Freedom 251, the world’s cheapest smartphone that has created massive buzz across the world earlier this year has once again come into the news with the latest announcement by the smartphone company. Noida-based startup Ringing Bells has recently announced its plans to launch the cheapest HD LED TV in India.
The pricing of the HD LED TV is expected to be less than Rs 10,000 and the company claim that it already has one lakh units in stock. An official launch is expected to take place in the first week of July.
“These will be the cheapest television sets in India and will be available for less than Rs 10,000. Within two days, the delivery would be made and we would sell them online,” Ringing Bells CEO Mohit Goel told IANS.
Earlier this year, Ringing Bells had taken the market by storm by announcing the world’s cheapest 3G smartphone, the Freedom 251, exclusively at a price of Rs 251 (which is less than $4) and invited everyone to make registrations for grabbing the smartphone at an inexpensive price. But shortly after, the company has faced allegations from various quarters and was certified as a ‘scam’ by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for its dubious business practices. The Telecom Ministry had then asked the Income Tax Department to probe Ringing Bells’ financial standing. Even an FIR was lodged against the company.
Now, the smartphone makers say that they have made it possible despite allegations that such a phone would not see the light of the day.
“We are ready with nearly two lakh ‘Freedom 251’ handsets. We will start delivery from June 30,” Goel said, adding, “Once we haves done with this first phase of delivery (of two lakh phones), we will open registration again for those who wish to buy the handset.”
The company had planned to deliver 25 lakh handsets before June 30. However, it received over seven crore registrations before its payment gateway crashed within three days.
“We learned from our mistakes and decided to go silent till we come out with the product. Now we have a 4-inch, dual-SIM phone ready for delivery. I feel vindicated,” Goel said.
“We will have a loss, but I am happy that the dream of connecting rural and poor Indians as part of the ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives has been fulfilled with ‘Freedom 251’,” Goel concluded.
The 3G device, Freedom 251, claims to have 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage which supports external memory cards of up to 32GB.