New Delhi: Noida-based start-up firm Ringing Bells which has launched “cheapest” smartphone claimed that its website crashed due to an overwhelming response from consumers to book the phone. The phone — Freedom 251 priced Rs 251 —has already raised murmurs in the industry on the feasibility of launching such a low priced handset by a company set up just five months ago. There were allegations that the handset is just the rebranding of Adcom’s Ikon 4, which is already available in the Indian market for Rs 3,999.
Ringing Bells claimed that the devices at the launch were sample models. “The ones that will be sold in the market won’t have the branding,” he said. The company had opened online booking for the smartphone at 6 am on Thursday. However, the company claimed that it had got an approximately six lakh hits a second, which crashed the website servers. Though the manufacturing cost of the phone is about Rs 2,500, the company said it will recovery the costs through a series of measures like economies of scale, innovative marketing, reduction in duties and creating an e-commerce marketplace.
“By going for Made-in- India components, we can save on the 13.8 per cent duty. Also, we will be selling online first and thus save the costs incurred on large distribution network,” said Ringing Bells president Ashok Chaddha. The company has said that phone will be manufactured in Noida and Uttaranchal. Two plants will be set up for Rs 250 crore each with a capacity of five lakh phones. The money will come in the form of debt and equity (1.5:1).
