Freedom 251: How Mohit Goel, a grocer's son, made world's cheapest smartphone

[Raftaar]

MEERUT: The whole country is today talking about Ringing Bells, Mohit Goel's Rs 251 smartphone. His father Rajesh Goel, though, sitting in his small grocery shop that proclaims its name to be 'Ram ji' on a grey board, doesn't know what the fuss is all about. He says he always knew his son would do something big. Even in Garhipukhta, a small town in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh, not many knew about the Goels or their shop. It's a different story today. They are suddenly all that everyone here is discussing.

Goel Sir, who is now also one of the directors of the company, said, "After completing his schooling, Mohit went to Noida and completed his graduation from Amity University. The last time that he was home to meet us, he had expressed his desire to open a company and I loaned him some money to start what he wanted to. Then he started a mobile phone company and told us about his venture. Little did we know what it meant then. It's really big, is it? We also attended the event where Freedom 251 mobile was launched in New Delhi."

Mohit, who is the managing director of Ringing Bells, has lived with his father at Garhipukhta most of his life, often helping around in the grocery shop. On Thursday, Ringing Bells launched Freedom 251, the mobile phone, in a glitzy event in New Delhi that was attended by several dignitaries, including senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi. A few residents from Shamli were also invited to the launch.

After completing his schooling from Saint RC Convent School, Mohit earned his engineering degree from Amity University. He recently married Dhaarna, a Noida resident, who is now CEO of Ringing Bells.

 

[Sipahi]

Any users ?????

 

[ganesh623]

Any users ?????

Delivery has not yet begun.
Will begin in june.

 

[Brahmaputra Mail]

Skeptics say it's a hoax since the components itself can cost more than ₹ 251. But I believe this can disrupt the market like Xiaomi Redmi phones did. Morever the developers of Freedom 251 wants to study how costing/pricing of smartphones are done across global market.

P.S.- Disruption in pricing sense.

 

[Ryuzaki]

1500 mAH Li-ion battery costs more than Rs 251.Something is fishy

 

[KN-1]

Reality of India's cheapest smartphone, this is actually a Chinese smartphone not Indian at all
and i am 100% sure that whoever is involve in this is a big fraud.. u can not provide smart phone in rs. 250.

 

[GHOSTS]

Freedom 251 is Nothing but a massive scam! Even the chepest chinese 3G phone in the world would cost around 25-30 dollars. This phone is not government subsidise so there's no way on earth that this phone cost only 4 dollars. Hell they don't even have sample unit to show as of now, they're displaying some other company's phone to the reporters. bloody scammers

 

[Hyperion]

If anyone here believes that this is a legit product, must be smoking something more potent than what I'm smoking right now. Send me some too.

 

[somebozo]

India is always trying to hit the cheapest car, cheapest phone, cheapest this, cheapest that..people would rather buy a used branded phone with features than a crippled cheapest car or phone...it doesn't make logic!

 

[RisingShiningSuperpower]

This is a scam. The phone is imported from China. The scammers covered the Chinese brand name with an Indian flag sticker and try to pass it off as 'Made in India'. Once these scammers have your money, they will disappear and never ship the phone to you.


Is India’s $3.60 smartphone too good to be true? - BBC News

Is India’s $3.60 smartphone too good to be true?

On Wednesday evening a virtually unknown Indian company launched the "world's cheapest smartphone", named Freedom 251, for 251 rupees ($3.60; £2.50), in Delhi.

The handset, from Ringing Bells, a company less than a year old and based in Noida near the capital, Delhi, is a 3G smartphone with specifications similar to phones at least 15 times more expensive.

On Thursday, it opened its website freedom251.com for pre-orders with payments due in full in advance - the phone would be sold online over a five-day window. Deliveries are promised by June.

The website crashed, and it put up a notice claiming overwhelming response at "600,000 hits per second", due to which it was pausing bookings for a day. The company's office was also swamped by thousands of potential buyers.

The firm's founder, Mohit Goel, said the phone would be locally made as part of the "Make in India" program promoted aggressively by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government.

However, the phones shown to media were of a Chinese-made phone with its brand name, Adcom, covered with white paint. The Android-based smartphone, with a 4-inch display, looks very similar to Apple's older iPhone 4 handset, complete with a home button and icons that are nearly identical to the iPhone's.

Adcom is a Delhi-based importer of technology products. Its Ikon 4 handset, available for 4,000 rupees (about $59; £41) on Indian e-commerce site Flipkart, appears to be very similar in specifications to Freedom 251. However, the Hindustan Times newspaper quoted Adcom's marketing head denying any knowledge of the company being associated with the Freedom 251 handset.

Experts who tried out the samples said the experience, including the 480×800 display and performance, was as expected for an entry-level phone in the $50 range: usable, not great. As is the norm in mid-range phones sold in India, slots for a memory card and two SIM cards have been provided.

Meanwhile, according to media reports, the Indian Cellular Association has written to telecoms minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying it was not possible to sell a 3G phone below 2,700 rupees.

A member of parliament from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Kirit Somaiya, went further in his letter to the minister, saying this could be a "Ponzi scheme" or other scam.

He adds that the company does not appear to have a registration that is mandatory for phones sold in India.