Indian manufacturer to supply 200,000 copies of ‘3 euro smartphone’
Ringing Bells, the manufacturer that announced the Freedom 251 in India in February, says it will start delivering the device on June 30. The manufacturer has 200,000 copies available and says it needs government support to deliver more.
Mohit Goel, the founder of Ringing Bells, told The Times of India. He says that the smartphone comes from Taiwan, but is assembled in India. “We have 200,000 smartphones and we will distribute them over a month. That is the maximum we can do now. We need support from the government; we cannot continue without it,” says Goel.
According to Goel, the Freedom 251 smartphone has a value of 1180 rupees, converted about 15.7 euros. However, customers pay only 251 rupees, about 3.3 euros. The manufacturer sells the smartphones below cost, but provides third-party apps that cannot be removed. It would concern twelve apps from companies that pay the manufacturer. Presumably, the subsidy that the manufacturer earns with the supplied apps is not enough to bridge the difference in cost and sales price. According to Gadgets360, the CEO of the manufacturer says that he loses 140 to 150 rupees per device.
The device has a 4″ screen, 1GB ram and 8GB storage space. The soc is a quadcore. The specifications mentioned correspond to the device that the company initially showed at the presentation in February. However, that turned out to be a smartphone from a different brand. At the time, the device ran an Android version with icons very similar to iOS, which the company would have abandoned. GadgetOx now says it has the first photos of the ‘real’ Freedom 251 in its hands.
Goel states that 75 million people are interested in the cheap telephone. The 200,000 copies available will be sold to those who first registered for the device. The CEO also states that his project was initially supported by the government, but that it has withdrawn.
After the introduction of the Freedom 251 in February, there was a lot of fuss about the cheap smartphone. A minister was present at the presentation of the device, but later the manufacturer said that the company received no subsidy or support from the government. Subsequently, Ringing Bells was charged with Ponzi fraud; on which the company gave money back to people who had made a down payment.