ve achieved this, including all licensing fees, etc. We hope this is not a small marketing promotion, and is broadly available to the 100 crore Indians that need such affordable technology,” says Sunit Singh Tuli, whose Datawind was the original affordable smart devices company of India having shocked the world by offering a $35 Aakash tablet for the Indian government. The company continues to produce affordable smartphones and tablets, but Tuli’s cheapest smartphones is a 2G device priced Rs 1,999. His 3G device, with specs similar to the Ringing Bells Freedom 251, costs Rs 2,999. The cheapest smartphone we could find online in India was a Trio Trio Smart Touch Phone Junior 3 priced Rs 1,449 with considerably lower specs than the Freedom 251. This is why even Tuli agrees that the phone, at least on paper, is revolutionary. “If they deliver their promise on quality, this will act as a challenge to the entire handset market. However, if it turns out to be short quantity promotion, it will also set a negative example for the industry.” Incidentally, Datawind is already working on Rs 1,500 and Rs 999 smartphones which it expects to launch in the next quarter. “We welcome anybody interested in breaking the price barriers, and hope that while following in our footsteps, they would see even greater success than we have seen,” says Tuli, explaining how Datawind “helped the tablet market grow 20x from 2.5L units to 50L unit in the last four years by breaking the affordability barrier”. He claims to have sold over 25 lakh units in the market so far. However, all this pales in front of the kind of numbers Ringing Bells is flaunting. The company wants to have an installed capacity of 5 lakh units a month and given the kind of interest a Rs 251 smartphone will generate, this can only fall short. Also, the company wants to use Indian components to reduce the cost and avoid duties. If there are Indian companies manufacturing smartphone components, then it is strange why other OEMs don't know about them. Sanchit Vir Gogia, CEO & Founder at Greyhound Knowledge Group, says the phone is very interesting. “Lowest we have seen till now was $28 (about Rs 1,700), but this a new low. But then, it is highly subsidised to start with and whether or not it stays is a huge question.” Gogia says while the phone can be compared to a feature phone, it may not do justice to users expected experience. “While smartphone is a factor of price, the other major factor is better touch experience and apps,” he explains. Gogia says it will be difficult to sustain the price in the long term. Also, the fact that the company founders don’t have experience in this field might prove detrimental to its prospects. He is also not willing to take the company’s claim that there is no government subsidy on the phone. “The phone is loaded with Make in India apps. Clearly, there seems to be some arrangement,” he said, adding that even if they source components locally, they don’t come cheap. Also, the phone has to be booked online, a feature that might prove a stumbling block for lots of people who might actually benefit from the devices. The company has suggested an offline model later but that will not be before June 30. By then we should have a clear idea about what this is all about.
Mayu ipo irakiyekunathu prototype anu.. purake varum athre final piece pinnedu @Mayavi 369 .. entharo entho Freedom 251, dubbed the world's cheapest smartphone with Android operating system and 3G support, has roused a lot of interest but also some eyebrows. The glitzy launch event saw some top political leaders and lots of chaos. Since the launch thousands of people, 25 lakh to be precise, have booked these phones at Rs 251 despite the website crashing through the two-day sale till the company decided to stop orders. But following complaints about the pricing, DoT has said the device cannot be manufactured for less than Rs 2,300 and BJP MP Kirit Somaiya even branded it as a scam. Now the Noida company has woken up and come up with answers to the questions India is asking. 1. There seems a problem with the payment gateway while ordering the phone from the freedom251.com website. Why and How soon will it be resolved? Has the sales stopped permanently? This problem occurred on morning of 18/2 consequent to the pleasant deluge of viewers where even the high performance servers of our payment gateway and our main server providers could not cope. We addressed the problem on a 'war footing' and with the help of our associates, were back on-line by 06.00 hrs by morning of 19/2. Registrations have continued smoothly thereafter. 2. How many handsets have been sold so far? 30,000 plus and these were on Day 1 reflecting the fact that our payment gateway could not support the transaction load and as per guidelines are deposited in the nodal account with the payment gateway where the Company will claim payment only after submission of delivery proof. We have 3.70 Crs Registrations on Day 1 + 2.47 Crs on Day 2 as of 19:49 hrs. 3. Why has Freedom 251 got Adcom branding on the front panel? Is it being manufactured by Adcom? And why was the branding covered by a whitener? What was that for? Even if it was just for demo and a sample phone why did the company fringe into other company products for that, why could not they just order fresh samples from where ever they were trading? We just wanted to show a sample/prototype of what the handsets will look like. This is not the final piece. Hence, we obviously wanted to provide "Made in India" handsets as that is the core of our vision. We did a quick and intensive search and located the components but re the Touch Plate, we faced a problem in view of the fragile nature in addition to the scratch-proof requirements of the piece. ADCOM is an India Company and we were able to source from them. In view of the shortage of time and given that these were to serve only as prototypes given FOC to a limited List of persons, we went ahead. We would clearly mention that the Final Freedom 251 manufactured/ assembled in India would be to identical specs - ie no change. There maybe some changes in curvature/ buttons placements for aesthetics, if at all. 4. Deeper media investigation suggests Adcom is a local manufacturer of IT products and their spokesperson had no clue that their product is being re-branded and sold like this. This can be a potential lawsuit. You may speak to Mr Sanjiv Bhatia - the Director of ADCOM - and he would confirm the true version to you. 5. The promised Pre loaded apps of fisherman and farmers and womansafety are not present on the mobile handset media received These will be on the "Final Freedom 251" with our custom designed new UI. 6. The user interface icons are exactly like Apple iPhone including icons like web browsers etc. which can be construed as copyright infringement As will be noted on a closer look, that the UI, even on the prototype, is not identical to Apple. In any case we will have our custom designed new UI for our Final Freedom 251. 7. The phone is not listed on the BIS certifications page, why is this? Application is under filing and we expect to have the Certification in hand well before delivery commences. 8. All 3G devices are supposed to be registered with Qualcomm as part of the licensing agreement but the Freedom 251 is not showing up, why is this? At present we are using Spreadtrum Chip set then why do we need to register with Qualcomm? 9. The phone is running on Android, but is not showing in a list on Android partners either. Why is this? We are registered with Google Android Developers Platform. 10. Can we provide a list of customer care centres promised? Media is getting queries from customers about customer care centres, only details they have found as customer support is email and phone number. Attached. 11. If the actual phone is not ready why a rebranded different phone was given to the media. Is the much hyped Freedom 251 a concept in the air only? When we design a concept, we produce a Prototype to demonstrate. Then we test the acceptability from the Target Audience.Once this is accepted, we take this Prototype to the Design House to design the Chipset; the mould and then we decide on the actual add-ons like the buttons - the colour - screen quality etc. We did not distribute the Handsets, we handed-over the prototypes FOC to assess the acceptability and vaiidate our concept. 12. How is Indian government partnering with a company with no proven track record? BJP MP Kirit Somaiya has raised questions and written to both TRAI and Min. of Telecom to investigate the issue. This follows mobile industry body Indian Cellular Association (ICA) letter to Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad yesterday to get into depth of the issue, saying the rate could not be below Rs 3,500 even after a subsidised sale. They are willing to give all the technical assistance. The Indian Government is not partnering the Company. We will comply with all required regulations of TRAI & Telecom Authorities in India. 13. What about the other handsets? People have been complaining about no delivery or even an order confirmation? Is this just a con game? We have delivered Rs 1.7 Crs worth of phones so far. In addition, PayU has recd Rs 1.75 Crs against our Handset On-Line Bookings of Phase 1 and here, as we have committed, we will claim our money only after we complete Delivery on Feb 25, 2016 and after we submit Proof of Delivery. 14. Some media persons reaching the Ringing Bells Pvt. Ltd Noida office found it to be deserted. Is it even a genuine company with manufacturing plant? Our Corporate Office is at B44, Sector 63, Noida 201301. All are welcome to come to our Office and we will be privileged to greet you. https://in.news.yahoo.com/freedom-251-ringing-bells-finally-134600342.html
