Freedom 251 smartphone's shipping starts, how far can the company go

Post Date:- 07.10.16

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.