Ringing Bells Freedom 251 smartphone

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Freedom 251: First 2,240 units out for delivery, says Ringing Bells CEO

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Keeping up with its promise, Noida-based Ringing Bells Pvt Ltd on Friday dispatched 2,240 “Freedom 251” smartphones priced at less than $4 to those who had booked the device in the cash on delivery (COD) mode.
While 540 units were dispacthed to customers in West Bengal, 390 units were sent to Haryana, 605 to Himachal Pradesh, 484 to Bihar and 221 to Uttarakhand, the company sources told IANS. Rest of the first 5,000 promised lot will be out for delivery on July 9.
At the launch event on July 7, Ringing Bells CEO Mohit Goel promised to deliver the first lot of 5,000 ‘Freedom 251’ devices from July 8.
The receiver will have to pay Rs 291 (including Rs 40 as delivery charge) to get the unit.
According to him, there were over 7.5 crore registrations and the company selected first batch recipients on the basis of a draw of lots.

http://indianexpress.com/article/te...m-251-out-for-delivery-ringing-bells-2901964/
 
Just 2,240 units. :wall :skd

Just few months before he was making tall claims that they will send Lakhs of Units. He also said that they will earn around 30-40₹ per Units then why is he now asking help from the Government. :no

I had already said that this was just a scam.
Hope Government Shuts down his company
 
No transparency in lottery also.
Didn't showing anything on Website regarding the lucky draw.
 
ABCDEFGH said:
Just 2,240 units. :wall :skd

Just few months before he was making tall claims that they will send Lakhs of Units. He also said that they will earn around 30-40₹ per Units then why is he now asking help from the Government. :no

I had already said that this was just a scam.
Hope Government Shuts down his company
You are absolutely right. No one should buy anything from this scam company!! He's misusing make in India at a huge level.
 
Freedom 251 smartphone's shipping starts, how far can the company go...
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He has done the easy part. On July 8, Mohit Goel, founder of Ringing Bells, the maker of what has been touted — with more than a fair bit of derision — as the world's cheapest smartphone, personally hand-delivered the first Freedom 251 to Ankita Birla, a 27-year-old vendor coordinator at an electronics company in Noida's special economic zone.
Like many who would have placed an order for the smartphone, Birla was sceptical about actually receiving it. "I never thought they would deliver. I too thought that the company is a fraud," says Birla, who had become the butt of jokes in her social circle for registering with the firm online. A flurry of negative reports about the company and the controversies they were mired in, such as relabelling an existing brand, defaulting on vendor payments and flouting safety norms, only reinforced her suspicion.

Goel uses the moment — and the photo-op — as an opportunity for redemption. From being branded a fraudster to being accused of running a Ponzi scheme, Goel was "crucified" on the cross of cynicism. "They wrote my obituary," says the 29-year-old Goel, visibly relaxed in the corner room in his office in Phase II of the Noida SEZ. "But I have delivered what I promised."

The last statement may, of course, be premature. Goel may have convinced Birla that Ringing Bells "is for real" but now he's got to do it at least another 1.99 lakh times. After all, the company had promised to deliver 2 lakh handsets out of 7.5 crore people who registered for Freedom 251.

On Friday, Goel claimed Ringing Bells delivered some 2,200 handsets — most of them via courier. He promises to deliver the remaining 2,800 — 5,000 is the target set for the first phase — by Monday.
Now for the hard part
Ringing Bells recently relocated to a new office in a swank multi-storey commercial building in the Noida SEZ that has many IT firms. In stark contrast to their sparsely populated earlier office, which ET Magazine visited in March this year, the present one is buzzing. Over 20 employees in Ringing Bells tees are busy packing handsets to be delivered across India. The irony, though, is that the more phones the company delivers, the deeper it maybe digging its grave. Here's why.
For every handset sold at Rs 251, Goel is taking a hit of Rs 270. The original plan was to cover the cost of the handset — Rs 1,165 — by pre-installing apps, with the hope that app makers would pay Ringing Bells a fee; create a marketplace model and invite sellers to the site and leverage the 7.5 crore registered base of consumers; bundle offers from telecom operators; and get advertising on the site.
Those plans have come a cropper and Goel blames the negative news flow about the company for that. "Many app makers deserted us after the company got embroiled in controversies," he shrugs. "That upset our original plan." Goel, though, is not the sort to give up, and audacious gambits are second nature to him. He's now talking about selling LED TVs at just under Rs 10,000, when the cheapest LED model in the market is available for Rs 14,000. "We will make a profit of 15% on each unit," he claims.
The danger of this gamble is its Ponzi scheme-like nature, with Goel hoping to cover up losses on Freedom 251 with LED TV sales. He is also counting on the sale of the recently unveiled feature phones and smartphones, ranging from Rs 699 to Rs 4,499, to come to the aid of his pet project. "We are also talking to some brands for exclusive tie-ups," he claims, refusing to divulge details.

You don't have to be a spreadsheet-poring analyst on Dalal Street to conclude that Goel's bubble may be headed for a spectacular blowout with every new ambition. The scale of the looming disaster is evident from the amount the founder has asked from the government to stay in the game — all of Rs 50,000 crore. Goel insists that is only a suggestion, which would help empower over 7.5 crore people under the government's digital India campaign. "We are not dependent on government funding," he says.
"That was just one of the ideas." Goel insists there is no dearth of funds. The company has got the strong backing of its distributors, he claims, adding that his biggest investor is a distributor who has pumped in Rs 10 crore. The company has so far invested Rs 80 crore, he adds. Clearly, he may be hoping that financiers get emboldened to invest in his project on the back of his "success" so far in actually delivering the smartphones. Goel may be able to deliver a few thousand smartphones, but that's hardly enough to uncork the champagne.
That can only happen when he is able to sell the handsets without incurring a loss of even a rupee. "Not a single unit must be sold at a loss," says brand strategist Harish Bijoor. "It is crucial for the company to ensure that the revenue stream is rejigged fast."
Ringing Bells may have begun to toll but, despite his bluster — "kuch to log kahenge" — Goel may be well aware that the bell also tolls for his dream venture.

Freedom 251 smartphone's shipping starts, how far can the company go - Times of India
 
New Delhi: After delivering the first 5,000 'Freedom 251' smartphones, Ringing Bells on Monday announced it would deliver 65,000 more devices to those who had booked the less than $4 smartphones in the cash on delivery (COD) mode.
The company in mid-February this year planned to deliver 25 lakh handsets before June 30. Ringing Bells received mammoth over seven crore registrations before the payment gateway crashed.
"We started the process of lottery a few days back and now are dispatching the units to the people. We are elated with the response that we have got for the delivered units," the company said in a statement.
The company started the deliveries in states like West Bengal, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, New Delhi, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
With the delivery of 65,000 units, the overall delivery of Freedom 251 will stand at 70,000 units across the country.
According to Ringing Bells' founder and CEO Mohit Goel the company has been able to keep its promise to consumers.
"We are ready with nearly two lakh 'Freedom 251' handsets. We will start delivery from June 30," Goel had earlier told IANS, adding that once he is done with this first phase of delivery (of two lakh phones), he will open registration again for those who wish to buy the handset.
The 3G device has a 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal memory and supports external memory cards of up to 32GB.
The company has offered an 8MP primary camera with flash, a 3.2MP front camera for selfie and a 1,800 mAh battery. It runs on Android 5.1 (Lollipop).

Freedom 251: Ringing Bells To Deliver 65,000 More Rs 251 Phones - News18
 
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