The Freedom 251 is the smartphone that shaken the entire smartphone market for a brief time. A new smartphone OME claimed to offer an Android-powered smartphone for just ₹251 rupees (inclusive of all taxes). As expected, many people tried to book one by paying the money upfront. However, after few months, the smartphone maker returned the money, saying that, one can directly pay via COD (cash on delivery) when they receive the handset. The company was named Ringing Bell Pvt Ltd, which was based out in Noida New Delhi.
However, even that doesn’t end well, as a matter of fact, the company failed to ship a single Freedom 251 smartphone and the founder of the company got arrested for the online fraud case. The controversial founder is back in the market and claiming that he can deliver the smartphone if he gets the government support.
When IANS contacted the man behind the mystery, here are the official comments from Goel:
“I paid the duo nearly Rs. 3.5 crores and, in return, they cheated me. They siphoned off the money and did not deliver any phone. In February this year, some distributors filed a case against me and I was jailed for six months. Now with the fresh arrests, people will come to know why I failed to deliver on my promise.”
“The big players today have adopted my model and are now giving smartphones in as low as Rs 1,300, like Karbonn. The Jio model for paying Rs. 1,500 in advance for a smartphone is similar. They have deep pockets so they can afford but why don’t people ask them how they are making smartphones so cheap?”
“My vendors didn’t deliver on time and I failed. Our company’s President Ashok Chadda is still languishing in jail. I need one opportunity to come back clean and provide people handsets by March-April next year,”
If we look at the statistics, the company saw a huge traffic with up to 70 million visits in just a few hours. As a matter of fact, the payment gateway even crashed after 2.5 million registrations. The company claimed to deliver up to 2.5 million Freedom 251 handsets in July 2016. However, though, the company claims that they delivered 5000 handsets, we have no proof to prove the statement.
The founder is expecting backend support from Government of India, but, how can a government do something? What is the thing that he is expecting from the government? We have no idea what so ever. So, what do you think, can he deliver the devices this time or it will be a bogus part 2? Share your views in the comment box.